Consolidated iTunes Library - videos on other drive possible?

[toypadlock]

Hi, this is probably a stupid question, but here goes - I have a consolidated iTunes library on the internal drive of my mac for ease. However, as I want to get rid of all my DVDs, am I able to rip them all and store them on an external drive, yet still be able to stream them easily to the new tv?

Or am I going to have to either

a) store all my music away from the internal drive
b) manually manage my music collection

Help appreciated, thanks.

 

[Bye Bye Baby]

It is better to have your entire library stored in one place. I have everything on my drobo.

However you can have reference files in iTunes. That is the file shows up in iTunes normally but it is stored elsewhere.

That may work for you if you want to split movies and music between storage options.

 

[Karnivore]

If you're asking if your media can be stored on an external drive, then yes, it can be done.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449

 

[CWallace]

I store my music on my Mac and my videos on a 2TB external HDD connected to the Mac via FireWire 800. All content is listed in iTunes.

 

[jdusoccer12]

Yes this can be done pretty easily. I keep all of my music on my Macbook Pro and all my movies on an 1TB external connected to my Airport Extreme and it is all in iTunes and accessible on my Apple TV. Just go in iTunes Preferences and uncheck Copy files to iTunes Media Folder when adding to iTunes under the advanced tab. Then add your movies like you normally would and they will stay on the external and not be copied to your hard drive and play perfectly.

 

[pasipple]

Yes this can be done pretty easily. I keep all of my music on my Macbook Pro and all my movies on an 1TB external connected to my Airport Extreme and it is all in iTunes and accessible on my Apple TV. Just go in iTunes Preferences and uncheck Copy files to iTunes Media Folder when adding to iTunes under the advanced tab. Then add your movies like you normally would and they will stay on the external and not be copied to your hard drive and play perfectly.

Ditto...

I have my music collection stored on my MacBook Pro and my movie collection stored on an external drive plugged into my AirPort Extreme via USB.

I was using a WD Passport Studio 640GB but my collection became too large. I just bought a WD My Book Studio LX 2TB ($200). Both drives work seamlessly with the AirPort Extreme. But I'm glad I bought the My Book Studio LX. 2TB is going to provide me a lot of space for backing up my MacBook Pro, storing a backup of my music files, and my entire movie collection.

 

[techguy40]

Ditto...

I have my music collection stored on my MacBook Pro and my movie collection stored on an external drive plugged into my AirPort Extreme via USB.

I was using a WD Passport Studio 640GB but my collection became too large. I just bought a WD My Book Studio LX 2TB ($200). Both drives work seamlessly with the AirPort Extreme. But I'm glad I bought the My Book Studio LX. 2TB is going to provide me a lot of space for backing up my MacBook Pro, storing a backup of my music files, and my entire movie collection.

Do you get any stutter/freezes on your movie video when playing it from the external hard drive usb connected to the airport extreme?

 

[pasipple]

Do you get any stutter/freezes on your movie video when playing it from the external hard drive usb connected to the airport extreme?

I've never had any shuttering or skipping with either drive. So far, I've watched maybe 20 movies on the ATV.

 

[Evgenyy]

You can either uncheck the copy files tick or hold Control button when adding movies which will override the tick

 

[zimborob]

iTunes Library

I have 2TB of movies, 1+ of TV shows, 1+of music all on different drives.

How do I set up iTunes to use these drives?

 

[sandman42]

You can either uncheck the copy files tick or hold Control button when adding movies which will override the tick

Ditto this. Don't bother unchecking the preference in iTunes. Prior to adding video to iTunes, save it to the location of your choice, where you want it to reside permanently. Hold down the option key, then drag and drop the file into iTunes. iTunes will add the file to your library but without copying it to your consolidated library. Works great. I have a similar configuration to what you describe (consolidated library on main drive; ancillary video files on external drive), and I use this method all the time.

 

[Michael CM1]

I'll add the same answer everybody else did.

Yep, it's possible. It matters not where the files are located to Apple TV. Store whatever files wherever the heck you want and then add them to the iTunes library. That's the only file that matters. To do that, just know where the file is and select "Add to Library..." from the File menu in iTunes.

I keep my music local and my videos on a 1.5TB external drive. This was because I used to have a notebook and so I could have all of my music with me when taking it somewhere. I don't really have a good reason for keeping music on the internal drive now, but I really don't feel like changing it. Putting my iMovie stuff on an external drive is much easier than moving thousands of songs.

 

[sandman42]

I'll add the same answer everybody else did.

Yep, it's possible. It matters not where the files are located to Apple TV. Store whatever files wherever the heck you want and then add them to the iTunes library. That's the only file that matters. To do that, just know where the file is and select "Add to Library..." from the File menu in iTunes.

I keep my music local and my videos on a 1.5TB external drive. This was because I used to have a notebook and so I could have all of my music with me when taking it somewhere. I don't really have a good reason for keeping music on the internal drive now, but I really don't feel like changing it. Putting my iMovie stuff on an external drive is much easier than moving thousands of songs.

In order for this to work you have to uncheck "copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library" in iTunes preferences. Since I want that feature active some of the time, and I don't want to keep changing the preference, I find it easier to use the option-drop method.