iTunes moved to an external hard drive to free up space
This past summer, I finally got around to ripping my entire CD collection to mp3 (approximately 1000 CDs), which left about 5 gigs of free space on my 100 gig Powerbook. So to free up some space, this past weekend I moved my music collection to an external hard drive.
I have a 300 gig Maxtor external hard drive that I connect to my Powerbook via Firewire. The process of moving you music is relatively simple:
- move your iTunes music folder (located here: ~/Music/iTunes/) to the external drive
- configure iTunes to look for your music on the external drive, by changing a setting under Preferences –» Advanced
More detailed instructions can be found here
Of course, there are some disadvantages to housing your music on an external drive. For one, you cannot listen to your music when you’re mobile (unless, of course, you use you iPod). You also run into some minor issues when downloading podcasts while not connected to your external drive, but they are easily fixed via the “Consolidate Library feature”.
In terms of advantages, I’ve found that my Powerbook performs much better now that half the disc space (about 50 gigs) is unused. I also don’t have to worry about running out of space anytime soon.
I highly recommend that anyone running out of disc space on their laptop due to too many mp3s consider keeping them on an external drive. It’s easy to do, and worth it…
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I did this a couple years ago but I need to have another round of it. I had done about 80% - the rest had scratches or other problems - but now it’s represents probably 50% of the collection. It’s terrific to have on an external medium, less likely to be lost if the computer OS gets messed up, easy to swap among computers.
I’m looking into LAN drive cases so I can just hook it up to the network and access via wifi. Ultimately I’d like there to be one receptical that is accessed via a few instances of iTunes and Amarok.
You’re totally right, the main inconvenience to such a move is the loss of your music while travelling. The solution is called “Libra”, wich helps managing two or more itunes libraries, allowing to switch easily from one to another. Been using it for several months now, without any complaint. You owe to give it à try… ;)