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External Storage - first time user I need some help !

V

verytiti

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 21, 2010
26
0
Hi guys ! As I said I'm a first time user for Mac and I've never ever had a laptop with a 256GB storage. So here are some of my concerns:

Musics :confused:

Do i have to sacrifice my music library?
What if I transfer my musics to the external storage and download it into Itunes?
Does it mean I have to connect the external storage everytime I connect my Ipod?
Or I can only choose a certain amount of songs to put in?...

* dying in confusion *

THANK YOU SO MUCH
 
If you transfer your music to ext HD, then the music can only be accessed when the ext HD is connected. I'm not sure do you have to plug it in everytime you connect your iPod though.

You can, however, have some music (more frequently listened) in your SSD and some in your external HD.
 
Hellhammer said:
If you transfer your music to ext HD, then the music can only be accessed when the ext HD is connected. I'm not sure do you have to plug it in everytime you connect your iPod though.

You can, however, have some music (more frequently listened) in your SSD and some in your external HD.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm thinking I would do. Have some farvourite songs in SDD and others in HD. But i will probably test if I have to connect it every time or not.
 
How big is your music library? You could always get a small flash drive to store your music on since you don't need access to it all the time.
 
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If you want to put itunes and media onto an external, here's the steps.

1) Copy your entire iTunes folder to the external.

2) Then when opening iTunes, hold down the option button as it loads. It will prompt you to choose the itune file (which is in the external) and that should give you all your iTunes music/movies (now all located on the external and linked there).

3) after this works, put the iTunes folder from your internal into the trash. Don't trash yet but test again to ensure all is working on the external.

This will allow all you iTunes music and movie files to be transferred. You will need to move movies not in the iTunes folder separately.

Hope this helps.
 
If your Air is not your primary computer, you can keep the master iTunes library on another computer with more disk space. You will have to sync any iDevices with that computer rather than the Air, but you will save space on the Air itself. You can add music from the master library by using the Home Sharing option.

If the Air is your primary computer, and you have too large a library to comfortably fit on the Air, yes, you will have to use an external drive to store the library. You can add some music from the Air itself, and keep the rest of the library on the external, but this will cause difficulties if you try to sync when the external is not connected. Them's the breaks when using an ultra-portable as your primary computer.
 
verytiti said:
Hi guys ! As I said I'm a first time user for Mac and I've never ever had a laptop with a 256GB storage. So here are some of my concerns:

Musics :confused:

Do i have to sacrifice my music library?
What if I transfer my musics to the external storage and download it into Itunes?
Does it mean I have to connect the external storage everytime I connect my Ipod?
Or I can only choose a certain amount of songs to put in?...

* dying in confusion *

THANK YOU SO MUCH
Click to expand...

Do i have to sacrifice my music library?

No.

What if I transfer my musics to the external storage and download it into Itunes? Does it mean I have to connect the external storage everytime I connect my Ipod?

No you don't have to but if you are going this route you most likely will want to point iTunes to store all new music/movies etc to this external drive to have all of your iTunes files at least in one organized place. You can still sync a selection of whatever you wish to your Air, but at least everything is stored in full on one drive. Having a USB cable that is easily accessible when you need to sync etc will make life a bit easier if you will be using this computer as a come and go unit.

Or I can only choose a certain amount of songs to put in?...

You can do this to. You can create some favorite playlists of movies, music, the whole nine yards and run with a smaller batch of what you like most locally (on your Air) as well as keep a complete library back on your external.

You may want to check out or build a NAS box (or even Apple's own Time Capsule I don't recall if TC allows web connection though?) that allows you to connect to it via the net and allows you to stream all of your media. Only downer then is you must have a network connection, so another reason to keep a favorites media selection on your Air for those times you can't connect.

Hope some of this helps I'm sure others around here will fill in holes I may be missing as well as add more useful info. Welcome to the Mac fold you're going to love it! :D
 
itommyboy said:
No you don't have to but if you are going this route you most likely will want to point iTunes to store all new music/movies etc to this external drive to have all of your iTunes files at least in one organized place. You can still sync a selection of whatever you wish to your Air, but at least everything is stored in full on one drive. Having a USB cable that is easily accessible when you need to sync etc will make life a bit easier if you will be using this computer as a come and go unit.

Or I can only choose a certain amount of songs to put in?...

You can do this to. You can create some favorite playlists of movies, music, the whole nine yards and run with a smaller batch of what you like most locally (on your Air) as well as keep a complete library back on your external.
Click to expand...

Can you explain how this would work? I'm a long-time iTunes user, and I'm not following.
 
zhenya said:
Can you explain how this would work? I'm a long-time iTunes user, and I'm not following.
Click to expand...

Not sure exactly what you are asking a question on regarding my earlier post but if it is how to keep some files on your local machine, the easiest and cleanest way to do it is to simply copy them to your computer. If I'm missing what you are asking please clarify and I'll do my best to answer. I am heading into a server closet for some surgery for a few housr so it may not be until I'm sipping a brew and relaxing later this evening, but I will do my best to get back to you.
 
itommyboy said:
Not sure exactly what you are asking a question on regarding my earlier post but if it is how to keep some files on your local machine, the easiest and cleanest way to do it is to simply copy them to your computer. If I'm missing what you are asking please clarify and I'll do my best to answer. I am heading into a sever closet for some surgery for a few housr so it may not be until I'm sipping a brew and relaxing later this evening, but I will do my best to get back to you.
Click to expand...

Specifically, I want to know how you are suggesting 'syncing a selection' of items that are stored on the external drive for access on the local SSD? I know that you can store iTunes library items in separate places - but you seem to indicate that there is a way to have the entire library on the external drive, yet sync some of it to the local drive. I'm not sure how this works? That's all! :)
 
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You can have media split between your internal and external but it can be messy in iTunes (especially if you want different stuff on the internal all the time).

I would recommend creating a new library if that's the case.
 
I'm so happy everyone seems to be really helpful here :)

This is my main computer so I guess transfering files between Mac is impossible.

But i'm wondering, if I want to play songs in my Itunes I have to connect with my external HD right? Or else it will ask me to locate the file.
 
Moodikar said:
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You can have media split between your internal and external but it can be messy in iTunes (especially if you want different stuff on the internal all the time).

I would recommend creating a new library if that's the case.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know you can keep some of the items on the internal, and some on the external, but as you say, that's very difficult to manage. itommyboy seemed to suggest that there was a way to automate this or 'sync' a selection. I'm not sure how to do that, so I'd like to hear about it.
 
You may want to check out or build a NAS box (or even Apple's own Time Capsule I don't recall if TC allows web connection though?) that allows you to connect to it via the net and allows you to stream all of your media. Only downer then is you must have a network connection, so another reason to keep a favorites media selection on your Air for those times you can't connect.

Hope some of this helps I'm sure others around here will fill in holes I may be missing as well as add more useful info. Welcome to the Mac fold you're going to love it! :D
Click to expand...

Hey thanks can you explain more? I'm not really used to all the technical terms so if you can say more about this it'd be lovely
 
verytiti said:
Hey thanks can you explain more? I'm not really used to all the technical terms so if you can say more about this it'd be lovely
Click to expand...

NAS stands for Network Attached Storage. Basically, it's a hard drive that you can access wirelessly. That way you could have your iTunes library in the NAS to save space in MBA but you wouldn't need to plug in any cables when you want to access the data.
 
Dude, you need to answer the question everybody's asking you: how big is your library? (iTunes gives you the GB total on the bottom for each type of media. Or use the Finder.)
 
bluebomberman said:
Dude, you need to answer the question everybody's asking you: how big is your library? (iTunes gives you the GB total on the bottom for each type of media. Or use the Finder.)
Click to expand...

Oops...my bad. And sorry I typed it wrong I ordered a 128Gb model that's why i'm freaking out here. My music library is around 18Gb ( songs on
ly)...
 
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18 gb is nothing. You'll be fine. When you have over 500gb of movies and 1tb of music and music videos, like me, then perhaps you'll need an external.

Enjoy the freedom of no harddrive.
 
Moodikar said:
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18 gb is nothing. You'll be fine. When you have over 500gb of movies and 1tb of music and music videos, like me, then perhaps you'll need an external.

Enjoy the freedom of no harddrive.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info :)...I guess I'm fine after all...

* feeling completely silly after raising a question like this when I shouldn't be worry about *
 
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