Luddite requires step-by-step reminder re:HDD-stored music.

[Charlie Jefferson]

i have two 500GB hard drives almost full of music. One is back-up to the other. Now, I want to replace both with two 1TB hard drives.

It's all in iTunes, so what do I need to do to ensure safe transfer of all my digital files?

Thanks.

 

[kena]

Not enough info. are your 2 disks inside your PC and the PC has a third disk with windows on it? , or is windows on one of the disks , or is it a NAS?

If in your PC and just contain your music you could replace 1 500gb then copy to new 1tb , then swap out other 500gb and copy from 1tb to that. If NAS you swap out 1 drive allow it to copy and expand to 1 tb then replace the other .

If one of them contains windows swap the one that doesnt back up to new drive , backup other essential files etc. and backup/restore windows to new drive or reload.

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

I should have mentioned that my current two 500gb drives are external ones and that the replacement drives will be too.
I'm running them attached to an iMac.

Does that make it clearer? I see you are using the PC/Windows words, so may have to summon Mac expertise here.

Calling Mr D, Prof H, PJ et al?

Thanks Kena.

 

[idc]

Surely it is just a matter of connecting the new hard drive to the PC and ensuring the PC recognises it. Then connect the old hard drive. Open both hard drives and then drag and drop files from one to another.

With 500gb it would take a long time. I drag and drop between my laptop's hard drive and my USB external hard drive without any issues.

 

[Anonymous]

precisely connect one new and one old and copy then connect the other new and copy again

after you will have to go into itunes/preferences/advanced and enter the location of the new disk as it will have a different name

 

[idc]

Just dont delete anything till you know all is well with the new hard drive.

 

[John Duncan]

Nope, copy and paste isn't going to work - iTunes has a separate XML file telling it where all the music is, so if you move it it's not going to know any more. So...

- Attach the master 500 gig drive (the other being the backup) and the new master 1TB drive at the same time.
- In 'Preferences', set your iTunes Media Folder Location to be on the new 1TB drive.
- Do 'consolidate library' (which I think is now under 'Organize Library' in iTunes 9, but I'm on a PC right now so can't check)

This will move all your music files onto the new drive, and makes sure the iTunes library knows where they are. After this is done (I'd do it overnight, that's a lot of music), you can dump the 500 gig drive, add your other 1TB drive and set up whatever backup mechanism you have to sync the two.

 

[idc]

Nice one JD, so you get itunes to do it for you. My method would still work as I have dragged and dropped files between drives and then told itunes where to find them, but of course I had to do the dirty work.

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:Nope, copy and paste isn't going to work - iTunes has a separate XML file telling it where all the music is, so if you move it it's not going to know any more. So...- Attach the master 500 gig drive (the other being the backup) and the new master 1TB drive at the same time.- In 'Preferences', set your iTunes Media Folder Location to be on the new 1TB drive.- Do 'consolidate library' (which I think is now under 'Organize Library' in iTunes 9, but I'm on a PC right now so can't check)This will move all your music files onto the new drive, and makes sure the iTunes library knows where they are. After this is done (I'd do it overnight, that's a lot of music), you can dump the 500 gig drive, add your other 1TB drive and set up whatever backup mechanism you have to sync the two.

copy and paste will work

as noted above after doing this you will have to go into itunes/preferences/advanced and enter the location of the new disk as it will have a different name

itunes should then consolidate the library next time you start it up

 

[John Duncan]

Yeah that works too but it's two steps and the 'consolidate' way does have the advantage of making sure that all your music (even if it's in weird places you're not expecting because you forgot you saved it there years ago) ends up in the same place.

 

[Anonymous]

fair point

itunes does have the habit of putting stuff in its original default directory if you forget to turn on the external drive

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

Thanks JD et al.