Storing iTunes videos on a different hard drive

Article

Storing iTunes videos on a different hard drive

Ask iLounge offers readers the opportunity to get answers to their iPod-, iPhone-, iPad-, iTunes-, or Apple TV-related questions from a member of the iLounge editorial team. We'll answer several questions here each week, and of course, you can always get help with more immediate concerns from the iLounge Discussion Forums. Submit your questions for consideration using our Ask iLounge Submit Form. We reserve the right to edit questions for grammar, spelling, and length.

View the complete Ask iLounge archives...

Q: I currently have my iTunes library consolidated and all the media stored in the iTunes folder on my PC’s internal hard drive. However I have recently begun to add more Movie and TV Shows to my iTunes library and I am running out of space on the hard drive. I have read how to move the entire library to an external hard drive, but I would just like to move the various video files to an external hard drive and keep all my music on the PC. Is there a quick way to do this without having to delete and then re-add all the video files to iTunes? I am using a PC running Windows 7. Thank you for your help.

- Graeme

A: Unfortunately there’s no easy way to handle this within iTunes as it expects you to store all of your media in one master folder. Fortunately, however, there is a way you can work around this at the operating system level.

Windows 2000 and later supports a feature known as “NTFS junctions” and Windows 7 also adds support for “NTFS symbolic links” similar to a feature found on Unix and Mac OS X operating systems. Either of these features can be used to create a virtual directory in your main iTunes Media folder that in reality points to another location, such as an external hard drive.

Windows 7 includes a command-line tool, mklink that can be used to create junctions or symbolic links, and if you are comfortable working at the command line this is the simplest way to do this. Alternatively, there are third-party tools available that provide a graphical front-end to simplify the process.

Essentially what you would do is shut down iTunes and then go into your iTunes Media folder on your internal hard drive, and move the “Movies” and “TV Shows” folders to your external hard drive. Once you’ve done this, you can use the mklink command or a suitable third-party utility to create a new “Movies” folder in your iTunes Media folder that links to the actual Movies folder on the external hard drive. If using mklink, the command would look similar to the following:

mklink /D C:\Users\username\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Movies D:\Movies

Once this link is created, any application that looks for files in the iTunes Media\Movies folder would actually be using the D:\Movies folder. iTunes would continue to behave as if all of your movies were still stored on your internal hard drive, but would actually be reading those files from the linked location on the external hard drive. Any new movies you download or import would also be placed on the external hard drive as iTunes would store them in the virtual “Movies” folder.

The most asked question at iLounge.com:

How do I copy content from my iPod/iPhone onto my computer?

Converting DVDs, web video, TV shows and more:

The Complete Guide to iPod, Apple TV and iPhone Video Formats

Converting DVDs, web video, TV shows and more:

The Complete Guide to iPod, iPhone and Apple TV Video Conversion (Mac)

Converting DVDs, web video, TV shows and more:

The Complete Guide to iPod, iPhone and Apple TV Video Conversion (Win)

Best Speakers?

Best Headphones?

Best Case?

Best In-Car Solution?

Best Battery Extender?

Find more answers in the latest publications in our Library. Free downloads developed by the editors of iLounge!

Ask iLounge Archives:

5-21-13: Inability to use Find My Friends without a passcode

5-17-13: Calendar info disappears after iCloud restore

5-16-13: Remove old iCloud backup after restoring to a new iPhone

5-15-13: Setting up a ringtone in iTunes

5-14-13: Using a Wi-Fi hard drive with an iPad

View the complete Ask iLounge archives...

« Backing up Apps

iPhone + iPad Gems: Instagram, Path, Hipstamatic, Pocketbooth + More »

Comments

1

In response to question #2 (deleting the old “media folder” after moving everything to an external drive). What she could do is simply rename that folder to something where iTunes would not find it and then try to load iTunes. If it loads up and everything appears to be there, than it is safe to delete the old foler. If not, than re-run the steps for transferring the library again and then repeat as above.

Posted by SkiBumMSP on November 23, 2010 at 8:01 PM (PST)

2

I would love to restore harmonics and clarity, typically lost to compression on my 60GB iPod…how is this done?

Posted by Melvin Lipscomb on December 4, 2010 at 6:53 PM (PST)

If you have a comment, news tip, advertising inquiry, or coverage request, a question about iPods/iPhones/iPad or accessories, or if you sell or market iPod/iPhone/iPad products or services, read iLounge's Comments + Questions policies before posting, and fully identify yourself if you do. We will delete comments containing advertising, astroturfing, trolling, personal attacks, offensive language, or other objectionable content, then ban and/or publicly identify violators.

Recent Reviews

New Deals

Shop for Accessories: Cases, speakers, chargers, etc.

iLounge

Article