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WD ShareSpace for Apple TV ?

A

aduteau

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 14, 2007
553
46
Hi guys I dont know if this has already been talked about, but here goes anyways.

WesternDigital released a new storage solution last month called WD ShareSpace. http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=501

It comes as a 2gig and 4 gig flavor (allways upgradable to 4 gigs if you chose the 2 gig).

The thing I notice was that its a Itune sercer solution.
Now being an Itunes server .. does that mean that I no longer need to open up my Imac with Itunes wich has an external HDD pluged to it that has all ma media so my AppleTV see's my network media.
I hate allways having to switch on my Imac then my external HDD the open up Itunes so I can watch my shows on AppleTV.

Is this finally the solution I was waiting for ?
Only having it pluged in my Airport and leaving the external HDD on so AppleTV allways see's it ?
Would be sweet !
 
itunes servers on nas drives do not serve appletv without a computer on. there is no interface for entering the appletv activation code.

if it could though, that would be sweet
 
darn ... so close ...
Thx I didnt think of the activation code on itunes ... good point ...
Still ...this storage solution looks good to me ! :cool:
 
Does it work with Drobo though?

Hi all,

I just ordered a ShareSpace 4TB on Amazon and then cancelled it again 5 minutes later as I read the WD ShareSpace manual stating it streams only MUSIC to iTunes on a computer.

What I am looking for is a box for secure data storage of predominantly iTunes content, hooked up to my Airport Extreme (n) station via Ethernet or USB which makes the contents available on the AppleTV - is this possible with a Drobo or only if I leave my computer switched on and iTunes open?

Thanks for clarification from Drobo-Users...

If the Drobo also does not allow for this, then there a real gap in the market... being green and all and shutting down the computers in the evening... :-/
 
... and the next day I re-ordered the ShareSpace... :)

Drobo didn't bring anything new at MacWorld according to their website, and I figured even if I can only stream Music to my AppleTV via the iTunes Server on the WD ShareSpace, that's still something and by using it as the central iTunes Storage from another Mac, we still have the massive (and safe!) storage of 2.7 TB.

So today it arrived, setup on the Airport Extreme base station etc. took about two minutes. Had one issue logging in to the WD ShareSpace via the most current Safari browser, but nothing that wasn't resolved by trying Firefox instead.

btw - if you are thinking of buying the ShareSpace with 2GB and fill it up yourself - you will be in for about 17 hours of RAID5 building fun... skip the 20 USD you can save on third-party drive delivery guys... I know I am glad I went straight for the full spec one.

btw I discovered an excellent article today about someone setting up a three AppleTV - ShareSpace - Mega-Home-Entertainment system:

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/864439

Best,
Jonas
 
It seems too easy to allow us the ability to connect USB drives to the back of the AppleTV.

Sometimes I hate technology. :(
 
JonasLondon said:
So today it arrived, setup on the Airport Extreme base station etc. took about two minutes.

btw - if you are thinking of buying the ShareSpace with 2GB...
Click to expand...

Quick question - how much noise does it make?

And I assume it is 2TB / 4TB. 2GB isn't much space... ;)
 
NightGeometry said:
Quick question - how much noise does it make?

And I assume it is 2TB / 4TB. 2GB isn't much space... ;)
Click to expand...

Got mine today, 2TB so far... very quiet. It's about 2 feet away for the setup and I know it's there but that's about it.

seeya
dxtr
 
Is there a RECOMMENDATION in the house?

hi, currently shopping around for home serving solution and to be honest, i'm struggling to get an actual recommendation. it is easy to get a list of reasons why not to get one product or other, much harder to get a list of positives.
with my extremely limited knowledge, this WD ShareSpace seems ideal. and simple. i have a few WD MyBooks and they have all been faultless. even the MyBook NAS has worked a treat.

so, what's the final view here; yes to WD-SS or maybe or not-really or no or go-work-it-out-yourself-peabody?

dxtr, is it still running quiet? are you loving it? any drama/ tricks/ tips at all?
jonaslondon, thanks for that link. perfect for noobs at my entry level anyway. is all AOK with your unit? any advice/ tips?
aduteau, is there a hack that will resolve your needs? can iTunes be 'installed' similar to the Firefly hack for WD MyBook World Edition NAS? maybe then you won't need to turn on a mac?

anyway, hope to hear where everyone is at with this unit. this is the last piece of my home ent puzzle and i am really looking forward to getting it finished so i can actually enjoy using the thing.

thanks,
 
melbdean said:
hi, currently shopping around for home serving solution and to be honest, i'm struggling to get an actual recommendation. it is easy to get a list of reasons why not to get one product or other, much harder to get a list of positives.
with my extremely limited knowledge, this WD ShareSpace seems ideal. and simple. i have a few WD MyBooks and they have all been faultless. even the MyBook NAS has worked a treat.

so, what's the final view here; yes to WD-SS or maybe or not-really or no or go-work-it-out-yourself-peabody?

dxtr, is it still running quiet? are you loving it? any drama/ tricks/ tips at all?
jonaslondon, thanks for that link. perfect for noobs at my entry level anyway. is all AOK with your unit? any advice/ tips? ...
anyway, hope to hear where everyone is at with this unit. this is the last piece of my home ent puzzle and i am really looking forward to getting it finished so i can actually enjoy using the thing.

thanks,
Click to expand...

Hi there,
I'm still very happy with our unit. (I used to like the WD MyBooks too but as I said elsewhere, one of them died (luckily only with content from CDs we could re-rip relatively quickly from our discs).) - the ShareSpace runs quiet and whilst I would not mind it all being a little bit faster, there is little competition in that price-range. All in all, it does what it is supposed to do well. That is to serve as a secure storage point for all our music, tv shows and music. Our Apple TV connects to two computers, one runs the large iTunes Library on the ShareSpace, the other is "synched" with the AppleTV, but only to the degree that I can move a few movies over onto the AppleTV hard-drive for when we have guests like parents staying over so they don't need to fuss with selecting Shared Content etc. and can just click on "Movies" and be done :)

It's a good feeling to know that data is safe.
 
what a heap of garbage

I am truly disappointed in my 4TB Sharespace from WD that I recently purchased.

1. Would not perform firmware upgrade. The unit was purchased only 1 week ago, yet the firmware was early 2008 and was too far behind to get the latest updates.

2. Can't access your files unless you screw around with the settings and change them from one setting back to Share

3. Drives constantly lost volumes after transferring data to them

4. Technical Support ís terrible. Your write EXACTLY what is wrong and send descriptions and tere email system deletes the attachments and then you are asked the same questions that you have already detailed in emails..

5. Try getting throught to Technical support(in my case Singapore) what a joke....

6. I could never get it to work with iTunes nor properly with my Media device without constantly resetting the access within Twonky Media

Overall, this is my 2nd WD device, the other one was a Worldbook 1TB, that also crashed and no one can work out WHY..

I am sorry but I thought that WD had finally got there act together, obviously NOT
 
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