ATV and Airport disk - can I also use a portable HDD?

[johneaston]

I currently have all my video content stored on a 1TB drive connected to my Airport Extreme - iTunes accesses it via Airport disk.

However, the new ATV means that if ever I take it away from home, I need to take the ATV, laptop, HDD, Airport and all the necessary power adaptors!

Could I use a USB-powered 1TB drive in the Airport so that, when I go away, I can plug the HDD straight into my MBP for ATV use?

 

[fpnc]

I guess what you are asking is whether an AirPort Extreme's USB port can supply enough power to run a 1TB portable HD. It would probably depend upon the HD but worse case would be that you could use a powered hub while at home and attach that to the AirPort Extreme. Otherwise, what you propose should work since it is a fairly straightforward issue to redirect iTunes to a different library (if that would even be required, I think it would just work when you reconnected the drive to the MacBook Pro).

I've got an unused AirPort Extreme-N (original 100Mb ethernet version) so maybe I'll give that a quick test.

 

[fpnc]

I just tried a WD Passport Essential 320GB drive on my AirPort Extreme's USB connection and it worked fine (drive is fully USB powered). I then created an iTunes library on that drive (over the AirPort Extreme's disc sharing) and then disconnected the drive from the AirPort Extreme (after dismounting the drive using the AirPort Utility) and then I connected the drive to my MacBook and relaunched iTunes and it just worked, no need to reset anything within iTunes. So, I think I just confirmed what you asked to do, it just works.