External hard drive as primary media drive?
Hi,
Since I'm running on a low spec laptop with a 5400 RPM drive 750G HDD (partition to 150G system drive and 600G media drive) , I'm thinking to add an external hard drive shortly even though I still have plenty of empty space on both drive, but just for the future as the footage eats space quite quick.
The option on my mind is to build a 2TB external hard drive with a 7200RPM speed disk such as WD Caviar Enterprise 3.5 inch RE4 2TB 7200RPM 64MB SATA II or a Seagate Barracuda 2TB Hard Drive ST2000DM001 + enclosure with USB3.0 interface.
Once built will this 7200RPM external drive be a better primary media drive than my internal 5400RPM one? I mean storing all my media files for the PP or AE workflow? or the USB3.0 transfer rate is still not as good as an internal drive where it could impact on the overall performance?
And is there any settings that I need to pay particular attention to?
Thanks in advance.
>partition to 150G system drive and 600G media drive
As well as 5400 rpm drive being a limiting factor, there has been a report of partition crashes
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/957286
So, yes, a fast external is very likely going to be better for video files
Similar Messages
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I have a new Windows tablet computer with limited hard drive space (32 GB), and cannot transfer my itunes library to the hard drive. Can I run itunes from an external hard drive? I have tried to follow some of the directions on this site, but am having no success. Thanks.
iTunes will run fine with the media on an external drive.
However, I suggest that a tablet computer with a tiny hard drive is not ideal as the primary computer for managing an iTunes library, even a small one. If you have another machine, perhaps a big, boxy, inexpensive old desktop with a decent amount of storage, that might be a better choice.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364 -
How do I use an external hard drive as my primary itunes library?
I am trying to move my primary itunes folder to an external hard drive to free up space on my C drive. I moved all applicable folders and made the appropriate changes so that all the music and movies would play from their new location. But, when I shut down and then restart itunes, it recreates the folders on the C drive and makes me reestablish the links all over again. Can't I make it start up using the external drive folder as its primary location?
The most effective way to do this is to copy the entire iTunes folder from the <User's Music> on the C: drive to the root of your external drive, without making any changes to the iTunes Media folder. You would then press and hold down shift while launching iTunes so that you get a prompt to choose or create a library. You click choose and browse to the new copy of the library on the external drive.
If you have ny iOS devices their backup still get stored within your profile folder on the C: drive.
You should also consider backing up the library to another drive.
tt2 -
To be precise, I've moved my iTunes Media Library to the same external hard drive where my TM backups are stored, although there's plenty of free space on that drive for both.
As I write that, however, it strikes me that if that external drive fails, I've lost my entire iTunes media directory AND my TM backup. So I suppose I should use a separate external HD for each, right?
But my main question is whether or not TM will still back up that iTunes media folder even if it's no longer located on the same boot drive as my main machine, which is a Mac Mini.
The whole reason I'm doing this is because my MM has a 250GB solid-state drive that is rapidly filling up because my iTunes library is 150+GB.mende1 says:
I recommend you to store the library on another partition on the external disk and keep the first volume only for Time Machine backups.
and you say:
As I write that, however, it strikes me that if that external drive fails, I've lost my entire iTunes media directory AND my TM backup. So I suppose I should use a separate external HD for each, right?
From what people report here I'd say more people lose collections through whole drives failing and not just individual volumes becoming corrupt. A drive failing will take out all volumes on that drive.
Whatever the scenario, you will need multiple external drives. For convenience you could do as mende1 suggests and partition the TM drive. Keep TM on one part and your library on the other. This would be convenient because then you would only have one external connected to your Mac most of the time. However, then you should do as you observe and back up the partition used for iTunes to another external drive as often as you deem necessary. Basically you always want two copies of everything on two different drives, but they don't all have to be on the same two drives. Your TM drive acts as the backup for your computer and the primary for iTunes. Your computer acts as the primary for what's on TM and the second external acts as the backup for iTunes. -
does the system library need to be on the primary hard drive or can it be on my external hard drive and still be able to use the cloud?
I have the system Library on a second internal drive and it is syncing with iCloud with no problems. Also the Media Browser it seeing it there.
Only make sure, your external drive is directly connected and correctly formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled). -
Let me begin by saying I'm new to the Mac world as well as to the realm of online forums so I apologize if this is a question that was already asked and/or if it is a very noobish question...
But anyway, I just recently got the new Macbook Pro 15" with RD and I am curious if I can keep all of my Itunes media on an external hard drive without keeping any of it on the Macbook itself and have Itunes still function (when the HD is connected of course). I am trying to keep the computer memory clutter free and not fill it up with music and stuff so I want to keep all of my media on a 1T Buffalo external hard drive so the computer stays like brand new for a long time..Right now I have about 5G worth of music on my hard drive and I thought it was only on the hard drive and I just recently found out that it is also within the music folder on the computer itself. Any thoughts? Sorry if it is an odd question, I can try to rephrase the question if need be. Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated, Thanks!Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the iTunes Library.itl file in the moved iTunes folder.
If you put the copied iTunes folder in the default location of Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Music then you don't even need to start with the option key held down, iTunes will automatically look for it there. (Make sure there isn't anything already in the iTunes folder there that you want to keep since you will be replacing it with the one you are moving.)
Longer answers if for any reason you do not think all library files are inside your iTunes folder (changed preferences settings at some point):
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.
For the record there's this reference for iTunes 11 but it really doesn't strike me as having the specifics you need. iTunes 11 for Mac: Move your library to another computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12168
2011 ilounge article: Transferring your iTunes library - http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/ - An article with good background information (similar to the links above), particularly if you are not sure your media files are all grouped for quick answer above. Unfortunately under the single term "transferring library" it describes two very different moves; relocating just your media (not really transferring your library and not recommended unless you really need this configuration), and relocating media+database (really your whole "library"). Make sure you understand the difference before electing to move only media. -
How do I transfer music from an external hard drive to my itunes on my mac? I have put the files into the itunes media, but they are not showing up in iTunes!
Hi, did you try iTunes>File>Import?
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ITunes won't recognize media on external hard drive
Hello Everyone....
So I have a 17" Macbook Pro, that was recently repaired under Future Shop's PSP that I purchased. They wiped it completely clean, so I essentially have a brand new computer again.
Luckily, I put almost all of my data and media onto my external hard drive before it went in. I have been operating with my iTunes media stored on an external drive for some time now with success.
Now that my computer is completely new, I did all the available updates, and then went to link my library to my iTunes, as it's "new again". It doesn't have my library attached anymore. I think I forgot to save the actual library files that I'm now reading about, and instead just saved the actual mp4 files. To be honest I didn't know there were library files and actual media files, seems weird...
I've changed my preferences back to the external drive folder where my media is located, and I've clicked "consolidate files" and nothing happens.
I've tried to hit the "scan for media" button that pops up when you have a wiped or new computer and nothing has happened.
I tried to physically click and drag everything from my external drive into my iTunes, and the little "processing xyz..." popped up with the blue and white striped progress bar, however when I woke up this morning nothing had happened. I'm not sure how that developed.
I can't seem to find anything on the internet to assist with this particular issue. I have all my media stored properly in the iTunes media folder but no actual "library" file. I guess I didn't realize they existed!
Any ideas? I am losing my mind. This mac is my second and has been in for repairs twice, and has given me nothing but problems. I am aware this "problem" is my own dumb fault but I feel like it should be much easier to recognize your existing media when it's right there in front of you.Preferences does not scan for media, it only changes the storage location for new additions. The files have to be added to the library. It sounds like you tried this in one of your attempts but it did not work (I don't know why it didn't unless there is some detail I missed).
Where do you want your library? On the external or internal?
If the internal, start iTunes. Drag your media files to the "Automatically Add To iTunes folder. iTunes 9: Understanding the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder. - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3832 Or use the "Add" menu item to add files to iTunes, or drag them to the iTuens library in the sidepanel.
If somewhere else, start iTunes while holding down the option/alt key, select a library location. Add as above.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391 -
I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanent? I have an older machine with Windows XP.
I don't believe mounting the hard drive should be necessary, unless you have several external drives and want your computer to recognise them as folders, rather than drives. I've never had to mount a hard drive, ever. If you don't know how to do it, then it shouldn't be necessary now.
Try this:
Prepare iTunes so that it can see the external drive.
Make a note of which drive-letter the external drive has been allocated. (Look in Windows Exploer)
Look at the file location for a song. Make sure it plays (and therefore that iTunes has found it). Highlight it and select File/Get Info/Summary>Where: and make a note of the drive letter for that song.
Close and shut down the computer.
The next time you turn the computer on again, connect the external drive
Before you start iTunes - check the external drive in Windows Explorer. Is it ready, does it have the same drive-letter that it had last time? Can you go into the drive and see the files on it?
Once you can, start iTunes. (If the drive lettter has changed, you need to work out why before going any further.)
If iTunes fails to find your external drive, you need to check where iTunes is looking for your Library.
Select the same song you checked before (presumably iTunes can no longer find it). Follow the procedure for locating it. You should be able to see where iTunes thinks the file is. It's the drive that counts. Which drive letter is iTunes looking at? Is it the same one that it was previously (which should also be the same one that the drive has now).
What happens, which step do you have problems with?
Message was edited by: the fiend -
Hi,
A very helpful postee got to the end of his knowledge level, so I am posting this for you tech guys to sort out. Bit long because I've tried to set it out step by step. Briefly I'm new to iTunes and my laptop has a very small hard drive and is virtually full and due to be replaced. So I want to use an external hard drive.
Now I know that iTunes installs itself to two locations: 1. Programs Files 2. Music. And its the Music location that bothers me.
I asked about using an external hard disk to store the actual AAC files. I was advised that in order to change the loaction of the iTunes media folder I was should employ preferences/advanced/ and this is what i saw (as you would expect):
Then I hooked up my hard drive, hit 'change', and this is what I saw:
I was a bit worried by the lack of pathway details, but assumed it must have done something on the external drive, so I looked on it and this is what i saw (highlighted):
But compare this with what was in the directory I attempted to reproduce, viz in the iTunes folder in /laptop/Music/iTunes:
A ton of stuff. The only stuff that corresponded with what iTunes had created on my external hard drive was in Music/iTunes/iTunes Media folder:
Now this suggests that there are TWO locations for my preferences. The advanced tab only allowed me to ADD an extra location, not REPLACE the original.
So:
1. Which of the two locations will iTunes choose when I add music? Surely it will go with the original pathway laid down in the directory when iTunes was installed, and ignore my external Hard Drive? I mean, how can there be two automatic locations?!!!
2.. I don't mind itunes library being on my laptop as this is just a list, but it obvoiusly has to have a pathway to the site where the actual AAC files are stored.
so surely it won't work unless the whole lot is on the external hard drive: library, extras, genius, the lot?
4. How then do I get it all on the external since merely changing "preferences" doesn't do the job?
5. Is this perhaps the reason why so many people report that iTunes does not recognize their external hard disk:
http://www.ehow.com/info_12199596_external-hard-drive-not-recognized-itun es.html
I just don't want this to happen to me. Any answers?
Philip Joy
UNITED KINGDOMAs I've replied to your other threads...
Easy method 1:
Move or Copy entire working library from current location to the root of your external drive. Press & hold down shift (option on a Mac) as you click the icon to start iTunes. Click Choose when prompted, then browse to ..\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl on the external. If you copied the library across then test your new library works properly after renaming the original folder, before deleting the original folder to recover space.
Easy method 2:
If you haven't really started to build your library. Press & hold down shift as you click the icon to start iTunes. Click Create. Browse to the root of the external drive. Create the library as ITunes. Drag your media into ..\iTunes\iTunes Media\Automatically Add to iTunes.
Complex method:
Required if you've already tried other things and now have media & library scattered around. See the post make a split library portable.
in addition...
In all cases the idea is to get a library folder called iTunes containing a media folder called iTunes Media with all media inside this media folder. Once you have the library in this shape it is easy to reconnect to the library with the shift-start-iTunes method if the drive letter changes, move the library to another computer, and backup the library by cloning the folder to another drive.
tt2 -
I have my itunes media stored on my external hard drive. On this external drive I have a folder called "TV shows". I previously cut and pasted itunes TV shows to this folder to free up some space. How do I incorporate this folder (TV shows) back into the itunes library?
assuming the copy files ... when adding option is checkmarked in preferences > advanced, drag the folder into an open iTunes window while holding option (⌥).
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In FCP X How do I capture tape-based media (hdv clips)- which I want to import-to my external hard drive? There is only one firewire 800 port on the back of my I mac. The FCPX manual says to import tape footage directly into final cut, which works, but then I lose my external hard drive Do I have to import it into an event, then copy it over to an external hard drive? On Larry Jordan's tutorial, he has 3 external hard drives that show up on his monitor WHILE he imports his tape based media. How is that done? I can only get either the camera to appear OR my external hard drive. thanks for your help.
Thanks for your response, but that doesn't solve the problem. Yes, the LaCie hard drive has 2 firewire ports-
I have always done what you suggest (works fine in FCP7), but in FCPX when I do that the camcorder icon
does not appear. It only shows up when I DIRECTLY import the footage via firewire. ???? -
Time capsule, external hard drive, iTunes media library
Hi,
i want to setup my time capsule, at the same time I want to export my iTunes library to an external harddrive. following questions:
- I setup my time capsule currently only as wifi, not yet as a backup medium
- how do I set this whole thing up and in what sequence?
- I want to use movies purchased on iTunes from the library and not from the store, possible? Not via Apple TV I assume but via iTunes?
- I want to access movies located on the external hard drive from anywhere in my home network, possible?
I need to do this as I moved from usa to Europe and have To change my apple store. Before I change the store I need to download all movies to an external harddrive otherwise I cannot use them anymore due to license issues. Apple cannot help me here unfortunately.
the change is also necessary as staying in the US store causes more and more complications.
ideas are welcome!
thanks!You can relocate your iTunes to an external hard disk .. plugged into the computer that is fine.. using it on a hard drive plugged into the TC is not so OK.. it can work but it will be slow.
- I want to use movies purchased on iTunes from the library and not from the store, possible? Not via Apple TV I assume but via iTunes?
Yes, you can use the iTunes library to store and play the movie. it has to run from iTunes on the computer. I am not sure I understand the last bit about apple TV.. it is simply a streamer.. (unless you have Gen1 which can store movies on the hard disk). The Apple TV connects to your iTunes running on a computer. The TC has nothing to do with this, other than being part of the network.
Note the TC has no media extensions nor is it media aware.. it is a dumb wireless router.. that is all.
- I want to access movies located on the external hard drive from anywhere in my home network, possible?
Access movies is fine.. read Apple prescribed method.
iTunes: How to share music and video
There is a lot of links to home sharing.
Again the TC is irrelevant to this, other than it ties the network.. but a switch or any other router could be doing that.. so the TC is of no particular use here.
For backups just setup TM in the computer to backup to the TC.. that is standard part of the setup.. and there is nothing particular in the TC required for that.. other than it plugs into the main router.. so exists as part of the network. -
I can't copy iTunes media files from one external hard drive to another.
Hi, I am running the latest iTunes and Mavericks software on my MacBook Pro. My iTunes library is stored on an external Seagate 2tb hard drive and it is almost full. I want to transfer the files to a WD Elements 3tb external hard drive and have made that new volume the destination folder for my iTunes library. However, even though I have enabled read/write on both volumes and made the iTunes media folders on both shared folders, I can't copy all the files from the Seagate drive to the WD drive. It comes up with an error message that says "The operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -8058)". I can transfer files from my MacBook hard drive to the new volume, but can't copy files from the old Seagate volume to my MacBook hard drive; it makes the "boing" sound that indicates it is copying but nothing transfers. Files that won't copy include all music files, some video files and all podcast files. Some transferred with no problem. Any ideas out there?
Hi Limnos, thanks very much for your reply.
both external drives came preformatted for Windows but I erased each and reformatted them for Mac before using them.
i made the destination folder on the new WD drive the new iTunes folder using Advanced preferences in iTunes.
my original iTunes folder on the first drive contained all my iTunes files, as that, also, was the destination folder that was linked via Advanced preferences.
If I download new content now with the new drive attached, iTunes has no trouble finding where to place the files.
in Preferences I have both boxes checked (copy files" and "organize") that deal with copying iTunes files.
When I first attempted to copy all iTunes files from one media folder to the other on the external drives, I just did a drag and drop of the whole iTunes media folder from one to the other while both were mounted on my desktop. It started copying immediately with no problems, but as it progressed it started skipping files, each time displaying the error message I reported earlier. that included my entire Music folder. When I open, for example, a season folder that contains files that would not copy, eg, Modern Family Season 5, the episodes that won't copy are there and visible but any attempt to drag and drop them into the correct folder on the new drive results in the error message. There is no pattern to it; it will choose some episodes from some seasons but not others, and no music at all.
when I look at the "missing" files in iTunes they have the small exclamation mark that indicates the file is missing, but when I locate it through iTunes it doesn't copy the file on the old external drive to the new one. It just plays it having found the file on the old drive.
originally I had to make the iTunes folder on the old drive into a shared folder using the Get info window after either a software upgrade or an OS upgrade (I can't remember which, it was several years ago). For some reason the upgrade changed the preferences of that folder to a Read Only folder and after researching the problem found the only way to keep using the drive was to make the folder a shared one. I can't remember why and I apologise for that but it was a long time ago.; I can tell you that at the time it was necessary.
thanks again for your time; I have a good working knowledge of iTunes and Macs in general so I truly believe I have done everything according to how it should be done,, but clearly I've done something wrong! -
My external hard drive is no longer showing up on the desk top, it wont even work when I plug it into my media player anymore, help?
Go to Finder > Preferences > General > and in the top section where it says external disks check that the box is ticked. If it is check the connections.
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