iPod Apple TV -- syncing and external drive questions

[cleung]

I have two questions about Apple TV:

1. It says it streams automatically (or manually). Can I keep my movies/shows/songs downloaded from iTunes on Apple TV and then deleted them off my HD on my MacBook Pro? I'd hate to delete them off my hard drive only to find them gone on Apple TV as well.

2. I read a few threads here about connecting an external hard drive to Apple TV but still don't know if that's doable through the USB port. Can that be done?

I already have more than 30GB of songs and shows on my MBP and would very much like to unload it somewhere. Yes, I know I can just put them on an external HD but I'd like to get either a Mac Mini or an Apple TV. $$$ is an issue and a deterent to getting the Mac Mini and so it the lack of HDMI connection and wireless streaming of iTunes. If Apple TV has a 100 or 200 GB hard drive, I'd be buying it in a heartbeat.

 

[michaelsaxon]

According to what I've read:

1. You have 40GB of space on the AppleTV. You can store whatever you want on that space.

2. Right now, the USB port is purported to only be for service and not for external drives, etc.

 

[pdpfilms]

$$$ is an issue and a deterent to getting the Mac Mini and so it the lack of HDMI connection and wireless streaming of iTunes.

Just to clarify, one can easily stream movies/music/photos to a mac mini using iTunes and iPhoto.

 

[Maxwell Smart]

I believe that like the iTunes --> iPod relationship, you must have whatever media stored on the computer with iTunes, otherwise the next sync it will be deleted. Of course, you could remedy this by only putting media on once and then never altering it again, and the media would stay, but the next time you wanted to add something, you would need to get all the old media and have it ready for a sync.

 

[cleung]

Just to clarify, one can easily stream movies/music/photos to a mac mini using iTunes and iPhoto.

I was just going to create a local network to move things over...does that work?