Managing iTunes library with external Harddrive

[wuush]

My problem is the following:

Im using a 13' rMBP (late 2013) with a 500GB SSD. At the moment this works fine but the ssd is slowly filling up with mostly movies/tv shows.

I use a My Passport Pro 4TB (Raid 1 so only 2TB Space) as Backup (Time Machine) and it has plenty of free space.

I read a lot about symbolic links and alias but i'm not sure which solution will work the way i want it to work. Alias was easy to do but it doesn't seem to work the way i want it to...

Apple seems to have changed a lot in iTunes 11/12 regarding alias and symlinks so i'm not sure which solutions i can trust.

Here is what i want:
1. Not giving up the automatic iTunes file managment.
2. Splitting my movies / Tv shows from the whole iTunes Library on my ssd for free space.
3. as a plus the ability to copy movies back, so i can watch them without taking my external drive/internet connection (icloud)


Is there a solution? to achieve what i want?

 

[rhett7660]

My problem is the following:

Im using a 13' rMBP (late 2013) with a 500GB SSD. At the moment this works fine but the ssd is slowly filling up with mostly movies/tv shows.

I use a My Passport Pro 4TB (Raid 1 so only 2TB Space) as Backup (Time Machine) and it has plenty of free space.

I read a lot about symbolic links and alias but i'm not sure which solution will work the way i want it to work. Alias was easy to do but it doesn't seem to work the way i want it to...

Apple seems to have changed a lot in iTunes 11/12 regarding alias and symlinks so i'm not sure which solutions i can trust.

Here is what i want:
1. Not giving up the automatic iTunes file managment.
2. Splitting my movies / Tv shows from the whole iTunes Library on my ssd for free space.
3. as a plus the ability to copy movies back, so i can watch them without taking my external drive/internet connection (icloud)


Is there a solution? to achieve what i want?

Once the external drive is mounted you will be able to do one and two.

Under iTunes point the library to the library on the external drive(iTunes>Preferences>>Advanced). The only caveat is that you will need to make sure the external drive is connected and mounted prior to starting iTunes or you will receive the error message unable to locate iTunes library.

You will be able to move all of your files to the external drive. Coping files back and forth for viewing, I would do that outside of iTunes. As I have yet to find a way that is not cumbersome to move files back and forth from within iTunes.

As far as cloud storage goes, what about using one of the WD My Cloud external hard drives? I have never used one, but something along these lines "should" give you access to your media.

Or what about a streaming services so that you don't have to copy files ever time. Maybe something along the lines of Plex or StreamToMe.

 

[kathy13xia]

Once the external drive is mounted you will be able to do one and two.

Under iTunes point the library to the library on the external drive(iTunes>Preferences>>Advanced). The only caveat is that you will need to make sure the external drive is connected and mounted prior to starting iTunes or you will receive the error message unable to locate iTunes library.

You will be able to move all of your files to the external drive. Coping files back and forth for viewing, I would do that outside of iTunes. As I have yet to find a way that is not cumbersome to move files back and forth from within iTunes.

As far as cloud storage goes, what about using one of the WD My Cloud external hard drives? I have never used one, but something along these lines "should" give you access to your media.

Or what about a streaming services so that you don't have to copy files ever time. Maybe something along the lines of Plex or StreamToMe.

Glad to know that, I have been looking for the answer for several days. But I have one more question, what about iTunes purchased movies? As I know they are DRM protection attached, you sure I can back them onto HDD as well?

 

[rhett7660]

Glad to know that, I have been looking for the answer for several days. But I have one more question, what about iTunes purchased movies? As I know they are DRM protection attached, you sure I can back them onto HDD as well?

You should be, I have not purchased any media outside of music and apps, but both of those reside on an external drive.