Transfer Itunes Library From Mac To Mac

Nov 27, 2013  - Do not copy the library to your desktop (within the mac) - Rather pull the iTunes folder from the External Drive Directly onto the Music folder on your Mac - Choose 'Replace' button for all files when it is ready to copy. This worked for me to migrate all playlists, ratings, tracks, and the rest of the library. Sync iTunes content to the internal or SD card storage, over USB/MTP or WiFi. Naturally, you can also transfer music from iPod to iTunes Mac using iTunes itself. Not to worry, if you can’t find your local music collection in iTunes, we’ll show you how to quickly access the local music library in iTunes on the Mac or Windows PC.

The time has come to move your iTunes data. For whatever reason, your situation calls for a transfer of data from PC to Mac. In this how to we’ll show you how to transfer your iTunes library to a Mac from a PC and still retain your playlists, ratings and other data.

What You’ll Need

Running out of space on your Mac? Here's how to move your Mac's iTunes library to another location, whether it's another computer or an external hard drive.

Transfer Itunes Library From Mac To Macbook Air

Jan 28, 2014 Manually transfer your iTunes library to a new Mac. If you wish to transfer your iTunes library to a new system, then you can do so with a few easy steps. Dec 31, 2016  How to transfer full iTunes music library without losing playlists, play counts, likes or ratings! I transferred my entire library from a 2011 MacBook Pro.

We are basing this article on iTunes 10, so make sure you are running that version or newer before starting.

If you have a huge library then you’ll need an external hard drive to copy your data to. If the iTunes library is a modest one then a flash drive will likely do.

An alternative to purchasing external hardware is to setup a network connection between the two computers. The setup of such a network is beyond the scope of this article, but if you’ve already got one setup then you can move the files easily with a shared folder.

On the PC Side

Connect your external device (hard drive or flash drive) to the PC. A few items need to be checked off to ensure the library is copied in its entirety.

Mac
  • Click Edit and select ‘Preferences’.
  • Click the ‘Advanced’ tab.
  • Check ‘Keep iTunes Media folder organized’ and ‘Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library’.
  • Click ‘OK’.
  • Click File and select ‘Library’, then ‘Organize Library’.
  • Check ‘Consolidate files’.
  • Click ‘OK’.

Now copy the iTunes folder to your external hard drive, flash drive or over your network. The iTunes folders will be in slightly different locations depending on your version of Windows.

  • 7: <username>My MusiciTunes
  • Vista: <username>MusiciTunes
  • XP: Documents and Settings<username>My DocumentsMy MusiciTunes
Note: <username> indicates your login/username on the Windows PC.

On the Mac Side

Now connect the external device (hard drive or flash drive) to your Mac. If you have not yet saved music to your Mac through iTunes, then simply copy the iTunes folder from your external device to your Mac replacing the empty folder at /Users/<username>/Music/iTunes.

If you have already started saving music on your Mac, then you’ll need to move the music out of the /Users/<username>/Music/iTunes folder before copying the PC data over. After the transfer of data from PC to Mac is complete, simply add those files back into the iTunes library.

  • Move the ‘Music’ folder which is located in the iTunes folder to another location.
  • After transfer, click ‘File’ and select ‘Add File to Library’
  • Navigate to where you moved the Music folder and add your Mac songs back in.

After the copy process is complete, launch iTunes. The Mac should read the data and load everything as it was.

Final Thoughts

The process can seem daunting at first, but don’t be discouraged. The process is basically copying from one system to another with a few checks and balances in between. If you store your music in a location other than the default, you’ll need to copy your music/media folder into your iTunes folder on the backup device before transferring it to the Mac.

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Your Thoughts

Did this method of transfer work for you? Is there another way you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments!

Transfer Itunes Library Between Computers

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 28th, 2011 at 9:55 am

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May 11, 2015  Photos for Mac Speciality level out of ten: 0. The first time I imported the pictures I had the library folder at the user root level, the second time it is within the Pictures folder. Question: Q: Size of Photos library far too large More Less. Apple Footer. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions. User folder on mac OS is empty, but still uses 60GB of hard drive space. Ask Question Asked 5 years. If you go to the library folder inside your user folder (Finder Go hold option and select Library) you can press command+I to see it's size. This was killing me too. I resorted to doing a clean reinstall. Jan 12, 2020  It's not clear why Apple decided to hide the user's Library folder, but you have multiple ways to get it back: two Apple provides (depending on the version of OS X you are using) and one in the underlying file system. The method you use depends on whether you want permanent access to the Library folder or only when you need to go there. Mac user library too big. Hold down the Alt (Option) key when using the Go menu. The user Library folder is listed below the current user's home directory. Note: After you open the Library folder, you can drag the Library icon from the top of that window to the Dock, sidebar, or toolbar to make it readily accessible. How can I clean up my user Library folder? Ask Question Asked 7 years, 7 months ago. This really depends on the origin of the big files. You don't want to delete your mails for instance. Is that you have commented each archive during your work. On the other hand, if you didn't, most probably it won't make too much sense to keep old.

Transfer Itunes To New Computer

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