Moving iTunes from Windows XP to Windows 10

[mlcomputers]

Hi, have just visited a customer who has a huge iTunes music library on an old Windows XP desktop. iTunes folder is installed on default C drive however the music files are all stored on a separate partition folder in D

She has tons of playlists too!!

I am unable to consolidate the music to the iTunes media folder as the C drive is not large enough.

She has already purchased a new Windows 10 HP laptop with a single 1TB drive.

This lady is very precious about her music and want everything to be the same on her new computer. I have had nightmares in the past moving large iTunes libraries from XP can somebody offer some advice as to how to get her data across with as little fuss as possible so that all her playlists etc work ok. I have transferred all other data using Fabs and have the iTunes and seperate music in additional folders on an external drive if this helps.

Thanks Jason

 

[NJW]

AFAIK, the official Apple instructions should work. I have successfully moved iTunes installations similar to yours, even with the music library split over internal and external drives. The consolidation is done on the new drive, not the old.

Image before starting, of course.

 

[NviGate Systems]

You can always shrink the 1TB drive and create a second drive D: for music so iTunes doesn't get upset. If I'm not mistaken, iTunes doesn't store absolute paths anymore for items inside iTunes default folder, so you should be able to move the Library with little problems. But that is with modern versions. XP not so much.

If iTunes does have a fit for items in the users iTunes folder, the issue is that XP used "Documents and Settings" as opposed to "Users". There is a fallback folder on C: for old programs to use, I think it redirects to Users folder. So as long as the username is the same as the XP machine and the library is in the same folder it should be OK.

Keep in mind XP arranged folders different so you *may* have to create/move folders for the iTunes Library so it match the old layout.

 

[mlcomputers]

AFAIK, the official Apple instructions should work. I have successfully moved iTunes installations similar to yours, even with the music library split over internal and external drives. The consolidation is done on the new drive, not the old.

Image before starting, of course.

Hi, Many thanks, I will look to try this next week, Only 300 Gigabytes of music to move over!! Customer cannot understand why it will take time!

Jason

 

[mlcomputers]

You can always shrink the 1TB drive and create a second drive D: for music so iTunes doesn't get upset. If I'm not mistaken, iTunes doesn't store absolute paths anymore for items inside iTunes default folder, so you should be able to move the Library with little problems. But that is with modern versions. XP not so much.

If iTunes does have a fit for items in the users iTunes folder, the issue is that XP used "Documents and Settings" as opposed to "Users". There is a fallback folder on C: for old programs to use, I think it redirects to Users folder. So as long as the username is the same as the XP machine and the library is in the same folder it should be OK.

Keep in mind XP arranged folders different so you *may* have to create/move folders for the iTunes Library so it match the old layout.

Many thanks it is a large amount of Data to move across so not wanting to mess it up as the customer to say the least is a little bit difficult and does not appear to like change!!

 

[NJW]

Keep in mind XP arranged folders different so you *may* have to create/move folders for the iTunes Library so it match the old layout.

I think (but don't know for sure) that modern iTunes is much easier-going than earlier iterations. I do know that there was a time when it was essential to recreate the exact file structure on a new machine.

This bit from the Apple instructions seems relevant:

Part 4 (optional): Add back new content
Copy the iTunes Media folder you created in Part 2 into the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder inside the iTunes Media folder you copied in Part 3. iTunes automatically imports the content.

In broad outline, I have installed iTunes on the new machine, then imported everything from the old machine, using the 'Automatically Add ...' routine.

You'll have to decide if you want to continue with the iTunes library on D:, I haven't dealt with that complication, only a fragmented library on the old machine. It would make system backups much slimmer, of course.

 

[Altster]

Customer cannot understand why it will take time!

Ask the customer how long it took her to acquire all of these music files.

 

[johnrobert]

Every music library I have seen that size as been a bootleg but that's another story