Saving iPod playlists for hard drive switchover

GWC Community GWC Hive Mind
#1

So here’s the situation:

My hard drive’s going bad. Need to get a new one.

  1. How do I preserve my iTunes playlists so I don’t have to recreate them all?

Also, as long as we’re on the subject:

  1. My hard drive is jammed with music. I have a backup drive. But is there a good way to move music from hard drive to backup drive without disorienting my playlists and having to re-link every single song?

Thanks all

#2

Mac or PC?

#3

Couple of key fundamental questions to ask to ensure you are successful. As someone who has now moved my iTunes library to and from three PCs and now from a PC to a Mac I have a good grasp of this process.

Let me tell you there is a lot of BAD advice out there involving exporting libraries, making smart playlists, etc. Ignore them. Come here, we will hook you up.

In order to make sure this works we need a few questions answered.

  1. Like Pike asked, are we on a PC or a Mac?
    -----1a. Also, what is the destination computer, PC or Mac?
  2. Are you on the latest iTunes? If not, upgrade quickly.
  3. Do you know if the “Keep iTunes folder organized” has been checked since the beginning of your use of iTunes? If you don’t know or are unsure we will have to consolidate your library.

However, here is what you do right now: Connect that backup harddrive and make a backup of your files NOW. If you hard drive is failing then let’s not put your library at risk. Follow this process:

  1. Plugin your hard drive
  2. Goto My Documents\My Music
  3. Right click on the itunes folder and goto properties
  4. Check to ensure the entire folder’s size is less than the capacity of the external drive
  5. Copy the iTunes folder over

If your library is not consolidated there might be a risk that you don’t get all your music. This is an acceptable risk right now.

I’ll work on the assumption that you are going PC to PC and pull up the documentation I did for Thot.

#4

Duh, that’s a good question. This is for a Mac.

I have a G5 iMac. And I’ll need to replace its hard drive.

Current one is like 150 GB

I’m backing up onto an external (1 TB).

I’ve backed up my hard drive content. So I have the music.

But it’s my countless playlists that I’m worried about.

Thank you!

#5

A little bit off topic, but I run my Itunes library straight off my external hard drive. This way my computer can go through any changes i need it to and my itunes is protected… ( i also have a second external that is a manual mirror. meaning I drag and drop anything new over to it once a week or so.)

somewhat more on topic… when I moved to the external i did loose all of my playlists, but i just made new better ones… but it was a bit of a hassel…

Good luck. I hope you get it done before the bad hard drive gives up.

#6

I believe that the ~/Library/iTunes (or is it ~/Library/Application Support/iTunes) needs to be backed up as well.

Make sure to “deauthorize” the computer before you pull the drive, and reathorize after you get your new drive set up.

I’ve done this a few times in the past before, and as long as you copy that and your library folder over it should work.

Oh, and make sure to update iTunes on the new drive to the latest version BEFORE you copy the folders into their proper places.

~ = user home directory

#7

Dxf,

Here is the most complete reference I have seen which will address everything you need here

#8

Thanx, all! I’m sure I’ll have questions later, but that looks like a helluva start. Solai, you rule. In fact, after 'cast #173, I have upgraded how much you rule. I didn’t know you did so much behind-the-scenes stuff too.

THX, that’s a good note, as well. Once this hard drive goes bye-bye, I’ll start doing it that way.

In the meantime, I’m backing up early and often.

Cheers.

#9

If you can have both drives running at once, it might be easiest to run migration assistant. It’ll take a few hours (best to do it overnight) but it does a pretty good job of copying everything over to the new drive.