Allen B says:
I back my Itunes up on my external hard drive, the audio and videos work just as well from the external.

Phinius T. Barnham says:
i use it as the residence for my iTunes library with no problems.

TheStoneCrusher says:
I have both my iTunes ‘library’

The Setup
this is not very difficult, but for many who’ren’t conversant in looking outunder iTunes’ hood, I figured I’d lay this out and startfrom square one to make sureeveryyou can play along.

the only initial catch with running your iTunes library from an external drive is that you’re going to need a hearthcordor USB2 drive for many efficientperformance; I do not know the waywell this aboutup would pershapeon older machines with USB1, or if it mayeven work in any respect.

Now, if you are like maximumiTunes users, your library of music and pictures (and now games) is stored locally for your Mac in ~/Music/iTunes/ (where ~ is your spacefolder). With the most recent iTunes 7 update, there at the moment are (typically) two folders and two files in here (pictured above):

Album Artwork folder (new with iTunes 7; missing from iTunes 6 and former versions)
iTunes Library (a knowledgebase file iTunes needs)
iTunes Music folder (that is where all of your actual media like songs, podcasts, movies, and games live)
iTunes Music Library (an XML library file iTunes also needs)
Now I’m sure that, as with many tricks like this, there are a number of ways you can accomplish the duty. I’m justgoing to put out the very most efficientand maximumhassle-free method i do know of, because it worked mighty fine for me, and tlisted here are really only two steps:

if iTunes is administeredning, quit it
The just a part of your iTunes folder you really should move to the external hard disk drive is the iTunes Music folder (the person who holds all of your media) itself; leave the Album Arwork folder, in addition to the iTunes Library and that iTunes Music Library files in place, locally for your Mac. in fact, if you wish to back up your iTunes library for safe keeping (which I highly recommend, and again: Scott’s iTunes 7 backup walkthrough is a good method to do it), including all of your metadata, song ratings, song comments, etc., you want to back up these local files along together with your media
That’s it – you’ve moved your library – you justwant to let iTunes know where you progressd all its stuff.

The Configuration
Fortunately, telling iTunes where its library now lives is a one-step process.

Go into iTunes’ Preferences > complexpane, and click on at the overall tab. on the highest of this tab is a record of where your library – your actual media – resides and, as you couldguess, you’ll be able to click the ‘Change…’ buttdirectly to inshapeiTunes it ishopped the pond to external hard disk drive pastures. you simplywant to browse during the Finder dialog and selectyour media library, wherever you set it, and click on OK. That’s it – iTunes writes the required adjustmentsto these aforementioned local database and XML library files, and also you do not need to do to any extent extraheavy lifting. so long as your drive continues to be mounted and running, you’ll be able to start out playing your media identical to before.

Unfortunately though, now that you are enjoying external iTunes library bliss, it is time to burst your bubble with a couple of gotchas to seem out for. it iscertainly possible to remainon trucking with this more or less setup (othersensiblethis shall be an hornyuseless post), however tlisted here are definitely a fewconstraints to think about when taking place this road.

The Gotchas
probably the most importantcatch is, in fact, the truth that ought to you ever disconnect your drive – maybeyou are a mobile notebokuser like myself – you obviously can’t play any of your media in iTunes. Unless you own an iPod and allowthe setting to regulate its music yourself, you’re just about out of luck here.

As you couldexpect, thcould also be signifies that managing an iPod with this aboutup can get quirky too. should you sync your iPod with iTunes, and also you connect it at the same time asyour library is unplugged, iTunes will freak out and, after a couple of moments, alert you that it could’t update your iPod because ncertainly one of your media is present. However: this does not remove any music out of your iPod, and also your iTunes media shall be playable when you connect your drive again. a large number of these ‘file not found’ exclamation points will seemnext for your songs within the iTunes median inventory after a scenario like this, but don’t panic: when you reconnect your drive (and/or recommenceiTunes; that one’s as much as you), all of your media will play and sync simplyfine again. I’ve tested this with both a 5G iPod and a nano.

should you wish to have so that you can plug for your iPod and examendmentfiles and folders without iTunes automatically starting (and potentially mentioning the aforementioned quirks), uncheck the ‘commenceiTunes automatically when this iPod is hooked up’ option. this wayiTunes only starts when you are smartand that in a positionto engage together with your media and/otherwise your iPod. These may not be straightforwardhabits to develop if you are used to iTunes running the displayfotherwise you, however they’re in all probskillnecessary should you’ve read this much into the post and also you are still thinking about living the external library lifestyle.

But what happens if I import media, download podcasts or buy anythingfrom the iTunes Store?
that is among the numerous spaceswhere i want totip my hat to Apple’s engineers, for they truly knocked one out of the park in terms of this example.

Ever wonder whon the improvementd > Consolidate Library menu option does? Well, it was made for justthis type of setup as your new external iTunes library. should your drive isn’t attachedwhile you commenceiTunes and, as an example, import a CD or download a subscribed podcast, iTunes must place it somewhere, and that it defaults to strikingthat media for your local ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/ folder. “But TUAW, that goes to displaymy library right into a multitude!” you exclaim from atop your desk chair. Fear not, intrepid reader, for the improvementd > Consolidate Library command that is to the rescue! This inventivecommand tells iTunes to reflectany media it isimported to the local default media folder over for your recently customized external folder – when It isreconnected, in fact. that is lovely, as it is a two-click process to transport all that new media over with the remainder of your library and organize it properly, defemployinga possiblely difficultlibrary mess.

However, a fortunate perk of iTunes’ skillto have a split library personality is its skillto update an iPod with a brand new podcast or recently imported album at the same time asyou’re out ‘n about, sans-external library drive. This hbecause the prospective to get confemployingthough, so for the sake of your companyal sanity, i am hoping you do not needyour new podcast episode fix too occasionallyat the same time asyou are at the go.

Finally, so far as reuniting your libraries is worried, it kind of feels that iTunes copies your new media files over to the drive when consolidating, as opposed to moving them. every now and then when you run this feature, it can well be a good suggestidirectly to dig infor your local iTunes Music folder and trash all those files, because the y’re simplydead weight after a consolidation.

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Solution: Make sure firewire (IEEE 1394a) cables are used throughout the entire daisy-chain connection to
the computer. Make sure all External drives are powered on. Power is required on all units that the data passes through.

Interface   Transfer   rate
USB 1.1     12 Mbits/sec
USB 2.0   480 Mbits/sec
firewire (IEEE 1394a) 400 Mbits/sec

if you want to attach your drive after your computer has already booted, you can simply connect the interface cable, turn on power to the drive, and your OS automatically detects and mounts the drive. This is known as hot-plugging.
In a hot-plug situation, it’s a good idea to connect all power and interface cables to your drive, and to
place the drive where you want it to remain, before you turn it on. This helps ensure that you won’t need to move your drive after it’s running.