Is it possible to get files off of Apple TV?

[swindmill]

My PowerBook died a few weeks ago, and my external HD failed today, so the last remaining copies of my music is on my AppleTV. Is there any way to get it all off of AppleTV and onto another hard drive?

 

[Eidorian]

You'll more then likely have to pop the top off of it to get to the hard drive inside.

 

[mr_matalino]

Try awkwardtv here. They have some good info.

 

[swindmill]

You'll more then likely have to pop the top off of it to get to the hard drive inside.

What would I need to do after getting the HD out of it? If I put it in an enclosure would it mount?

 

[mr_matalino]

What would I need to do after getting the HD out of it? If I put it in an enclosure would it mount?

Yeah, you'd have to find a USB or FW enclousre but it mounts as two partitions, OSBoot and Media. It's all stored on Media somewhere.

 

[swindmill]

Thanks for the info. If I can save most of my iTunes library, it will make my recent string of bad luck a little more bearable.

 

[mr_matalino]

Thanks for the info. If I can save most of my iTunes library, it will make my recent string of bad luck a little more bearable.

Sorry about that. Good luck!

 

[swindmill]

I'm going to be trying this on Thursday. However, I read somewhere that the files will be unusable in OS X. Can anyone confirm that the files are the same on appletv?

 

[Cave Man]

I'm going to be trying this on Thursday. However, I read somewhere that the files will be unusable in OS X. Can anyone confirm that the files are the same on appletv?

They won't be unusable - they'll just be hard to identify. When the files are put onto the ATV hard drive they are given names by iTunes. These names are nondescript, such as MXT2.MP4. You'll have to open each and every one of them to find out what they are. I have more than 4,000 songs, 20 movies and about 80 TV episodes on my ATV hard drive. I'd hate to have to ID each one of them...

 

[swindmill]

They won't be unusable - they'll just be hard to identify. When the files are put onto the ATV hard drive they are given names by iTunes. These names are nondescript, such as MXT2.MP4. You'll have to open each and every one of them to find out what they are. I have more than 4,000 songs, 20 movies and about 80 TV episodes on my ATV hard drive. I'd hate to have to ID each one of them...

Thanks for the info. That would be miserable. The only really important stuff on there is some live music that I can't replace and is not on CD. It's all from one band, so I would hope that if I found one file I would find the rest in some sort of sequential order.

 

[Cave Man]

Thanks for the info. That would be miserable. The only really important stuff on there is some live music that I can't replace and is not on CD. It's all from one band, so I would hope that if I found one file I would find the rest in some sort of sequential order.

Did you do the 1.1 update on your ATV? If not, then when you have your hard drive out you should activate ssh as per Awkward TV or Engadget. Then you can mount the ATV's Media and Boot partitions using AFP.

I'd also suggest that you make a disc image of your media partition, then only work with that image. Less chance of screwing up your ATV hard drive.

 

[swindmill]

Did you do the 1.1 update on your ATV? If not, then when you have your hard drive out you should activate ssh as per Awkward TV or Engadget. Then you can mount the ATV's Media and Boot partitions using AFP.

I'd also suggest that you make a disc image of your media partition, then only work with that image. Less chance of screwing up your ATV hard drive.

I did do the 1.1 update. The disc image is a good idea...I will do that.