Accessing files on external hard drive

Discussion in 'Mac Basics and Help' started by AppleVirgin, Feb 18, 2014.

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  1. AppleVirgin, Feb 18, 2014

    AppleVirgin macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2008
    Location:
    London, UK
    #1
    Hi,

    Complete novice here in using LANs, external hard drives etc. Not even sure what I want to do is possible.

    So I have an external hard drive connected to wifi router, an old MacBook Pro and a new MacBook Air. I have successfully backed-up my MacBook Pro to one partition of the hard drive using Time Machine and have also manually transferred all of of my photos and my iTunes library to another partition on the hard drive. Together the GBs are too much to store locally on my MacBook Air. I can access the iTunes files and photos in my MBA manually through the wireless connection to the hard drive in Finder but is there a way that I can get iTunes and iPhoto themselves to look at the hard drive by default?

    Is there a way that I can also access these libraries virtually whenever I am connected to wifi on my MBA away from home also?

    Thank you in advance.

    Steven
     
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  2. Weaselboy, Feb 18, 2014

    Weaselboy Moderator

    Weaselboy

    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2005
    Location:
    California
    #2
    Yes... both do this the same way. Open the app then command-comma keys to open preferences then look in the advanced tab and you will see an option to select the new location as the default to look for the libraries.

    This is technically possible, but will depend on your router. You need to look in your router's documentation to figure out how to implement this.

    Even if you manage to enable this, it will likely be dog slow though.
     
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  3. AppleVirgin, Feb 19, 2014

    AppleVirgin thread starter macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2008
    Location:
    London, UK
    #3
    Don't see that option

    Thank you for the quick reply Weasleboy but I am afraid when I look in the advanced tab for Preferences in iPhoto (didn't have the chance to check this in iTunes this morning) I do not see such an option.

    Are you able to provide a screenshot?

    Many thanks,

    Steven
     
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  4. Weaselboy, Feb 19, 2014

    Weaselboy Moderator

    Weaselboy

    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2005
    Location:
    California
    #4
    I'm sorry... I have not used iPhoto for a while and lost track of things. If you hold the option key when you launch iPhoto you will get a popup asking where the iPhoto library is. Just point that to the location you moved the library on the external drive.

    I double checked iTunes though, and the option is still there in the advanced tab.
     
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  5. rhett7660, Feb 19, 2014

    rhett7660 macrumors G4

    rhett7660

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2008
    Location:
    Sunny, Southern California
    #5
    Yes it is still there when you hold the option key down and start.

    Just keep in mind, if you are going over a network you might have some delays in viewing and editing files.
     
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