$400 for iTunes server, TC? or...?

[lowonthe456]

I NEED to get the 200+gb of movies off my hard drive. I have been holding out hope Apple will get movies saved in the cloud like they did with purchased TV shows, but I am out of space.

I was looking at a few NAS ideas but its money...I am reading many people using TC's as both TM backups and iTunes repositories. I know that either way I go, iTunes will need to be open and pointed at the drive with the folder. No biggie to me.

So my question is: $400 for TC or is there something with about the same storage thats the same price?

I do iTunes Match and have all the music on the MBP deleted. I want the cloud to be the master library.

 

[GGJstudios]

You can get a 1TB drive like the one below for less than half of your $400, or a 3TB for $330 or less. I store some of my 600+GB of movies and TV shows, 200+GB of music, and also backups on a drive like this.

OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro™

 

[jaynone]

I went with an airport extreme and an external hard drive. That way I can connect the hard drive directly and not have to deal with airport speed when doing the initial copy over.

So far, so good. I've been using a drive for time machine backups and media for months now, no problems yet.

 

[lowonthe456]

You can get a 1TB drive like the one below for less than half of your $400, or a 3TB for $330 or less. I store some of my movies, TV shows, music and backups on a drive like this.

I apologize. I didnt make clear that my mac is a 2011 MacBook Pro. I guess I should add that to my original post. The idea was not to have the MBP tethered to an external. My fault.

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I went with an airport extreme and an external hard drive. That way I can connect the hard drive directly and not have to deal with airport speed when doing the initial copy over.

So far, so good. I've been using a drive for time machine backups and media for months now, no problems yet.

Isnt this what a TC is though? I mean, I guess it would be a smidge cheaper. Cheap externals worry me though. My original thought was to go this route, but I guess I figured the TC was a more compact and integrated approach.

 

[GGJstudios]

I apologize. I didnt make clear that my mac is a 2011 MacBook Pro. I guess I should add that to my original post. The idea was not to have the MBP tethered to an external.

My MBP isn't tethered, either. You can attach any external drive to a wireless router that supports one, such as the AirPort Extreme, or to another computer on your wireless network. I have mine attached to a Mac mini that serves as a desktop and as a media center, attached to my HDTV. I access data on the drive from my MBP wirelessly. You could buy an AirPort Extreme and a 1TB drive and still stay under $400.

 

[lowonthe456]

My MBP isn't tethered, either. You can attach any external drive to a wireless router that supports one, such as the AirPort Extreme, or to another computer on your wireless network. I have mine attached to a Mac mini that serves as a desktop and as a media center, attached to my HDTV. I access data on the drive from my MBP wirelessly.

I see. hmmm

I may have access to a Mac Mini though its a G4. I guess if I went that route I'd be concerned that they will stop making itunes updates for it and then I might be SOL.

 

[GGJstudios]

I see. hmmm

I may have access to a Mac Mini though its a G4. I guess if I went that route I'd be concerned that they will stop making itunes updates for it and then I might be SOL.

You don't even have to have iTunes installed on the mini. You can run iTunes from your MBP, accessing the music files stored on the external hard drive which is attached to the mini. However, a G4 mini won't have the fastest wireless connection, as it only supports 802.11b/g.

 

[lowonthe456]

You don't even have to have iTunes installed on the mini. You can run iTunes from your MBP, accessing the music files stored on the external hard drive which is attached to the mini. However, a G4 mini won't have the fastest wireless connection, as it only supports 802.11b/g.

very true.

 

[Penquin79]

I was in the same predictiment as you and went with the 2TB TC. No regrets, best wireless router on the market. Have a mini, G4 and iTV connected all of the time sharing the one media file. It can easily send two different movies to two locations at the same time.


Be careful relying on the cloud, especially with OS apps. If an existing app is upgraded that requires a purchase the old version of the app is no longer avaiable. The cloud is great for back up or accessing on the go, but I would no more rely on just the cloud anymore than I would not back up in my own home, that is just too dangerous.

 

[balamw]

However, a G4 mini won't have the fastest wireless connection, as it only supports 802.11b/g.

Easy to remedy by placing the mini close to your router and using an Ethernet cable. No?

Since I wanted to share my large iTunes library with my TV, it is currently back on a DIY PC that is hard wired to the net. I wake it up via WoL and it's all there. Now of course iTunes Match fills some of that gap too.

B

 

[lowonthe456]

I was in the same predictiment as you and went with the 2TB TC. No regrets, best wireless router on the market. Have a mini, G4 and iTV connected all of the time sharing the one media file. It can easily send two different movies to two locations at the same time.

Thanks, once I move I will need a new wireless router anyway. So I was thinking a TC would be the way to go (2 for 1).

I'm still undecided but thanks for the info!

 

[GGJstudios]

Easy to remedy by placing the mini close to your router and using an Ethernet cable. No?

True, depending on which router you have. I use an AirPort Express, so the ethernet port is used to connect to my cable modem.

 

[Senseotech]

True, depending on which router you have. I use an AirPort Express, so the ethernet port is used for a printer.

Thats not really a router though, its a wifi device that connects to and in some cases can extend the range of an existing network. A true router is going to have a WAN port of some sort, and usually several ethernet ports.

 

[GGJstudios]

Thats not really a router though, its a wifi device that connects to and in some cases can extend the range of an existing network. A true router is going to have a WAN port of some sort, and usually several ethernet ports.

Not everyone has such a router. My AE connects directly to my cable modem, which has only one ethernet port. It serves my purposes extremely well. As the OP indicated, they need a wireless router.

 

[DustinT]

Your best bet is an Airport Extreme and an external hard drive that supports RAID 1. The Time Capsule is a great device but there's no way to recover your data if the hard drive fails. With an external you avoid that if you buy a device that has RAID 1, 2 hard drives backing each other up. Plus, you can keep the external and move it around as your needs change. The Time Capsule is a locked in sort of thing, I'd never buy one.

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Or, the Mac Mini plugged in with Ethernet... You can connect an external with RAID 1 to that and get all sorts of great features. This is what I did here and I'm very satisfied with the results.

 

[lowonthe456]

Your best bet is an Airport Extreme and an external hard drive that supports RAID 1. The Time Capsule is a great device but there's no way to recover your data if the hard drive fails. With an external you avoid that if you buy a device that has RAID 1, 2 hard drives backing each other up. Plus, you can keep the external and move it around as your needs change. The Time Capsule is a locked in sort of thing, I'd never buy one.

Suggestions on decent raid 1 drives?

 

[jaynone]

Isnt this what a TC is though? I mean, I guess it would be a smidge cheaper. Cheap externals worry me though. My original thought was to go this route, but I guess I figured the TC was a more compact and integrated approach.

Well, I got a Western Digital 2tb external for $99, and a refurb AE for $129.

Total cost $228

Plus I can use additional drives if I want or connect it directly to my computer. Plus I've heard too many stories about time capsules failing (although I think this is corrected)

If you do want to pay the premium for an all in one solution that is understandable.

 

[balamw]

I've heard too many stories about time capsules failing (although I think this is corrected)

That still remains to be seen. The first batch really started failing at ~18 months, and the second batch is right about there. Time will tell.

The main issue is that the Airport Extreme has an external power supply, while the TC has its internal. With the added heat from the HDD they tend to get quite warm.

B

 

[Ccrew]

Nevermind...

 

[Senseotech]

Ummmm, An Airport Extreme has a WAN port and 4x GigE ports...

And is a router. An Airport Express is a different beast entirely.

 

[Ccrew]

And is a router. An Airport Express is a different beast entirely.

Yeah, caught myself even before you did.

 

[Xgm541]

I have a wireless router set up with NAS. Unfortunately it is a single band router so it has both a/b/g and n speeds. But being single band, and my moms and dads laptops having only g cards, we are all stuck on g.

With that being said, streaming movies from the network drive works very well. So, if you plan on streaming music, it should work fine from your g4 with only g speeds.

 

[Hammie]

Suggestions on decent raid 1 drives?

I have a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ with four 2TB drives installed (I use is strictly as backup and not a remote drive. Also, the newer models will support the 3TB drives). It also has built-in iTunes Server software. Not that it really matters since I can use Home Sharing via my Mac Mini that I use as media hub, which is connected to a 2TB firewire Iomega MiniMax external HDD and is directly connected to my external DAC in my home stereo system.

 

[lowonthe456]

I have a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+

With 2 1TB drives its $450+ to which I still need a wireless router anyway. I am not doubting its integrity mind you, thats roughly $650 including router and more than I'd like to spend to hold my movies.

 

[Hammie]

With 2 1TB drives its $450+ to which I still need a wireless router anyway. I am not doubting its integrity mind you, thats roughly $650 including router and more than I'd like to spend to hold my movies.

Understood.

However, I was able to get mine with the four 2TB drives for under $600. Where did you get that pricing?

I use it for backing up all my music, movies, and 5 computers. It is built like a tank and I love it. However, I can understand the price issue. It took my about 5 years and 3 failed "lower-end" NAS devices to make me jump to a higher end consumer product. I would have loved to jump into a rack mounted NAS, but $2K was too much right now. Maybe some day.

Also, I would recommend the Linksys E3200 dual band router. Let's you run both b/g devices and n devices without having to have your n devices "dumb down" to b/g speeds.