How to move only iTunes movies to external drive and Apple TV

GtotheK · Feb 8, 2013, 12:38 PM

Hi all,

I'm running low on disk space on my macbook. I'd like to move ONLY my movies/tv shows to an external drive. I have a couple of questions:

1) How does one do this? Can I drag only the movie folder onto the external drive and leave the music folder on my macbook?

2) If I get new movies, do I have to individually put each onto the external drive?

3) If I'd like to those watch movies on my apple tv, do I need to attach the external drive to my macbook? To the apple tv? Can I attach it to my airport extreme base station, so it's shared over wifi?

I appreciate the help!

GGJstudios · Feb 8, 2013, 12:56 PM

How to split a single iTunes library over two or more media locations

GtotheK · Feb 8, 2013, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GGJstudios

How to split a single iTunes library over two or more media locations

Thank you, as for the apple tv aspect, would I still be able to watch movies if they are not on my macbook? I thought the home sharing "computers" icon on apple tv is meant for media on the macbook?

mic j · Feb 8, 2013, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GtotheK

Thank you, as for the apple tv aspect, would I still be able to watch movies if they are not on my macbook? I thought the home sharing "computers" icon on apple tv is meant for media on the macbook?

Nope. Movies being on an external drive will be fine.

GtotheK · Feb 8, 2013, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mic j

Nope. Movies being on an external drive will be fine.

I don't plan on the external drive being connected at all times to the macbook, I'm thinking it won't work then?

mic j · Feb 8, 2013, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GtotheK

I don't plan on the external drive being connected at all times to the macbook, I'm thinking it won't work then?

It either has to be connected to the MB or your router. Obviously, if it's not connected somewhere, you won't be able to see it's contents.

GtotheK · Feb 8, 2013, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mic j

It either has to be connected to the MB or your router. Obviously, if it's not connected somewhere, you won't be able to see it's contents.

So I can simply connect it via USB to my airport extreme base station, and it will be available over wifi?

mic j · Feb 8, 2013, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GtotheK

So I can simply connect it via USB to my airport extreme base station, and it will be available over wifi?

Yep.

rusty2192 · Feb 8, 2013, 05:59 PM

Your MacBook will have to on and running iTunes no matter what, just keep that in mind.

KevinC867 · Feb 9, 2013, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rusty2192

Your MacBook will have to on and running iTunes no matter what, just keep that in mind.

Yes, and since the drive will operate *much* faster when connected to the MacBook, it doesn't make much sense to connect it to the router. I tried that for a while and quickly discovered that there is a huge difference in performance between a true NAS (network attached storage) box and a router with a USB port.

mic j · Feb 9, 2013, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinC867

Yes, and since the drive will operate *much* faster when connected to the MacBook, it doesn't make much sense to connect it to the router. I tried that for a while and quickly discovered that there is a huge difference in performance between a true NAS (network attached storage) box and a router with a USB port.

It makes a lot of sense to connect it to the router if you want to keep your laptop portable. I think you overstate the performance degradation. The only thing I have noticed that is slower is the cover art is a little slower to load. No impact on movie playing performance as the stream is buffered.

GarrettL1979 · Feb 9, 2013, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mic j

It makes a lot of sense to connect it to the router if you want to keep your laptop portable. I think you overstate the performance degradation. The only thing I have noticed that is slower is the cover art is a little slower to load. No impact on movie playing performance as the stream is buffered.

Same thoughts here.

KevinC867 · Feb 9, 2013, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mic j

It makes a lot of sense to connect it to the router if you want to keep your laptop portable. I think you overstate the performance degradation. The only thing I have noticed that is slower is the cover art is a little slower to load. No impact on movie playing performance as the stream is buffered.

I agree that it will be fast enough to stream the media for playback. However, my experience was that it was painfully slow to load new media onto the drive when it was attached to my Airport Extreme. I would have been frequently moving the drive from the router to my laptop to add new content.

I usually have my rMBP "docked" to a USB3 hub which I have a few drives attached to, so it's no problem for me to leave my media drive connected there. I understand your point if you are often moving around with your laptop.

mic j · Feb 9, 2013, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinC867

I agree that it will be fast enough to stream the media for playback. However, my experience was that it was painfully slow to load new media onto the drive when it was attached to my Airport Extreme. I would have been frequently moving the drive from the router to my laptop to add new content.

I usually have my rMBP "docked" to a USB3 hub which I have a few drives attached to, so it's no problem for me to leave my media drive connected there. I understand your point if you are often moving around with your laptop.

Takes me about 15m to wirelessly transfer a 1GB DVD and a little over an hour to do a 30GB BR. Since I have converted all of my library to mp4, I am in 1 at a time mode now. So it's no big deal. Often, I start the larger transfer's before going to bed.

GarrettL1979 · Feb 9, 2013, 04:48 PM

mic j, do you ever get server disruption error messages on your MBP using this setup? They're kind of annoying. Doesn't appear to affect playback on our ATV3 though.

mic j · Feb 9, 2013, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GarrettL1979

mic j, do you ever get server disruption error messages on your MBP using this setup? They're kind of annoying. Doesn't appear to affect playback on our ATV3 though.

Never had that, sorry.

GtotheK · Feb 15, 2013, 07:57 AM

So I ran into a problem last nite. I was trying to watch a movie that I had transferred to the external hard drive. I had the drive connected to my macbook, but apple tv was not able to connect. So I had to launch the movie in itunes and airplay it. I just want to be able to turn on my apple tv and watch the movie. On the apple tv, next to the movie, there was a cloud, but I don't have itunes match. What am I doing wrong?

Feb 8, 2013, 12:38 PM	#1
GtotheK macrumors member Join Date: Apr 2009	How to move only iTunes movies to external drive and Apple TV Hi all, I'm running low on disk space on my macbook. I'd like to move *ONLY* my movies/tv shows to an external drive. I have a couple of questions: 1) How does one do this? Can I drag only the movie folder onto the external drive and leave the music folder on my macbook? 2) If I get new movies, do I have to individually put each onto the external drive? 3) If I'd like to those watch movies on my apple tv, do I need to attach the external drive to my macbook? To the apple tv? Can I attach it to my airport extreme base station, so it's shared over wifi? I appreciate the help! __________________ White Macbook (early 2008) running SL, 2.4 GHz, upgraded to 4 GB RAM, 320GB HD 7200rpm; 32GB Iphone 4; The New Ipad w/Retina LTE 16 GB; Apple TV 3
	0

Feb 8, 2013, 05:59 PM	#9
rusty2192 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Kentucky	Your MacBook will have to on and running iTunes no matter what, just keep that in mind. __________________ 21.5" iMac; Aluminum MacBook; Power Mac G4; iPhone 4; iPad My photo Website and gallery
	0

Feb 15, 2013, 07:57 AM	#17
GtotheK Thread Starter macrumors member Join Date: Apr 2009	So I ran into a problem last nite. I was trying to watch a movie that I had transferred to the external hard drive. I had the drive connected to my macbook, but apple tv was not able to connect. So I had to launch the movie in itunes and airplay it. I just want to be able to turn on my apple tv and watch the movie. On the apple tv, next to the movie, there was a cloud, but I don't have itunes match. What am I doing wrong? __________________ White Macbook (early 2008) running SL, 2.4 GHz, upgraded to 4 GB RAM, 320GB HD 7200rpm; 32GB Iphone 4; The New Ipad w/Retina LTE 16 GB; Apple TV 3
	0

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Feb 8, 2013, 12:56 PM	#2
GGJstudios macrumors Westmere Join Date: May 2008	How to split a single iTunes library over two or more media locations
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Feb 9, 2013, 04:48 PM	#15
GarrettL1979 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Feb 2012	mic j, do you ever get server disruption error messages on your MBP using this setup? They're kind of annoying. Doesn't appear to affect playback on our ATV3 though.
	0


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