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Why is backing up iTunes to an external USB drive such a good idea? You don’t want to lose a carefully organized collection of songs and playlists in a snap PC crash. But clogging your PC storage with a backup copy of the entire library is not wise.

So why not back up the iTunes library to an external USB drive? Besides this allows you to bring the iTunes copy with you and access it on any PC where iTunes is installed. The steps below show how to make an automated complete iTunes backup in 6 clicks or less.

Let’s make a copy of your iTunes library to a USB drive

  1. Get CopyTrans TuneSwift on the PC containing the iTunes library Click here to download CopyTrans TuneSwift

  2. Install the program. If you need help installing CopyTrans TuneSwift, please refer to this article

  3. Connect the external drive or USB stick to your PC

  4. Start CopyTrans TuneSwift and choose “Backup” backup button in main copytrans tuneswift program window

  5. Click on the “Full backup” button full backup button in copytrans tuneswift

  6. Now navigate to the external drive by clicking on the Green Pencil symbol select itunes backup location

  7. Select the USB stick or external hard disk where to make the iTunes copy browse-to window to select external drive

  8. Hit “Start Backup” start backup button in copytrans tuneswift

  9. CopyTrans TuneSwift copies all contents of your iTunes library including songs, playlists, books, podcasts and any other media tracks into a series of backup files itunes backup in progress

  10. Once the backup completes, you’ll be prompted to validate it. We recommend doing so to confirm the integrity of the backup copy. itunes backup validation in copytrans tuneswift

You now have a copy of your iTunes library exactly as you left it at the time of backup. The copy is saved into TSW files to the external drive. Use CopyTrans TuneSwift at any point in the future to restore back the iTunes library to another PC. tsw backup files in windows explorer

How to back up iTunes to external drive

YouTube tutorial

This is how to back up the iTunes library to an external drive or a USB stick.

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By krasimir

Krasimir is an avid marketing aficionado and a tech-support specialist in charge of the English-speaking market. He grew up in Bulgaria and on the island of Mauritius where he became passionate about windsurfing and photography.