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I keep trying to update my iPod to iOS 5, and it keeps telling me I don't have enough free space on my computer. I put basically everything from my computer onto my external hard drive, I also tried moving everything in iTunes to a media folder. I also dont understand why it isn't updating and saving from my iPod. It's saying I dont have enough memory to update my iPod and keep the media that's on it.

How do I update my iPod and still keep everything that's on it, and how do I move everything in iTunes onto my external hard drive?

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This question is unclear in its current form. Please explain "it keeps telling me I don't have enough free space". What is "it" in this case? iTunes? What kind of computer do you have - a Mac or Windows? – bneely Jan 27 '12 at 0:13
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I second @bneely's comment. Also, you're asking two separate questions here. The first about updating the phone, the other about moving an iTunes Library. I do have two initial thoughts though. First, after "cleaning up" your startup drive, did you empty the Trash? Second, you don't want to "move" media files being managed by iTunes manually. – jaberg Jan 27 '12 at 0:31
Your second question is answered in Can I keep my iTunes library on an external drive? – jaberg Jan 27 '12 at 0:36
i have a PC, yes iTunes after i click update it tells me "the media on this ipod cannot be backed up because there is not enough free space on this computer to hold all the backed up files (9.88 GB required, 3.99 GB avalible). on my external hard drive i have 442 GB, on my laptop i only have 3.99 GB – user17807 Jan 27 '12 at 0:44
Welcome to Ask Different! As mentioned, we need more info to answer this. I'm closing this for now, but if you can edit to include more info I'll reopen. Please take a look at the FAQs for more info. Thanks. – Nathan Greenstein♦ Jan 27 '12 at 0:44

closed as not a real question by Nathan Greenstein♦ Jan 27 '12 at 0:45

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

1 Answer

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It sounds like part of the problem here is that your iPod is out of free space. Major iOS versions require more space than the previous version. My advice would be to free an additional 1GB of space on your iPod before attempting the update. Perhaps you have a movie, large game, or other data that you can temporarily remove from the iPod to ensure enough free space for the OS update.

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i deleted about a GB of data, the only thing that changed was the amount of space thats needed to updats it. it i let it whipe my ipod clean will i be able to get my stuff back? – user17807 Jan 27 '12 at 0:34
what would happen if i let continue without it bein able to back it up? – user17807 Jan 27 '12 at 0:37
Please see the FAQ as indicated above where it explains why this question was closed. Then you may post new questions where these issues can be handled. – bneely Jan 27 '12 at 0:58

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