ATV3 Doesn't See Files on External Drive

[Aragornii]

My iTunes is set up so that music is stored on the local hard drive and videos are stored on a network drive (a Time Capsule to be specific). This has always worked fine on both my computer and ATV3 that streams from it.

After running regular updates for ML and iTunes last week, the ATV3 no longer sees the video files, just the audio files. They still show up in iTunes, and if I click on a video in iTunes and watch a few seconds that video magically reappears in the ATV3 menu. It would not be practial to go through and click on all my video files one by one.

Has anyone come across this bug or have any idea how to deal with it?

[mic j]

Originally Posted by Aragornii

My iTunes is set up so that music is stored on the local hard drive and videos are stored on a network drive (a Time Capsule to be specific). This has always worked fine on both my computer and ATV3 that streams from it.

After running regular updates for ML and iTunes last week, the ATV3 no longer sees the video files, just the audio files. They still show up in iTunes, and if I click on a video in iTunes and watch a few seconds that video magically reappears in the ATV3 menu. It would not be practial to go through and click on all my video files one by one.

Has anyone come across this bug or have any idea how to deal with it?

There was a new update today. You might try that. If that doesn't do it, I would recommend unplugging it for 30s and rebooting.

[Aragornii]

Originally Posted by mic j

There was a new update today. You might try that. If that doesn't do it, I would recommend unplugging it for 30s and rebooting.

Yes - did the update, rebooted the ATV3, rebooted the time capsule. No luck.

[mic j]

Originally Posted by Aragornii

Yes - did the update, rebooted the ATV3, rebooted the time capsule. No luck.

Since rebooting didn't help, it sounds like an iTunes database problem. Delete all of your movies in iTunes, then add them back. I had a similar problem a long time ago. Each time I went in, I had some movies (not all) that would not show up. Finally ended up rebuilding the database and haven't had a problem since.

[waw74]

your time capsule is probably not mounted on your mac when you try to play from the aTV,

close itunes.
make sure the time capsule is mounted in finder (just browse to the folder)
open iTunes.
try playing something back on the aTV.


i have similar problems, all of my files are on a network disk.

[mic j]

Originally Posted by waw74

your time capsule is probably not mounted on your mac when you try to play from the aTV,

close itunes.
make sure the time capsule is mounted in finder (just browse to the folder)
open iTunes.
try playing something back on the aTV.


i have similar problems, all of my files are on a network disk.

That's a good suggestion and it fits with music showing up and not movies. I missed that the media files were on separate drives.

Edit: But on the other hand, how would the media in iTunes be able to be accessed if the drive was not mounted? And why would it then movie appear on the aTV once accessed by iTunes?

[FreakinEurekan]

Originally Posted by waw74

your time capsule is probably not mounted on your mac when you try to play from the aTV,

close itunes.
make sure the time capsule is mounted in finder (just browse to the folder)
open iTunes.
try playing something back on the aTV.


i have similar problems, all of my files are on a network disk.

I used to run into the same thing, when I had my iTunes library on a NAS. At some point the share would disconnect, iTunes still running on the Mac, but couldn't bring anything up on the ATV. I would do exactly as you describe here.

I bought a new Mini and now the entire library is local, so I never got very far in troubleshooting to see if there was a simple way to avoid the problem (some sort of "keep alive" for the mounted share).

[waw74]

Originally Posted by mic j

Edit: But on the other hand, how would the media in iTunes be able to be accessed if the drive was not mounted? And why would it then movie appear on the aTV once accessed by iTunes?

i'm guessing itunes mounts the drive, but for some reason it doesn't think to do that if the file is being accessed over home sharing.

so once you access via iTunes, the drive is mounted, so then it's available to the aTV.

[Aragornii]

Originally Posted by waw74

your time capsule is probably not mounted on your mac when you try to play from the aTV,

close itunes.
make sure the time capsule is mounted in finder (just browse to the folder)
open iTunes.
try playing something back on the aTV.

i have similar problems, all of my files are on a network disk.

This turns out to definitely be the problem. Thanks very much for your answer, although unfortunately the solution isn't perfect.

I confirmed that when I try to play a movie in iTunes, it automatically mounts the time capsule. So far so good. Then, by manually mounting the time capsule, shutting down iTunes and reopening iTunes, the videos all showed back up on my ATV3. Even better.

The only problem is that while the videos now show up on my ATV3, they still won't play unless the drive is mounted. Further, when I tried to play a video while the drive was not mounted, a few of the videos listed on my ATV3 randomly disappeared and did not reappear when I remounted the drive.

So, definitely buggy. Will need to go through the mounting and unmounting, reloading iTunes process to reliably access videos.


ps, thanks also very much to mic j and FreakinEurekan for also helping out.

Originally Posted by FreakinEurekan

I used to run into the same thing, when I had my iTunes library on a NAS. At some point the share would disconnect, iTunes still running on the Mac, but couldn't bring anything up on the ATV. I would do exactly as you describe here.

I bought a new Mini and now the entire library is local, so I never got very far in troubleshooting to see if there was a simple way to avoid the problem (some sort of "keep alive" for the mounted share).

Originally Posted by mic j

That's a good suggestion and it fits with music showing up and not movies. I missed that the media files were on separate drives.

Edit: But on the other hand, how would the media in iTunes be able to be accessed if the drive was not mounted? And why would it then movie appear on the aTV once accessed by iTunes?

[brand]

Originally Posted by Aragornii

The only problem is that while the videos now show up on my ATV3, they still won't play unless the drive is mounted.

If the drive is not mounted why would you expect the videos to play?

[Aragornii]

Originally Posted by brand

If the drive is not mounted why would you expect the videos to play?

When you select a video to play in iTunes it mounts the drive automatically. The problem with the ATV is that it does not, so if the drive is not manually mounted the video will not play.

[mic j]

Why not keep your drive mounted all the time? That's what I do with both my TM and by HDD that holds my iTunes media.

[brand]

Originally Posted by mic j

Why not keep your drive mounted all the time? That's what I do with both my TM and by HDD that holds my iTunes media.

Seems like a simple enough solution to me.

[FreakinEurekan]

Originally Posted by mic j

Why not keep your drive mounted all the time? That's what I do with both my TM and by HDD that holds my iTunes media.

It seemed to "time out" and disconnect itself when I was keeping my library on a NAS. I never really explored a solution since it was time for a new computer anyway, and the library is all local on the new Mac.

[Munimula]

I had a similar problem, since I like to keep my iTunes and iPhoto libraries on an external drive for easier computer upgrades. Also, I am paranoid of natural disaster or act of violence, and want to keep our 15,000+ family photos and videos where I can grab the drive and run out the door if need be.

Anyway, it seems that some drives will ignore the system's "never sleep" setting in Energy Saver pref pane, and will time-out and unmount anyway. I use this: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/311...drive-spinning

it is an Applescript applet that installs a harmless launch agent that 'touches' an invisible file on your external drive at a user-set interval. I use 35 seconds but ymmv. It uses pretty much NO processor time or memory and is completely invisible. It prevents that drive from ever thinking it is idle, so it stays mounted.
Also, since it runs as a launch agent, you never have to re-run the applet. Set it and forget it. The system will continue following it's setting until you run it again and either change the interval or tell it to stop completely.

Good luck!