Weekly Tip #2: Two Ways To back-up iTunes

Well, since everyone seems to be getting iPods this holiday season I decided to give you guys afew ways to secure your new music library. I will start with a way that is easiest way and the most effective.

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Option 1: DVD Backup

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For this option you need either writable DVDs or Cd’s.

1. Open iTunes first and then click File.
2. Then, click back-up to disc.
3. From here you make sure “Back Up Entire Library and Playlists” is checked and then click next.
4. Insert a Blank CD. If iTunes says that a blank DVD needs to be inserted then take out the blank CD and insert the blank DVD.
5. Keep inserting blank DVDs when iTunes instructs you to.
6. Once this is done iTunes will instruct you to insert another disc when you add more songs to your library.
7. You’re Done!

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Option 2: Using an External hard Drive.

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This method requires a little more work. What happens is you would need to repeat these steps everytime you change your library and then delete your old backup files.

1. Plug in your external hard drive.
2. Open the “My Computer” window and double-click on your external hard drive to explore it.
3. Now, open itunes and click Advanced then consolidate Library.
4. A message box will come up. Don’t worry about the scary message, just click consolidate.
5. Once that has finished open your “My Music” folder and move your whole iTunes folder onto your hard drive. You can do this by right clicking on it and selecting copy then right clicking on your hard drive window and click paste. If you have a big library then this may take a while.

NOTE: Evert time your add new music to your library then you must do this over and delete the old back up folder on your hard drive.

Now, to restore your library after your computer crashes (Option 1) Download iTunes and then insert the discs one by one, (Option 2) move the back-up folder to your computer first then download iTunes.

I hope this helps alot. Just a little update about the Question of The Week still needs a question for next week. We will take submissions up until next Tuesday. Remember to email us at koolbogs@gamil.com! Also, starting now you can leave a comment to THIS post.

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Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Weekly Tip #7: 3 More Nifty iTunes Features
• Weekly Tip #5: 5 Nifty iTunes Features-Part I
• How To Make a Pretty Backround from Album Artwork in iTunes
• Moving your iTunes Library to an external hard drive