Airport extreme and external hardrive???

[x-evil-x]

i know its been asked before but i can't find specifics about this...

airport extreme external drive connected. how do i open iTunes where all the movies are and keep it open all the time? is this possible to do?
or is it possible to access the iTunes on that other hard drive via sharing from my macpro so i can manually play them from the computer instead of scrolling through movies in the appletv?

 

[x-evil-x]

USB HDD -> Airport Extreme -> Mac -> ATV.....how?

 

[hafr]

i know its been asked before but i can't find specifics about this...

airport extreme external drive connected. how do i open iTunes where all the movies are and keep it open all the time? is this possible to do?
or is it possible to access the iTunes on that other hard drive via sharing from my macpro so i can manually play them from the computer instead of scrolling through movies in the appletv?

iTunes is on your computer, not on the hard drive. If you have movies on your external hard drive, you can add them into your iTunes library by either dragging them from a Finder window and dropping them into Movies in your iTunes library or go through (in iTunes) Files > Add to Library.

When you have done this, you can watch the films on your TV by either browsing them on your ATV2, or by playing them on your computer (in iTunes) then pressing the square with a triangle-button next to the play/pause/rewind/etc buttons and choose Apple TV.

 

[x-evil-x]

iTunes is on your computer, not on the hard drive. If you have movies on your external hard drive, you can add them into your iTunes library by either dragging them from a Finder window and dropping them into Movies in your iTunes library or go through (in iTunes) Files > Add to Library.

When you have done this, you can watch the films on your TV by either browsing them on your ATV2, or by playing them on your computer (in iTunes) then pressing the square with a triangle-button next to the play/pause/rewind/etc buttons and choose Apple TV.

i understand that iTunes needs to be open on the other hard drive. and i know how to use airplay.
the thing i don't understand is when i open the shared file i can't open iTunes from the other hard drive it opens iTunes from my hard drive I'm using. I've transferred a few movies into the other hard drives iTunes and it doesn't seem to working when i try to open that drives iTunes to play it.

 

[hafr]

i understand that iTunes needs to be open on the other hard drive. and i know how to use airplay.
the thing i don't understand is when i open the shared file i can't open iTunes from the other hard drive it opens iTunes from my hard drive I'm using. I've transferred a few movies into the other hard drives iTunes and it doesn't seem to working when i try to open that drives iTunes to play it.

Do you mean that you have the actual library files on the external hard drive and that you want to open that specific library instead of the library on your computer? In that case, I can't help you since I've never dealt with several libraries.

But if you have movies on the external hard drive that you want to watch on your ATV2 via iTunes on your computer, just do what I said in my earlier reply. There is no need to open "iTunes on the external hard drive" to watch the movies that are on there. Just find the movies that are on the external drive and open them in iTunes, or import them into iTunes.

 

[mmomega]

1st. Is the external hard drive connected to the airport for a reason? To be used by more than one person? As a Time Machine drive?

This can still be accomplished just by connecting the external to your Mac Pro and enabling sharing. IMHO the speeds are faster this way.

2nd. So what I'm getting from all of this is...(please point out if I'm wrong. I'm very confused, I think...)

You have an external hard drive with movies on it.
This drive is connected to your router.
You want to view the movies, which are on the external HDD that is connected to your router, on your Mac Pro ..AND.. your Apple TV.

I would connect the hard drive to the Mac Pro, load all the movies into the iTunes library and turn on Home Sharing.
Enter your Home Sharing ID and Password on the AppleTV.
The AppleTV should then see all the movies listed in your iTunes library from your Mac Pro.


or if you insist on having the external hard drive connected to the router.
Open Itunes.
Click File->Add to Library
and point iTunes to the external hard drive folder containing the movies.
Then enable Home Sharing...enter info to appletv and you're set.

 

[x-evil-x]

i was just trying to use the external drive because having 400 gigs on my normal hard drive slows down my computer a lot. I'm trying to transfer all my movies to an external and have it be able to play from iTunes on that library so i can use airplay on my appletv's.