Best Solution to Transfer Music from External Hard Drive to iPod

Alice MJ

Feb 13, 2025 • Filed to: Manage Device Data • Proven solutions

Is it possible to copy music from an external hard drive onto an iPod? I have an external drive with a lot of music that I've deleted off my laptop to free up space and now I want to put it onto new iPod. There isn't enough space on my laptop hard drive to put the music back into the laptop, so is there a way to transfer from hard drive to the iPod? Thank you.

The answer is YES. You don't have to sync iPod with iTunes, which lets you lose all the old songs on the iPod. Instead, you can transfer music from external hard drive to iPod in batch and keep the old songs on it at the same time. To realize it, you need to get a third-party tool for help. Dr.Fone - Phone Manager (iOS) (Windows and Mac) is a good option. In this article, I'll show you how you make it.

How to transfer music from external hard drive to iPod

What You Will Need

One PC installed with Dr.Fone
An External hard drive with music you want to transfer
An iPod you want to get music
Two USB Cables, one for iPod and the other for external hard drive

Dr.Fone - Phone Manager (iOS)

Transfer MP3 to iPhone/iPad/iPod without iTunes

Transfer, manage, export/import your music, photos, videos, contacts, SMS, Apps etc.
Backup your music, photos, videos, contacts, SMS, Apps etc. to computer and restore them easily.
Transfer music, photos, videos, contacts, messages, etc from one smartphone to another.
Transfer media files between iOS devices and iTunes.
Support all iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models with any iOS versions.

Available on: Windows Mac

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Both Windows and Mac version work well. In this article, I'm going to focus on the Windows version. Mac users can follow the similar steps to get things done.

Step 1. Connect the iPod and external hard drive to the PC

To begin with, run Dr.Fone after installing it on the PC. Choose "Phone Manager" from the main window

transfer music from external hard drive to ipod

Connect the iPod and the external hard drive to the PC with the digital USB cables. When your iPod is detected, this program will bring up the main window on which the iPod is shown.

transfer music from hard drive to ipod

Step 2. Transfer music from external hard drive to iPod

Click "Music", you will find "+Add" button, click On the left side it is the iPod's directory tree. Click "Media" to show the music window. Click "Music" when the music window isn't shown. Then, click "+Add" button > "Add File" or "Add Folder".

When this program detects that the music format can't be compatible with iPod optimized format, it will help you convert it automatically.

how to transfer music from external hard drive to ipod

After that, to browser the music in hard drive and select the songs you want to import to iPod. Click "Open" to start the transfer.

copy music from external hard drive to ipod

Of course, you can also move playlists from iPod to external hard drive. Come back to the left column and click "Playlist". Select your desired playlists. Click "Export". Navigate to the external hard drive and move playlists to it.

Note: At this moment, the Mac version doesn't support moving playlists from external hard drive to iPod as the Windows version does.

Download Dr.Fone to copy music from external hard drive to iPod.

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