# Backing-Up iTunes Purchases **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2009, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030 "2009-11-10T11:36:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gus\_Handsome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@Gus\_Handsome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Handsome)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/1 "2009-11-10T11:36:28Z")
I purchase much of my music through iTunes and have amassed quite a collection. After each purchase, the iTunes software asks me if I want to "back-up’ my purchase by writing it to a blank CD, I always decline. I don’t feel like having 500+ CD’s as a way to back it up, but a thought occurred to me, and nobody seems to know: My PC has a built-in Blu-Ray Disc burner, what if I went into iTunes, File-\>Library-\>Burn to Disc Would this let me back-up my entire iTunes library to a blank Blu-Ray Disc? Has anyone ever done this? Or would there be an easier way? What if I bought one of those small external drives, could I just transfer my iTunes music collection there, and then reload them into iTunes if I ever had to install windows again (without any problems?) This stuff is stressing me out. The only reason I bought an iPod is so at least I have my music backed up on the iPod. Thanks Gus ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/2 "2009-11-10T13:09:48Z")
I don’t know if it’s the best way but I copy my entire iTunes folder to an external drive. That way I back up the XML files and everything. Actually, I’m so paranoid and storage is so cheap that I keep two backups but I know that’s overkill. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/3 "2009-11-10T13:27:20Z")
> [@HongKongFooey](#): > > I don’t know if it’s the best way but I copy my entire iTunes folder to an external drive. That is the best way. Your iTunes folder contains the database files with your playlists and everything else. Under that there is iTunes Music folder, then under that depends on how you have it organized. Usually it is; iTunes \> iTunes Music \> (Artist) \> (Album) \> (Songs) Copying over the entire iTunes folder allows you to simply move the entire thing back should anything happen to it, or copy it over to a different computer should you purchase one or the old one crash. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Handsome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@Gus\_Handsome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Handsome)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/4 "2009-11-10T15:10:12Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > That is the best way. > > Your iTunes folder contains the database files with your playlists and everything else. Under that there is iTunes Music folder, then under that depends on how you have it organized. Usually it is; > > iTunes \> iTunes Music \> (Artist) \> (Album) \> (Songs) > > Copying over the entire iTunes folder allows you to simply move the entire thing back should anything happen to it, or copy it over to a different computer should you purchase one or the old one crash. So on my Windows Vista PC, the file I want to transfer to an external drive is Start-\>Music–\> iTunes? I just simply transfer this file to the drive? (I’m still lousy at computers so I don’t know the difference between a file and folder) Thanks Gus ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/5 "2009-11-10T15:57:46Z")
> [@HongKongFooey](#): > > … but I know that’s overkill. No, keeping three rolling backups going back five years with one copy stored offsite in fireproof storage is overkill. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/6 "2009-11-10T16:17:27Z")
> [@Gus\_Handsome](#): > > So on my Windows Vista PC, the file I want to transfer to an external drive is > Start-\>Music–\> iTunes? I just simply transfer this file to the drive? > (I’m still lousy at computers so I don’t know the difference between a file and folder) Check here [about half-way down the page.](http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/the-complete-guide-to-backing-up-your-itunes-library/) ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/7 "2009-11-10T16:36:47Z")
> [@Gus\_Handsome](#): > > I don’t feel like having 500+ CD’s as a way to back it up… I am intrigued by this. Are you saying that you have over 350G of music files that you’ve downloaded from iTunes? That is tens of thousands of songs. Let’s say 5,000 hours of music. Did I figure that right? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/8 "2009-11-10T17:37:50Z")
When I was doing Applecare support, I spoke to a handful of people with that kind of tune-age. One guy had close to a terabyte of music that he wanted help backing up onto another one tb drive that he was then going to put into a safe deposit box. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Handsome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@Gus\_Handsome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Handsome)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/9 "2009-11-11T06:27:50Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I am intrigued by this. Are you saying that you have over 350G of music files that you’ve downloaded from iTunes? That is tens of thousands of songs. Let’s say 5,000 hours of music. Did I figure that right? My apologies if I stated it incorrectly, but each time I purchase a CD from iTunes, it always gives me the option of inserting a blank CD and backing up my purchase onto a CD. So this is how I came to the one CD per album for back-up. I just checked my iTunes and I have 352 albums, 4,263 items, or 26.39GB So after each purchase I can insert a blank CD and back it up like that, it’s still an awful lot of CD’s to have as a back-up, and I’m thinking there has to be a much easier way. I would say that of the 352 albums, 150 I probably imported from CD which I actually own, and the remaining 200 I purchased from iTunes. At $10 a pop x 200 it still comes to a good chunk of change that I really don’t want to lose in case my computer loses everything. For the time being the only means of back-up I have is everything is also on my 32GB iPod Touch. I plan on upgrading to Windows 7, and I’m trying to figure this out so I don’t lose all the music I paid for. Thanks Gus ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/10 "2009-11-11T14:05:36Z")
Like we said, get an external drive. You can pick up a 500 gb external for around $100 these days. ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/11 "2009-11-11T14:11:27Z")
> [@Gus\_Handsome](#): > > So on my Windows Vista PC, the file I want to transfer to an external drive is > Start-\>Music–\> iTunes? I just simply transfer this file to the drive? > (I’m still lousy at computers so I don’t know the difference between a file and folder) > > Thanks > Gus No, that is simply the start menu navigation to open iTunes. You want to copy the actual folder within the computer’s directory. I do not have Vista so I do not know where it would be located on that OS. I use XP and my library is on an external drive so not sure what the default directory location is there anymore either. MeanJoe ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/12 "2009-11-11T15:41:37Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Like we said, get an external drive. You can pick up a 500 gb external for around $100 these days. $100 will get you 1 TB these days. $130 will get you 1.5T. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/13 "2009-11-11T15:56:04Z")
> [@MeanJoe](#): > > I do not have Vista so I do not know where it would be located on that OS. MeanJoe c:\users[username]\Documents\music\itunes ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/backing-up-itunes-purchases/517030/14 "2009-11-11T17:42:06Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > $100 will get you 1 TB these days. $130 will get you 1.5T. Correction: $60 will get you 1 TB on Black Friday, according to rumors.