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ScottBx

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 29, 2010
10
0
Just got a new MBA and it is beyond my expectations:D: Good battery life, a great screen and large, useful trackpad area means no power cord, external screen and no mouse required...

I had planned to just plug in an external USB drive to get extra storage and access my large iTunes library, but now the last thing I want to do for normal use is to tether the MBA to a desktop or anything else with a wire (It is great to be able to just carry the MBA around).

At the same time, when traveling (and not always having access to the cloud), I would like to be able to take a larger working archive of files and my iTunes library with me.

My ideal solution would be an external drive that normally on my home network (either as an independent drive or connected to a NAS or router via USB). That will allow me to access the drive from the MBA at home. And, then unplug the drive for travel and tether it to the MBA with a USB connection for access while traveling.

The key to making this would work would be to be able to seamlessly move the drive from the NAS to the USB connection on the MBA and not have to rescan iTunes, etc... (Basically, the logical drives on the external drive mount cleanly on the MBA regardless of the physical connection (network/USB)). I am a bit unsure how/if this will work in the Mac world. [The new MBA represents a "Back to the Mac" change for after almost 20 years on the Dark side, so some of the nuts and bolts of Mac OSX are still not that clear...]

Thoughts, ideas? (Is OSX slick enough that this is a non-issue... ? Hopefully).

Thanks.

Scott.
 

zzz99

macrumors regular
May 31, 2010
114
0
I have my iTunes libaray @ the NAS, so when I am not home, I listen music from my iPhone.

How big is your iTunes library?
 

urkel

macrumors 68030
Nov 3, 2008
2,795
917
I have a 500GB Portable External HDD that I plug into my Time Capsule to access when home and plug directly when on the road. Its a system that works good enough and I'll be replacing that with a Seagate GoFlex Portable 1.5TB version soon.
 

MJedi

macrumors 6502a
Dec 16, 2010
878
352
Whether it's connected over the network, or locally via USB, OS X will mount and treat the external drive in a similar way. No need to worry about drive letters like in Windows. So iTunes will see your iTunes Library on the external hard drive seamlessly, no matter how it's connected.
 
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