Managing iTunes movie library for Apple TV.

[miksterman]

I've been trying to figure out away to sync my movie library that is slowly becoming to big for my 2TB drive and will be flowing over to an additional 2TB drive soon. What I would like to be able to do is have iTunes sync with both libraries on the two HD's at the same time so that my Apple TV will display all movies when sync with iTunes. My understanding is that iTunes 9 still doesn't have the capability to sync with multiple libraries. Is there a 3rd party software for iTunes that will do this? I'm trying to avoid having to sync iTunes with different libraries when I want to view those movies.

 

[comradesnarky]

I've been trying to figure out away to sync my movie library that is slowly becoming to big for my 2TB drive and will be flowing over to an additional 2TB drive soon. What I would like to be able to do is have iTunes sync with both libraries on the two HD's at the same time so that my Apple TV will display all movies when sync with iTunes. My understanding is that iTunes 9 still doesn't have the capability to sync with multiple libraries. Is there a 3rd party software for iTunes that will do this? I'm trying to avoid having to sync iTunes with different libraries when I want to view those movies.

It's a messy solution, but, turn off iTunes library consolidation. I'm assuming you're using external 2TB drives here. This will let you have them both plugged in and all of your media in one library.

 

[miksterman]

Actually I'm using internal 2 TB drives in a MacPro. Would this make any difference over external drives?

 

[Nemesis90]

I'm assuming the previous poster meant turning off the coping of files to the iTunes Media folder. In that case, no, it doesn't make any difference if they're internal drives. It can just be a pain to manage your library with consolidation turned off - basically iTunes leaves the file wherever it was when you dragged it to iTunes. Can be a hassle for backup, etc.

If you've downloaded or ripped something you just have to remember to move the files where you want them to stay before adding them to iTunes.

 

[JulietWaugh]

Advice

I think It's quite good idea to manage iTunes movie library for Apple TV.People who like music or videos then they will surely like this idea.

 

[miksterman]

Let me see if I understand this.

OK so if I have some movies on one hard drive and some on another. iTunes will remember the locations of all those movies on both drives if I import them into iTunes by using the File>Library>Import Playlist? At the present time I've been dropping them straight into iTunes and it makes a copy of the movie into the Movie folder that is in my iTunes Music folder of my iTunes folder under my user name if that makes since. Oh I do have the iTunes Library Consolidation turned off.

 

[mstrze]

Is your entire library larger than 2TB? Or is the library on a 2TB drive with all your other files?

If it's the latter, I recommend just shifting the entire library over to the extra 2TB disk...you gain space on your main drive and then still have all your files in one place for ease.

FWIW my library is on a 1.5 TB FW external.

 

[gregorybret]

multiple iTune libraries

The previous posters are correct. All you need to do is copy the movies to were you want to keep them, it doesn't matter if it's internal, external, wireless, networked, NAS, etc. All you have to do is "Command" drag to itunes. That's it!

 

[Corruptitudes]

OK so if I have some movies on one hard drive and some on another. iTunes will remember the locations of all those movies on both drives if I import them into iTunes by using the File>Library>Import Playlist? At the present time I've been dropping them straight into iTunes and it makes a copy of the movie into the Movie folder that is in my iTunes Music folder of my iTunes folder under my user name if that makes since. Oh I do have the iTunes Library Consolidation turned off.

You need to go into Itunes Preferences>advanced and uncheck the copy files to itunes media folder or something of that notion. That will stop any copying of files from your other hard drive to your main hard drive which keeps just the library information.

i have 5 external hard drives hooked up to my network housing my itunes library. No problems getting Itunes to sync and locate the files. Very little hesitation(except on one drive however its 160gb and is a few years old).

 

[vwDavid]

I'd like to have the option to let itunes manage (copy in) audio files but let me manage manually video files. probably no hope of that...

 

[miksterman]

A twist

OK I got one more twist of sorts to this. I have about 10 movies that are the HD with the iTunes extras that Apple started offering awhile back. If I want to change the location of those to another hard drive how do I go about adding those back into iTunes? I notice that there are 2 files for those, the movie file in .m4v format and the iTunes extra as a .ite.