Move iTunes to an external drive on your Mac - intelligently
There are a few ways to move your iTunes collection to a different location. Here is an intelligent way that leverages the *nix underpinnings of Mac OS X using symbolic links.
- Close iTunes
- Locate your music collection in the Finder (it should be the folder "iTunes" under "Music" in your home folder
- Move it to the new location! Just drag and drop, we're going to fix it in a second
- Right click on iTunes in the new location and select "Make Alias"
- Move the alias to the location your old iTunes folder is. It is probably called "iTunes alias" or similar
- Drag your old iTunes library to the trash
- Rename "iTunes Alias" to "iTunes"
- Open up iTunes and check to see that your music is still there and working!
This gives you flexibility if you need to reorganize or free up space. By creating an alias (symbolic link), iTunes treats the music collection as if it was never moved!