Moving iPhone/iTunes to a new computer question

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gzt

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#81865 19-Apr-2011 14:39

I'm moving iTunes/iPhone to a new machine. Apple has a clear article on moving music to a new computer, but nothing I can find is clear about apps.

I guess I could just sync all apps, but..

My preference is to copy the whole iTunes folder from Music (which includes the index and apps etc) and have that picked up by the iTunes on the new computer. On the new computer, I'm planning to put the iTunes folder on a different partition.

The iTunes -> Preferences -> Advanced area has an option to set the iTunes\Media location, but does not give an option to set the root location for iTunes data.

I'm about to start experimenting - maybe it will just work by magic

trig42

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#460519 19-Apr-2011 14:43

What I have done in the past (and it works fine for music/playlists etc, have not checked for Apps) is install iTunes on the new computer, then copy the whole iTunes folder from the old one on top of the new folder structure. Fire up iTunes and it finds all your stuff.

It will stuff up if the old iTunes was old enough to have an iTunes Music folder instead of an iTunes Media folder (the databse entries will be looking for Music instead of Media).

gzt

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#460531 19-Apr-2011 15:28

Thanks for that. It might have worked, but my iTunes has been continually upgraded since 7, so I looked for a different solution. Found one.

1. Copied everything in the iTunes folder to the new machine and drive location
2. Hold down 'shift' when starting iTunes
3. iTunes prompts to select a library
4. Choose the location of the copied library

All the apps show up in iTunes when the phone is plugged in, did a sync, all ok so far.

Turns out the feature can be used to keep different and separate iTunes libraries, but it seems to work well to establish a copied iTunes folder from an old machine in a whole new path on a new machine.

chiefie

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#460535 19-Apr-2011 15:41

If you have access to both computers at the same time on the same network, the easiest is to use Home Sharing.

Enable Home Sharing on both iTunes/PCs with the designated Apple ID. Then on the new iTunes, look at the 1st iTunes Library, then look at the bottom and switch to "not in the library" (or something) and just copy over.

Easier and cleaner.

(p/s: Once you've done that, to reduce the number of activated itunes account on PC, make sure you de-authorise the 1st PC)

And video guide/how-to: http://www.heyhowto.com/music/move-your-itunes-music-to-a-new-computer-with-home-sharing/

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gzt

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#460599 19-Apr-2011 18:32

Aha! Thanks for the deauthorize reminder : )

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