iTunes and two hard drives

thenumbersrbad · Nov 11, 2011

Hey, I have searched and haven't found anything yet on what I am looking for.

I have a seagate hard drive (usb power only) and a wd hard drive (has to be plugged into an outlet)...i just purchased an airport express and am wanting to plug one of the hard drives into it so I can access it without having to plug my hard drive into my computer...this is possible right?

what i'm curious about is, plugging my WD hard drive into the airport express and then when i leave my house taking my seagate hard drive with me to access my iTunes library on the go....is this possible? if so how do i get everything from my WD hdd to my seagate one? (if i had new music/movies)

the other thing would be to just have my seagate plugged into the airport express and then when i leave to go on vacation or need to take my iTunes library with me i'd just bring the drive with me and plug into my computer, does that seem like it would work? how would that work with syncing my iPhone or iPad to the drive?

sorry this is so long, i'm just wanting to make sure that i have all my bases covered!

GGJstudios · Nov 11, 2011

The USB port on the AirPort Express is for a printer, and will not support a hard drive. The AirPort Extreme allows connection of a hard drive.

thenumbersrbad · Nov 11, 2011

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Thanks!!!

I'm a little new to trying to do what I'm doing with the hard drives (I'm sure you could tell) is what I want to do possible?

Also, will the Extreme or Express for that matter make my Internet seem fast if I'm using it for my router or is that all dependent on my actual Internet provider?

GGJstudios · Nov 11, 2011

thenumbersrbad said:
I'm a little new to trying to do what I'm doing with the hard drives (I'm sure you could tell) is what I want to do possible?

If your iTunes music is stored on a hard drive, you can take that drive with you when you travel. If you have music stored on two different drives, unless you have two different libraries, all the music on both drives would be in your library. That could mean duplicates. I'm not sure I fully understand what you're trying to accomplish.

thenumbersrbad said:
Also, will the Extreme or Express for that matter make my Internet seem fast if I'm using it for my router or is that all dependent on my actual Internet provider?

No, they won't make your internet connection faster than what your provider offers.

thenumbersrbad · Nov 11, 2011

sorry for not explaining better....i have a portable hard drive that is 500gb and a hard drive that i have to plug into an outlet that is 1tb....i'd like to plug my 1tb drive into my network so i can access my iTunes library on my network without having to physically plug a hard drive into my macbook. but i'd like to be able to keep my 500gb hard drive updated with everything new that i download so i can take that hard drive with me out of the house and still have my iTunes library with me.

i hope that makes better sense? sorry again

GGJstudios · Nov 12, 2011

thenumbersrbad said:
sorry for not explaining better....i have a portable hard drive that is 500gb and a hard drive that i have to plug into an outlet that is 1tb....i'd like to plug my 1tb drive into my network so i can access my iTunes library on my network without having to physically plug a hard drive into my macbook. but i'd like to be able to keep my 500gb hard drive updated with everything new that i download so i can take that hard drive with me out of the house and still have my iTunes library with me.

i hope that makes better sense? sorry again

Again, if you have music stored on the 1TB drive and that same music is stored on the 500GB drive, unless you have two separate iTunes libraries, you will have duplicates of all your music in iTunes. If you set up two libraries, one for home and one for travel, you will avoid duplicates. However, when you play music on one, it will obviously not update the play count on the other. Also, any changes you make to one will not automatically show up when you play the other.

Another possibility is to split your iTunes library, keeping the music you play frequently on your internal drive and the rest on the external. Then, when you travel, you don't need to carry an external drive at all.

How to split a single iTunes library over two media locations

thenumbersrbad · Nov 14, 2011

okay so i think that my best option is going to be to set up two libraries....but i guess i'm not really sure how to do that.

i'd like to have one library that is on a hard drive and on my network, i'm waiting for my airport extreme to be delivered and then i'll have another on my portable drive. can some one give me the steps to do this. i have searched but haven't really found anything useful

also, how will it work if and when i need to sync my phone/ipad with the library i have on my drive...will i run into problems with it doing that? syncing with multiple libraries?

GGJstudios · Nov 14, 2011

thenumbersrbad said:
also, how will it work if and when i need to sync my phone/ipad with the library i have on my drive...will i run into problems with it doing that? syncing with multiple libraries?

I would expect that syncing with multiple libraries would be complex, if not problematic. Have you considered having the bulk of your music on the network drive, and having your favorite, most-played songs on your internal drive, eliminating the need for two libraries and two external drives? It would also eliminate any potential problems associated with attempting to sync with multiple libraries.

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iTunes and two hard drives

thenumbersrbad

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thenumbersrbad

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GGJstudios

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thenumbersrbad

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GGJstudios

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thenumbersrbad

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GGJstudios

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