I have recently noticed that some tracks are missing from my iTunes. My laptop has very little storage left (about 6Gb) and it won’t update windows 10 anymore, or even let me defrag ( it says over 60% fragmented). I subscribe to Apple Music, so the library should be in the cloud. My question is: if I copy all my mp3s to an external drive, then delete them from my laptop, followed by iTunes, then clean up the laptop, and re-install all music + iTunes, will all my playlists still be there on the latest iTunes?
Is it possible to put a bigger hard drive in a laptop?
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Moose the Mooche says
I would take the precaution of exporting your playlists manually as individual files to a memory stick or whatever. You should be able to import them back in to ‘Tunes when the dust has settled.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Apple/iTunes questions – I have no idea, can’t stand the stuff.
Laptop hard drive replacement? Yes, it’s not at all difficult.
The only wrinkle will depend upon your laptop’s construction – some laptops have drives that are dead easy to get to, some make it a real PITA by obliging you to remove half the vital organs first. But fear not, unless your lappy is a really obscure make, you’ll almost certainly find a YouTube vid showing you exactly how to do it.
Moose the Mooche says
I’ve done it twice*. It must be really easy.
(*yeah…. I know!)
Mike_H says
Copy all your mp3s and your playlist files to the external drive and also create a System Image file in case of mishaps. If something goes wrong while copying everything to the new drive, this will help you rebuild it. You can create a system image from the “Backup” page in Settings/Update & Security. Click “Go To Backup and Restore (Windows 7)” which contains a link “Create a System Image”. Clicking this will tell you how much space the System Image file needs and ask you where you want to save it. Obviously you’ll want to save it on an external drive.
A lot of replacement hard drives come packaged with software to clone the old drive onto the new one before you swap them over. Makes the job very easy.
Of the 5 laptops I have owned, none have made it difficult to access the internal hard drive. Usually you just remove a plastic cover on the underneath of the lappy (sometimes just one screw holding it in place), undo a screw or two holding the hard drive in place and pull it away from it’s socket. Reverse the procedure to install the new one.
JQW says
One exception being some laptops with on-board SSD storage, particularly those with just 32GB. In these cases the storage is soldered onto the main circuit-board, and can’t be replaced.
Mdavies27 says
aside from moving your mp3’s, the other key thing to do is to make sure you don’t delete the itunes library file in the itunes folder and ensure itunes is directed to it when you reinstall. The files in this folder hold the data for playlists etc and update everytime you use itunes
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201610
https://www.wikihow.com/Transfer-Your-iTunes-Library-from-One-Computer-to-Another
Moose the Mooche says
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JQW says
The easiest way to migrate iTunes data from an internal drive to an external one is the following:
Connect the drive. Format it if necessary. Use Windows Disk Management to force it to always use the same drive letter.
In iTunes Preferences change the iTunes folder location to somewhere on the new drive.
From the File menu use the Library/Organise Library option to Consolidate Files. This will automatically copy all files from wherever they were stored before on the new drive.
Once consolidation is over you can safely delete the original audio files, but keep the various iTunes Library data files as these contain your playlist info.
geedubyapee says
Thanks for all these replies.
Next question: my laptop came with Windows 7 pre-installed (product key is on a sticker on underside of laptop). I subsequently upgraded to Windows 10, when it was free, but I don’t think I have a product key for that; will I be able to find it on my laptop, or will I have to revert to Windows7 on the new hard drive? What are the downsides? I reckon I’ll only be using this lappie for iTunes and music files.
Cheers all
Vulpes Vulpes says
I use a little utility called MyKeyFinder, which you can buy here:
https://www.abelssoft.de/en/windows
It’ll set you back less than a tenner.
Run it and it’ll find (pretty much) any software keys lurking in your registry or elsewhere, and you can download a Windows 10 image file (iso) from Microsoft for nothing – make sure you get the right version (Home, Pro, Enterprise, 32-bit or 64-bit) – burn that onto a disc or mount it in a virtual drive, install afresh and use the key you previously recovered from the utility and hey presto, you’ve got a new Win 10 install on new kit.
JQW says
As Windows 10 has already been installed on this laptop you should be able to re-install Windows 10 to a new hard drive and have the license be automatically detected – tracking tends to use the CPU’s unique serial number.
You can create Windows 10 boot media from Microsoft’s Windows Media Creation Tool – https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10
You don’t need to run this tool on the target machine, just anything running a recent-ish version of Windows. You just tell it whether you want a 32-bit or 64-bit version (or both) and whether you want to write it to a DVD or USB drive. Then just wait for it to download the files and write them out. The precise type of Windows (Home, Professional etc) isn’t needed, as the media covers all versions
Ainsley says
1. Create multiple backups in different places just in case
2. Buy one of these
and a larger hard drive than you’ve got already. If you can afford an SSD buy one of those and you’ll also get a massive speed boost.
3. Connect the new hard drive with the cable and use cloning software to copy the old drive to the new one. If you buy an SSD it may well come with cloning software or there is plenty available on the nets.
4. Once cloned just swap the drives and there “should” be nothing else to do.
This is easier to do than you might think – EXCEPT, as others have said, if the current drive is buried under the keyboard but you can find that out very quickly through your intrusive friend Google.
Twang says
I’ve reinstalled iTunes a few times and it was always an utter nightmare, lost all playlists etc. Be brave. Good luck.
davebigpicture says
Crucial.com have a scanning tool which will tell you what drive you can fit plus loads of handy hints and videos.
Harold Holt says
This isn’t likely to happen, but Windows keeps track of the hardware in the machine, and if enough pieces are changed it thinks it’s a new device (like you copied your C drive to have 2 machines). At which point it will refuse to authenticate.
That shouldn’t happen for a simple drive change (hasn’t for me a few times) but changing more than that can trip it. That resulted in a long tedious chat with Microsoft support.
geedubyapee says
Thanks again for all the advice. I managed to replace the hard drive with a 1Tb one, and all seems fine. It seems that all my playlists were retained in the cloud, so after I copied all my music files back over, itunes managed to link up the cloud and my actual files. Job done!