Moving iTunes Library to another Mac

[qawbeurntdyeulilo]

I posted yesterday re copying iTunes to a newly acquired Mac Mini (please disregard that post). Several people recommended an external drive. It suddenly struck me that I have a 1TB Time Capsule in place with plenty of space. (I'm from Massachusetts. We have an expression... Dawn breaks on Marblehead.) I only use it for TM backups/router and forgot about it. I also rummaged around and found an HP external drive with space.

 

I currently have my iTunes library on my MB Pro. It's 135GB. I want to keep that copy there for portable listening. I just bought a 2014 Mac Mini to connect to my DAC. I want to create a copy of my library in the Mini's iTunes folders and that becomes my dedicated primary household system's library.

 

I have been reading threads about Consolidating libraries, etc. It seems to say it creates a duplicate file (or does it just point to the file?). Another one talked about creating dupe iTunes Music folders and dragging them to the drive. I don't have enough space on the MB Pro for a dupe library. Anyway, I simply want to move the appropriate files from the Pro to the Mini. I also read something about not copying Media files. I'm a bit confused and wary. An Apple Support guy wanted me to use Migration Assistant and that seems wrong to me.

 

Can someone either briefly cover the steps or point me to the appropriate post, please. I'm running iTunes 12.2.2.25 now. Not sure which files to copy and how to get them there.

 

Thanks very much and sorry for asking this again. I've tried reading a lot of posts and frankly I'm a little lost.

[wgscott]

Step 1: Drag and drop your iTunes folder onto the external drive. Let it finish copying

Step 2: Unmount your external drive

Step 3: Unplug your external drive

Step 4: Plug in your external drive into the mac mini.

Step 5: Drag and drop the recently copied iTunes folder onto the main drive of your new computer, putting it within the Music folder.

 

Alternatively, get a dedicated external drive, and do all of the above except step 5.

[qawbeurntdyeulilo]

Thanks.

 

A. Should I do Consolidate Library first (or at all)? Or change any iTunes settings beforehand?

 

B. The external drive is a Windows drive. My (just discovered) understanding is the Mac can read it but not write to it. Therefore, is it possible to connect my MB Pro to my Time Capsule using ethernet (or USB?), drag the library to that drive, then unplug ethernet and connect it to Mini and copy files to that.

 

C. If not, I'll reformat the external (though I need it ultimately to store Windows files).

 

Thanks

[wwaldmanfan]

Thanks.

 

A. Should I do Consolidate Library first (or at all)? Or change any iTunes settings beforehand?

 

B. The external drive is a Windows drive. My (just discovered) understanding is the Mac can read it but not write to it. Therefore, is it possible to connect my MB Pro to my Time Capsule using ethernet (or USB?), drag the library to that drive, then unplug ethernet and connect it to Mini and copy files to that.

 

C. If not, I'll reformat the external (though I need it ultimately to store Windows files).

 

Thanks

 

Reformat your external HDD as exFAT, and you can read and write to it with both Mac and Windows.

[wgscott]

Or spend a few bucks at Costcow and get a new 2TB USB drive.

[qawbeurntdyeulilo]

While I was waiting for comments re the external drive, I tried copying my iTunes library to my Time Capsule. Figured worst case I'd have an extra backup. Well, it took a few hours, but it all got copied over wifi. So now I have the folders on the TC. My plan is to copy them onto the Mac Mini.

 

This will work, right?

[wgscott]

Yes. You aren't likely to break anything. Just try it and see.

 

Another thing you can do is boot one of the computers into target disk mode, connect it to the other, and copy the files directly.