Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Need help with iPod + iTunes + PC

by vpnyc Oct 8, 2007 2:22AM PDT

I have one problem: I have about 12 GB of priceless music on my hardrive that is also all on my iPod. I transfer music to it using iTunes, obviously... Anyway, I am always adding new music to my collection, and because of all the other applications/media files on my computer I am running out of space. Managing the other files is not an option. I want to somehow delete all music files from my computer and have them only on my iPod. I don't use my music on my PC, I only keep it there to transfer to iPod. I know that if I delete all my music, iTunes will eventually detect that my music is missing, and sequentially delete all music from my iPod next time I connect it. Does anyone know how to keep my music on my Ipod, but not neccessarily on my PC at the same time? Help would be appreciated..

Discussion is locked

3 Posts
- Collapse + Expand Details
- Collapse -
Maybe you are a candidate for
by mrmacfixit Forum moderator Oct 8, 2007 5:07AM PDT

a large external hard drive.

Shift your iTunes library to the external, tell iTunes where to find it and it will no longer look to the internal drive for the tracks. They can then be safely deleted.

I don't know of any way to delete them and to be certain that the iPod will not work as designed and sync itself to what you have on your PC.

P

- Collapse -
a couple of options
by ktreb Oct 8, 2007 5:12AM PDT

move your library to an external hd

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305451

or

Delete your music from your hard drive (you do have a back up?) but DO NOT delete from your iTunes library. So you don't want to use iTunes to delete anything, unless you want to delete from your iPod. Delete through Windows Explorer. Just make sure you don't delete any iTunes library data - there will be a couple of files named iTunes library (one should be a data file, another will be an xml file). There might be another called Previous iTunes Libraries. I probably wouldn't delete that either. And keep the album artwork file.

That way, you can free up some hard drive space but keep your iTunes library intact. As long as the songs are listed in your iTunes library, they should stay on your iPod.

Personally, I prefer moving to an external hd. I have enough room on my current laptop so it isn't an issue now. But if it were, I would use a bus powered external hd so I don't have to deal with an additional power brick.

- Collapse -
if you do delete from your hard drive....
by ktreb Oct 8, 2007 5:17AM PDT

You'll see exclaimation points next to every song iTunes can't find. But that's okay.

Start off with a few songs first, just to make sure this works. I've done it before with a few videos, but never a bunch of songs.

Back to Headphones & Mp3 Players forum

CNET Forums

Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Brand Forums
Roadshow Autos
Off Topic

Other Forums

Forum Info