External HDD - On a Network?

[Muck9]

I am awaiting the arrival of a MacBook Air and with the limited space I would like my iTunes on an external harddrive and I have a couple of questions:

- I want to use the Time Machine backup of my current iMac. I obviously wouldn't want to transfer over my iTunes folder on to the Air. Am I able to deselect that?

- Would it be best to transfer it from my iMac on to an external HDD then run it from there?

- What would I need to get in order to have an HDD plugged in to something (router?) so I could access it my iTunes documents from there? Would this be slow to play etc?

 

[tiwizard]

- I want to use the Time Machine backup of my current iMac. I obviously wouldn't want to transfer over my iTunes folder on to the Air. Am I able to deselect that?

- Would it be best to transfer it from my iMac on to an external HDD then run it from there?

- What would I need to get in order to have an HDD plugged in to something (router?) so I could access it my iTunes documents from there? Would this be slow to play etc?

1. I would suggest avoiding using a backup of a Mac to transfer files. Usually this will slow things down on the new computer. If at all possible, you will want to just transfer the files you need. Of course, this is up to you. I am not sure about deselecting items to restore.

2. Can't comment on Time Machine restores since I don't use them myself.

3. If your router can share an external HDD, then yes, it will appear as a networked drive or you can mount it as one. It will be slower than a typical hard drive in your computer, but probably not noticeably so if you are only streaming from your local network.