Saving tv shows on external drive

Is there a way to save some of the bigger files (like tv shows and movies) on an external drive?
I have about 3 seasons of tv shows on my laptop and it's eating up a lot of room. I have an external usb 2 drive that i'd like to put them on. Any way to do that?

I added an external drive when I really began running out of disc space because of all the TV episodes I was downloading. Here's what I did:
I created folders in the new external drive that mirror the scheme of the iTunes files on your hard drive. For instance, if your external drive is mapped to F, you would create the following folders:
F:/iTunes/iTunes Music/Movies
F:/iTunes/iTunes Music/TV Shows
- Drop your movies into the "movies" folder, and your TV shows (in their respective series folders) into the "TV Shows" folder. Once you're sure they're copied over, you can go back to the C: drive and delete the files you just copied to your external. Don't forget to empty the Recycling Bin, though if its a big hunk, it may indicate the files are too large and will just be deleted without passing Go or collecting $200.
- Now, go back into iTunes and delete all of the items you just moved from your library listing. The links won't be any good anymore, and would just confuse you.
- Once you've done that, go into iTunes menu bar and select "File --> Add Folder to Library" and select the folders you just created in your external drive. Depending on how much you've moved, it may take awhile, but when you're finished, they should all be in there now under TV Shows or Movies in your library. They won't show up in "Purchased" anymore, however. New episodes and movies will continue to download to the C:drive (or wherever your main iTunes application files are living), but you can periodically just move them on over to the external to make sure you don't run out of room.
One note of caution: Depending on how many USB peripherals you might be using, and how your drives are mapped, you might experience problems then connecting your iPod. Basically, if you have more than a couple of external drives or similar devices that take up a mapping drive, it may balk when you connect and ask you to restore your iPod software. I recently had this happen when I added an external drive, and went through 9 kinds of frustration before I figured out how to make it work. Basically, you'd have to change where your iPod maps to when its plugged in. If you have issues, just post them, and I can give you a solution for that as well.
Hope this helps!

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Transfering a few TV shows to External drive?

Hi,
I have a MacBookPro which is about 2 1/2 years old. I need to buy some TV shows from iTunes but I only have about 10 GB left in my laptop. I want to keep my iTunes in my laptop but keep some of my old TV shows that I bought from iTunes and don't want to watch for a while in the external drive. Can I do that? Is there a way to just drag the shows to external drive?
I really appreciate the help. I will buy a new MacBPro but can't afford for another year

lily00 wrote:
I only have about 10 GB left in my laptop.
yes, you urgently need to make room on your startup disk ! check this:
Your Mac needs adequate hard drive space to operate normally. How full can a drive be before it's too full? There is no hard and fast rule that says “X” amount or “%” of free drive space is needed. A low amount of RAM requires more drive space for Virtual Memory’s swap files.
Problems from insufficient RAM and free hard disk space are discussed in this link
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/lackofram.html
Here’s some general guidelines for minimum hard drive free space:
1. As a general rule, your available space should be 5GB as an absolute minimum as it generally requires that much free space to perform an Archive and Install of Mac OS X and still preserve some free space for VM swap files.
2. Some say that your hard drive should have at least 5% of it's capacity available for use. Still others say 10% to 15%. If you routinely process complex graphics and videos, even more space is required.
With your 19.7GB of free space, you should be OK. Usually it's best to not state a percentage, but state an amount of free space. There's a big difference in having 10% free space (20GB) on a 200GB hard drive compared 10% (4GB) to a 40GB hard drive.
Look at these links about freeing up more space.
Where did my disk space go?
http://www.macfixitforums.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=Forum38&Number=770243
Download & use WhatSize described in this link or Disk Inventory X @ http://www.derlien.com/
Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html
Amazing Disappearing Drive Space
http://www.pinkmutant.com/articles/TigerMisc.html
Increase HD Free Space
http://macosx.com/forums/howto-faqs/275191-how-easily-increase-hd-free-space-lap top.html
How to free up my disk space
http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html
I want to keep my iTunes in my laptop but keep some of my old TV shows that I bought from iTunes and don't want to watch for a while in the external drive. Can I do that?
yes. try this user tip:
In iTunes 9.
iTunes prefs -> Advanced.
Set the iTunes media folder location to the external.
Then select the movie files (or any files in iTunes) and right click Consolidate.
This will copy only the movies to the external location.
After it finishes, iTunes prefs -> Advanced and set the iTunes media folder location back to the internal. This will tell iTunes to use the internal drive for new files.
You can then delete the movies from \Music\iTunes\ on the internal to free up space.
To copy a movie back to the internal, simply right click - Consolidate (since you pointed iTunes back to the internal).
just edit these instructions to meet your needs.
JGG
edited by the Jolly Green Giant (where Green stands for environmentally friendly)

Can photo library be saved direct to an external drive?

can the iphoto library be saved directly to an external drive?

Not "saved" - Moved
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

If I saved something on my external drive as a back up / time machine can I delete from laptop without losing anything?

if I saved something on my external drive as a back up can I delete from laptop without losing anything?

No. Eventually, Time Machine will delete it from the backup. Time Machine is not a storage concept, it's a backup concept. If you need permanent file storage, then get another drive for that.

Storing movies and tv shows on external drive.

I have moved my itunes music library to an external drive as i was runnig out of space. I'm i right in thinking this only moves my music files to this drive and keeps my movies and TV shows on my internal drive? After buying an apple tv and loading up more movies my hard drive is filling up fast.
Is it possible to store these file on the extrernal drive and still be sync'd with the Apple TV in the same way my music is?
I want to use the Apple TV as a library of my moves and don't want to stream

When you import something to iTunes you can decide whether or not to have files automatically copied to the iTunes Music library or just links to their location elsewhere.
As you probably know this is under iTunes>Preferences>Advanced>General
and selected with the 'Copy Files to iTunes Music Folder when importing' tick-box
When importing new CDs the imported files will automatically go into the iTunes Music library.
If you import pre-existing files from somewhere else on the hard drive either from the menus or by dragging and dropping, then they are governed by the preference set regardless of whether or not they are movies/tv shows or music files.
So if you had 'copy to iTunes Music folder' option set any movies you added will have been copied into the 'Music folder' which is now perhaps a bit of a misnomer and effectively a 'Media folder'.
Simplest way to check if your movies are in the 'iTunes Music folder' or not is to select one by right clicking and choose 'Show in Finder' for Mac or the equivalent Windows option which I've forgotten, but basically opens the folder where the movie is actually stored.
AC

I wish to move movies/tv shows to external drive

I have less than 10% of my internal 2T drive available, and wish to move my movies and TV shows to an external drobo, I don't care if my music collection moves or not.
What is the best way to do this and keep iTunes happy? I tried copying the entire folder to the Drobo, but the software did not seem to like that approach.
Thanks

The following article(s) may help you.
Moving your iTunes library to an external drive (Mac)

Saving Photos library on external drive?

I have been storing my iPhoto library on an external drive and opening iPhoto from that drive. How can I do the same thing for the new Photos app? I have so many pictures and I don't want to use up storage space on my computer or pay for tons of storage in iCloud.
Is there a way to import my iPhoto library into Photos on my computer (which already has some photos in it) and then move the entire new library to the external drive?

Is there a way to import my iPhoto library into Photos on my computer (which already has some photos in it) and then move the entire new library to the external drive?
You cannot merge Photos libraries. Importing an additional library into your current library is not supported in Photos. You can only migrate the iPhoto library as a second library and then switch between the libraries.
If you open an iPhoto Library in Photos, the Photos.app will create a migrated Photos library on the same drive where the original library is. So, before you open any iPhoto Library in Photos, make sure, it is on the drive, where you want the migrated library to be. To open any library in Photos you can drag the library onto the Photos icon.

Saving large files to external drives question

I work with large video files. When I save files to a drive it would be very helpful if, when I navigate to the drive, there was a note telling me how much space was available, before saving and then only to be told ten minutes later the drive is full halfway through the file export.
Am I missing something? Is there an option to switch this option on in the finder somewhere?

Marc,
It's not automatic but what is the problem with highlighting the drive and pressing Command+I ('eye). That will give a box with the details in it? On this Mac pro I have 'iStat Menus' installed. There are four volume partitions on an external for backups, a Time Machine drive and the system HD. iStat Menus gives me drop down icons in the menu bar and one of them displays, on click, the full set of volumes with their 'Free' and 'Used' and the volume names. The app also has all sorts of other information on component temperatures and wattages and a graphical rpresentation, changing with time , of disk usage. What you display is controlled by a preference pane. "iSlayer' are the writers.

Catalogs,my external hard drive used to show up as its own folder in my folders but for some reason it now showers up as an extension of my internal HD for my Mac . In finder it shows my External drive is a folder called volumes, along with my Mac hard dr

For some reason my external hard drive no longer shows up as its own folder, instead it shares a folder named volumes with my Macs HD, whats the best way to move it.?

I have the same problem. Let me know when you find a fix.

My finder window is showing an external drive that doesn't exist.

It is empty, but I can't eject it because it says it's in use, even though I have no applications open or other drives plugged in. Does anyone know what this is and how I can get rid of it? Thanks.

Perhaps try the following user tip with that one:
"Invalid Drive X:\" install errors

How come my mac isnt showing my external hard drive after installing os x maverick? and how to i fix that??

how come my mac isnt showing my external hard drive after installing os x maverick? and how to i fix that??

How do you mean it isn't showing the external drive? If you mean on the desktop, click Finder on the menu bar, Preferences, General and check the boxes for Show these items on the desktop - make sure hard drives is checked.
If you mean it is not showing in Finder or Disk Utility, make sure it is turned on, reboot and see if that mounts it so it shows up.

ITunes unable to locate music files saved on external drive

Hi all,
This is proabably something incredibly simple but my iTunes was installed on to my laptop wih music added till my memory was all used up.
So I bought an external drive, and re-added all my music saving it to the external drive, my iTunes however remained installed directly on my laptop.
This worked fine initially as long as my external drive was selected in the Preferences section of my Itunes, but recently all my albums are available but it says that Itunes is unable to locate the files, even though none of them have been lost or deleted from the external drive.
Ive tried everything I can think of - does anyone know how to rectify this?
Thanks....

I switched computers and tried to reload all my backed up itunes files. It loaded the files fine the first time. After I logged off the files disappeared from my Itunes. Apple tech told me to add itunes folder to library. It worked fine until i logged off again. I tried it several times because my files never stayed on itunes. Finnaly I added two new CD's into my library and I went to file Libray and I entered consolidated Library. This brought everything I had before and then some to my itunes library. I logged off, shutdown and even hibernated and my files still remain. I was able to create playlist, my movies, podcast, there all there. Hope this helps.

Re: Leone's post May 2014 about how to best use an external drive with Aperture

I am trying to find Leone who had a great post May 2014 to Diane. I posted tho same message as a 'Reply' to the Leone/Diane posts but then was worried it would not show up since that was some time ago so I decided I should post it as new. Apologies if it comes through twice. I am having trouble as indicated below:
I found this response to the question about Aperture and external hard drives from last May. I bought a WD My Book 4TB and need to back up photos I have in Aperture (many!) to free up space. I am a photographer and need to be able to plug the external drive in as needed, pull a photo out from the WD and back into Aperture to work on it if needed.
I read your directions to Diane and have the external drive formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I read the two ways you suggest to move part or all of my library to an external drive and still be able to use it in Aperture with all the metadata saved, as I need to continue to work with the images. I am not completely clear about the advantage of the 'referenced' method but decided to go with the Split Library because it sounded like the Referenced method would still keep originals (and take space) in Aperture. I'm not sure about this, but that was what I chose.
I have backed up my computer, formatted the drive then went to Aperture to begin. I do the 'Export' and it shows the external drive it will go to but when I click 'OK', it says "EXPORT LIBRARY FAILED - Library could not be create because the file system of the destination volume is not supported." I doubled checked to be sure the drive was Journaled which it was. I did call WD and talk to them but they told me this was outside their area.
Also, in Aperture, I have my photos in Projects by yymmdd. Is it possible to transfer Projects into the ext. drive without having to break them out of the Projects?
Any direction anyone might give would be greatly appreciated, Sandy

Hi Sandy,
I suggest taking a week or two to get to know Aperture better before proceeding. Aperture can do many things, and can do what you want. It's important to be specific about what you want, however. From what you've said, it appears that you don't yet know.
bybeeler wrote:
[1] I found this response to the question about Aperture and external hard drives from last May. I bought a WD My Book 4TB and need to back up photos I have in Aperture (many!) to free up space.
[2] I am a photographer and need to be able to plug the external drive in as needed, pull a photo out from the WD and back into Aperture to work on it if needed.
[1] A back-up is a copy of digital files stores on a separate device. A back-up is recommended because drives fail, and humans make mistakes. A back-up is not used to free up storage space.
[2] Aperture can be set up in many equally-usable ways. The program files reside (almost always) on your system drive. The data files can be anywhere you want them, as long as they are on locally-mounted drive(s). The main data file is your Library. The best place for it is on the drive that has the fastest throughput to your logic board. This is, in nearly 100% of machines, the system drive. But Aperture functions well with Libraries of secondary drives — internal or external — with sufficient throughput. USB-3 and Thunderbolt I (& II) provide sufficient throughput for using an Aperture Library on a secondary drive.
Nearly all photographers will fill whatever storage space is available (making data is what photographers do). The question is: what do you do when your Library no longer fits on your system drive? (And remember, you should leave at least 10% (I recommend 20% for heavy users of Aperture) of your system drive free.) The answer depends, primarily, on whether your computer is portable or fixed in location.
If fixed, just buy a more-than-large-enough secondary drive of USB-3 or faster throughput, mount it permanently, and move (using Finder) your Library to it.
If your computer is portable (and you can't increase the on-board storage), you have to select the best from several confusing alternatives:
• Put your Library on an external drive with throughput at least as fast as USB-3
— Pros: Easy to maintain and back-up.
— Cons: Must have drive with you in order to use your Library.
• Leave your Library on your system drive, but relocate your Images' Originals to an external drive.
— Pros: You can work on your Library without having the external drive available.
— Cons: You can't export (except Previews), Print, or make adjustments until your external drive is mounted. Significantly more difficult to administer, especially importing and backing-up.
• Leave your Library and and _some_ of your Images' Originals on your system drive, and relocate most of your Image's Originals to an external drive.
— Pros: You can do any work on those Images whose Originals are stored in the Library regardless of where the external drive is.
— Cons: Yet another level more difficult to administer.
If you are comfortable with the administrative overhead, the third set-up will be the most rewarding. Keep all _current_ Images Originals inside your Library, and routinely relocate the Originals of Images no longer current to the external drive.
In no case is it recommended that you at any time remove from your Library an Image (not the Original — the Image in Aperture) that you expect to ever use again.
HTH,
—Kirby.

Clickable slide show with external SWFs

Hi... I would really apprecaite some help with the slide show please.
I have a slide show that loads 3 external SWFs. (The External SWFs have buttons and action script of their own as well )
I've gotten the SWFs to load and to switch automtically as well as on the button Click (going to next SWF in array). What I would like to do is the following:
- Have the buttons 1,2 and 3 go to respective SWFs (and not just a next button option)
Also, as far as transitions (just basic fade in and out) is that something I should do within the external movie Clip?
Thank you very much I appreciate all the help. Here's my code:
// Array of external clips to use. Variable index refers to next clip to be displayed.
var clips:Array = ["page1.swf", "page2.swf", "page3.swf"];
var index:int = 0;
// Stuff to load swf files
var thisLoader:Loader = new Loader();
thisLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.INIT, doneLoading);
var thisMC:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
stage.addChild(thisMC);            // Add empty MC initially so the nextClip function can be generic
// Removes old MC and gets the next one, waiting until when it has initialized beore adding it to the stage
function nextClip():void {
    thisLoader.load(new URLRequest(clips[index]));
// Tell AS that the loaded file is a movie clip and add it to the stage.
function doneLoading(e:Event):void {
    stage.removeChild(thisMC);
    thisMC = MovieClip(thisLoader.content);
    thisLoader.unload();
    thisMC.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, runOnce);
    stage.addChildAt(thisMC, 0);
    thisMC.gotoAndPlay(1);
// When thisMC has finished - the next MC starts
function runOnce(e:Event):void {
    if(thisMC.currentFrame == thisMC.totalFrames) {
        thisMC.removeEventListener(Event.EXIT_FRAME, runOnce);
        index = (index + 1)%(clips.length);
        nextClip()
// "Next button" just calls a function that goes to the next file name (mod the number of files in the list)
MovieClip(parent).bttn1_mc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, playNext);
function playNext(e:MouseEvent):void {
    nextClip();
    index = (index + 1)%(clips.length);
Thank you!!!

Have you ever successfully saved anything to that external drive? My first two thoughts are that the drive isn't formatted for the Mac or that you don't have rights to save to the drive.

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.

Saving tv shows on external drive

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