Can I use a wifi hard drive/backup drive to access movies and music?

If I use a wifi had like the seagatfe wireless plus, can I access iTunes music and movies through this without a computer open and running iTunes?

ZToad wrote:
I was able to save an ITunes folder on my hard drive along with my movies. This allowed me to point to that library from my mac and watch all the movies from my library without taking room from my mac.
Yes, that will work - an iTunes library can be stored on external or network drives, or the library can stay where it is and content can be added by reference with just the database getting updated (Preferences setting determines whether or not content added is copied to the library or there are modifier keys you can use when dragging and dropping).
Unfortunately iTunes is a helper app for AppleTV and though this is a handy technique to store media where you want it iTunes still needs to be running to stream it to AppleTV.
AC

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Can I use it for both a backup drive and shared network drive?

Is it possible to use the Time Capsule for both an automatic backup drive for my Mac AND use it as a shared network drive to store my large library of home videos? If so, does it require partitioning the drive and are there instructions available? Alternatively, if I store my home videos on its own network drive, will Time Capsule backup this drive too? If I don't want any external drives tethered to my mac, how would set up the 2 drive scenario, so that home video drive can be shared on the network?
To be specific, I'm looking for a networked drive solution that allows me to do the following:
1) automatically back up my Mac
2) act as the primary storage drive for 750GB of the kids home videos (to save room on Mac) [Side question - ]
3) have the ability to watch the home videos on both my family room Apple TV (is this even possible?) and my kitchen Mac Mini display (would my Mac's iMovie's library be able to include my home video content that is stored on a network drive, or does it require the content to be on the Mac hard drive?).
4) If I use a two drive solution (time capsule backup and cheaper second drive), I want to be able to have Time Capsule back up the home video content on the second drive.
5) I do not want any drive tethered to my Mac, only wirelessly connected. Would the second drive be connected to the Time Capsule? How would this be set up?
Many thanks!

christianfromshaker heights wrote:
Is it possible to use the Time Capsule for both an automatic backup drive for my Mac AND use it as a shared network drive to store my large library of home videos?
basically yes, but i wouldn't recommend it.
If so, does it require partitioning the drive and are there instructions available?
the disk in the TC can't be partitioned in the traditional way. but you can use disk utility to create a "fixed-size" sparse disk image on the TC's disk for use with other data. use the instructions here, just leave out the encryption part.
Alternatively, if I store my home videos on its own network drive, will Time Capsule backup this drive too?
no.
time machine can not back up from network drives.
To be specific, I'm looking for a networked drive solution that allows me to do the following:
1) automatically back up my Mac
2) act as the primary storage drive for 750GB of the kids home videos (to save room on Mac) [Side question - ]
consider a NAS that is time machine compatible.
3) have the ability to watch the home videos on both my family room Apple TV (is this even possible?) and my kitchen Mac Mini display (would my Mac's iMovie's library be able to include my home video content that is stored on a network drive, or does it require the content to be on the Mac hard drive?).
it's possible to stream content stored on a TC (or NAS) to TV. using home sharing, your mini would be able to access files in homeshared libraries.
it doesn't matter where the files are stored as long as iTunes knows they are there. in other words, the content needs to be in an iTunes/TV friednly format and in your iTunes library - that doesn't mean the content can't be stored on an external HD, a TC, or a NAS.
4) If I use a two drive solution (time capsule backup and cheaper second drive), I want to be able to have Time Capsule back up the home video content on the second drive.
What can Time Machine back up, and where can it put it’s backups?
5) I do not want any drive tethered to my Mac, only wirelessly connected.
IMO, your best course of action is to get a NAS. if you're interested, i can highly recommend this device by Synology.
Synology NASes play very well with Macs and have excellent backup features on board. given enough space (i have 4x2 TB drives installed) you can store your media files there, use time machine to backup your Macs to it and can use the on-board backup solution to back up the whole shebang to a USB drive connected to the NAS.

Can I use Time Capsule as a backup drive on an existing network?

Sorry of this is an obvious question - but I have a WiFi network here (based on a Netgear Router) and want to be able to back up to a hard drive that's kept in another room.
(That way - if burglars steal my computer - they won't also steal all my backed-up files sitting on a hard drive next to my computer!)
1: Can I put a Time Capsule in the next room - get it to show up on my netwlrk - and back up to it?
2: Or is there a better / cheaper way to do this? Are there other hard drives you can hook up to a network? (I tried this a few years ago and the options weren't good...0
Thanks a lot,
- Greg

Just tried turning on the wireless in my TC - couldn't get it to connect to my router's wireless network. Status stays amber.
There have been several posts recently about people trying to get Airports/TCs to talk wirelessly to non-apple base stations and having problems.
You could always try turning off the wireless on your router and creating a new wireless network using the TC as the wireless base station. You'd have to connect the router to the TC with ethernet. Maybe you could move the router to the bedroom (or anywhere else that has a phone line, assuming that you've got an ADSL modem/router.
router > (ethernet) > TC > (wireless) > computers

What is the best set up (hardware and/or software) to store and access movies and music purchased through apple tv without using the computers storage space

I have run out of space on my imac desktop, which only has 500GB of storage, due to the movies, music, etc. that have been purchased through iTunes and Apple TV. I do not want to delete the purchases but need to free up space on my computer. I am looking for the best scenario for moving the media to another source and still have access the media from Apple TV and possibly from ipads, macbooks, ps3, etc. within my house. I have been looking at upgrading the Time Capsule to a larger capicity one and/or having a backup hard drive to the time capsule. I would like to know what other people are doing to have these features without filling up their computer's hard drive. Please advise. If a media server other than the computer is needed please explain. Thanks for your help.

Can the time capsule be set up to back up both the computer and the external hard drive, therefore creating a second copy of both?
Can the external hard drive be set up to store all the media which can then be accessed by apple tv and other devises as if the media was on the computer OR will the media have to moved back to the computer's hard drive in order to be viewed on other devises? Another way to look at this is can you set up iTunes to find the media stored on the external hard drive and access it without moving the media back to the computer?
I realize this must be a problem for many people utilizing iTunes and Apple TV to purchase and view movies and listen to music but the solution does not appear to be easily determined. I'm sure the first solution would be to just buy a computer with a larger hard drive but that is not the most economical.

Can i use time capsule as a backup drive?

i know that sounded stupid...
right now i have external hard drive where i back up my files like my music, jobs, music...because i don't have enough space on my internal drive
is it possible for me to "backup" by dragging them onto TC?
i don't even know if TC has an icon on the desktop...sorry
thanks

ironknee wrote:
i know that sounded stupid...
right now i have external hard drive where i back up my files like my music, jobs, music...because i don't have enough space on my internal drive
That's not a backup. That's extra storage. They are very different things.
A backup is a copy of something important, preferably on different hardware, so if one piece of hardware fails, you don't lose your only copy.
Depending on the sizes, your best bet is probably to put the original copies of things that won't fit on your MacBook on the external HD, and use Apple's +Time Machine+ to back both drives up to a Time Capsule.
Even better would be to get a larger internal HD for your MacBook, so you'd have room for all the originals there, and back it up either to an external HD or a Time Capsule.
The advantage of the Time Capsule is, of course, that you can back up wirelessly and also have a good WIFI router; the disadvantage is, it costs more than just an external HD.
You might want to review these:
What is Time Machine?
Time Machine Tutorial
and perhaps browse the Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.

Can I use Time Machine as a backup drive for my Vista 32 PC?

I cannot see any of my Mac computers or Time Machine on my network through my Vista PC, even though I have a wireless card in the PC which can connect wirelessly. I have my PC sitting next to my Time Machine that is the hub for my network. I am connected to the internet via ethernet connection daisy chained through my Time Machine which is connected to my cable router.
I cannot figure out why my PC cannot "see" my Imac, emac, Time Machine, and macbook that are all connected to my wireless network. The PC and Time machine are the only devices with an ethernet wired connection.
I would like to use the Time Machine's 1 terabyte drive to back-up my Vista PC.

I would first set up my mac and vista to do simple file sharing and then work my way from there. If you are unable to figure out simple fire sharing i would go look on other forums or advice. Its rather simple to do but it can also cause a lot of headaches. I have wanted to connect my mac and windows server to my network for a while and just recently figured it out.

I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

In the Mac side of things, backups usually come in two flavors: clones or incrementals.
A bootable clone is a bit-for-bit copy of all essential files in the startup volume. If using the Lions, clones can be made using CarbonCopyCloner or just plain old Disk Utility. These backups represent the safest protection of your info, but take the longest to do. Recovery is an inverse process: you copy the clone back into the internal drive.
Incremental backups start with a complete backup of the startup volume and only copy whatever changed from the previous run. OS X includes the fully integrated Time Machine backup utility to do this. It is extremely easy to do and takes the least amount of time. Recovery is another matter altogether since you have to start with a freshly installed instance of the OS and have to apply all intervening backups to bring the result to the latest saved version.
As for where the backup takes place, the recommended media is an external dedicated drive or drives connected via the fastest interface available on your Mac: Thunderbolt, USB3, Firewire, or USB2. Network-based backups, wired or wireless, are attractive but may not offer the same performance and hence take longer. Also important to note that the entire drive need not be completely dedicated to a single backup. The Mac's EFI firmware infrastructure allows for an unlimited number of partitions on a hard drive and each can be used for either type of backups.
Holler if you need specifics on how to do each. This was just an executive summary.

Can I use one external hard drive for 3 of my Macs?

I have a 2007 white MacBook, a 2011 MacBook Pro, and a 2013 MacBook Air.
I want to be able to transfer all of my precious family photos off of my MacBook and Macbook Pro onto an external hard drive and then wipe those computers clean, and then I want to be able to backup and wipe clean my Macbook Air so that I can update it to Mavericks.
Can I use one external hard drive to do this for three of my Macs? Will it be compatible with all of them? And will I still be able to use the hard drive with my Air once it is updated to Mavericks?
Which hard drive do you recommend?

1. Yes. Note that anything you want to keep should be on at least two drives in case one of them fails.
2. Yes.
3. Yes.
(110959)

How can I use my external hard drive for my iphoto instead of my mac book pro memory?

i don't know if this question has been asked before: how can I use my external hard drive for my iphoto instead of my mac book pro memory? just like itunes all my song are save on my external hard drive. make sense?

Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

How can I use an external hard drive to both back up and free up storage on my macbook?

I've used a hard drive to back up my 2012 Macbook Pro via Time Machine, but I'm not sure how to use it as external storage to move things like video and music off of my Mac to free up memory and then how to move the same things from the hard drive on to other devices like my iPad or iPhone. For instance, I have a ton of movies and would like to store most of them on an external hard drive so that they aren't taking up all of my memory on my Mac, but want to be able to move them easily back onto my phone or iPad. Also, can I use the same hard drive to both back up my computer and use it for external storage? If so, how do I do that?

Always use two drives for this: one for backup; the other for storage. Don't mix the two uses on one drive. There's a greater risk of data lost without that redundancy.
If you plan to backup using Time Machine, then be sure the backup drive's capacity is at least twice that of the drive you are backing up.

My Mac Pro only has a 250GB hard drive. can I use my 1TB hard drive from my windows computer, they're bith SATA

my Mac Pro only has a 250GB hard drive. can I use my 1TB hard drive from my windows computer, they're bith SATA

You want system, data, backup etc. Make good use of the four internal drive bays.
You will have to use Disk Utility to ERASE or click on drive and use PARTITION to make it Mac writeable.

Can I use an external hard drive with my ipad 2

can I use an external hard drive with my ipad 2

There are WiFi enabled portable hard drives available that can stream media, such as music or video, to your iPad, but no external hard drive in the sense of how you would use one with a computer.

Can I use an external hard drive for my ipad mini?

Can I use an external hard drive for my ipad mini?

There are some wireless external hard drives that can be used with the iPad.
The Kingston Wi-Drive, which costs $50 for the 16 Gigabyte, and then $30 more for every 16 gigs more. It works by you turning it on and then accessing the files on it from an app that you download on your iDevice. You can access music, movies, and other stuff. No connections or anything, it works like a WiFi connection, you connect to it from the setting on the iPad under wireless networks.
Then there is the Seagate GoFlex, which some would recommend over the Wi-Drive. But this one costs $199 and had 500 Gigabytes of storage. It works the sameway as the Kingston: no wires, runs over its wireless connection. You can actually fit up to 300 HD movies on it.
Another option:
Expand your iPad's storage capacity with HyperDrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1153935/hyperdrive.html
On the road with a camera, an iPad, and a Hyperdrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1160231/ipadhyperdrive.html
 Cheers, Tom

Can i use an external hard drive in windows to add additional storage after my initial partition is set up. i want to add a 500 GB hard drive to use with my windows. I set windows up in boot camp with a 50 GB partition?

can i use an external hard drive in windows to add additional storage after my initial partition is set up. i want to add a 500 GB external hard drive to use with my windows. I set windows up in boot camp with a 50 GB partition? I now want to add another 500 GB?

Yes. Windows supports external USB drives.

I have just started using WD external hard drives, I use it to save my movies and music on. On more than one occasion, when I connect to my MacBook it erases everything on had on there. Can someone please help with this problem?

I have just started using WD external hard drives, I use it to save my movies and music on. On more than one occasion, when I connect it to my MacBook it erases everything I had save on the hard drive. Can someone please help me with this problem? I am super tired of having to put all of my movies and music on the hard drive just to have it erased again. The products I am using are WD 4TB My Book and 2 TB My Passport external hard drives. When it happens, there is always an icon that reads, EFI, along with the My Book icon. Thank you for your assisstance.

dwgar1322 wrote:
I have just started using WD external hard drives, I use it to save my movies and music on. On more than one occasion, when I connect it to my MacBook it erases everything I had save on the hard drive. Can someone please help me with this problem? I am super tired of having to put all of my movies and music on the hard drive just to have it erased again. The products I am using are WD 4TB My Book and 2 TB My Passport external hard drives. When it happens, there is always an icon that reads, EFI, along with the My Book icon. Thank you for your assisstance.
Yes, you have WD software installed REMOVE IT !!
WD has warned its customers about their huge mistake that their software doesnt work on Mavericks and causes data loss.
(also dont use WD drives anymore)
Read all about it here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5475136?start=255&tstart=0
See their website on removing the destructive WD software here:
http://community.wd.com/t5/External-Drives-for-Mac/External-Drives-for-Mac-Exper iencing-Data-Loss-with-Maverick-OS/td-p/613775
Western Digital External Hard Drives Experiencing Data Loss On OS X Mavericks
http://www.cultofmac.com/252826/western-digital-external-hard-drives-experiencin g-data-loss-on-os-x-mavericks/

Can I use a wifi hard drive/backup drive to access movies and music?

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