Where exactly is/are the iTunes folder(s)?

[Cassady]

Apologies for such an inane topic - but pretty sure that if I get this wrong, I could be in for hours of not-so-much-fun!!

In prepping for the installation of the SSD (240gb), I needed to clear up space on my MBP's HDD. Googled "how to move your iTunes library to an external", got the Apple support page - did the necessary last night at about 20h00, and literally *24 hours* later, 116gb of iTunes data has been copied over to the external.

Music, podcasts, iTunesU, memos, and 30gb's of Mobile Applications.

Fired up iTunes with a option-click, selected the new library location, and after a few minutes of mounting concern involving a copy here and back there, all appears to be running as it should, down to the track ratings etc., - even updated an iPhone app, just to be sure.

So - at this point - the advice is, once all is running properly, and after another TM backup(?) - delete the original iTunes library, by dragging it to the trash...

Music I can find easily enough. But what about the rest? And do I delete the "home" directory - or simply the contents thereof?

 

[Cassady]

Aw shucks - silly me!! Can I delete a post?!

Never realised there was a separate iTunes folder inside my music folder - I assumed Mobile Applications etc. were pulled from elsewhere - it's all there.

So only question - do I drag the iTunes folder into trash, or simply clean out the individual folders? Anyone done something similar before? Will iTunes build everything up again if I bring it back?

 

[SauRoNZA]

Everything,
Database included is in that folder so you can just copy it and point to it and it will be exactly as it is now.

However I'm worried about your statement regarding the Home folder.

If you are migrating to an SSD (as in pulling the original drive out) there's no need to do any of this if you've slimmed down to below the SSD size or even if not.

Take the old drive out. Put the new drive in, install OSX then during the installation tell it to migrate from an existing installation.

Connect the "old" drive and it will put everything back that you selected without drama.

Failing that if you want to do it manually copy the entire Home folder (the one with your username) and then reinstall and put that back in place. Then create a new user with the same name and say use existing home folder when it asks.

Or restore it all from Time Machine. Still not sure why you moved anything in the first place.

Another hint. Go delete your device backups in iTunes and find the update files under ~/Library/ITunes (I think). Can save you a couple of gigs.

 

[Cassady]

Everything,
Database included is in that folder so you can just copy it and point to it and it will be exactly as it is now.

However I'm worried about your statement regarding the Home folder.

If you are migrating to an SSD (as in pulling the original drive out) there's no need to do any of this if you've slimmed down to below the SSD size or even if not.

Take the old drive out. Put the new drive in, install OSX then during the installation tell it to migrate from an existing installation.

Connect the "old" drive and it will put everything back that you selected without drama.

Failing that if you want to do it manually copy the entire Home folder (the one with your username) and then reinstall and put that back in place. Then create a new user with the same name and say use existing home folder when it asks.

Or restore it all from Time Machine. Still not sure why you moved anything in the first place.

Another hint. Go delete your device backups in iTunes and find the update files under ~/Library/ITunes (I think). Can save you a couple of gigs.

Thanks for the reply! And yes - I see my use of the word "home" was misleading - I merely meant, do I trash "/iTunes", or simply whatever is actually in it, leaving the /iTunes folder... Ended up doing the latter.

Regarding the migration - the SSD is a 240GB. I plan on plugging the SSD in, formatting it, and the using CCC to clone my current HDD to the new SSD - this is why I needed to slim down the HDD. Will then install the SSD, boot from it, check that all is running ok - then format the HDD - and reinstall the music over onto the HDD. Then do the same for my iMovie libraries - which will then only leave apps and work data on the SSD.

I kind of screwed myself a bit though, from a patience point of view. I had hoped to simply plug out the external 1TB from the router (it has data from both the wife's Windows machine, and my MBP on it), plug it in to my MBP, and then move the iTunes library over via USB [given we were talking about 110GB in size]... Unfortunately, plugging it in via USB - saw me only being able to Read. I have Custom Rights (Read/Write) over WiFi when it's plugged into the Router - USB, and I lose them.... Which is why the transfer took about 23 hours....

I did the above, since I didn't want to have to buy another external. But think I will have to bite the bullet and just do it. Don't have the patience to wait half a day for the 50GB iPhoto library to copy over, since it appears I might need to slim down the HDD with the latter as well, then I'll be good to go for the CCC straight to SSD.

If I'm doing the above unnecessarily - i.e., if there is an easier way - please shout!!

[PS - tried with an ethernet cable last night, between MBP and Router - in an effort to avoid having to transfer via WiFi, and got hit by the Mavericks(?) bug.... Ethernet constantly unplugs/replugs every few seconds, which makes my plan unfeasible...]

 

[bwana]

When I first installed my ssd in place of the superdrive I installed the OS on it and pointed the OS to the home directory on the HDD (using the Advanced tab of the user accounts) but I quickly got tired of managing two separate drives and turned them into a single fusion drive. Life is now simple (and fast).

 

[Cassady]

When I first installed my ssd in place of the superdrive I installed the OS on it and pointed the OS to the home directory on the HDD (using the Advanced tab of the user accounts) but I quickly got tired of managing two separate drives and turned them into a single fusion drive. Life is now simple (and fast).

Hi Bwana,

I'm not sure if mine will work as yours initially did (you [& Vinodh?] gave me some serious food for thought iro of the fusion-drive - but don't have the stomach for the setup) - so hoping I won't suffer the same schlepp.

I simply intend having iTunes, iPhoto, iMovies and my Archive [older than a year] documents on the HDD, which would have been wiped and reformatted as a simple "internal" storage drive - with everything else running off the SSD.... So I'm hoping I won't need to 'manage' anything else...

If the able proves to require too much work - I'll probably go your way too...

 

[SauRoNZA]

Hi Bwana,

I'm not sure if mine will work as yours initially did (you [& Vinodh?] gave me some serious food for thought iro of the fusion-drive - but don't have the stomach for the setup) - so hoping I won't suffer the same schlepp.

I simply intend having iTunes, iPhoto, iMovies and my Archive [older than a year] documents on the HDD, which would have been wiped and reformatted as a simple "internal" storage drive - with everything else running off the SSD.... So I'm hoping I won't need to 'manage' anything else...

If the able proves to require too much work - I'll probably go your way too...

You can accomplish this in one of two ways.

*1. Alt-Click the Dock Icons for each application and point it to the new location (which is on the separate drive). Not sure if this works for iMovie as I haven't done it myself but I suspect it will be the same.

2. Do it much more transparently by creating an Alias for the external folders in their locations under your Home Folder. So on the separate drive go to the Music/Movie/Pictures folder right-click them and then say Make Alias.

Now copy those aliases to your Home folder and then delete the Music/Pictures/Movies folder and rename the aliases accordingly to have the same names as the original folders.

Not only will your Apps work with the default configuration but so will your side bar and just about any other application that references those folders by default.

OR

This is a big OR.

You can move your entire Home folder onto the other drive and then point it to this new location by Right-click your User account under System Preferences and pointing it to the new location. It is however a bit sketchy and I don't know if Time Machine has sorted out this method as a means of backup (it didn't in previous versions of OSX).