2 macs, share a library

I have 2 computers and would like to be able to have only one iPhoto library folder that each can access. Ideally, if a camera is attached to either computer, this is the library to which the new photos would be imported. If this possible to do by moving the iPhoto library folder to an external hard disk and navigating to the folder from each computer? Does it make a difference if one computer is running iPhoto v4 and another v6? I know that the networking is a separate issue--currently one computer is hard wired to the internet and the other connects wirelessly. I assume that a similar scheme is possible to do with iTunes as well. Is the new Airport base station with USB (attaching the hard disk to this) the way to try this easily and relatively painlessly?
Mac OS X (10.4)
Mac OS X (10.4)

taggert:
If you have an external HD attached to one computer with the ownership turned off and put the library on it, you'll avoid any of the permission issues that can occur when it's in the Shared folder.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Similar Messages

Share a library between two users on the same mac?

It is possible to share a library between two users on the same mac?

It's doable. As it's been pointed out Aperture has no provisions for file locking so you can't have two users accessing the library at the same time. This includes having one user having the library open only for browsing. Aperture doesn't have a +Read Only+ mode, when it opens the library, even if you make no changes to any images, the library will be written to.
This also means you can't have one user open the library and then stop using Aperture but still have the library open and then have another copy of Aperture open on the library.
Of course if you have two copies of Aperture running even they are on different libraries you'll be in violation of the license and you'll have bigger problems to worry about then a toasted library.

Trying to setup a Belkin N750 between Mac & Win 7 to share Itunes Library on an external HDD

Hello all,
Please excuse my complicated question. I really cannot fathom out how to resolve this technological nightmare. I have a 50gb Itunes Library stored on an External HDD in MAC format (HFS+) I want to share this library with the Windows 7 Laptop, i have enable home sharing on both computers. Sadly the Windows laptop cannot see the itunes library.
I have a Belkin N750 wireless router which has a USB port and LAN connections on the back. I bought this on the understanding i could plug my HDD into the router and it could then be accessed by both Mac and P.C. Annoyingly the HDD cannot be seen by either laptop! I am assuming this is because of the file format??
Does anyone know of any way i can share my HDD to both Mac and P.C so the Itunes library can be shared and playlists can be made by each user?
Thanks in advance
Any ideas are welcome as it would stop me throwing the whole lot into the garden and going back to Vinyl and tape decks!
Ian
P.S: I also have access to my music library via iCloud, i have logged into iCloud on the windows laptop and the Itunes library can be seen but cannot be edited (Playlists added or deleted)
P.P.S: HDD has just died so i have the oppurtunity to buy a new HDD so can format it before adding Itunes Library back to the drive. (Just had to pay to get data back off dead HDD which will come back on DVD's so the assumption is to copy data onto new drive)
Again, thank you for reading and i hope someone has any bright ideas to help me.

Hello,
The iTunes library is installed and added to my Mac with no issues. I just want to share the whole library with a Windows laptop.
As mentioned the 'Enable home sharing' does not seem to work. I am assuming it is the file format of the HDD which means the home sharing cannot be done on a Mac?
Thanks
Ian

How to share iTunes library between 2 accounts on 1 Mac

I want to share my library with my son on his account. Both accounts are on the same computer. What steps do I need to take to do this? Thank you in advance.

My wife and I share the same iTunes library on the same Mac but have separate user accounts.
To do this:
1. Make a folder called ‘Music’ in Users/Shared and move your iTunes library to this new folder.
2. Ctrl + click on the ‘Music’ folder and select ‘Get Info’.
3. Click on the padlock icon at the bottom of the ‘Get Info’ window and enter your password.
4. Set the permissions as follows:
Your user name (Me) = Read & Write
Wheel = Read & Write
Everyone = Read & Write
5. Click on the gear icon to the left of the padlock and choose ‘Apply to enclosed items’.
6. Click OK.
7. Close the ‘Get Info’ window.
8. Log into each user account and create an alias to the new shared iTunes library in their User/Home/Music folder (the default location for the iTunes library).
Note: If an iTunes library already exists in the users ‘Music’ folder you will need to delete this first and don’t forget to backup just in case something goes wrong.
Each account will now be able to access the same shared music library.
One final thing which usually catches people out. You will need to tell iTunes to ‘Keep iTunes Music folder organised’ and ‘Copy files to iTunes Music Folder when adding to library’.
To do this:
1. Open iTunes
2. From the iTunes menu, choose Preferences
3. Click Advanced
4. Select the ‘Keep iTunes Music folder organised’ option
5. Select the ‘Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library file’ option
6. Click OK
Note: This needs to be done in both user accounts.
The only slight down side of this method is that if I add any new music to the shared iTunes library in my account, my wife has access but she isn’t able to change the info (artist name, album, track number etc…) as I am the owner of that music (the files have standard permissions applied when added so I have Read & Write access but my wife has read only access). The same applies if my wife adds some music through her user account. This isn’t a problem for me as I’m the one who manages the library and adds music, my wife simply wants to be able to access it.
If you want to manually change the permissions so that both users can change info, simply navigate to the ‘iTunes Music’ folder which is located in Users/Shared/Music/iTunes/ and Change the permissions using the same method above, making sure you ‘Apply to enclosed items’.
This will need to be repeated each time any new music is added. If you want to know how to set things up so both users can change info on tracks without having to manually change permissions each time then this can be done, but it will require delving into ACL permissions.
Message was edited by: ChrisWad

Unable to share iTunes library between multiple users on one Mac

I've got an iMac (running Snow Leopard) and I'm trying to share a single iTunes library among three users (Admin, and two others), but I simply cannot get it to work. I have followed the instructions in this Apple KB article "to a tee", checked and doublechecked permissions (read/write for everyone) on the iTunes Music folder (moved to /Users/Shared), and it just won't take. The original library owner (Admin) can still access all music as normal, but no other user can. I've tried deleting everything from each users' ~/Music/iTunes folder and the iTunes plists, so I could start each user fresh, but NOTHING has worked. iTunes for the other users simply does not recognize any media. Like I said, I've followed all of the instructions in the KB article linked above.
Since that seems to be the "official" method that every other thread on this subject references, I'm looking for some troubleshooting tips to help me discover what exactly is wrong here.
Thanks in advance!

Chris, thanks for the reply. Are you telling me that I should move the iTunes folder itself, and not merely the iTunes Media folder, as instructed by the KB article? At this point, I'd be willing to try just about anything, but the KB article specifically states:
Important: Do not move the iTunes folder, the iTunes Library file or the iTunes Library.xml file.
As I stated above, I did exactly what the KB article said to, which is to move the iTunes Media folder (called iTunes Music on my iMac, since the library has been around since pre-iTunes 8 or so) to /Users/Shared, and then go into iTunes Prefs for each user, and under the advanced tab, choose the location of the library for each user. I know that this method does NOT share iTunes library (.itl or .xml, or the other associated files), and doing what you suggest would, but I'm curious if that would cause any problems.
And yes, like I said in the OP, I did check/change all file permissions on that folder appropriately.
Thanks again for the help! Please let me know if I'm reading your suggestion right!

How can I share my library (apps, songs) between 2 computers

Hello!
Well, here are my "problems":
1) Sharing libraries
2 Macs (1 desktop and 1 macbook), Apple TV (3rd gen), iPad, iPhone and Time Capsule (2 tb).
My library (apps, songs) is in the macbook. I would like to share that library between macbook and iMac. So if I buy an app in the macbook, it will appear in the iMac. That would be great to sync the iPhone/iPad in any computer.
Is that possible?
2) Pictures / Movies (home-made movies)
I put all my pictures/movies in a folder in the Time Machine. Is it possible to share it with the Apple TV? Something like creating a library in iPhoto or something like that?
Thanks a lot!!!!!!!
Mauricio

And to add further,
If the printer connected to your wireless network, you may perform a full installation over the network.
As long as your Windows 7 desktop connected to your router by ethernet cable, it should be able to communicate with the printer.
Simply install the Full software for network connection.
Than you will get any feature from both of the PCs and each one will not be depands on the other..
Regards,
Shlomi
Say thanks by clicking the Kudos thumb up in the post.
If my post resolve your problem please mark it as an Accepted Solution

Share itunes library between two comp. not on a network

I have a mac and a large itunes library, but I spend a lot of time at my boyfriend's place and he has a windows with XP. So I was wondering is there anyway to share my library over the internet to his computer. He has dsl and I am on broadband, so I thought I could dial into his network, but he doesn't have a fixed IP address. Any ideas?

If he doesnt have a fized IP adress, then you cant, but here are some other solutions
If you have an iPod, then I can easily instruct you on how you can transfer the files.
If not, then...
For more inexpensive solution (recommended), burn up to 750 MB of files onto each blank CD (which you can buy cheap at any computer/ electronic store) saving the files on the CD's as a data disk at prompt. Use as many CD's as needed.
For expensive solution. Buy an external Hard Drive (price varies based on HD sized) and connect it to your Mac via firewire/ USB (whatever type of chord that comes with your external HD). Then transfer all the files you want to transfer into the HD. Then bring the HD to his XP and connect again. Then upload the files onto his XP.
PS: An external HD can be useful later if you want back up all your files on both of the computers in the event of a crash...
Comment Back

Share iTunes Library between OSX and Win7 Bootcamp

I've done quite a bit of research on this but I still haven't found a solution that does what I require.
Basically my setup is a SSD & HDD in my MBP. I have OSX and Win7 (Bootcamp) on the SSD and the NTFS HDD is a shared file storage drive for both Windows and OS. I have my iTunes library located on this drive and I want to be able to share the library between the OSs. I also want changes e.g. additions deletions made in windows to be reflected in OSX and vice versa.
Technically this is possible and does in fact work if I point iTunes to the .itl file but the problem is that when I open iTunes after switching OSs it must go through a very lengthy library update which can take 30-60mins in some cases before I can use it. Obviously this is not a good solution so I'm wondering if there are any workarounds to accomplishing this?
For example can I duplicate the .itl file and have one for win and one for OSX and still have the libraries stay in sync?

Just for your info, Vista ***** whatever you try to do. I'm stuck with Vista on a pre-installed laptop. All experience I have from Vista is bad, don't buy Vista or a computer with preinstalled Vista if you can avoid it.
We have three computers in a home network, one Macbook Pro, one PC with Windows XP, and the Vista laptop. All are using iTunes-8, downloaded and installed last week.
Sharing iTunes libraries using the option to share libraries on a local network works fine between Mac and Windows-XP. The sharing also works fine between the XP and the Vista PC.
But the Vista PC can't access the Mac iTunes library. When trying to open the Mac library, iTunes on the Vista computer says something like "Fetching library info from...". It's the same problem when trying to access the Vista library from the Mac.
We had a similar problem when trying to access shared folders on the local network. Thanks to a tip on this forum how to tweak the Vista registry, the shared folder problem was solved.
I'm think some registry setting in Vista might solve iTunes shared library problems. Maybe some Windows freak knows how to patch the registry to solve this issue.
Otherwise the solution is to trash Vista, and install Windows-XP.

Can I use my Mac OS iTunes Library with Windows XP under Boot Camp?

Hello. I have a Mac Pro with two drives, a 1TB Mac OS 10.5 drive and a 500GB Windows XP drive. I have a large iTunes library on my Mac OS drive, and I'd like to be able to access it when I'm using XP. I downloaded MacDrive hoping that I'd be able to use the same iTunes library, but I'm stuck as to what to do now. Anyone know if this is possible, and how I can get it to work?

I have my entire iTunes library shared between Mac OS X 10.5.2 and XP (aka. Media Center 2005).
I use an HFS+ volume accessed via MacDrive. In my case I started off with the Windows iTunes as the master (and use it to rip all my CDs). I then set the Mac side running iTunes to use the same iTunes folder as specified in Windows (this is done in Advanced Preferences). I also replaced the Mac "iTunes Music Library.xml" and "iTunes Library" file (both stored in /Users/username/Music/iTunes) with aliases pointing to "C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music Library.xml" and "C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl" respectively.
Note: I suspect the Mac side will need write access to these two files, and as I used FAT32 for the Windows volume the Mac does have write access. However there are now at least two ways for the Mac to get write access to NTFS volumes (MacFuse being one). It may also be possible to tell iTunes to store these files themselves in a common location (not tried that).
While it is not relevant to your query, I have also managed to share my entire iTunes library with Windows Media Player (and therefore also to Media Center 2005). All my music is in Apple Lossless format and I have a directshow filter for WMP to let it play Apple Lossless (or unprotected AAC). I also have a plugin installed to let WMP read the meta tags in MPEG4 (i.e. AAC and Apple Lossless) files.
When I switch from Windows to Mac and run iTunes it does a brief rebuild, when I switch from Mac to Windows it again does a brief rebuild and the result is that the list of music in iTunes on both operating systems is always the same and successfully accesses the same music files on the shared volume. I rebooted back in to Mac OS X at the weekend and was happily accessing the music in Front Row.

Best way to share aperture library over network on two computers?

I've read several posts about doing this and most recommend using an external HD and just hot swapping. However, is their not a better alternative? Can I not share my library over the network, or just remote connect to the other computer?
Thanks for the help!

Hi Terence and Leonie,
You can run several Aperture on the same computer as long as all Aperture are using distinct libraries.
What Aperture does is to create a simple lock file in <your Aperture library>.aplibrary/Database/apdb The lock file contains the PID of the process. So not two Aperture could open the same library (although I don't know how good they have manage the concurrent creation, locking, verification of this lock, this is a typical and difficult software engineering problem)
Anyway, I have not said that Aperture supports concurrent editing. That a file is a database or a simple text file, you have basically the same issues on network or in concurrent environment. So if the folder structure holds simple, flat text file or xml object or databases, it is still a bunch of files (this is a UNIX system by the way ).
Aperture contains more than one SQLlite file, there are some at the root folder, some under Database/apdb etc. there are also XML files that could be used as database.
Anyhow, editing a file (SQLlite, XML, txt, doc, etc.) either on a share or locally is plain similar. The drive can fail too, although much less likely than the network.
Network file edition can have a few shortcomings, but nothing that when known can be blocking.
Locking files over the network can however be tricky and depends largely on the network protocol used (NFS, SMB/CIFS or AFP just to name a few). In addition, if you import files from /Users/foo/Photos in Aperture (without copying them within Aperture), they might not be visible from another computer or only the previews, as the path /Users/foo/Photos is not "visible" from the other computer.
What really is a problem when you put a file not locally is the file system type and its features. HFS+ supports extended attributes (metadata), many other file systems support these but the API (how the software, such as Aperture, access this feature) might not be similar, in addition the amount of metadata or their structure might differ from file system to another. And this is where you might lose information.
A tool like Dropbox is pretty good at maintaining the metadata across different computers, and it has been adapted to do so for OS X specifically (and also for Linux and Windows).
The second problem is if you would have a Mac and share via SMB (the Windows share network protocol, aka CIFS on recent Windows versions) the library, SMB might not support the reading and writing of HFS+ metadata, thus data loss might occur.
Apple is just warning us of all these shortcomings, and advise to use local storage formatted as HFS+. Because even a local external disk formatted as NTFS or other file system could be a problem.
However, power users who understand the risks and limitations of a network share (in general) can create a disk image on a share (even if it is SMB). As for OS X, once the disk image is mounted, it is just like any other local hard disk, it is just "slower" especially latency wise. OS X supports perfectly disk image mounted on a share, it takes care of properly synchronising it.
Of course, due to the nature of the link between the application data and where they are stored, in case of application or OS crash, the amount of data loss could be greater than when the data are held locally.
I hope this clarify better my post.
Note: another shortcoming of having it on the network is: Aperture lock the library by creating a file with a process ID. If the same library is opened from another computer on the network, this other Aperture instance might see the lock file and could perhaps not find the corresponding running process. This Aperture instance might then decide to ignore the lock and proceed with opening the library. This might have some consequences.
But I haven't developed Aperture so I don't know how it would behave

"Look for libraries to share" does not appear in the Shared pane under preferences. I'm trying to see my fiances shared library. She can see mine. I have selected share entire library. Help please!

Cannot see my fiance's library but she can see mine. Checked all appropriate boxes to share entire library. Help syays to check under Shared which does not even appear anywhere. It also said to check the "Look for share libraries" under shared pane which also does not exit in that pane. I am Windows 7 and she is Macbook. Thanks

I'm using an Airport Extreme, and I'm not aware of UPnP settings in the Airport Utility.
On the Mac, I set up a Parallels Vista instance in bridged mode and verified that I can see the other Vista PC share folders, so I know that the Vista PC has been set up correctly.
Additionally, as mentioned before, I switched DNS Servers several times, but settled on an alternative Rogers DNS to avoid their awful failed lookup ad page (64.71.255.202 if anyone needs it).
I also tried adding the Vista PC IP to my Mac hosts file, which oddly showed the Mac on the Vista side, but nothing on the Mac side.
I also goofed around in the smb.conf file with some settings, but alas, nada.
The only thing that might explain why the Airport Express network (Vista, XP) provided me with shares in the sidebar and not my own Airport Extreme network (just Vista) could be that it's a master browser issue. I saw a couple of posts about this.
If the Vista machine is the master browser, nothing will show in the sidebar, but if XP or a Mac is the master browser, then the sidebar will show shares. I don't have a way to verify this as I'm not sure how to force one machine to be a master browser over another. I'm suspicious if this will do anything as I've found other posts saying exactly the opposite scenario.
Is there anyone out there that has had a network, possibly with Airport Extreme, one Mac (Leopard), one Vista PC, and Vista share is showing in the Finder sidebar?

Share iPhoto Library between two account

I’m am new in MAC world and I want to share pictures between two account in my iMAC. Rather than have the iphoto library on my account I was wondering if it's possible to share iphoto library with account of my wife.

Hi There,
I was told to follow a different course to share my iPhoto Library. I put it in the Shared Folder and changed the permissions to read right for everyone. Now all account holders can access the iPhoto library in the Share folder.
There's a problem though when User A logs in and accesses the iPhoto library a warning comes up that says 'You don't have permission to access some files. Would you like to repair the permissions' If ou click on 'Repair' User A now has full access.
When User B tries to access the iPhoto library they get the same message. Once permissions are repaired again, they have full access to the library. When User C tries, same thing again.
When User A goes back again to use the iPhoto library they must repair the permissions all over again. How can this be avoided. When I attempt to change the permissions on the iPhoto Library to Read and Write for everyone the file becomes locked and inaccessible.

Can I share itunes library with my family icloud

My kids have their itunes library, my husband does too, and mine is different as well. We all use my account and do share songs amoungst our libraries. WIth iCloud is this still work seamlessly in the same fashion or do we all need different user ID/passwords?
Can we do this with Calendaring, documents, photos too? All on one account, but all selecting what we want to select?
Julie

itunes has two different ways of sharing music
1) clicking on file , home sharing and turning on home sharing, and entering your apple id. this is required for iphone, ipods and ios devices you are only allowed to share to 5 computers this way. this allows you to import songs to your itunes client from your itunes server. and each compuer needs to be logged into your itunes account
2) clicking on itunes, preferences, clicking on share tab, and cicking on "share my library on my local nework " this will not allow itunes libraries to be shared with ipods, iphones or ios devices. itunes cleints will not be alllowed to important songs from your itunes server. however itunes clients do not have to be logged into apple at all. they don't even need to be authorized to play music. they will prompt for your itunes account if you try and play a song that has DRM, but if the music has no DRM they will play fine
your only allowed 5 computers associated with an apple id. upgrading your music collection to itunes plus or using itunes match #2 might be able to save your precious itunes computer slots
i have them both turned on

How Can I Share iPhoto Library/Keywords Among Multiple Users

Hi there! I am having a bit of a dilemma where I am trying how I can have several users access a shared iPhoto library (as well as retain their own personal iPhoto libraries). Basically, I have a handful of (three) users that need to be able to store/search against a common shared photo library - ideally, in iPhoto.
I understand that I can share albums through iPhoto (users are using a mix of iPhoto '08 and '09) on one account as long as iPhoto is running - a serious drawback. When I tried sharing photos via this method I was able to see the shared albums; however the keywords that were defined for those photos were not available. This presents two questions:
1) Can iPhoto share its library among multiple users (including keywords, etc) so that if a user account (let's call it "media") shares out selected albums that the viewing users (user1 and user2) can search against the keywords in the host library? Or is this not possible with iPhoto?
2) Is there another way of sharing photos that is more efficient and can be hosted on our private servers? The interface in iPhoto is amazing - and if there was an application that allowed for that same sort of feel/tagging we would be good to go...

Well here is the weird thing. If I was sharing out the library from my computer, I could search for the keywords (and obtain results) as expected. However, if I went to another computer that was viewing my shared library, searching by the same keyword did not return any results.

Can I share music library's with different apple ID accounts

I would like to share music library's with my daughter. However, she has a differet User ID then myself. Is this still possible?
So far I have set up home sharing and auhorized her computer.
I can see and play the music in her library.
However, I am not able to copy any of her purchased music into my library.

It's ok to share the same AppleID for iTunes. Use Separate ID's for iCloud, iMessage, and Facetime.

2 macs, share a library

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