External Hard drive library question

[BJMRamage]

Hello,

So, I have an older 24" iMac. I upgraded the hard drive to a 1TB one.

But that is getting fuller and fuller every week.
I notice a few areas filling up...my Photo library, iTunes library and my iMovies and iDVD files.

I am not sure which library is sucking up more storage space but want to push one (or more) of these to an External Hard Drive.

My machine only has USB 2. Obviously when i decide to upgrade (maybe next year) I will have more connection options...USB 3, Thunderbolt, etc.

Which would be the better library to push to an external hard drive?
Photos
or
Music

Not sure if editing a photo (RAW Files) via external would be horrendously slow or if listening to Music would be too slow.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Bruno09]

Not sure if editing a photo (RAW Files) via external would be horrendously slow or if listening to Music would be too slow.

Moving the iTunes Media folder to an external hard drive is the obvious choice : it works very well and is easy to do.

Use this : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

You can then add the external drive to your Time Machine backup (if you use it).

(iTunes Media folder on an external drive won't slow down anything)

 

[simsaladimbamba]

It also has Firewire 800, but if you will get an upgrade in the near future, USB 3.0 is the better choice for an external HDD nowadays.

As for which library, I would get the Music one off the internal HDD, as even uncompressed stereo music has quite a small data rate that even USB 2.0 will be bored with that.

 

[BJMRamage]

Thanks...

I was trying to do research online but hard to find a good comparison.

part of me thought the constant pulling of audio might not be great compared to photos but then photos (RAW especially) eat up lots of space too and to flip through them or make adjustments would be even slower.

Thanks again!

 

[MCAsan]

I put all my libraries on an external thunderbolt drive. I carry music in my iPhone and photos on my iPad.

 

[ChrisA]

Hello,

So, I have an older 24" iMac. I upgraded the hard drive to a 1TB one.

But that is getting fuller and fuller every week.
I notice a few areas filling up...my Photo library, iTunes library and my iMovies and iDVD files.

I am not sure which library is sucking up more storage space but want to push one (or more) of these to an External Hard Drive.

My machine only has USB 2. Obviously when i decide to upgrade (maybe next year) I will have more connection options...USB 3, Thunderbolt, etc.

Which would be the better library to push to an external hard drive?
Photos
or
Music

Not sure if editing a photo (RAW Files) via external would be horrendously slow or if listening to Music would be too slow.

Thanks in advance!

Listening to music dose NOT require a fast disk drive. It works even over USB 1. You don't sen need USB 2.

Photos are best kept on the faster disk.

DOws you Mac have Firewire 800? If so buy an external disk with multiple interfaces. Use FW800 now and later USB 3.

USB 2 disks are OK for Time machine backups

 

[pezdaddy]

Music, no hesitation.

My itunes library file is on my mac's internal drive, but all the music files themselves are on an external 5,400 RPM drive connected/powered by USB 2.0 (no external power supply on the drive). Almost all my music is in Apple lossless format, and I have zero problems. Never a stutter or slowdown.

You don't need a fast drive or connection to stream music.

My photo's are on the mac's internal drive, music on the external.

 

[BJMRamage]

Thanks so much for the input...sounds like Music (and possible Movies from iTunes library) will make their way to an external box.

----------

Music, no hesitation.

My itunes library file is on my mac's internal drive, but all the music files themselves are on an external 5,400 RPM drive connected/powered by USB 2.0 (no external power supply on the drive).

how does the library stay on the internal drive?
please excuse my ignorance here.

 

[Bruno09]

Refer to post #2.

Your "iTunes" folder must stay on your internal hard drive, but the "iTunes Media" folder (which is inside the iTunes folder and holds your Music, Movies, etc..) can be moved to an external.

 

[BJMRamage]

gotcha...i was miss-naming them in my head.

 

[Badrottie]

I bought $50 wireless hard drive off craigslist few months ago and put iTunes media files to wireless hd then told iTunes to find them on external hd. It worked very well and I have more space on my ssd.
Also I forgot to add both iMovie and Final Cut Pro media files to my wireless hd as well. But it has to stay connected at all times if you are working on iTunes or iMovie or fcpx.