Sahring library across multiple macs

I just bought a second mac and was wondering if there is a way to display photos in the iPhoto library on Mac #2, as if they were resident on the machine. Mac #1 has an extensive, many-gig photo and iTunes library and I don't want to have to copy all those files onto Mac #2, taking up hard drive space if it is not necessary. I've turned on all the sharing options I could possibly find, yet when I open the iPhoto app the only library I can see is the empty one on Mac #2. I'd like to have slideshows etc right from Mac #2 without the files being on it. Shor tof importing all the files, is there any way to do this? thanks

Hi ryan,
First off, the Macs must be on the same network either wired or wireless.
Here are all the info links I have for you to check out.
SHARING IPHOTO LIBRARIES
Sharing libraries between users on the same local network
You can also share a library on the same machine between users the same way.
Sharing libraries between users on the same machine...
-both users must have sharing enabled in their iPhoto Preferences
-both users must be logged in and have iPhoto running
-Remember that you can only view the other library. You can't edit the photos or play the saved slideshows or view the made books or burn them to CD or DVD. The books and slideshows will show up as an album. You can play that album as an "on the fly" slideshow. You can drag images from the sharing library to your library in the source column to import them to your library. You can then edit, add to albums, books, slideshow, etc.
Sharing links from Apple....
Sharing your photos between computers
About shared photos
Turning off photo sharing
Looking for shared photos
Lori

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Sharing one library across multiple Macs on a Home Network

Firstly apologies if this has already been dealt with. I have searched but cannot find exactly what I am looking for.
My set up is as follows. I have a Mac Book. I run iTunes and my iTunes database is currently on my Mac Book. The actual music and video collection is all on a Home Server that is connected by cable to an Airport Extreme Base Station.
When I log into my Mac, the server is auto-mounted, and my iTunes library points to the folder on the server.
So here are my issues:
1. I am so impressed with Macs that I am about to purchase a Mac desktop. Is there a simple way that a non-technical person can understand, to ensure that I see the same iTunes library whether I use the laptop in the garden or the desktop in the study? I do not want to have to keep updating two separate libraries with changes (that's what the computer should do) rather I want the IT to do it automatically for me.
2. I also share my entire music collection with my partner. Now sometimes one of us buys a CD we both like from the iTunes Store. If my partner does this and does not tell me, we end up with different libraries that do not match. Is there any way around this problem?
Looking forwrd to any help you can offer.
All the best
Christian
London, England

there is no problem doing that on a windows machine on a windows machine you just press shift and restore in itunes and point to the downlloaded firmware file

Sharing one iTunes library across multiple accounts on the same Mac

Hello, I've poked around at some of the posts dealing with sharing one iTunes music library across multiple accounts on the same Mac but it seems like this can only be done if the libary is moved to a shared folder. I realize this can be done but I was trying to share it the way it is described in a post on Apple support (See link below.). That post seemed to imply that you don't have to move the library from its original location (owned by account A, e.g.), rather just make a couple preference changes in the accounts, use fast user switching and voila. That doesn't seem to work. So my question is this: Is the only way to share one iTunes music library across multiple accounts on the same Mac to move it to a shared folder? I'm running 10.4.8 on an Intel iMac. Thanks in advance!
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93195

After reading this and several other related threads, I am becoming thoroughly confused about all of this. I have a situation similar to the one that pokerpal described in the post dated January 7 at 8:06 pm, except that the music files on my system are located on an external hard drive. Everything else is pretty much the same though - I am the admin user (and the main iTunes user and maintainer) and my girlfriend is a standard user who has no music in her own iTunes library. She can see and listen to and make playlists from and sync her iPod with the music in this library from her account, and I can do the same thing, independent of her, from my account. And if I make a change to information within a song, she doesn't see it, and vice versa, and I understand that. What I don't understand is why when I add a song or an album to the music files by importing a CD or downloading something from the iTunes Music Store, she has no way of knowing that unless I tell her, and then she can add it to her library by using the "Add to Library" function. Is there no way of automatically updating her library files to add the new song(s)? We have almost 15,000 songs and videos in that library, and I don't even want to think about what might have to happen if the answer to my question is "no." Interestingly enough, if I put an update to a Word document in the same exact location (on the hard drive), we can update that and pass it back and forth all day - why is that such a difficult task for iTunes to accomplish?
Sorry I went on so long, but this has been building up for some time, and none of the solutions I've read about here have really been of any help, so I'm a bit frustrated and, as I said at the beginning, confused.
iMac G5, MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Sharing an iTunes Library across multiple user account and a network.

Sharing an iTunes Music Library across multiple user accounts.
Hello Everybody!
Firstly, this was designed to be run in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. It will not work with earlier versions of Mac OS X! Sorry.
Here's a handy tip for keeping your hard drive neat and tidy, it also saves space, what in effect will be done is an iTunes music library will be shared amongst multiple users on the same machine. There are advantages and disadvantages to using this method.
• Firstly I think it might be worthwhile to state the advantages and disadvantages to using this approach.
The advantages include:
- Space will be saved, as no duplicate files will occur.
- The administrator will be able to have complete control over the content of the iTunes library, this may be useful for restricting the content of the Library; particularly for example if computer is being used at and education institution, business or any other sort of institution where things such as explicit content would be less favorable.
- The machine will not be slowed by the fact that every user has lots of files.
The disadvantages to this system include.
- The fact that the account storing the music will have to be logged in, and iTunes will have to be active in that account.
- If the account housing the music is not active then nobody can use the iTunes library.
- There is a certain degree of risk present when an administrator account must be continually active.
- Fast User Switching must be enabled.
Overview:
A central account controls all music on the machine/network, this is achieved by storing iTunes files in a public location as opposed to in the user's directory. In effect the system will give all users across the machine/network access to the same music/files without the possibility of files 'doubling up' because two different users like the same types of music. This approach saves valuable disk space in this regard and may therefore prove to be useful in some situations.
This is a hearty process to undertake, so only follow this tutorial if you're willing to go all the way to the end of it.
Process:
Step 1:
Firstly, we need to organize the host library, I tidied mine up, removing excess playlists, random files, things like that. this will make thing a bit easier in the later stages of this process.
Once the library is tidied up, move the entire "iTunes" folder from your Home directory to the "//localhost" directory (The Macintosh HD) and ensure that files are on the same level as the "Applications", "Users", "Library" and "System" directories; this will ensure that the files in the library are available to all users on the machine (this also works for networks)
Optionally you can set the ownership of the folder to the 'administrator' account (the user who will be hosting the library.), you may also like to set the permissions of 'you can' to "Read & Write" (assuming that you are doing this through the user who will host the library); secondly you should set the "Owner" to the administrator who will be hosting the library and set their "access" to "Read & Write" (this will ensure that the administrator has full access to the folder). The final part of this step involves setting access for the "Others" tab to "Read Only" this will ensure that the other users can view but not modify the contents on the folder.
Overview:
So far we have done the following steps:
1. Organized the host library.
2. Placed the iTunes directory into a 'public' directory so that other users may use it. (this step is essential if you plan on sharing the library across multiple accounts on the same machine. NOTE: this step is only necessary if you are wanting to share you library across multiple accounts on the same machine, if you simply want to share the music across a network, use the iTunes sharing facility.
3. set ownership and permissions for the iTunes music folder.
Step 2:
Currently the administrator is the only user who can use this library, however we will address this soon. In this step we will enable iTunes music sharing in the administrator's account, this will enable other users to access the files in the library.
If you are not logged in as the administrator, do so; secondly, open iTunes and select "Preferences" from the "iTunes" menu, now click the "Sharing" tab, if "share my library on my local network" is not checked, the radio buttons below this will now become active, you may choose to share the entire libraries contents, or share only selected content.
Sharing only selected content may be useful if their is explicit content in the library and minors use the network or machine that the library is connected to.
If you have selected "share entire library" go to Step 3, if you have selected share "share selected playlists" read on.
After clicking "share selected playlists" you must then select the playlists that you intend to share across your accounts and network. Once you have finished selecting the playlists, click "OK" to save the settings.
Overview:
In this step we:
1. Enabled iTunes sharing in the administrator's account, now, users on the local network may access the iTunes library, however, users on the same machine may not.
Step 3:
Now we will enable users on the same machine to access the library on the machine. This is achieved by logging in as each user, opening iTunes, opening iTunes preferences, and clicking "look for shared music". now all users on the machine may also access the library that the administrator controls.
This in effect will mean that the user will not need to use their user library, it will be provided to them via a pseudo network connection.
As a secondary measure, I have chosen to write a generic login script that will move any content from the user's "Music/iTunes/iTunes Music" directory to the trash and then empties the user's trash.
This is done through the use of an Automator Application: this application does the following actions.
1. Uses the "Finder" action "Get Specified Finder Items"
1a. The user's "~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music" folder
2. Uses the "Finder" action "Get Folder Contents"
3. Uses the "Finder" action "Move to Trash"
4. Uses the "Automator" action "Run AppleScript"
4a. with the following:
on run {input, parameters}
tell application "Finder"
empty trash
end tell
return input
end run
IMPORTANT: Once the script is adapted to the user account it must be set as a login item. in order to keep the script out of the way i have placed it in the user's "Library" directory, in "Application Support" under "iTunes".
Overview:
Here we:
1. Enabled iTunes sharing in the user accounts on the host machine, in effect allowing all users of the machine to view a single iTunes library.
2. (Optional) I have created a login application that will remove any content that has been added to user iTunes libraries, this in effect stops other users of the machine from adding music and files to iTunes.
Step 4:
If it is not already enabled, open system preferences and enable Fast User Switching in Accounts Options.
Summary:
We have shared a single iTunes library across multiple user account, while still allowing for network sharing. This method is designed to save space on machines, particularly those with smaller hard drives.
I hope that this hint proves to be helpful and I hope everybody will give me feedback on my process.
regards,
Pete.
iBook G4; 60GB Hard Drive, 512MB RAM, Airport Extreme Mac OS X (10.4.6) iWork & iLife '06, Adobe CS2, Final Cut Pro. Anything and Everything!!!

how to share music between different accounts on a single computer

Spreading your Aperture Library across multiple volumes/drives/disks

I recall reading posts elsewhere by others (on an Adobe Lightroom forum) on how one's Aperture Library had to sit on one volume, meaning that it could not span multiple disks. At the time I figured I would be fine for a while since I had about 150 GB of free space on my main disk, yet kept the topic at the back of my mind.
Today, as I do regularly, I was backing up my (Aperture) library to my iPod, (not through the "vault" mechanism but simply using Finder,) when I noticed it was copying (many) individual files, rather than one large file! Being familiar with Unix, including how certain items in Mac OSX are treated, such as "Applications" that appear to be one object in the GUI, yet are merely a folder structure behind the scene, it occurred to me that the Aperture Library, rather than being some sort of single-file database format, just might be a folder instead.
I checked, and it is. Mind you, that doesn't prevent Aperture from keeping proprietary files within those folders, however, it would seem to me that one could easily use symbolic links to throw some of the files, perhaps at the project level, onto other disks, and thus span your library across multiple volumes even if Aperture does not yet offer or manage this ability.
iMac G5 2.1 HGz, 1.5 GB RAM, 20" Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Perhaps this article will help shed light on Aperture's library organization:
http://homepage.mac.com/bagelturf/aparticles/library/libinside/libinside.html
Enjoy!
-- Jim

Syncing safari tabs across multiple macs

I have a Mac Mini as my primary mac and a MBA as my "leisure" Mac. I thought with syncing that all my Safari tabs would be the same in both, like is done well with Mail, Contacts, and Calendar. However, I've just changed my Mini Safari tabs, and I went to my MBA expecting to see the same framework, and it has not updated. What do I need to do to sync across multiple macs?

The tabs are not synced, just the bookmarks. Tabs are not data or content, just a window frame for different URLs.

Problems sharing iTunes library across multiple accounts on one imac

I have followed the Mac OS instructions in this article http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 to share music accounts on the family iMac by putting the iTunes Media folder in a public directory. When I go to connect to this library the I cannot see the actual iTunes Media folder but the following file path is available: ~/Public/Automatically Add to iTunes.localized. Selecting this folder does not appear to make the library available.
Has anyone had this problem?

iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 - relocating iTunes' media folder to a shared area but leaving separate library files - extra tip at https://discussions.apple.com/message/17331189
Chris CA's instructions on sharing one iTunes music library between multiple user accounts - https://discussions.apple.com/message/8974074 - Multiple users using a single library file - similar post at: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3753008

Accessing a single itunes library from multiple macs using a NAS???

hi, at the moment i have a imac g5 holding all my itunes library files on its hard drive. i'm about to buy another mac to locate downstairs, and also have itunes on my windows laptop.
i am thinking of moving the itunes library to a networked attached storage device, something like the buffalo terastation. does anyone have experience of this? does it work well over a wireless network? (802.11g)
how easy is this to set up, and make each mac point to the library on the NAS device? are there any problems with ripping cds to the NAS device, or multiple macs accessing different songs at the same time?
what would i need to do on each mac to make if see the library if i moved it to the NAS?
sorry for the questions, but i know what i want to do, just not quite sure how to do it!
thanks, andy

hi,
sorry i haven't tried this. i've now resorted to
buying a mac mini, attaching an external firewire
harddrive and using itunes sharing. still means i
have to have the mac mini on all the time, so not
ideal. i decided not to buy the nas for the time
being. i'm still interested in hearing if it works on
other peoples systems tho!
There are others who have done something similar in that they created a shared folder on one computer and opened access to that shared folder to all other computers. The result was that only one computer could listen to the library at a time. I would assume the same thing would be true if using a NAS due to the file locking iTunes imposes. Anybody want to take a ride to the Apple Store and see if one of their reps have done it??

How to use a single iPhoto Library from multiple macs

I'm trying to help my brother out with his iPhoto Library and his Mac network. He has a Library on a MacBook Pro that is about 65GB. I am moving it to his Mac Mini to make it the primary Library. What he wants to do is be able to load new photographs from any Mac in his house and have them appear in the primary Library. If I make the Mac mini shareable and point iPhoto on each of his Mac's to the Library on the Mac Mini, will that work?
Are there any down sides to doing it this way? Can you create multiple Libraries for iPhoto, the other thing we are thinking about is to organize his Library by years.
Thanks
Elliot

What do you mean by "make the Mac mini shareable"?
Iphoto is not really designed for this kind of use, but there are some possibilities - with limitations.
I'm assuming you want to use the same library for each machine, so there is only one.
Put the Library on a disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and set to ignore ownership and permissions.
Then point each machine at it in turn.
Remember only one machine can access the Library at a time, and attempting to do so with multiple machines can cause damage.
How are you connecting to the Library? A strong warning: If you're trying to edit the Library (that is, make albums, move photos around, keyword, make books or slideshows etc.) or edit individual photos in it via Wireless be very careful. Dropouts are a common fact of wireless networking, and should one occur while the app is writing to the database then your Library will be damaged. Simply, I would not do this with my Libraries.
Regards
TD

Using new Air Disk to host iPhoto library to multiple Macs?

Just some early thoughts and questions...
One of my biggest wishes for iPhoto has been to keep all my photos in synch. My wife imports family photos to her iBook, I keep some on my Powerbook and then others make there way to the family iMac. Wouldn't it be great for us all to share the same library? Any edits would not have to be done multiple times to the same photo on other machines, etc...
With the new ability to have an external HD connected to the new Airport Extreme, it seems that it should be possible to locate your main iPhoto libarary on this shared HD connected to the AE? Would this allow iPhoto running on multiple macs to reference a single iPhoto library on the AE connected external HD? And if so, could each mac call up the photos, edit and import to the library? As opposed to simply sharing the library as iPhoto currently does (which does not allow editing or saving to the other shared library)? I wonder how access speed would be over a wireless network (g or n speed)? Going a step further, what about Aperture?
Thanks for any thoughts...

However, if my memory is correct, having a fully editable shared iPhoto library is not possible between users of a single Mac nor using a network drive.
This article explains how to set up a shared iPhoto library in Mac OS X 10.4 which multiple accounts can see and edit. If the numeric UIDs of the accounts which will be sharing the library are the same, or if the Ignore ownership on this volume box is checked in the disk's Get Info window, you don't need to do anything other than dragging the library over and updating iPhoto's preferences.
(19520)

IPhoto 2: Saving a library across multiple volumes

I am running out of space on my hard drive for photos and would like to store some pictures on a jump drive. Is there any way in iPhoto 2 to have a library access pictures across multiple drives, or do I have to make two libraries? If so, how do I switch between the two libraries? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

spurn,
do I have to make two libraries?
iPhoto Help topic: "creating new photo libraries"
how do I switch between the two libraries?
iPhoto Help topic: "switching between photo libraries"

Sharing Library across multiple machines

I have a shared network drive in my house and want to have multiple computers (two Macs and one PC) all have access to the same library. I have all of the machines pointing to the same mucis folder so that is not a problem.
I would like to be able to add music to the library from any of the machines but then be able to update the individual iTunes screens to show all of the music in the folder.
After putting in several hundred songs and going to each machine and using Add Library (Add Folder to Library on the Windows PC), I now find that I have duplicated the MP3 files in the album directories. The iTunes screens on each computer only shows the songs listed once but the files are duplicated.
There has to be a way to do this without duplicating all of these files.
Thanks for any suggestions.
David

David,
there is no auto-sync feature build-in into iTunes.
As a workaround when adding/importing music put those tracks on a seperate playlist (or use a smart playlist) and export this playlist to a shared folder.
Then import this playlist on your two other computer.
To avoid dupes disable in iTunes Preferences Advanced "Copy files to iTunes Music Folder ...."

How do you share the same library across different mac accounts on same computer?

I have 3 accounts on the same Mac and want to share the library (or parts) across all 3. Home sharing does not seem to work -- I've activated it but there are no shared libraries showing up on itunes. thanks.

iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer

Sync Mac iPhoto library with multiple Macs and devices using iCloud

Our house is a "Mac" house. My wife and I have two iMacs, two iPhones, and an iPad. I have 30,000 photos in my library dating back to 2002 with a size of 100 Gb. I am paying the $3.99/month for 200 Gb of storage, but currently only using about 7 Gbs. I am running the latest of everything. iOS 8 on devices, and Yosemite on both iMacs.
I am having troubles maintaining two separate libraries. I will upload to my iMac, my wife will upload to her iMac, but I want our entire library to be synced on both computers. Furthermore, I want pictures to show up on all devices. How do I get my entire 30000 photo library on my iMac uploaded to iCloud? I want the entire library to be synced to all our devices? I want all of our photos that we have taken to be in one happy consolidated iPhoto Library, accessible on every computer and device.
Thanks
Kevin

This is not yet possible between Macs and iOS devices, but the new Photos.app for Mac, to be released early next year, will support it.
Right now, only the iOS 8 devices can use iCloud Photo Library (Beta). That will store the Photo Library in iCloud and sync to all iOS devices. See: iCloud Photo Library beta FAQ - Apple Support
Macs can upload to iCloud Photo Library currently only from the web interface: https://www.icloud.com/#photos.
It is not clear, if the Photos.app for Mac will support family sharing. We do not know much about the new app to come.
The iOS version only supports one AppleID so far.
And it cannot yet be recommended to upgrade the iOS devices to Cloud Photo Library Beta, because you will no longer be able to use iTunes Photo Sync or My Photo Stream to upload photos to your iOS devices.
I want all of our photos that we have taken to be in one happy consolidated iPhoto Library, accessible on every computer and device.
Added: iPhoto is a single user database, that needs the iPhoto Library to be stored on a locally connected drive, and it is not possible to store the library on a network volume or cloud storage. The new Photos.app will support the cloud storage.
Apple's recommendation for sharing a library between iPhoto users is the sneaker drive:
iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users

One itunes library with multiple macs (Wireless external HD)

I just bought 3 macs and a 6TB External network drive. I would like to have all of my media on the external drive and have all 3 computers with the ability to add/access content. Can this work? I need the iTunes libraries to update when content is added from any of the three computers.
Thank you in advance

Don't just put the media on the external, put the whole iTunes folder, media and all, on the external. That way any Mac getting access to the external will use the same library (but only one can do so at a time). For each computer start iTunes and immediately hold down the option key to enable selection of the library location.

Sahring library across multiple macs

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