A mackbook, a pc laptop, and... which external hard drive???

I have two laptops; one is a Mac and the other a PC. My wife and I have a good collection of music together, but each of us has our own iPods and playlists. Therefore, with my modest knowledge I thought it would be a good idea to have an external shared drive where we could store all our files and access them from either or both laptops. The idea is to use that external hard drive wirelessly as you would use an internal one, in each of the laptops.
My question is, is this possible? If so, which one would you recommend?
We are looking into buying something with 500GB. I was especially interested in a Western Digital, but I have read so many bad reviews, and - as you could probably tell by now - I am not enlightened with computer knowledge. I have also recently read some review of a LaCie2 500GB and it is winning my vote. The thing is that I do not want to buy something that is not going to work the way I want it to with both computers simultaneously... any ideas?
I appreciate all the help!

Ok. So what i have done is installed Itunes on my laptops C drive. I then go to 'options' and 'add folder' where i select my music folder that is then stored on my external hard drive. It then takes say, half an hour to copy across the titles of the music. I can play them fine at this point. Now what? Can I turn the laptop off and it'll be fine? Is what I have done so far ok?

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Copying the catalog to laptop and/or external hard drive

I have a rather complex task.
I am using PSE 4 on a Windows XP Desktop. I copied my folder and subfolders with my pictures to an external hard drive. My catalog, I think, is in a hidden file under Documents and Setting\all users\application data\Adobe. How do I copy this to the external drive so that PSE 4 knows where it is.
I will upgrade to PSE7 when I get this all figured out.
I have a new Windows Vista Laptop and want to install PSE 7 and use the external hard drive to edit/save etc my photos.
Do I need to copy the files and catalog in a different way to the external hard drive?
Is there a simpler way to do this?
Thanks for your help.
Sandra

To move the catalog, you have to find it in Windows and move it in Windows.
But more importantly ... are you doing all this so you can get your PSE catalog up and running on the laptop? If so, the easiest way to do this is to first install PSE7 on the desktop. It will convert your catalog for you. Make sure everything is working properly, and then, move things. To move to a new computer, use the File->Backup Catalog command on your old desktop, make sure everything is written to the external hard drive, and then on the new laptop, install PSE7, use File->Restore Catalog. This way, you don't have to move files, you don't have to know where things are or where things are supposed to be. It's the easiest way to go, you let the software do the work and keep track of details instead of you doing the work and keeping track of details.

I have tried and failed to copy my iTunes library and playlists from my Windows 8 desktop to my Windows 7 laptop using an external hard drive. Can it be done? Help would be appreciated.

I have tried and failed to copy my iTunes library and playlists from my Windows 8 desktop to my Windows 7 laptop using an external hard drive. Can it be done? Help would be appreciated. I have followed instructions found online but the library of music doesn't pull in. Thanks!
Nate

Migrate an iTunes library from one computer to another
These are two possible approaches that will normally work to move an existing library to a new computer.
Method 1
Backup the library with this User Tip.
Deauthorize the old computer if you no longer want to access protected content on it.
Restore the backup to your new computer using the same tool used to back it up.
Keep your backup up-to-date in future.
Method 2
Connect the two computers to the same network. Share your <User's Music> folder from the old computer and copy the entireiTunes library folder into the <User's Music> folder on the new one. Again, deauthorize the old computer if no longer required.
Both methods should give the new computer a working clone of the library that was on the old one, with ratings, play counts, playlists etc. preserved. As far as iTunes is concerned this is still the "home" library for your devices so you shouldn't have any issues with iTunes wanting to erase and reload.
I'd normally recommend method 1 since it establishes an ongoing backup for your library and unlike copying with Windows Explorer the process can be resumed if it is interrupted and it will continue to the next item if there are any read/access errors.
Note if you have iOS devices and haven't moved your contacts and calendar items across then you should create one dummy entry of each in your new profile and iTunes should merge the existing data from the device.
If your media folder has been split out from the main iTunes folder you may need to do some preparatory work to make it easier to move. See Make a split library portable.
Should you be in the unfortunate position where you are no longer able to access your original library or a backup then then seeRecover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device for advice on how to set up your devices with a new library with the maximum preservation of data.
tt2

Can i use my time capsule to wirelessly backup my macbook and its external hard drive, which up until now was it's time machine and storage? How?

Can i use my time capsule to wirelessly backup my macbook and its external hard drive, which up until now was it's time machine and storage? How?

The external drive must be connected to the Mac using either USB or FireWire
You must remove the external hard drive from the list of items that are "excluded" from backups in Time Machine Preferences.
Here's how:
Open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock)
Open Time Machine
Click Options
Look for the name of the hard drive in the list of "excluded" items and click on it to highlight it
Click the -- (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the hard drive from the list of "excluded" items....so it will now be backed up
Strongly recommend that you do the first backup using Ethenret from your computer to the Time Capsule since the entire contents of the external drive will be copied on the first pass. Ethernet will be 3-5 faster than wireless.
Once you have the first backup done, you can use wireless for subsequent backups since they will nornally be much smaller....unless you add large files to the external drive.

HT5097 I recently upgraded my macbook to Mountain lion. Before doing so I used time machine and an external hard drive to back up my entire laptop. When we upgraded my computer came back like new. All pics, music, videos documents etc gone. How do I ge

I recently upgraded my macbook to mountain lion. Before doing so I used time machine to back up my entire laptop with an external hard drive.
When I got my computer back it was clean....all pics, music, documents, bookmarks etc. are gone. How do I get these files off the external hard drive and back onto my laptop with the new upgrade?

I recently upgraded my macbook to mountain lion. Before doing so I used time machine to back up my entire laptop with an external hard drive.
When I got my computer back it was clean....all pics, music, documents, bookmarks etc. are gone. How do I get these files off the external hard drive and back onto my laptop with the new upgrade?

My MacBook Pro keeps making copies of a document that I am trying to save. I don't want to duplicate the file. I only want to save it on both my hard drive and my external hard drive. I do not want to change its name for every save, which the computer see

My MacBook Pro keeps making copies of a document that I am trying to save. I don't want to duplicate the file. I only want to save it on both my hard drive and my external hard drive. I do not want to change its name for every save, which the computer seems insistent on doing. Help!!

11lizzyp wrote:
can't be saved because the file is read-only.
I did not create the file to be read-only. I created to be able to continue to add to it as I work on it.
More on versions here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4753
local snapshots:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4878
Sounds like a permissions problem ie read only.
If running repair permissions from your DiskUtility.app does not sort it,
Someone should jump in here with erudite and concise fix.

I have a tesco router and an external hard drive attached to it as a network drive (shared) for my macbook and MB-Air. Have no problems with my MB accessing it, but with MB-AIR it says - 'the version of the server you are trying to connect to is not supp

I have a tesco router and an external hard drive attached to it as a network drive (shared) for my macbook and MB-Air. Have no problems with my MB accessing it, but with MB-AIR it says - 'the version of the server you are trying to connect to is not supported. pls contact your system administrator to resolve the problem'. MB-Air uses maverick downloaded yesterday - upgrade from mountain lion. MB uses snow leopard still, as i am quite used to it and am thinking of upgrade if mavericks work fine on air. Also have parallel on snow leopard but it is no longer supported according to mac website - if i upgrade am i going to lose my parallel and will have to buy a new one!!!

Yes, the Old Master file has a folder for each year where I find all photos from that specific year. I am attaching a screen shot of the file.
In the meantime i have managed to download all photos (it did not download any video files though in mpg, avi, 3gp, m4v,mp4 and mov format) to a new iphoto library. Unfortunately the photos are quite mixed and often doubled up. I ma considering to purchase iphoto library which checks all duplicates in iphoto. this will save me a lot of time. What do you think?

I transferred all my itunes music from my old pc to a new laptop using an external hard drive. I can drag songs to out ipods, but when i try to add songs to my Iphone 4, I get the red circle with a line through it. It will not allow me to transfer music

I have transferred all of my itunes music for my old pc to a new laptop via an external hard drive. All songs are sucessfullt loaded in itunes and I can drag songs to my husband's ipod without any problems. However, when I try to drag songs to my iphone 4, it will not let me. I get a red circle with a line through it. Why would it work from itunes to ipod but not to my iphone? HELP!!!

You might want to check your process for moving your iTunes music against this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527.

Backing up Mac HD with Time Capsule AND an external hard drive

I am sure that this question has been asked one way or another but I can't seem to find the exact answer.
I would like to back up my Mac HD with the Time Capsule AND another hard drive essentially to create two backups. Should one fail, I still have another copy as a precaution. The Time Capsule will be my primary back up because my external hard drive is usually switched off and will only be turned on from time to time to perform "less frequent" backups.
With Time Capsule AND the external hard drive on, will Time Machine just update the backup on the external hard drive without becoming confused with the other copy on Time Capsule? In other words, can Time Machine distinguish between two different Time Machine Backup files and bring them up to date accordingly?
I understand there is an archive function on the Time Capsule, which would also serve the purpose. However, I am wondering if there is another way.
Thanks.

Rheopaipo wrote:
I am sure that this question has been asked one way or another but I can't seem to find the exact answer.
I would like to back up my Mac HD with the Time Capsule AND another hard drive essentially to create two backups. Should one fail, I still have another copy as a precaution. The Time Capsule will be my primary back up because my external hard drive is usually switched off and will only be turned on from time to time to perform "less frequent" backups.
With Time Capsule AND the external hard drive on, will Time Machine just update the backup on the external hard drive without becoming confused with the other copy on Time Capsule? In other words, can Time Machine distinguish between two different Time Machine Backup files and bring them up to date accordingly?
I understand there is an archive function on the Time Capsule, which would also serve the purpose. However, I am wondering if there is another way.
I don't think it's possible to configure Time Machine to back up to two locations without modifying its settings frequently.
You might consider using that external drive to hold a bootable backup. You can create such a thing with either of the utilities SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. If you pay the registration fee for SuperDuper! (~US$28), there's a mode where it will back up only what has changed, which makes the backup operation run quicker. (Carbon Copy Cloner may offer a similar feature.)

Which external hard drive should I use to save my iTunes library?

Hi,
So I have collected so much music and movies in iTunes that my internal HD is practically full. (Library is over 500GB of 1TB and the rest is taken up with my apps and programs.) It's time to purchase an external hard drive to transfer my library to. Furthermore, I currently have a 2TB WD My Book for Mac that I am currently using for backup. The My Book is also full and Time Machine is deleting the oldest backups to make room for the current ones.
Here is where I need everyones advice. I am planning on purchasing a 3TB WD My Book for Mac. I am planning on purchasing more movies for iTunes. Which external hard drive should I use for what? Option A or B
Option A: Put my iTunes library on the 2TB external hard drive and use the 3TB for backup
Option B: Put my iTunes library on the 3TB external hard drive and continue to use the 2TB for backup
Also please give me your reasoning.
Thanks everyone for your responses!

Limnos,
So, let's go one step further with this. I read your reply to moving iTunes library to an external hard drive: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4594518?tstart=0 However, if I move the iTunes library, will this include all the movies and apps that I have purchased?
Thanks!!!!

Can I set Time Machine to backup both my hard drive and an external hard drive?

Hi. I've been working with a lot of family video lately and my internal hard drive has filled up significantly. iMovie doesn't seem to have a good archiving facility like Adobe InDesign which I use at work were all the relevant files are gathered together into one folder. Apple advised me to relocate my movie files to an external hard drive and herein lies my query.
Is there a way for me to set Time Machine to backup both my iMac's internal drive and the external hard drive that would contain my movie files? I've been using Time Machine for my backups for a few years now, but backing up the external as well has me stumped. If Time Machine could be used then all the necessary file accociations etc would be safely backed up as well - that's why I don't want to have to manually backup the external.
Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

7string48 wrote:
Thanks so much Pondini!! You just quickly answered a question that none of the Mac people in 3 stores or Apple Care have been able to answer.If you can format it HFS+ (any variation of Mac OS Extended), it will work. If not, it won't.
I'm not too surprised about the Apple Stores, as they don't get much training on Time Machine. But AppleCare sure ought to know.
Oh...what about if the external drive is an array...like a Drobo with it's own proprietary formatting...I guess that would not work...??
I've never used a Drobo. A number of folks here have used them as their Time Machine drives, but I don't recall seeing anyone try to back one up with TM, so can't say for sure. But if you can format it as HFS+ (any variation of Mac OS Extended), it will work. If not, it won't.
At least part of the reason is, Time Machine uses the File System Event Store, a hidden log of changes that OSX keeps on each Mac-formatted disk/partition, to figure out what's changed and needs to be backed-up. See How Time Machine works its Magic for details.
See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #32 for details and considerations of backing-up multiple volumes with Time Machine.
However, even if it will work, that may not be your best strategy, depending on your circumstances:
Since Time Machine keeps copies of things you've changed or deleted, the destination needs to be considerably larger than the data being backed-up. How much larger varies widely depending on how you use your Mac, but a general "rule of thumb" is, it needs at least twice the space to be able to keep a reasonable "depth" of backups for you.
If you have a large internal HD, fairly full, plus a large external HD, and the files on the external don't change frequently, you might want to use Time Machine for the internal, and a different app to a different disk or partition, on a different schedule, for the external. Especially if space is a consideration, you might not need to keep previous versions of files on the externals. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #27 for some alternatives.

Accessing Time Capsule and linked external hard drive from other devices and copying to these drives

Hi
Please be gentle. I am not that technically able :-)
I have managed to set up my time capsule. Router working, external hard drive linked, time machine back ups working...
The last thing I am looking to do is to access files on my time capsule and also external hard drive (linked to it), from Mac, Iphones, Ipads, Apple TV, Windows laptops X2. Am I able to do that? Have read so many discussions but dont get the answer. Please be gentle :-)
Regards
Tommy

The last thing I am looking to do is to access files on my time capsule and also external hard drive (linked to it), from Mac
This should be automatic.. find the TC disk under shared in finder.. double click it and see under the data folder.. you can create new folders in there.
Note using the TC for data and TM backups is not the greatest of ideas.. please read pondini.
Q3 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
The external drive is fine though..
Now it can have loads of issues if you run Mavericks.. so if you have trouble.. do not be surprised.. if you run Mavericks.. be surprised if it works without trouble.
Iphones, Ipads
iOS devices are not file based.. they are not intended to be used with a file device like TC and will neither backup to it nor open files from it.. of course what apple wants and what users want are different things so there are plenty of file apps to help you read and write files.
Filebrowser is the major one.
http://www.stratospherix.com/products/filebrowser/
You still cannot backup though.. iOS uses itunes to backup or icloud.
Apple TV
There is nothing you can do with AppleTV.. it is not a file device at all.. it is not even a media player.. it is a streamer. (Early model Gen1 and Gen2 can be jailbreak.. so they do actually have media player ability) Gen3 is tied to its mother's (iTunes) skirts with steel cables.. no JB.. no use really. If you want to play movies from a TC buy a WD Live TV.. it is a player.. !!
Windows laptops X2
You can access the TC from windows..
1. Make sure the TC naming complies with windows networking.. to put that simply.. all names should be short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric. Apple wizard will recommend a name for the TC, like
Fred Blog's Airport Time Capsule.. this is wrong on so many levels.
It will be a total pain on windows.. use FBATC or TC or anything you like.. as long as it follows the rules..
Short 2-20 characters.. less than 10 is better.
No spaces.
Pure alphanumeric.
All names must comply.. TC name and wireless name/s
2. Load the airport utility for windows into the computer.. you can download for up to win7.. apple haven't bothered with windows since then and are pretty out of date. The win7 utility will load on win8 with the usual voodoo and astrological help.
3. Windows must be set to home for location.. if you cannot open a command window and ping the TC by ip and name, then pull down the firewalls.
4. In windows explorer type into the address bar directly.
\\TCname or \\TCIPaddress (using, of course, the real name or real IP).

HT201250 i am using for first time the time machine and an external hard drive because I want to erase my macbook and start from zero files. do i keep my files in the portable hard disk when I connect it again with the macbook or the time machine will era

i am using for first time the time machine and an external hard drive because I want to erase my macbook and start from zero files. Am i keeping my files in the portable hard disk when I will connect it again with the macbook or the time machine will erase all?
I would like to know if after I erase all my data, empy hard drive inside the macbook, the time machine will erase all my files that I have saved in my "WD "My passport" external hard drive

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Time Machine has to erase the external disk in order to make backups. Before setting Time Machine up, copy the files of your external disk to the hard disk of the Mac in order not to lose them, and then, set up Time Machine. The first backup will start automatically.
If you want more information about Time Machine, read the Pondini's site > http://pondini.org

How to migrate from my old MacBook Pro to a new one with less disk space and an external hard drive?

I have just bought a new MacBook Pro and an external hard drive.
Yet I have problems migrating data from my old MacBook Pro (more internal disk space with around 500 GB data) to my new one (internal disk space less than 500 GB).
I have connected all 3 devices but it seems the Migration Assistant does not have an option for us to select to migrate to an external hard drive.
Any other way to do it?
Kindly help me. Thanks.

For your situation, Target disk mode may be the most efficient method:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1661
Ciao.

HT201250 which external hard drive should I choose/use as I am setting up Time Machine on my MacBook Pro 15 for the very first time?

Which external hard drive should I use/choose as I am setting up Time Machine on my MacBook Pro 15 for the very first time?

Any of these SATA HDDs that are at least the same size as your internal HDD (preferably larger capacity). In addition you will need an enclosure, preferably one with a Firewire as well as a USB connection.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Ciao.

Can time machine back up an imac and an external hard drive?

I currently back up my imac via time machine but to reduce space on my hard drive I want to move my itunes library onto an external hard drive. If i do this can time machine still back up my imac and the external hard drive with the itunes library on automatically?
Regards
Toekoms

toekoms wrote:
I currently back up my imac via time machine but to reduce space on my hard drive I want to move my itunes library onto an external hard drive. If i do this can time machine still back up my imac and the external hard drive with the itunes library on automatically?
yes, given enough space on the destination drive (your library may grow over time). also, the drive needs to be connected directly to your Mac.
you might want to make sure the drive is not excluded from TM backups by checking in system preferences > time machine > options.
also, as for moving your iTunes library, see this read for tips/instructions.
JGG
edited by the Jolly Green Giant (where Green stands for environmentally friendly)

A mackbook, a pc laptop, and... which external hard drive???

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