How do I share music on external drive with 2 laptops

We have 2 laptops in our household, my macbook and my partners iBook. Is there a way of keeping all of our music in one folder on the external drive and have it accessible to both computers, each with their own itunes library? Or does each computer need to have it's own iTunes music folder? As we share some but not all of the same taste in music it seems a waste of space to duplicate music files on the same drive.

The sync options relate to the iPod connected, not the library itself, so you can use different iPods with different sync options with the same library.
The problem with sharing your library over the network is that the computer which "owns" the library on the external drive always has to be near (and powered on) when the other computer wants to access it.
But you can have one library (.XML) file per computer, and still store your music on the external drive: just go to iTunes menu > Preferences > Advanced > General and uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library". Now you still have to import the files on the external drive once per computer, but they will not be duplicated.

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How do l play music from external drive using itune.

Does anyone know how to use itune to play music from external drive without upload sounds to the itune libray.

You don't. Use the QuickTime Player instead.
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Old computer dying want to use external drive with new laptop ........... HOW ??

need to get laptop to run my iTunes library from old dying comp. Have a 500gb external drive but what do i do ??

okay, i had to collect my thoughts for a moment
... but I don't have an internal library of music on this machine.
is *this machine* the new Mac ?
How do I set up iTunes to play from an external library for the first time?
the files will have to be added to iTunes. however, with the correct settings, they can be put straight on the external.
in order to set up iTunes on the new Mac, you will have to launch it. with the external drive mounted on your new Mac's desktop, go iTunes > preferences > advanced and point +iTunes media folder location+ to the external. this will cause iTunes to put all newly added content in that location.
also on the advanced tab, check +keep iTunes media folder organized+ and +copy files to ... when adding to library+.
And how do I add my backed up music from my previous iTunes to that external drive's new music library?
did you back up the music to disk ? if so, you should probably authorize iTunes with your iTMS account details, then just pop in the disk(s) and add the content to your library.
if you have backed up to an external HD, use the +add to library+ command from the file menu and navigate to the folder containing your media files.
JGG
edited by the Jolly Green Giant (where Green stands for environmentally friendly)

How can I interchange a Toshiba external drive with my Mac and Windows? It only works read only with the Mac.

I bought a Toshiba external drive IT and I can copy files to it from my Macbook Pro 5,3. I would like to know how canI interchange files with Windows and the Mac.

If the disk is read only, it is formatted for Windows and the Mac can't write to it
Reformat to FAT32
This will of course wipe all data so move it first
Allan

How do I reconnect to an external drive with all my itunes

Today I migrated to an Imac and have successfully updated iphoto but itunes isn't working.
My G4 has a faulty logic board so I upgraded before the inevitable.
I have always kept my music on an external drive (500GB with 375GB available space)
I have followed all the postings on this forum and have
• changed the location in Preferences/advanced to the correct folder on the external drive
• copied and pasted the contents of the Itunes folder on the internal HD (not the folder just the contents)
iTunes Library Extras.itdb (12KB)
iTunes library Genius.itdb (28KB)
iTunes Music (which is empty)
iTunes Music Library.xml (12KB)
Previous iTunes Library (iTunes Library 2008-09-26 36KB)
• restarted itunes holding down the option & shift so that I get prompted to select a library
• choose "Previous itunes library" from the external drive
• deleted the contents only from the original music/itunes folder
• had a quick restart and nothing !
Can someone please guide me through it. Just a reminder that there is no music on the internal drive. All 23GB is on the external drive.
Blue skies
Dean

Are you using iTunes 8? After my update to iTunes 8, my Western Digital 500 GB My Book which stores my music library, is recognized in iTunes, but if I don't play any music or videos within a few minutes, and try to play shortly thereafter, it is nothing but a spinning beach ball. I must shut down the drive and and remount it. It does drive scan and then mounts allowing me to play music again.
I believe iTunes 8 has issues with external drives (FireWire only?) in some cases and is causing issues with the library readability and drive powering.
Have you tried a completely different drive with the same data? Not the easiest option, but It sounds as if you've followed all the right steps so far.
Message was edited by: Chad Kerychuk

How can i access my lacie external drive with os mountain lion

I have just upgradet my macbook pro from snow leopard to mountain lion, and now i can't restore my backed up files from my Lacie external drive.
When i try to connect to it through time machine or migration assistant i get the message:
"the version of the server you are trying to connect to is not supported"
I have tried to enable all UAMs but i still can't connect.
I have browsed after other similar situations, but i can't seem to find any though i'm hardly the only one with this problem.

If the backup was made using time machine, you should be able to access any files you need or want manually using the finder. It may not be pretty, but it should work. I don't know why the migration assistant would be unable to access it though.
If you can't access the contents of the backup with the finder, then I would say your problem is a bit more serious.

How can i share my pc hard drive with my mbp using time capsule?

i have created a wireless network (pc, cable modem internet, and my mbp) with my time capsule as the router. i now want to be able to "see" my pc's hard drive wirelessly from my mbp. is this possible?
thanks in advance.
TC

i have created a wireless network (pc, cable modem internet, and my mbp) with my time capsule as the router. i now want to be able to "see" my pc's hard drive wirelessly from my mbp. is this possible?
Yes. Check out the following iFelix article to see if it will help: Sharing files between a Windows XP PC and a Mac running OS 10.4.x

Itunes is copying/converting 500gb of music from .wma to .m4a files that are on an external drive onto my laptop which doesnt have enough room. how do i reroute these newly converted files somewhere with enough space for them?

itunes is copying/converting 500gb of music from .wma to .m4a files that are on an external drive onto my laptop which doesnt have enough room. how do i reroute these newly converted files somewhere with enough space for them?
new to itunes, used windows media player before that and always ripped music directly to an external hardrive and accessed it through the player. now that i downloaded itunes it is taking from the external hardrive and copying a second file for each song onto my lap top hard drive which does not have the capacity for all my music. as itunes converts music files i want them saved back onto my external drive or another location i have space for rather than the lap top. how do i change the setting to move the itunes media folder to another location. assuming that hitting copy and past and dropping it in a random location will cause a few errors.

When I have done this, all I did was network the two machines and copy the contents of the iTunes folder to the other machine, and that's it.
My understanding (which may not be 100% correct) is that the one file that is absolutely necessary is iTunes Library, and that the XML file is actually a copy auto-generated from the iTunes Library, appearing in a different format only for non-iTunes apps that take advantage of the iTunes Library data.
As far as I know, if you simply have the Library (database) file and all your original music files, iTunes on that computer should operate as it did on your old computer. I believe that the Album Artwork, Genius Data, and XML files can be regenerated from the Library file. Not sure about the Extras file.

Have iTunes music on external drive. How do I access it with new computer?

Hello. On my old laptop (which died) I had my iTunes music and videos stored on an external drive (changed it under Preferences). Now that I have a new computer and installed iTunes, how do I get it to use my external drive with all my music and videos? I changed it in preferences but it doesn't show up.
Thanks for your help.

I did an add file to library with the entire music library and after all day of processing it is now showing up and did not duplicate the setup. I had changed the save location to the music folder under preferances first. Thanks for the help. I guess it is time to figure out playlists next. Then go buy the iPod.
Doug

I have just over 100gig of music in my iTunes library plus what ever else I add in the future. Because of the amount I had to save my music library on an external drive as my laptop did not have the memory to hold it all. I want to back up my iTunes libra

I have just over 100gig of music in my iTunes library plus what ever else I add in the future. Because of the amount I had to save my music library on an external drive as my laptop did not have the memory to hold it all. I want to back up my iTunes library and save it on a different external drive, one I store all my back ups on. Is this possible? If so how can I do it?

To import music into your iTunes library on the computer go to iTunes>Help>iTunes Help>Add items to iTunes and follow the instructions
Delete the "songs" that do not play in your iTunes library and reimport them.

How does aperture store pictures on external drive?

Ok, I imported pictures to aperture, and I saved them on an external drive. The Library is on the internal drive. When I do editing, or try to share Pictures from Aperture, I have to connect my external drive. What I don`t understand is that I can drag these pictures to final cut, without connecting my drive. How is this possible? When does FCPX requires connection withe the "real media"?

What I don`t understand is that I can drag these pictures to final cut, without connecting my drive. How is this possible? When does FCPX requires connection withe the "real media"?
When you drag from the Browser you are exporting the JPEG previews stored in your Aperture library. It will depend on your settings in the Aperture Preferences > Preview tab, how good the resolution of these previews will be.
Many applications can access these previews using the Media Browser, even if your external drive with the originals is not connected. You need the originals if you use "File > Export" or if you edit the photos.

How do I format an external drive with mountain lion?

How do I format an external drive with mountain lion?

Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
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I moved all my music from c: drive(because it was full) to an external harddrive and now itunes can't find any of my music. Is there a way to get Itunes to find music on external drive without having to place all the music back onto the c: drive? Thanks

I moved all my music from c: drive(because it was full) to an external harddrive and now itunes can't find any of my music. Is there a way to get Itunes to find music on external drive without having to place all the music back onto the c: drive? Thanks

Hopefully you moved the entire iTunes Media (or iTunes Music) folder to a new path on your external drive. Copy your iTunes library folder out to the root of the external drive, e.g. X:\iTunes (where X: is your external drive), then move the media folder inside it. Hold down shift as you start iTUnes and keep holding untila asked to choose or create a library. Choose the library at X:\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl. Should all be good.
Failing that, download and run my FindTracks script and point it at the new location of your media folder.
tt2

I have windows, one computer but multi users. home sharing is on. how can i share music between users on one computer?

I have windows. One computer but multi users. Home sharing is on. 2 apple accounts-1 per user. 4 devices-2 iphones and 2 ipods per user. How can we share music on one computer between 2 users?

Hi Justinece, I've solved the problem in this way:
In my wife user profile I've set in itunes settings/advanced the path to my music library: /Users/"MY NAME"/Music/iTunes/Itunes media.
Than, from my wife profile using my administrator user and password I've set the "read/write" privileges on the above mentioned folder.
Finally I've added the folder in my wife's library taking care to not duplicate it ( leave blank the flag in itunes setting/advanced).
I really don't understand what's the use of home sharing...

I have an old external drive with a firewall connection-How do I use this on my Mac with it's USB3 ports?

I have an old external drive with a firewall connection-How do I use this on my Mac with it's USB3 ports?

Does your Mac have ThunderBolt ports?
There are ThunderBolt to FireWire adapters.
As far as I know there are no FireWire to USB 3 adapters.
Allan

How do I share music on external drive with 2 laptops

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