How To Save Itunes Library Mac

Library

Though we store more and more of our music online these days, a hard-copy backup is still the gold standard for keeping your data safe. And if you use Apple Music or iCloud Music Library, the best way to do that is still iTunes.

  • Oct 07, 2019 Restore your library from a backup. Go to 'This Computer,' then click your external drive. Select your iTunes folder, then right-click and choose Copy. Go to the location on your computer where you want your iTunes library, then right-click and choose Paste. Hold down the Shift key.
  • Nov 29, 2018 Part 3: How to Back Up Music in iTunes Library Selectively. If you want to backup some music in iTunes library to computer or iPhone before deleting the whole iTunes library, AnyTrans for iOS is exactly what you need to transfer music from iTunes library to computer or iOS device within steps.

There are a few ways to back up your iTunes library; it's important to choose one and regularly back up so that you won't have to worry about your local copy getting lost or damaged. My music — at least for me — is one of those must-backup items; I don't want to have to manually re-build or re-buy thousands of tracks.

First: Make sure your entire library has been locally downloaded

Move the iTunes Library.xml or iTunes Music Library.xml file to your Desktop or to another folder. You’ll be using this file to rebuild the library. Delete the iTunes Library or iTunes Library.itl file by moving it to the Trash or Recycle Bin. Launch iTunes, and choose File Library Import Playlist.

If you use iCloud Music Library or the iTunes Store, you may have some or all of your music stored in the cloud. But to truly make sure your purchased and owned content is backed up, you'll want to download a local copy to your Mac. Here's the best way to do so:

To download specific items in your iCloud Music Library right now to your Mac's drive, do the following:

  1. Launch Music (or iTunes on Mojave and earlier) on your Mac.

    Source: iMore

  2. Find the Artist, Albums, or Songs that you want to download.
  3. Click the .. button to bring up a pop-up menu.

    Source: iMore

  4. Click Download to initiate the download of these items.

    Source: iMore

And if you want to start automatically downloading everything that you add to your Apple Music library from this point forward, then it's easy peasy! Here's how:

Oct 12, 2016 Step 1: Consolidate your library Launch iTunes on your Mac. Click File in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen. Hover your cursor over Library in the dropdown menu. Select Organize Library from the secondary menu. Tick the box for Consolidate Files in the window that appears. How to Consolidate, Find and Backup iTunes Library. It would have been appropriate to first discuss how to consolidate iTunes library, find the iTunes media folder, and backup iTunes library and media files, before discussing how to reset iTunes Library on Mac or Windows PC. However, we let the first come last for a genuine reason.

  1. Launch Music (or iTunes on macOS Mojave and earlier) on your Mac.

    Source: iMore

  2. Click Music in the menu bar.
  3. Click Preferences (or press ⌘, on the keyboard).

    Source: iMore

  4. Make sure you're in the General tab.

    Source: iMore

  5. Click the box for Automatic Downloads to turn it on.

    Source: iMore

Once that is turned on, any music you add to your Apple Music library will be downloaded automatically to your Mac's hard drive.

How to back up iTunes via Time Machine or another backup service

If you have Apple's Time Machine backup system enabled — or any other cloud — or system-based backup — your iTunes library should automatically be covered. This way, if you ever need to restore, you can just pop back in Time Machine's History (or a past backup from CrashPlan or Carbon Copy Cloner, for example) to retrieve it.

How to manually back up your iTunes library

If you're not employing a Mac-wide backup service (really, you should get on that), or if you just want to manually back up your iTunes library separately, here's how to go about that.

Consolidate your library

To ensure that all of your iTunes files are in the same place when you make a manual backup, you should first consolidate your iTunes library.

  1. Make sure you've downloaded a local copy of your music to your Mac.
  2. Launch Music (or iTunes in macOS Mojave or earlier) on your Mac.

    Source: iMore

  3. Click File in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen.
  4. Hover your cursor over Library in the drop down menu.

    Source: iMore

  5. Select Organize Library from the secondary menu.

    Source: iMore

  6. Tick the box for Consolidate Files when the Organize Library window appears.

    Source: iMore

  7. Click OK.

    Source: iMore

This will make a copy of all files in the iTunes media folder, leaving the originals in their current location.

Copy your iTunes library to a backup source

  1. If you are using an external hard drive, connect it to your Mac using a USB cable.
  2. Click on Finder to open a Finder window.
  3. Select your Mac's Hard drive.

    Source: iMore

  4. Click on Music in the sidebar.

    Source: iMore

  5. Select the Music folder (or iTunes on macOS Mojave and earlier) and drag that folder to the external hard drive icon on your desktop or copy it to your online backup service.

    Source: iMore

  6. Click Authenticate, if prompted, to give permission to make a copy of the iTunes folder.
  7. Enter your administrator password.
  8. Click OK.

    Source: iMore

The copy process will begin. This could take a very long time, depending on how big your Music/iTunes library is. So, sit back, relax, watch a movie, or whatever you do to pass the time.

Desperate times call for desperate measures

If you are about to do something wild with your Music or iTunes library and don't have a way to back it up on an external drive or online backup service, you can make a temporary backup that you store right on your Mac. This is, by no means, a solid backup plan, but can be useful in a pinch.

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Note: After making a copy, it is a good idea to move the copied folder to an easy-to-find location that is separate from any folder you plan to make changes to (like the Music folder). This copied folder should be deleted immediately after it is no longer needed because it takes up extra space on your computer's hard drive unnecessarily and could cause confusion with your most current Music or iTunes folder.

  1. Click on Finder to open a Finder window.
  2. Select your Mac's Hard drive.

    Source: iMore

  3. Click on Music in the sidebar.

    Source: iMore

  4. Right-click or control-click on the Music folder (or iTunes folder if you're still on macOS Mojave or earlier).

    Source: iMore

  5. Select Duplicate from the drop down menu.

    • The copy process will begin. This could take a very long time.

      Source: iMore

  6. Move the copied iTunes or Music folder to a new, easy-to-find location.

  7. Delete the copied iTunes or Music folder once you no longer need the temporary backup.

Any questions?

Running into issues making an iTunes backup? Pop them in the comments below.

March 2020: These are still the current steps for how to back up your music.

Serenity Caldwell contributed to an earlier version of this guide.

Backing up: The ultimate guide

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How To Save Itunes Library Mac Os

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Jul 16,2019 • Filed to: iTunes Music Transfer • Proven solutions

Is it possible to transfer my iTunes library from pc to mac and/or mac to pc?

The brand new expensive computer will not provide you the level of joy that you are expecting from it without the lovely melodic tunes stored in your iTunes library. So you need a reliable and quick way to transfer all your favorite tunes to your new hard drive and start having all the fun. Therefore, the need for transferring iTunes library from your personal computer to Mac computer is inevitable. To transfer the entire iTunes Library from PC to Mac does not need you to be a system engineer. There are however multiple ways to accomplish this task and transfer your files easily from one computer to other. Let us explore some nice ways to use the iTunes backup and restore the wide variety of data to our local machines.

Part 1. Without External Hard Drive – Using iMusic (Highly Recommend) to Move iTunes Library from PC to Mac

Before you start your transfer process, reliable network connectivity between the two computers is needed i.e. between your PC and Mac. The iTunes software must be installed on both computers also. Your Apple id must also be linked to iTunes library in order to proceed successfully. In this first method of transferring iTunes library from PC to Mac machine, we will not make use of any external storage devices or hard drives. Instead, we will make use of the gadgets like iPod, iPad or iPhone. We need to choose a robust tool like iMusic to transfer the iTunes library from Personal pc computer to Mac.

iMusic is a powerful all-in-one multimedia management tool that has built-in features for transferring media files and fixing iTunes-related issues. One particular feature that stands out in this regard is the Rebuild iTunes Library feature that can be used to transfer the entire iTunes library from a Windows PC to a Mac in no time!

iMusic - Transfer iTunes from PC to Mac without Erasing the Data

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Due to the fact that iMusic is compatible with both Microsoft Windows technology as well as Mac operating system, you will find it enjoyable not to run into OS compatibility issues. Follow the steps below to enjoy a convenient experience of transferring your iTunes library from PC to Mac:

Step 1: Download and install iMusic. Connect your device with your computer and click on the “Library” , “Add” button on the top bar. Select the files from PC to iTunes Library.

Step 2: Disconnect your device from one computer and connect it with the other computer. Once you have connected the device, click on the “Toolbox”. Hit the “Rebuilt iTunes Library” on this new computer and select your device from the screen. Click on the “Start” button.

Step 3: Now, select the corresponding tab which is present at the top and click on the “Export to Mac”. This is the last step which may take some time depending upon the music present on your computer. Once the process is completed, you will see the pop-up on the screen showing the successful transfer. Which means that you have finished the process transferring itunes from PC to Mac.

Using the “Rebuild iTunes” feature is easy but you need to be cautious also locate folders yourself. This may take a lot of time to complete depending upon your computer speed and data files, but in the end, it leaves you happy and satisfied.

How To Save Itunes Library To Icloud

Related article reading: transfer itunes playlist to new computer.

Part 2. Transfer iTunes from PC to Mac With External Hard Drive With External Hard Drive

How To Save Itunes Library To Flash Drive

Keeping your iTunes files in one location makes your job easier for using this method. Then you can arrange a hard drive to copy all your files to it and enjoy transferring the data to a new location on the new machine. The best way is to you External Hard Drive or the USB depending upon the music library present on your computer. Before you continue, remember that this method will not work the Apple music and you can only transfer the tracks which are already present on your computer or you have purchased from the iTunes Library.

  • On your Mac computer, click open preferences and click iTunes. Then select advance and keep track of your music folder on your local PC.
  • Now select Organize Library and click on the Consolidate option. Now all your media and music files will be copied to your computer in the iTunes folder. The larger the size of your files, the longer it will take to complete. As soon as the process of Consolidation ends, you can quit iTunes.
  • The next step is to plug in the hard drive externally which has large free space available to hold all your desired data. Check the folder size and find out how much the size of your data in the folder properties is.
  • If your external hard drive is no formatted, format it before proceeding forward. The Apple iPod or iPhone can also be used as an external hard drive depending on how much space they have.
  • Once the external drive is formatted and connected, you can drop and drag the iTunes folder and start the process of copying the media files to external drive. Click Eject Hard Drive once the copying process is over.
  • Now move on to your Mac computer and locate your iTunes media folder on the new system. Connect the external drive to this machine and you are ready to transfer the iTunes library to your Mac now. If you do not want the existing music on your mew machine to be deleted, then copy those files and save them on the external disk.
  • Now all you have to do is to replace the currently existing media folder with the new one. All the playlists, ratings and songs information will be reloaded by the iTunes automatically once it is done.

Part 3. Transfer iTunes from PC to Mac With Home Sharing Method

The Home Sharing Method is relatively an easy method to transfer the iTunes library from PC to Mac. The necessary condition to complete this method is to install the iTunes on the both computers first. Moreover, you will also need to use the same iTunes account on the both computer. Let’s see the step by step procedure to use the Home Sharing Method.

How To Save Itunes Library To Usb

How to save itunes library to icloud
  • As soon as the Mac and old computer are connected to the same network using the Wi-Fi, open iTunes on them one by one.
  • Then on the first computer (with Windows), select the Home Sharing icon which will be seen on the left menu. Sometimes this icon does not appear due to Home Sharing being turned off, in this case, turn on the home sharing first.
  • After the Home sharing is enabled on both of your computers, you can see the Home sharing icon and click it. The Home Share Button can be created here by entering your known Apple password and id.
  • Now you need to assign permissions to your computer on which you are copying your iTunes library to. Click Authorize Computer on the Store Menu and again enter your Apple id and password.
  • In the left menu, click the Home Sharing icon now. Select all the files and music that you want to copy or select all if you need everything to the new machine.
  • Now the final step is to hit the Import button. Once done, the files will start copying onto your new computer without a delay. If network speed is good with a Wi-Fi connection, then the process will take only a few minutes. The transfer speed also depends on the size of your iTunes library items. That completes our third method to transfer the iTunes library from PC to Mac successfully.

Conclusion:All methods have their own pros and cons, if you don’t want to use the same iTunes account on both computers, the best way is to transfer the iTunes library from PC to Mac using iMusic. Moreover, it will also save you a lot of time as you will not need to transfer the data from one computer to hard drive and then to the other computer. In this way, you can also preserve the library on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Multiple photos libraries mac. Which is your favorite method? Let us know in the comments section below.

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iMusic - Move iTunes Library from PC to Mac with Simple Clicks

How To Backup Itunes Library With Time Machine

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