Moving Content to External Hard Drive and Using New Computers

Before doing this, I want to make sure I know how to do all of it:
We are going to buy two new laptops, and retire the old one. I want to move all of my iTunes content from the old laptop to an external hard drive attached to an Airport Extreme. I then want to be able to share the content between the two computers. I know how to do this, and plan to move the library data base files to the external hard drive, as well.
However, I also want to be able to continue synching all of the content to the Apple TV. To what should the Apple TV be synched after the content is moved to the external hard-drive and the old computer is replaced by two new computers? How is that done under the circumstances? And, in the meantime, will the Apple TV lose all of its content and need to be re-synched entirely from scratch, or will it continue recognizing the current iTunes library as moved to the external hard drive?
Thanks!

This is an option, although as a note of caution; depending on how regularly you modify your library this could become a little bit of a chore. The option is likely a good one in many cases but not all.
In my own case I considered using an old mac as my media server in the sense mentioned by tmartine. (I do a bit of experimental stuff and need to restart my mac quite often, I also have 5 Apple tv's and a library which is too large to do anything but stream, my family don't take too kindly to my frequent restarts and I find myself waiting until the early hours).
However I also modify my itunes library on a daily basis, I buy quite a bit of stuff and also add my own movies regularly, as well as make several recordings a day through my eyetv, all this new content would need to be manually added to my (server) library (and deleted manually), I felt this would be too many extra things for me to do and so my personal preference is to have my itunes library on my main computer as the primary library.

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Can I put my library on an external hard drive and use it between two computers?

Can I put my library on an external hard drive and use it between two computers? I have two MBP; I will refer to one as computer A and to the other as computer B. I would like to be able to plug in my external hard drive, boot up iTunes, and if there were any changes made to the library previous to its last time accessed on this compluter, they show up on that computer, regardless of being imported on the other.
A hypothetical example: I import three albums called 1, 2, and 3 on computer A over a week or so. I take the external hard drive and plug it into computer B. The entire library which was visible on A, is visible on B, including albums 1, 2, and 3.
Is this possible? If so, what files need to be copied onto the external? I'm trying some different combinations, trial and error basically. Hopefully someone knows and can answer before I mess up my library. I also want to do this to free up space on my computer. All importing will be done from disc.

iTunes/Preferences/Advanced : point your iTunes to the new location of the Library.
Set "Share on local network" in the Sharing tab, and you or everyone on the local network can play your music.
You make a backup first of the Library.
Move the follwing to the new location:
/Users/your username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music
have fun.

I have just bought an iMac, and when I had my PC I had all my mp3 music on external hard drive and used to stream using software called ps3 server and tveristy which used to pick up on my Roberts radio via network wi fi hiw do I get iMac to do it

I have just bought an iMac, and when I had my PC I had all my mp3 music on external hard drive and used to stream using software called ps3 server and tveristy which used to pick up on my Roberts radio via network wi fii and on my iPad via AirPlay. How can I do the same with iMac as this software isn't compatible

To install apps from developers Apple doesn't recognize go to Security and Privacy in the System Preferences and change Allow apps downloaded from anywhere

I have an 2tb time capsule 802.11n Wi-Fi base station can I use this as an external hard drive and use a new airport extreme 802.11ac Wi-Fi for my wifi?

I have an 2tb time capsule 802.11n Wi-Fi base station can I use this as an external hard drive and use a new airport extreme 802.11ac Wi-Fi for my wifi?

You can use the 2 TB Time Capsule as a network drive. That means that it must connect to one of the Ethernet LAN <--> ports on the new AirPort Extreme, or connect to the network using wireless.

Have old MacBook Pro running tiger 10.4 want to save date to external hard drive and buy newer MacBook and still use same drive. Any suggestions, most WD drives say nothing about os tiger 10.4.

Have old MacBook Pro running tiger 10.4 want to save date to external hard drive and buy newer MacBook and still use same drive. Any suggestions, most WD drives say nothing about os tiger 10.4. The OS compatibility is much newer on the data. Totally confused. Not a computer person.

I haven't checked reviews recently but there's a difference between bare drives and drives with enclosures. Western Digital made some of the most reliable drives last time I checked, though the enclosures weren't all that great. It is convenient to get both in one package but I usually buy a highly rated enclosure and then put a highly rated drive in it myself. OWC sells some good enclosures but if they put a so-so drive inside of it then the package is only as good as its weakest component. If you get a package from them, ask them what drive is inside (some vendors have no idea what's inside - went to an Apple Store recently and they couldn't tell me what was inside some of their Apple brand enclosures). My first thought if buying a new drive would be to buy a OWC enclosure with a WD drive, but chek around because I may be out of date.
10 years ago Seagate was one of the best drives. Now they rate poorly in reviews.

I just bought a mac mini over the weekend. I saved items from my old G4 to an external hard drive. I go to plug in the external hard drive and the new computer is not recognizing it. Help.

I just bought a mac mini over the weekend. I saved items from my old G4 to an external hard drive. I go to plug in the external hard drive and the new computer is not recognizing it. Help.
Here is the information I have. The external hard drive is a 120GB Acomdata. It has both USB and Firewire. When I go to plug in to the mac mini through USB, it is not being recognized. When I switch to Firewire on the old computer I can see it, however when I go to USB it is not being recognized (even on the old computer).
I'm at a loss as to what to do. Any advice would be helpful.

Shalese wrote:
Have you ever tried the FW 400 to 800 adapter?
I have used them on multiple occasions and they work just fine.
Try this (maybe you already have):
-Boot Mini with drive disconnected.
-Do not connect drive but turn it on
-wait a few seconds for drive to spin up
-plug cable into the Mini then into drive.
This is an old drive and may have some timing
issues.
I had an Acomdata drive a long time ago. It
worked fine with FW but USB was flakey.

How can I move the photos I have in iPhoto to an external hard drive and use that as my library?

I bought a new Mac Pro. My old computers main drive is so bloated that I need to reduce it's size. I want to move my photos, music and movies to an external hard drive and have iPhoto, iTunes, and iMove access them there.
How do I do that so it work?
Thanks,
Keith

Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
There are similar options for iMovie and iTunes, but best to check their forums for details.
Regards
TD

Moving library to external hard drive and get the error "Copying files failed. The disk could not be read from or written to"

Hello,
I'm moving my library to an external hard drive.
I've made sure to use the 'Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized' option when pointing to the new library location.
I select 'File'->'Library'->'Organize Library', I select to 'Consolidate Files', click 'OK' and get ther error message "Copying files failed. The disk could not be read from or written to".
I've read elsewhere that there may be a corrupted file that I need to sequester somehow and perhaps add it back however I'm not certain how I can locate that file because the status window doesn't indicate which file it's attempting to transfer when the error appears.
Any tips?
Thank you,
Greg H
iTunes 10.6.3

OK I figured it out!
It was a dodgy file....I sorted the file folders by date, and as it turned out within the "compilations" folder there was a CD where only about half the tracks seemed to have been copied over. Could not have identified this simply from the time indicated on the finder folder sort, because there were several CDs copied over in the that same minute.
I went back to the original itunes folder, deleted all the files from that CD in itunes, then also deleted all those files from the original disk and the target disk.
Tried the "consolidate library" again, and it completed nicely. 200megs of music and videos.
Very happy to solve this problem after 3 weeks.

Moved Itunes to External hard drive and Itunes can't find them

I went to the Apple Store at the Grove on Friday. An employee there printed out these instructions:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748
I followed the instructions. All my music is on my external hard drive now (My Book). When I open Itunes all the songs in the entire library have a circle with ! in them.
It says the song could not be used because the file could not be found. When I search My Book the song plays and the ! is removed. I have several thousand songs. Do I have to do this with each and every one?
Also, I can't import new cd's now.
Can anyone help?
Thanks, Vicki

Try this -> iTunes Track CPR v1.3

I have an older MacBook Pro using 10.4.11 and want to use new operating system to use the latest iLife. Can i install 10.7 on an external hard drive and use the external hard drive to run new system while leaving my old system intact?

I want to use a new version of iLife (for iMovie and iDVD) but am currently running OS 10.4.11, which won't work with the newer iLife programs. Can i install OS 10.6.3 or 10.7 on an external hard drive, boot to that hard drive and work with the new software (installed on the external hard drive) using my MacBook Pro (circa 2005/6) as the engine while leaving my laptop running 104.11 the rest of the time?

Yes, you can use an external drive. To upgrade, however, means:
Purchase Snow Leopard DVD then update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8.
Access the App Store with your Apple ID and purchase and download Lion.
Your computer must meet system requirements:
Snow Leopard General requirements
Mac computer with an Intel processor
1GB of memory
5GB of available disk space
DVD drive for installation
Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.
Some features require Apple’s MobileMe service; fees and terms apply.
Lion System Requirements
Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
2GB of memory
OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)
7GB of available space
Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.
Obviously, you do not have to upgrade to Lion but can stop at Snow Leopard 10.6.8 which is sufficient for the current versions of iLife apps. Note that iDVD is no longer part of the newest version of iLife. Lion 10.7.2 or later is needed should you wish to use iCloud.

How do you restore your playlists on iTunes after moving data to external hard drive and the playlists are deleted?

after moving everything to an external hard drive, is there a way to restore the playlists you've already created if they're not there anymore?

If you moved the iTunes folder to your external drive, you moved the iTunes library file - iTunes Library.itl, which is in that folder.
You need to tell iTunes where it is, start iTunes with the shift key held down and iTunes should ask you to choose a library.

How to save Flip video files to external hard drive (and need new vid camera rec)?

I am trying to back up my Flip videos from my MacBook OS X 10.5.8 on to my external hard drive. They will not drop & drag directly from the flipshare software and I did locate all the mp4 files in my finder under "All Videos" where I think I can copy them over but they are not organized by title or anything and I only want to back up the clips I've edited and the movies I've created, not all the raw footage.
I'm wondering if I'm going to have to import all of these files into iMovie in order to do this in a way that will be helpful? that seems like it will take forever since *I think* you have to do them one at a time and I have almost 2 years of footage of my kids...Is there a quick way to import video into iMovie?
Side bar, anyone know of a good video camera that is small & easy like Flip but not part of a phone? My flip has died & since Cisco is abandoning the brand, I need something new.
Thank you!

I am trying to back up my Flip videos from my MacBook OS X 10.5.8 on to my external hard drive. They will not drop & drag directly from the flipshare software and I did locate all the mp4 files in my finder under "All Videos" where I think I can copy them over but they are not organized by title or anything and I only want to back up the clips I've edited and the movies I've created, not all the raw footage.
I'm wondering if I'm going to have to import all of these files into iMovie in order to do this in a way that will be helpful? that seems like it will take forever since *I think* you have to do them one at a time and I have almost 2 years of footage of my kids...Is there a quick way to import video into iMovie?
Side bar, anyone know of a good video camera that is small & easy like Flip but not part of a phone? My flip has died & since Cisco is abandoning the brand, I need something new.
Thank you!

HT201250 Can I partition my external hard drive and use one partion for time machine and the other one for data that i may want to use in different computers?

I have this doubt. I've just bought an external drive, especifically a Seagate GoFlex Desk 3 tb.
I want to know if it is recomendable to make a partion exclusively for time machine and let another one so I can put there music, photos, videos, etc that I should need to use or copy to another computer.
May half and half, 1.5 tb for time machine and 1.5 tb for data.
I have an internal hard drive of 500 GB (499.25 GB) in my macbook pro.
Any recommendation?

As I said, yes. Be sure your Time Machine partition has at least 1 TB for backups.
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to two (2). Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

Using Aperture with an external Hard Drive and my new camera (Nikon D300s)

I have an older MacBook pro- basically had option upgrade comp or camera- went with the new Nikon D300s... my pro was maxed out so a friend helped me transfer my library to my external Harddrive (had a tra- after transfer of my library looking at only 721mb left (just a few photos)) but here is the issue- we have it set up when i load my cards that they go right to the external- but two things happen- my raw photos show as 'unsupported format' AND I can't figure out how to edit.... seriously so frustrated I am ready to go with a micro-puker computer and photoshop... this is NUTS! any help... o and I run AP 2 and I ain't dumping any more money in apple until they can show me they are working again... this is eating my profits!

Well... I am going to say I am not ashamed to admit that I am not 100% sure. I basically gave my computer to my friend who is a computer guru as I was trying to download my first shoot with my new camera and I got a "not enough memory" message- and kinda freaked out.
I have a WD external HD so it is mac friendly-
I don't know how he moved it-- I know he said when he set it up to transfer it took close to 14 hours as it is USB (I know I can and should get a firewire port for it) - and to be truthful I don't know if it is referenced or managed. I know that I plug in the external and make sure it shows in on my computer then plug in my card reader and when i plug in my CF card... aperture opens and I set up a new project and it saves to the hard drive... yet is still showing on my aperture lib- so I am confused... and of course my "free" apple care ran out 6 months ago so I can't just call them or drive to denver and have them show me the solution... and I need one as I have a HUGE photo job in like 4 days

Moved itunes to external hard drive and now cant import music

I am unable to import any CDs to my itunes, and my itunes does not seem to recoginze my ipod either. I get an error message that reads "error occurred while converting the file...(name of CD).... The required file cannot be found." I think the problem may lie in that I recently transferred my itunes folder onto an external harddrive to save room on my internal hard-drive. In doing so, I inadvertently moved the itunes library folder to the recycle bin, in addition to the itunes music folder. I recovered it and it seems I only lost my playlists, but I'm wondering if there was something else lost in the transfer that now prevents me from importing any data.

Try this -> iTunes Track CPR v1.3

Moving Content to External Hard Drive and Using New Computers

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