iTunes on an external drive

[Glenn.955]

Hi,

I have my iTunes library on an external drive. I have two macs. Both run OK when I run iTunes and have the external drive attached.

My problem:
I have 2 apple TV's (One of each). It seems the configuration of the Syncing is stored on the laptop so if I plug the drive into the iMac and run iTunes it doesn't know about the Apple TV's. If I reset it up then it wants to nuke it away and resync the info across. (Over wifi takes forever... and is a PITA...)

What I'm looking for (I Think!):
Can I store the preferences for iTunes on the external drive so no matter which Mac I start iTunes on it just works using the same preferences... ???

Thanks!

Glenn.

 

[emaja]

It would be pretty easy to leave the external drive connected to the iMac, turn on Home Sharing and let everyone stream to their device of choice.

Is there a reason that the drive needs to be moved around?

 

[Glenn.955]

It would be pretty easy to leave the external drive connected to the iMac, turn on Home Sharing and let everyone stream to their device of choice.

Is there a reason that the drive needs to be moved around?

I guess "Because" isn't good enough...

When I travel (which I do a bit) I want to take my collection with me... But when home, as you say, I'd prefer it be connected to the iMac. Travel for 6 weeks at a time and sometimes even take one of the Apple TV's with me. (Sad but true!).

While away I tend to add to the collection so it would be convenient to just be able to have it all work with either machine and recognise the Apple TV's no matter which computer is running iTunes.

And need to sync the iPhone and iPad too... So that has to happen while I'm away too...

 

[emaja]

I guess "Because" isn't good enough...

Fair enough

iTunes likes to have the "iTunes Library" and "iTunes Library.xml" files on the computer itself and really doesn't care where the music resides. I am not sure how to reconcile these 2 files, but I suppose that you could simply copy those files from the laptop to the iMac when you return home and plug in the drive to the iMac.

I THINK that will work. Others will hopefully chime in.

 

[satcomer]

Ask you self so simple questions. Are you using a router that has only 100MB ports on it and/or are you using Cat 5 (10Mbs) CAT 5e (100Mbs) or CAT 6 (1000 Mbs)?

 

[emaja]

Ask you self so simple questions. Are you using a router that has only 100MB ports on it and/or are you using Cat 5 (10Mbs) CAT 5e (100Mbs) or CAT 6 (1000 Mbs)?

??

Those files are a few MBs in size, so router speed has nothing to do with it.

 

[Flynnstone]

Steve's got the same problem.

Carolina data center maybe the solution.

Is a large hard drive an option?

 

[Glenn.955]

Ask you self so simple questions. Are you using a router that has only 100MB ports on it and/or are you using Cat 5 (10Mbs) CAT 5e (100Mbs) or CAT 6 (1000 Mbs)?

I don't see why I am asking myself this at all. I am connecting the computers and Apple TV's with WiFi. But my question is nothing about networking...

I am simply asking if anyone knows a way to store the iTunes preferences on the external drive along with the library.

Steve's got the same problem.

Carolina data center maybe the solution.

Is a large hard drive an option?

The library is already on a 1TB 2.5" USB drive. It takes up about 600gig of it so far. (Mostly movies and TV shows.).