Transfer Itunes Music Library To Another Mac

Transfer Itunes Music To Another Mac
Transfer Itunes Music Library To Another Mac Computer
Transfer Itunes Music Library To Another Macbook Pro

After decades of digital music, it's not unlikely if you've amassed quite the collection of music on your computer's hard drive. If your iTunes library is taking up too much space, you can move it off of your local drive and onto an external hard drive without breaking your music collection.

There are a few ways to transfer your iTunes library from one computer to another: When you get a new Mac, use Setup Assistant (or Migration Assistant, if you’re switching from Windows) to move files — including your iTunes files — from your old computer to the new one. See the Apple Support article Back up and restore your iTunes Library. However, it's also possible to manually transfer your library to another machine, eventually leaving the one you copy it from with lots of free drive space. On the Mac you want to copy from (the.

You can also transfer your entire iTunes library from one computer to another if you are migrating to a new Mac.

Before you start: Back up your Mac

Before making major changes to your computer, it's always a good idea to back up your data: The best way to back up your Mac is with a Time Machine routine in place, but you can choose an alternate backup option that's right for you.

What you will need

You will, of course, need the computer your iTunes library is currently on. You will also need the following:

An external hard drive (and power source, if applicable)
A USB cable to connect the hard drive to your original Mac
A power source for your original Mac
If you're moving to a new computer, your new Mac (and its power cable)

Step 1: Consolidate your library

Transfer Itunes Music To Another Mac

Over time, it's easy for your music, movies, apps, and other iTunes content to end up stored in various places throughout your computer's hard drive. To ensure that you copy everything from iTunes over to an external hard drive, you should first consolidate your library. Even if you think your library has all your information consolidated already, it can't hurt to do a manual check before moving any data.

Launch iTunes on your Mac.
Click File in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.
Hover your cursor over Library in the dropdown menu.
Select Organize Library from the secondary menu.
Tick the box for Consolidate Files in the window that appears.
Click OK.

This process makes a copy of all files in the iTunes media folder, and leaves the original files in their current location.

Step 2: Move your iTunes Library to an external hard drive

Quit iTunes.
Connect your external hard drive to your computer using a USB cable.
Click on Finder to open a Finder window.
Select your Mac's hard drive.
Click on the Music folder.
Select iTunes and drag it to the external hard drive.
Click Authenticate when prompted to give permission to move the iTunes folder.
Enter your administrator password.
Click OK.

This process could take upwards of an hour or two, depending on how much data stored in your iTunes library.

Step 3: Redirect iTunes to the new location

Once you've transferred a copy of your iTunes library onto an external hard drive, you will need to set a new path for the iTunes app by redirecting it to search the external hard drive for content, rather than your local drive.

Launch iTunes and hold down the Option Keyat the same time.
Click on Choose Library when the window appears.
Select your external hard drive under Devices in the Finder sidebar.
Click on iTunes.
Click Open.

Note: Until you delete the iTunes file on your local hard drive, you can switch which libraries iTunes uses by launching the app and holding down the Option key at the same time.

Step 4: Make sure it worked

If you performed the first three steps correctly, when you open iTunes, it should look the same as it did before. You can double-check to make sure the migration worked by checking the info of any content.

Launch iTunes.
Select a song, podcast, movie, app, or other content.
Right-click or Control-click on the song.
Select Get info from the drop down menu.
Click on the File tab in the info window.
Look under Location to ensure that the content is now being stored under /Volumes/external hard drive name/... instead of Users/local hard drive name/...

Step 5: Delete the old iTunes library

Once you have transferred a copy of your iTunes library onto an external hard drive and redirected iTunes to the new location, you can delete the iTunes folder on your local hard drive, freeing up space on your Mac.

Note: If you are making a copy to transfer to a new computer, you don't need to perform step 5 unless you want to remove your iTunes library from the old computer.

Quit iTunes.
Click on Finder to open a Finder window.
Select your Mac's hard drive.
Click on the Music folder.
Select iTunes and drag it to the trash.

Make sure your external hard drive is connected to your Mac when you launch iTunes from now on. Otherwise, iTunes won't be able to find the files. If that happens, quit iTunes, connect your external hard drive to your computer, and reopen iTunes.

Step 6 [optional]: Move your iTunes library to a new Mac

Once you have your iTunes library on an external hard drive, you can relocate it to a new Mac.

Quit iTunes on your new Mac.
Connect your external hard drive to your new Mac using a USB cable.
Open the external hard drive once it appears on your new Mac's screen.
Click on Finder on your new Mac to open a Finder window.
Select your new Mac's hard drive.
Click on the Music folder.
Drag the iTunes folder from your external hard drive into the Music folder on your new Mac.
Launch iTunes and hold down the Option Keyat the same time.
Click on Choose Library when the window appears.
Select your local hard drive under Devices in the Finder sidebar.
Click on the Music folder.
Click on iTunes.
Click Open.

Any questions?

Do you have any questions or issues with moving your iTunes library onto an external hard drive or onto a new Mac? Let us know in the comments and we'll help you out.

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Here's what you need

Update your iPhone or iPod touch to the latest version of iOS, iPad to the latest version of iPadOS, or Mac to the latest version of macOS. On a PC, make sure that you have the latest version of iTunes for Windows.
Subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match.
Sign in to all of your devices with the same Apple ID that you use with Apple Music or iTunes Match.
Connect your devices to the Internet over a Wi-Fi or cellular network. On a Mac or PC, you can also connect to the Internet using Ethernet.

Apple Music and iTunes Match availability varies by country or region. Learn what's available in your country or region.

Turn on Sync Library

With the latest version of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, Sync Library is turned on by default. If you turned off Sync Library, you can turn it back on. Just follow the steps below for your device.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Go to Settings > Music.
Turn on Sync Library. If you don't subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match, you won’t see an option to turn on Sync Library.

If Sync Library is updating or turned off, you'll see a message at the top of the Library tab in the Apple Music app.

On your Mac

Transfer Itunes Music Library To Another Macbook Pro

Open the Apple Music app.
From the menu bar at the top of your screen, choose Music > Preferences.
Go to the General tab and select Sync Library to turn it on. If you don't subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match, you won’t see an option to turn on Sync Library.
Click OK.

If you have a large music library, it might take some time to upload and sync your music library across all of your devices.

On your PC with iTunes for Windows

In iTunes for Windows, iCloud Music Library isn't turned on by default. To turn on iCloud Music Library:

Open iTunes.
From the menu bar at the top of your screen, choose Edit > Preferences.
Go to the General tab and select iCloud Music Library to turn it on. If you don't subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match, you won’t see an option to turn on iCloud Music Library.
Click OK.

If you have a large music library, it might take some time to upload and sync your music library across all of your devices.

On other devices

If you subscribe to Apple Music, you can also access your music library — without having to turn on Sync Library — on other devices that support the Apple Music app.

If you don't subscribe to Apple Music

If you only want to sync your existing music library across all of your devices, and not any music from the Apple Music catalog, you can subscribe to iTunes Match on your computer. iTunes Match lets you access your music library on any Apple device or a PC with iTunes for Windows.
If you buy music from the iTunes Store, you can redownload your past music purchases on your Apple device or a PC with iTunes for Windows.
You can also manually sync music from your computer to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Need help?

If you sign out of your Apple ID or cancel your Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription, you won’t be able to access and sync your music library on all of your devices. The original song files will remain on the device that they were uploaded from.
Apple Music isn't a back up service. Make sure to back up your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC, so that you have a copy of your music and other information in case your device is ever replaced, lost, or damaged.
You can have up to 100,000 songs in your music library. Songs that you buy from the iTunes Store don't count against this limit.
If a song is grayed out, incorrect music plays, or you can’t access your music library, learn what to do.

Learn more

Learn how to join Apple Music.
Learn about the icons that you might see next to songs when you turn on Sync Library.
If Sync Library is turned on, a song that you delete from one device is deleted everywhere.
Learn what to do if songs in your music library are grayed out.