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User profile for user: MikeGMIT
MikeGMIT Author
User level: Level 1
12 points

My iTunes files are on an external drive - how do I move them into Apple Music in Big Sur

Over the years I collected about 1TB of music and podcasts in iTunes. I have them all on an external drive off of an old MacBook Pro.


Now I have an M1 Mac Mini running Big Sur and need to move those files into Apple Music.


But my Mini only has about 470 GB free.

How do I direct Apple Music to consolidate the files to another external drive instead of Home/Music/


I think I have a path that I could try but maybe there is a better way.



Mac mini, macOS 11.4

Posted on Jul 25, 2021 1:00 PM

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User profile for user: MikeGMIT
MikeGMIT Author
User level: Level 1
12 points

Posted on Jul 29, 2021 11:59 AM

I got there!

1) Opened Music and went to Preferences -> files

2) Changed the Music Media folder location to a place on an external drive with lots of space

3) I said yes to "Would you like to move and rename the files in your new Media folder to match the "Keep Media folder organized preferences?""

4) Went to File -> import and pointed to the top level directory that contained a huge number of music (in iTunes) and podcasts at lower levels in the directory structure

5) in about an hour it had imported nearly a terabyte of files

6) in another hour or two it completed some cleanup activity (like Determining Gapless Playback Information whatever that is)


Now I need to figure out playlists, smart playlists, Genius, and some other features and structures...


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User profile for user: MikeGMIT
MikeGMIT Author
User level: Level 1
12 points

Jul 29, 2021 11:59 AM in response to MikeGMIT

I got there!

1) Opened Music and went to Preferences -> files

2) Changed the Music Media folder location to a place on an external drive with lots of space

3) I said yes to "Would you like to move and rename the files in your new Media folder to match the "Keep Media folder organized preferences?""

4) Went to File -> import and pointed to the top level directory that contained a huge number of music (in iTunes) and podcasts at lower levels in the directory structure

5) in about an hour it had imported nearly a terabyte of files

6) in another hour or two it completed some cleanup activity (like Determining Gapless Playback Information whatever that is)


Now I need to figure out playlists, smart playlists, Genius, and some other features and structures...


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User profile for user: Old Toad
Old Toad
User level: Level 10
210,597 points

Jul 25, 2021 2:05 PM in response to MikeGMIT

When I first launched Music it asked me to point it to my library and asked me if I wanted to consolidate the library or leave the tracks where they are. If your library in your Music folder but the tracks are on the external HD I believe all you need to do is point Music at the library in the Music folder and not consolidate the tracks.


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My iTunes files are on an external drive - how do I move them into Apple Music in Big Sur

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