Help! Urgent! Accidentally deleted all movies!

[flynz4]

The kind iTunes music store staff allowed me to redownload all of my movies I'm just trying to recover my ripped DVDs now rather than ripping them all again. Yes I know I should backup but I don't have an external with that much space, I'm now going to get a 1TB external though. Does anyone know why Apple doesn't allow just manual drag and drop with Apple TV like you can for an iPod? I hope for that in a future update...

I would suggest that you subscribe to a cloud based service... even as a higher priority than a local backup. I like both Mozy an Crashplan. I am currently using Crashplan+. Both will take a long time for the initial backup (my 500 GB took about 5 weeks) but once the backup is complete, then it just takes a very short time. I automatically back up to the cloud every hour, and I never notice that the backup occurs. I also use TM locally as well, for quick recovery. Crashplan+ gives unlimited versioning... so I have access to every file ever created on my Mac back to the beginning of time. Of course, I do relax the "granularity" of saved backups as they age. I do not need hourly backups of data years old. For example... over 1 year old... I am saving only a monthly backup.

/Jim

 

[sapporobaby]

I would suggest that you subscribe to a cloud based service... even as a higher priority than a local backup. I like both Mozy an Crashplan. I am currently using Crashplan+. Both will take a long time for the initial backup (my 500 GB took about 5 weeks) but once the backup is complete, then it just takes a very short time. I automatically back up to the cloud every hour, and I never notice that the backup occurs. I also use TM locally as well, for quick recovery.

/Jim

If I may. I suggest $100 for a 1TB drive that you can plug in via USB. 5 weeks for a back up means that you cannot have an uninterrupted shutdown during this period. A USB backup is more practical and MUCH less time consuming. I have a Mac Mini setup with a 2 TB drive hanging off it. I can stream content to my TV via the Mini, or I can watch it streamed on my MBP. Your solution is not very practical as the content cannot be streamed. Backing up is great but a more practical solution is better.

Just my opinion.

 

[mac88]

If I may. I suggest $100 for a 1TB drive that you can plug in via USB. 5 weeks for a back up means that you cannot have an uninterrupted shutdown during this period. A USB backup is more practical and MUCH less time consuming. I have a Mac Mini setup with a 2 TB drive hanging off it. I can stream content to my TV via the Mini, or I can watch it streamed on my MBP. Your solution is not very practical as the content cannot be streamed. Backing up is great but a more practical solution is better.

Just my opinion.

Very good advice.

 

[sapporobaby]

Does anyone know what happens to content that is purchased on the Apple TV and which is available for purchase ONLY on the Apple TV (there are literally thousands of HD movies that fall into this category -- they can only be purchased from the Apple TV and can only be viewed on the Apple TV)? If iTunes allows you to sync these movies back to your computer then what prevents a user from viewing these on their Mac/PC after the purchase (do you get an error message when you try to play them on the computer)? However, if iTunes does NOT allow you to sync these types of files (for DRM reasons) then how can you possibly back up these movies (since they would only exist on the Apple TV)?

Easy. If the content syncs back to the your Mac/PC you can naturally watch it on either device. If the content is HD, you can watch it on your MBP or Mac if it outputs HD content. I have plenty of HD content that I watch on my 17" MBP.

 

[fpnc]

Does anyone know what happens to content that is purchased on the Apple TV and which is available for purchase ONLY on the Apple TV (there are literally thousands of HD movies that fall into this category -- they can only be purchased from the Apple TV and can only be viewed on the Apple TV)?...

Easy. If the content syncs back to the your Mac/PC you can naturally watch it on either device. If the content is HD, you can watch it on your MBP or Mac if it outputs HD content. I have plenty of HD content that I watch on my 17" MBP.

I think you may have misunderstood my question. Sure, if you purchase something on the Apple TV that is also available for purchase on the Mac then that content will sync back. However, if what you say is true for all purchased content then why do so many of the HD movies in the iTunes Store say that they are only available on the Apple TV? If you can sync them back to the Mac and play them there why is the original purchase limited to only the Apple TV?

As a point of reference, there are many, many HD movies that are marked in the iTunes Store as only available on the Apple TV. Therefore, if you can sync those titles back to the Mac/PC and then play them on the computer what is the point of this original restriction to the Apple TV?

I should add that the reason I would like to know more about this issue is I'm wondering how you can backup movies that are ONLY available for purchase and viewing on the Apple TV. What I mean is that if you can't move or sync these types of movies back to the computer then how can you backup these purchases?

 

[mstrze]

I think you may have misunderstood my question. Sure, if you purchase something on the Apple TV that is also available for purchase on the Mac then that content will sync back. However, if what you say is true for all purchased content then why do so many of the HD movies in the iTunes Store say that they are only available on the Apple TV? If you can sync them back to the Mac and play them there why is the original purchase limited to only the Apple TV?

As a point of reference, there are many, many HD movies that are marked in the iTunes Store as only available on the Apple TV. Therefore, if you can sync those titles back to the Mac/PC and then play them on the computer what is the point of this original restriction to the Apple TV?

I bought all of my HD titles exclusively on my ATV...I don't recall seeing anything in the iTunes Store as that they were ONLY available on ATV. Do you have any examples, so I can see if there is any title I own that I bought on ATV that won't play back on my iMac?

I'm not denying that this may be the case, but I'd like to see if any of my content fits this description...since I have not encountered the ATV only wording before. :/

 

[fpnc]

I bought all of my HD titles exclusively on my ATV...I don't recall seeing anything in the iTunes Store as that they were ONLY available on ATV. Do you have any examples, so I can see if there is any title I own that I bought on ATV that won't play back on my iMac?

I'm not denying that this may be the case, but I'd like to see if any of my content fits this description...since I have not encountered the ATV only wording before. :/

Thanks for the response. I'm surprised that you've never seen the note about HD movie titles being available only on the Apple TV. Most fall into that category (by a ratio of probably more than ten to one). However, that limitation may change from week to week, so something that was restricted at first may eventually become available for download on the Mac. You can check this in the iTunes application on your Mac, just look for a movie that is available for purchase in standard definition (only) and note that many say "Also available in HD on Apple TV" (written in bold on the left side of the window in the column below the buy/rent popups).

** Here is a quick update. It's possible that things have changed in the last month or two. It now seems that most of the Apple TV restrictions are for rentals NOT purchases so my concerns about backup may be unwarranted (since there is no need to backup rentals and HD rentals on the Apple TV can't be moved to the Mac/PC). I'll look for something that is explicitly available for purchase in HD on the Apple TV that isn't available on the Mac (if such content even exists). **

 

[fpnc]

So, I looked at quite a few HD movies and I couldn't find any case where an HD movie was available for purchase ONLY on the Apple TV. Therefore, it appears that when an HD movie becomes available for purchase it can be purchased on BOTH the Apple TV and Mac/PC. That means that there shouldn't be any problems with backing up these movies since they will be able to be synced back to your Mac.

I'm not certain that this has always been the case, in fact several months ago there were less than a dozen HD movies that you could purchase on the Mac/PC. When that was true, I know that I found that there were MANY HD movies available on the Apple TV and I'm fairly confident that a good number of those could also be purchased. In any case, there are still many movies that can only be rented in HD on the Apple TV and those are flagged in the iTunes application as "Also available in HD on Apple TV."

 

[sailon]

Use both Cloud and Local Backups

I would suggest that you subscribe to a cloud based service...

I think you give good advice. To supplement what you say, I recommend you have both a local and a cloud backup. A friend of mine lost his local backups in a house fire - hence the cloud advice. But, I am also paranoid that some of these cloud services will go out of business. Having a local and cloud backup is "belt and suspenders".

 

[housewolf]

Stupid question

If the data is to be stored on the computer's hard drive, why does Apple TV come with various sized hard drive options? It took me several lost movies to figure out I couldn't simply transfer the movies to the Apple TV and delete them from my iMac (fortunately I have Time Machine on an external drive that SMA).

I know this is a stupid question, but so many of my (equally stupid) friends (including an IT manager for a major grocery chain) have done exactly the same thing it seems that Apple TV isn't as intuitive as it might be.

 

[spice weasel]

If the data is to be stored on the computer's hard drive, why does Apple TV come with various sized hard drive options? It took me several lost movies to figure out I couldn't simply transfer the movies to the Apple TV and delete them from my iMac (fortunately I have Time Machine on an external drive that SMA).

I know this is a stupid question, but so many of my (equally stupid) friends (including an IT manager for a major grocery chain) have done exactly the same thing it seems that Apple TV isn't as intuitive as it might be.

Perhaps Apple needs to ship the ATV with more explicit instructions in this regard, but the fact remains that the options are to sync or stream. As I said in a previous post, both of those imply that you will be keeping the main copy on the host computer. As far as I can recall, Apple never touted the ATV as an external storage device, only as a way for you to get your iTunes content on your television.

As for having different capacity hard drives, this is simply to give users the option of not having to keep their computers on with iTunes running every time they want to use their ATV, and to be able to get more rented or purchased content directly from the iTMS to the ATV without having to go to the computer first.

For those users who purchased content, had their ATV try to sync that content back to their host computer, and realized that they didn't have enough space on their drive, the rational thing to do was to get a larger drive (or to permanently and deliberately delete files you no longer need), not start trying to side-step the syncing attempts.

Bottom line: ATV - working as intended.

 

[mstrze]

the few times ive messed with music on my iphone I had to create playlists and everything else. lot of hd space wasted to mirror everything.

Just noticed this comment:

You do realize that making a playlist doesn't copy music files? It's simply a file that describes what songs from your library are to be contained within. Negligible hard drive space...probably 1/100th or less of the file size of one typical song.

Mirroring is a good description in it's pure sense...as a mirror just shows a reflection of something that exists somewhere else. Your playlists are simply showing lists of songs that reside within your library and they essentially tell the device what songs to pull over. They are not full copies of your songs...just pointers to said songs.

 

[OMGaNewbie]

I wanted them on my Apple TV but not on my iMac. I wanted the iMac's hard drive to be free and that's why I bought the Apple TV. I've e-mailed iTunes support anyway, they've been nice in the past anyway and refunded Close Encounters when I complained about the quality.

I came across this nice guys web video tutorial web site.
He shows how to get 50 GB Free Online Storage from Adrive.com
Perhaps you could upload your movies there to lessen the storage load on your mac? I am not to savvy with computers yet. Perhaps you will know if this is possible.

When you open his web page, click on the video tab (upper left) and scroll down to a video called "Get 50 GB Free Online Storage".
I hope this helps you
http://www.simpletutorials.tk/