How do I get my iTunes playlists back?

After changing hard drives, how do I get the music linked back to my itunes library & playlists?

• typically, I dont let itunes automatically synchronize, I dont want every file/folder I have in there. I want the library I have to be attached to a file again, ideally not by doing that one song at a time. half of the music in the itunes library is still in the original hard drive and playing fine, but the half I want back is now in an external drive. I have too many playlists, I really dont want to do this individually.

• Answer:

  Unless you bought music off of iTunes, you will either... - Move your music onto a flash drive and move the music on it to the hard drive, and continue to repeat this process. The best way to do this is by moving band folders or album folders other than individual songs. This can take a long time to complete depending on how much your flash drive holds and how fast your computer is. - Re-upload each album from their original source. I've had to do this for my music on three seperate occasions from my brother breaking our computer. Depending on how much music you have, this can take HOURS. For anything you bought off iTunes, just move that music onto your iPod or such, plug in the iPod from the new hard drive, authenticate your account and iPod, and transfer. DO NOT SYNC IPOD WITHOUT DOING THIS FIRST OR ELSE YOU WILL LOSE ANY MUSIC THAT IS NOT BACKED UP ONTO A CD-R OR FLASH DRIVE!!!!!!!!!!