New laptop - install iTunes and sync iPad/Pod?

[Pinmac]

Hi, I've bought a Windows 8 laptop. I now need to install iTunes and get it synced with my iPad2 and a couple of iPods. I'm a bit nervous as iTunes previously made a right mess of my music collection. I do have a music library in MP3 format never touched by iTunes though so I want to get this right. Should I install iTunes and then copy my music on to the laptop or should I copy the music first? Also I have my laptop split between a C drive which holds the OS and the D drive which holds data. I would like to put the music on the D drive.I assume that I can change the location in iTunes?

Once I have the music safely on the laptop, how do I backup the iPad2 and iPods without wiping them? They were previously synced to a different laptop.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Mickey330]

Have a look at this article: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to-a-new-hard-drive/

I followed all the suggestion in it to successfully move my iTunes to another computer. When I was done, it was as if the new computer always had the iTunes on it; my iPad never even noticed!

Hopefully, it'll help you as well. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Marilyn