Adding ext USB drive to ATV1

[spiritlevel]

I am sure this has probably been covered many times and there quite a few articles on t'internet about it, but I am wondering what instructions I should be following to add an external USB drive for media storage to my ATV1.

There are articles like this one http://www.ehow.com/how_6195608_add-hard-drive-apple-tv.html that describe one way of doing it and then other articles that talk about patchstick etc so I am a bit confused about which I should be using.

Currently have 160GB ATV1 which is basically full and need more space! Can a kindly soul please point me in the right direction for the best instructions?.

Would be good if the methos used automatically copied my existing library on the ATV over to the new external drive.

Also, most of the USB drives seem to be USB3 these days, I presume these are backwards compatible and will work on the ATV?

thanks!

 

[tom1971]

Check these instructions...

 

[spiritlevel]

thanks....but that costs $35 right? Can the USB port not be enabled for free??

 

[spiritlevel]

OK - I'm using the method described here

http://dannyruchtie.nl/2010/04/hacking-apple-tv-take-3/

Have successfully created a patchstick!

Want to install Nito TV Take 2 to get the USB drive working but...

It says it doesn't have snow leopard support - not sure I understand this as it's just a set of files I am copying over to the ATV...or is it talking about if you have actually installed OSX on the ATV?

Also, if I can get the Nito TV nstalled, how do I get to copy all my media over to the new drive?

thanks.

 

[spiritlevel]

All done!

JB with XBMC/Nito TV successful!

 

[jlwilsonjr]

Would you mind providing the instructions you used? I'm about to do the same.

 

[spiritlevel]

Sure, I used the instructions here:

http://dannyruchtie.nl/2010/04/hacking-apple-tv-take-3/

Basically - make a patchstick using this (very simple)

http://code.google.com/p/atvusb-creator/

Unplug your apple TV, plug in the stick, turn it on again, wait for all the code to finish doing it's thing, unplug the atv, remove the usb stick, turn it on again. Done.

Then log into you ATV using SSH (I used transmit to do this) and install Nito Tv from here http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/NitoTV_Take_2 (the 0.9.4 version)

Let me know if you have any problems and I'll try and help