Apple Tv and The External Hard Drive

[aaron.celli]

Having just spent the past hour searching the internet for a way to do this and coming up empty I've decided to come here. I'll cut right to the chase, i want more HDD space from my ATV via an external hard drive. This is what i have so far

• 
  http://code.google.com/p/atvusb-creator/ use ssh and put it on a thumb drive and boot it on my apple tv somehow
  stuff happens
  my 2TB external hard drive work with my apple tv

anyone want to help me out here?

 

[TwinCities Dan]

Supposedly, that code unlocks the TV's USB port to hook an external drive to it.

Personally, I just plug the HD into my AEBS and use AirDisk to stream my movies to the TV.

 

[aaron.celli]

wow that was fast, i dont know what a AEBS is and i am no hopping you can tell me. Im hoping all this works with my dvd's ive converted. i have quite a bit and they all now in mp4 and have the correct album artwork and tags for itunes

 

[TwinCities Dan]

wow that was fast, i dont know what a AEBS is...

Airport Extreme Base Station. I stream my movies wirelessly but if you don't want to do that, that code should allow you to plug your external HD with your content right into the TV. Just remember to point your iTunes to that drive for movie content. It's easy, let us know how it goes.

 

[aaron.celli]

hmm i dont have a AEBS but i do have a time capsule. any ideas?

 

[TwinCities Dan]

hmm i dont have a AEBS but i do have a time capsule. any ideas?

I don't have experience with Time Capsule's but from what I've read they are just an AEBS with an internal drive, so in theory it should work. Try plugging the drive into the TC and enable the AirDisk options in your Airport utility.

I'm sure somebody will come along with experience with the TC.

 

[HarryPot]

Time Capsule is exactly the same. Just plug/in your hard drive to the Time Capsule, and if your Mac es able to access the drive, so would the Apple TV.

The disadvantage to this solutions is that it still requires your Mac to be available.

What I did is just hack the Apple TV and connect my hard drive there. I also tried the free way, but was unable to make it work as it should. So I went on and bought ATV Flash, which makes all the process for you.

 

[aaron.celli]

Well my mac is a macbook pro so it defiantly will not always be available. i think im gunna give the hack a shot. ill let everyone know how it goes

 

[aaron.celli]

actually i just looked into atv flash. go any more details on it? and is it worth 50 bucks?

 

[tom1971]

actually i just looked into atv flash. go any more details on it? and is it worth 50 bucks?

ATVFlash costs 50 bucks per year. Their "Couchsurfer Pro" product still doesn't work properly.
patchstick.ca costs either 39.99 per year or 60 as a lifetime account. They also offer a free trial version.

 

[Cave Man]

actually i just looked into atv flash. go any more details on it? and is it worth 50 bucks?

Sounds more like a rip-off to me.

 

[aaron.celli]

so I downloaded atv-usb, started off right but the program (and myself) can't find the .dmg file for the tv 3.0.1 firmware update. I tried iClarified but it brought me to the apple site and i got the big ol 404. Can anyone help me out on how to get this dmg? also when atv usb goes to look for it its looking for the 2.4 update

 

[asamalikum]

here you go for the atv 3.0.1 dmg file:
http://mesu.apple.com/data/OS/061-7491.20091107.TVA31/2Z694-6004-003.dmg

 

[jaw04005]

The disadvantage to this solutions is that it still requires your Mac to be available.

And you're streaming twice and using 2x the network resources (AirDisk->AirPort Router->Mac/PC, Mac/PC->AirPort Router->Apple TV).