Need suggestions for Itunes

[edrod13]

Just fixed my moms computer that had a dead motherboard. Got her up and running with something newer but dont have a clue on how to get her itunes music on this new computer. Since it died, we were never able to deauthorize it etc.... The HDD is still functioning even though its not part of the new build. She has a some music she purchased through the apple store and the rest was ripped from CD's. Is there any way of retrieving these from the HDD and onto the new computer?

[David M]

Yes, the files can be moved over.

Slave the old hard drive to the new computer. Move the old iTunes files to the new drive. Do all of the files because iTunes separates the music files from the metadata for those music files. Then download iTunes onto your new drive and direct iTunes to look for music files on your drive.

iTunes will authorize up to five computers. So unless that account has already authorized five in the past then it is not a problem. If so then you can reset the authorization in iTunes so you can start from scratch with which computers are authorized.

If you need more detail then Apple has an excellent website and forum for iTunes help.

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/

In the bigger picture, I think it is better to keep ones music library on a hard drive separate from their C: drive. The advantage is when I do have to replace or wipe my C: drive, such as when reinstalling the OS for example, I don't have to do what you are about to do. I just put my music library drive in my new computer, download iTunes and direct iTunes to use my music drive. It is also really easy to make a backup clone of my music drive so I will never lose all of my music.

Be sure to set up iTunes so that it updates the changes you make to the drive with the library.

You already have this with your mom's old drive....provided she want's to give up her old drive.

[pam123]

Ditto

Dave is correct, you can transfer the iTunes files, they're in the "My Music" folder.
I also keep iTunes media files on a separate hard drve and I keep the drive backed up with Synctoy.
That way it's a simple and inexpensive matter if I need to do a replacement.

[edrod13]

Since its a new build, should I just slave the drive and then copy over the MY MUSIC folder and replace it? I usually keep my music separate as well but the old drive is IDE and I wanted to install a SATA.

[David M]

That will work.

If you have a huge or irreplaceable music library then you definitely want to back it up. Maybe use your mom's old drive as your backup.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Originally Posted by David M Maybe use your mom's old drive as your backup.

Really?? Come now, when even new drives can die, using an old one is more like a death certificate than a backup.