Move iTunes to a new computer

Question

I have a backup of my music folder and my iTunes files and I want to restore it on a new computer which would be easy enough except this time I have an SSD drive on C: so I want the music and data on D:. Any chance this is easy?

Answer 1

Okay, here is what I ended up doing. Note that on the computer that died I had the "Keep iTunes Media folder Organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" checked already because, well, I wanted all the media in one place so it was easy to backup.

• Copy the files from backup to the drive you want them on (long before there was an iTunes I've stored my music right off the root in c:\mp3z\ but in this case I wanted them at d:\mp3z\ since the c drive is a tiny SSD drive . . . in general I don't like to trap the files in a particular login)
• Install iTunes (64-bit in my case)
• Start iTunes and go to preferences and set it up so the media folder is d:\mp3z\iTunes (same path as my old machine except for the d drive instead)
• Close iTunes and copy all the old iTunes library files from backup to C:\Users\\Music\iTunes (that includes iTunes Music Library.xml, iTunes Library.itl, iTunes Library Genius.itdb and iTunes Library Extras.itdb)
• Use an app like Search and Replace on "iTunes Music Library.xml" to replace all instances of "file://localhost/C" with "file://localhost/D". I tired in Notepad and Aptana and they both locked up and I had to start over. Search and Replace did all 8000 changes in 3 seconds.
• That's it! I went to podcasts and clicked refresh to get the latest and plugged in my iPod and later iPad to sync them up! Note however I had to "authorize" this new computer. Now I need to figure out how to "unauthorize" the old computer without actually having the old computer available. New Question!

Sheldon

Answer 2

this is what you can do in general. the easiet way is to just copy all folder in D: and drag all folder to your itunes

1- If you are a Windows user and don’t want to go through all of this hacking, you can buy iTunes Transfer software at my partner site. It will help you back up your library – with playlists – and transfer it to your other computer.

2- If you’re trying to transfer music from your iPod to your computer, unfortunately, Apple won’t let you do this freely, but you can buy iPod to Computer software for PC (free trial download), or iPod to Computer software for Mac at my partner site that will allow you to do this.

3-if you just have the hard drive of your old PC, Ben has shared with us how to make the transfer

4-if you aren’t keen on messing with XML files – and play count isn’t important to you - Oden has a simple process, involving smart playlists, for retaining song ratings when you transfer your iTunes library.

5- Collin has a simple way to find out those duplicate songs that you may end up with when transferring your catalog.

6-Aaron devised a clever way to transfer while retaining playlists in your collection.

7- If you are transferring between Macs, pbaron has a method involving FireWire mode.

this is the source.

Answer 3

Here are two options, I'm sure there are others.

• How to move your iTunes library to an external drive
• Move Your iTunes Library To Another Computer With iTunes 9 Home Sharing