External hard drive for iTunes Media.

[MacUser09]

My iTunes Media Folder is almost filling up my 2010 iMac, so I am thinking about moving it to an external hard drive.
I am still in the process of ripping my DVD and Blu Ray collection to mp4.

Although I have a Time Machine connected, I was thinking of a further backup as security.
To this end, I have been looking at the WD MyBook Studio II 4TB dual drive with Firewire 800, that I could run as a mirrored RAID.

http://www.amazon.com/WD-My-Book-Studio-II/dp/B002BH3ZCU

I only stream from my iMac to one ATV, so I don't think that I need a NAS setup, (although if I am wrong please tell me).

Open to advice, suggestions, or recommendations on a better drive, or setup.

Thanks

 

[Giuly]

If you were to get i.e. a Synology DS212j NAS, you could stream directly to your ATV without the iMac running, which is pretty convenient.

 

[jlehman]

I would second the Synology

The latest firmware on them integrates airplay features and more iTunes features. I want to get one someday but don't need one yet. I already have a 1TB hooked up to a Airport Extreme which is working good for what i need now. I think the Synology would offer faster transfer speeds and eliminate the need for the computers to be on to Airplay or share stuff to the ATV. If you want to listen to the music in iTunes you would just have to point your library to the network share which shouldn't be too hard.

Also, I'm sure you read already that the WD drive is sketchy with Macs because of the power saving feature. I would try to get a USB or Firewire drive that doesn't have power saving features because it could slow things down when you need it. Unfortunately i bought an enclosure that supports power saving features and store my audio plugin libraries on it along with my music for editing and occasionally it goes to sleep and then when i hit play or open up a plug-in it takes a bit for it to spin up again and start going again. Unfortunately a lot of enclosures support power saving.

 

[MacUser09]

Well I finally got the "Your startup disk is full" message earlier this week, which rather pushed the matter, so bit the bullet and ordered a Synology NAS from Amazon.

Arrived today. Now need to do some reading before attempting to set this thing up and to transfer my iTunes Media Library across, as I am a total beginner at this. Fingers crossed.