Itunes library backup question

TONY · 14 Mar 2019 at 03:16

I’m currently making a backup of my iTunes media folder to an external drive, does anyone know if I will have to backup the entire library again from scratch to the eternal drive every time I add a new purchase to my iTunes library or can I just copy and paste the new purchase to the iTunes media folder on the external drive? could this cause some issue with the iTunes database file on my external drive if I was to do this? My library is getting larger all the time (currently 4TB) so having to back the entire thing up each time would be a bit inconvenient.

Feek · 14 Mar 2019 at 07:59

If this is for backup purposes then it won’t work as the iTunes database on the backup won’t be aware of the additional files you’ve added.

You could use SuperDuper! to smart copy the folder so it’ll only make copies of files that have changed. You can set a schedule so it runs [say] once per day to ensure the backup copy is the same as your main library folder.

TONY · 14 Mar 2019 at 11:32

Feek said:
If this is for backup purposes then it won’t work as the iTunes database on the backup won’t be aware of the additional files you’ve added.

You could use SuperDuper! to smart copy the folder so it’ll only make copies of files that have changed. You can set a schedule so it runs [say] once per day to ensure the backup copy is the same as your main library folder.

Thanks for the advice, what if I was to replace the database file on the external backup with a copy of the one in my main library every time I copy and pasted something new over?

Feek · 14 Mar 2019 at 12:10

That would work but if you can automate it then surely that’s easier.

TONY · 14 Mar 2019 at 13:15

I’m running Windows 10 and SuperDuper appears to be Mac only so I will need to find a Windows equivalent.