Moving a 180GB iTunes library from a WD external hard drive to iCloud, utilizing a MacBook Air from mid-2013, and Sierra. I have plenty of iCloud room.
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Terry Mann
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How Do I Move a Large iTunes Library From a Hard Drive To iCloud?
Comments: 5 Responses to “How Do I Move a Large iTunes Library From a Hard Drive To iCloud?”
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Look into using iTunes Match. That's Apple's service for storing your iTunes music library. It actually even predates iCloud, though is now considered part of it. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204146.
I've been using it all along. It means I can access my entire iTunes music library from all of my devices with needing to store it all on my devices.
Of course for a lot of people Apple Music will be the better option. In that case you give up all (or most) of your iTunes library in exchange for having everything in Apple Music as your music collection and available to play from all devices.
This answer is incomplete. An iTunes library consists of more than just music. Perhaps the user wants to move the ENTIRE iTunes instance to iCloud. That is how I understand the question.
Scott: Perhaps. Thats the problem with answering questions online. There are never enough details. So I just have to make some good assumptions and answer.
I don't think moving the physical iTunes library as a library to an iCloud drive or any cloud solution is a good idea, especially if it includes video. The files would just be too large and uploads and downloads to keep things in sync would be a problem unless you had the fastest of Internet connections at all times.
Thanks for your help. Yes, there's some video in the library. But, the vast majority are movies purchased on iTunes.
Terry: In that case, simply delete the purchased movies -- remove those downloads. Seriously. You want them in the cloud, right? Apple has them in the cloud. You purchased them, so you can download them any time you want, which is the same as having them in the cloud. Even better because they don't use up any of your space. They even use the cloud symbol for that now. I own dozens of movies and TV shows from iTunes, and I have none of them currently downloaded on any of my Macs or iOS devices. If I want to watch any of them, I download and watch (or stream to Apple TV).