Using one external drive with two computers

I have been trying to figure this one out but I seem to be stuck. I have a desktop PC running XP and a notebook running Vista.
I am using Lightroom 2 on both machines. I would like to move the external USB harddrive from machine to machine and use the same catalog stored on the external drive. I am having a little problem with this because the two machine assign a different drive letter to the USB drive when I attach it. Has anybody tried doing this?
Regards
Mike

With the drive hooked up, in Windows Control Panel go to Computer management. There you can assign a drive letter to the external drive. Use one at the other end of the alphabet (PQRST etc) so you don't clash with inbuilt drives etc.
I do exactly this and have no problems. I also have left my backups going to my C drive so the backup is on a different drive to the working drive.
You can also just hold down the shift key on booting LR and manually select the correct catalogue or you can double click on the catalogue and LR will open it.
Gordon

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External drive with two computers?

Before long, I'll have to get an external firewire hard drive for my iMac. I think it's going to be a Maxtor 1 Touch III 1tb Firewire 400. My question today is...if I get a laptop at some point, MacBook or MacBook Pro, will I be able to use the external drive with that as well?

Yes mate you can use it on any computer you want as long as it has a firewire 400 connection.

Reliably use one external drive with iTunes files with two computers?

Hi all,
I have an iMac with a 200GB external firewire drive as my main desktop. I also have a 12" Powerbook that I use around the house. I've also used the PB to stream music from my iMac to my stereo. I have the odd bit of trouble with this, music stopping and not reconnecting etc.
We had a party last weekend and to stop the problems with wireless streaming occuring, I unplugged my firewire drive from my iMac and plugged it in downstairs to my Powerbook.
To get the files to appear in iTunes on the PB, I had to drag everything across to from the finder to iTunes. After a while everything was there.
The party went well: one visit from environmental health telling us to turn things down, and one visit to accident and emergency.
Next day, I returned my firewire drive to to my iMac and now every track in itunes has an exclamation mark next to it.
I know how to sort this out, and I'm not bothered about losing my playlists: what I want to know is a safe method to allow me to move my harddrive around and make sure it's all OK when I plug it into my iMac again.
Any ideas?
I suppose I probably left on the "Organise the music into folders" option when I first plugged in the drive to my PB and the files have actually moved a bit. Would making sure that this was set on both machines be a food thing to do?
Cheers
Stuart

I suppose I probably left on the "Organise the music into folders" option when I first plugged in the drive to my PB and the files have actually moved a bit. Would making sure that this was set on both machines be a food thing to do?
That probably changed the file locations, presumed the 'Organize' option was turned off on your iMac.
Now your 'iTunes Library' file (iTunes' database) on the iMac can't find the files.
It's a good thing to have the option turned on (or off) on every Mac you connect your external drive to.
I used to have my library on an external disk too. The only thing I had to take into account was to copy the 'iTunes Library' file from one computer to the other when connecting my external HD.
Never ran into problems.
More info about the library files here.
If you're running OS X 10.4, you could create an Automator workflow to copy the file to your external HD and another one to copy it from the external HD to the Powerbook.
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

Using an external drive with two different computers

(Very new to this) I have a laptop (windows vista) and a desktop (windows xp)and an external drive. I can download songs from cds usings both computers to my itunes library on the external drive. However I cannot access the songs I downloaded using the laptop while on the desktop and visa-versa. I thought that by downloading songs to the external drive I would be able to access them regardless of what component I use. Please help.

You'd have to use the same exact iTunes library file.itl for each PC.
Put the itl file on the external drive, and make sure the exHD is always seen by the operating system before starting iTunes.Also make sure it is always the same drive letter on both Vista and XP.
Then always use the library file on the exHD.
If the exHD isn't plugged in, iTunes will revert to the library fileon the PC's C: drive.
Some background articles:
ITL file: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93732
multiple libraries: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589?viewlocale=en_US
Message was edited by: Katrina S.

Library on external drive with two computers and a backup...

Hi there,
I'm a video editor (and Adobe Cloud user) and I'm about to start using Lightroom for my photographs.
I don't want to have my photos in the same place as my other projects just to keep everything sorted.
My question's are:
1. Can I put everything (photos and catalog) on an external hard drive?
This shouldn't be a problem I think.
2. Can I use this one hard drive and switch between my desktop and laptop? Both have the latest version of Lightroom.
3. Can I use CarbonCopyCloner to backup everything to a second hard drive in case hard drive 1 fails?
And if hard drive 1 crashes continue working on hard drive 2 without any problems?
Thanks a lot

Yes, yes and yes.
If tragedy strikes and drive 1 fails and drive 2 is put in its place, if drive 2 is identified with a different letter (Windows) or name (Mac), Lightroom will need to be redirected to the new location for the catalog and photos, but this is easily done. Same thing could apply when switching the external from desktop to laptop if the drive letter/name differs between the two machines, but they can be set to always use the same letter to identify the drive.
See this: Catalog getting too big in MyPictures/C Drive, What to do?!

Can I use one hard drive for two computers? Newbie here.

Newbie here.
I currently use Time Machine for my iMac (Intel)
I've been using my Macbook Pro (Intel) a lot lately and would like to back it up from time to time as well.
Can I simply attach the external hard drive to my Macbook Pro and set up Time Machine?
Can use the external hard drive for both machines?
Will Time Machine recognized that my Macbook Pro is a separate computer and set up a separate folder on the external hard drive automatically?
Thanks

Hi,
you can use the drive for as many Macs as you like, just make sure it's big enough. Time Machine will create separate folders for your Macs and will "know" which one you're using.
Björn

Using an external drive with shared files (iPhoto, iTunes), attached to a Time Capsule, can the contents of the external drive be backed-up to the internal Time Capsule drive? Perhaps a RAID1 mirror to a partition?

Using an external drive with shared files (iPhoto, iTunes), attached to a Time Capsule, can the contents of the external drive be backed-up to the internal Time Capsule drive? Perhaps a RAID1 mirror to a partitioned Time Capsule? I understand that the Time Machine (software) cannot backup a networked drive (the external) and that Time Capsule (the router/wireless hard drive) does not have its own backup software... so it won't backup the connected drive. What I would like is an alternate solution for having an automated backup of a networked drive. A 2TB Time Capsule has more than enough space for Time Machine backups of my family of Macbooks, so I had hoped to mirror a 500GB external drive (with shared media files) to a portion of the Time Capsule internal hard drive. I assume this would require a partition of the Time Capsule drive. If not, would the sparse file from the various computers being backed up need to be copied to the external drive as part of the RAID1 setup? This seems like overkill for the Time Machine backup, but it would cover the media files.

The complexity with this idea is the software has to run from a Mac computer on your network.. so you need a Mac turned on, probably most of the day.
It isn't possible to partition the TC although you can create a image area.
The software would have to copy the material, that means all files to be copied, go from USB drive, back to the Mac, then back to the TC, and written to the drive. In other words you have just added Network congestion, although a proper incremental backup type software will not actually use a lot of capacity.
Finally it will be slow.. network drives are slower than internal drives. Well USB connected drive is much slower than the same drive connected directly to the computer.. and if the drive is connected directly to a computer it can be shared with the network.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4577/airport-extreme-5th-gen-and-time-capsule-4th- gen-review-faster-wifi-/4
Read carefully the speed of the USB drive plugged into the TC.

Two computers using same external drive with TM?

This will probably display my ignorance, but my daughter just got a macbook with leopard installed, and I'm planning on upgrading to leopard on my iMac.
So long as it has enough gigs, can I purchase only one external drive and use TM to back up both computers to the same external drive?

Definitely yes.
That's what I'm doing. I have a 250GB external drive connected to my iMac, and this drive hosts the TM backup of the imac and of my 2 macbooks.
The drive is always physically connected with the iMac. Macbooks backup over network. Setup is easy too: first make sure your laptop can see the backup drive as a network share. Then set it as the TM drive. That's it.
The only issue I found is that somehow my macbooks don't do automatic backups every hour no matter how I configure it. I have to right-click on TM icon and choose "backup now". This is yet to be figured out. Other than that, everything is great.

One wireless keyboard with two computers?

This has already been asked probably but there is no specific area for Apple's new wireless keyboard (aluminum).. so here it goes:
I have a desk with a MAC MINI and a monitor on it. (currently wired keyboard, wired mouse)
Planning to buy the wireless keyboard.
I also have an additional spare monitor on my desk so it would be nice if I could just plug that into my MACBOOK and use the wireless keyboard from the Mini to wake it from sleep.
Somehow tell the keyboard (and mouse...) to control the other computer
One keyboard and one mouse on desk -- two computers. Can this be done?
Greg

I'm in the same boat with you on this one. I have to unpair it with one before it will pair with the other. Too much to fiddle with just to reduce clutter on the desk. I eagerly await someone's creative solution.

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.

Using separate external drives with Timemachine to backup internals?

I have a Macpro with 4 internal drives. Can I use 4 separate external drives with Timemachine to back up each of the 4 internals?
Thanks.

I do not want to use them all at the same time, I want to be able to plug in one external drive to backup all of my photos on my 2nd internal drive and later plug in another external drive to back up all of my videos on my 3rd internal drive.
Can Timemachine be used this way?
Thanks.

How do I use an external drive with iTunes

I want to use an external drive (Windows XP & USB) for My Music Library. iTunes is running on the 'C' drive and points to the external drive. When I 'add folders' the music is available and plays, but I don't have my playlists or the play count / last played data. I have copied the 2 iTunes Library files into the exact same location on the external drive (My Music\iTunes). Either iTunes or Windows moves these files to the 'C' drive My Music\iTunes folder, and I don't have problem with these files on the 'C' drive as long as the music/video files reside on the external drive. I would like to set this up so the external drive looks and responds just like if the library was on the 'C' drive.
Can someone help me get this right so it works?
Thank you very much
iPod 60GB Video Windows XP USB 120GB External drive w/42GB of My Music

Have a look at this article in the Apple Knowledge Base.

Using an External Drive with 2 machines

I presently use my external drive to store the images, and work off LR on Laptop 1, ie the LR folders are all on Laptop1. The external defaults to Drive F on Laptop 1.
I want to use a desktop (2) with the same external drive. In this case, the external Drive defaults to Drive G when connected to my desktop.
What files/folders do I need to transfer from Laptop to Desktop, and should I be concerned about the drive letter defaults?
Thank you.

The complexity with this idea is the software has to run from a Mac computer on your network.. so you need a Mac turned on, probably most of the day.
It isn't possible to partition the TC although you can create a image area.
The software would have to copy the material, that means all files to be copied, go from USB drive, back to the Mac, then back to the TC, and written to the drive. In other words you have just added Network congestion, although a proper incremental backup type software will not actually use a lot of capacity.
Finally it will be slow.. network drives are slower than internal drives. Well USB connected drive is much slower than the same drive connected directly to the computer.. and if the drive is connected directly to a computer it can be shared with the network.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4577/airport-extreme-5th-gen-and-time-capsule-4th- gen-review-faster-wifi-/4
Read carefully the speed of the USB drive plugged into the TC.

How to use an external drive with 2 Macs?

Using an external drive for LR 5.4 files and can download and view without any issues on my MacBook. However, when the same drive is attached to my iMac I cannot download or view any files on the external drive that were added after March of this year. Any ideas on how to go about resolving this issue?

The following screenshot might be helpful. It shows where in Lr preferences you can configure which catalog Lr uses as the default. If you need to direct it to an external drive then use the 'Other' option to point to this drive then next time Lr launches set it back 'Load most recent catalog'

Using the same external hard drive with two computers

I recently started sharing an external hard drive with my roommate because I was running out of room on my computer. I have had no problems until he added a new cd to the external drive. When I plugged in the drive to add it to my ipod, it didn't show up in itunes (or on the external drive) but it is there when he plugs the same drive into his computer.
Did I set up something wrong? Do I need to synch something whenever I plug the drive in after he adds something? I have searched around anc can't find an answer. Any help is appreciated!! Thanks.

As Kappy says, Time Machine will put both sets of backups in the same Backups.backupdb folder. That may not be a good idea for the future; your best bet may be to partition the drive.
See #4 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

Using one external drive with two computers

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