hard drive space/ itunes question

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Hello all,



I recently switched to a Macbook Pro as my primary computer, mainly for space reasons in my apartment. After loading my iTunes library and installing Final Cut Studio, I learned an obvious lesson: Macbook Pro internal hard drive is not big enough to hold lots of media and software, especially with the hard drive hog Final Cut Studio. So, my plan is to use my external drive for as much media as possible, but I don't want to be left out in the cold when I take the macbook pro out of my house without the external hard drive.



What I want to do: create a larger iTunes library (25-30GB)for my external hard drive that holds all my music and a smaller iTunes library (say, 4-6 GB) that resides on my laptop for when I am away from home.



Apple has suggested that I keep my entire iTunes library on the external hard drive, and then keep a "copy" of a smaller library on the laptop.



Does anyone know if there is an easier way to do this than to manually copy folders from the external to the internal every time I want to change the music that resides on the laptop? Am I making things more complicated than they have to be? Should I just accept the fact that when my computer is away from my external hard drive, I'm not going to have my media? Is there a portable hard drive that would be suitable for "on the go" use as well as "at home" use? The current external hard drive is too big to carry with me, but I'm afraid that if I dump all my music, photos and video on a portable drive, that it will not be as quick or as reliable...



Help!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    crazychestercrazychester Posts: 1,339member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by AugustWest

    Does anyone know if there is an easier way to do this than to manually copy folders from the external to the internal every time I want to change the music that resides on the laptop? Am I making things more complicated than they have to be? Should I just accept the fact that when my computer is away from my external hard drive, I'm not going to have my media? Is there a portable hard drive that would be suitable for "on the go" use as well as "at home" use?



    Yes. It's called an iPod. Apple Computer makes them I believe. Don't think they've really caught on. But you never know, one day somebody might find a use for them,









    Sorry. Couldn't resist. There comes a time in the life of every person who works with digital media when they say to themselves "Crap this shit takes up a lot of space".



    My solution has been to relegate an old eMac (40GB) as the "Music Computer", iPod (15GB) for music on-the-go (and it provides 'emergency' storage space when mobile), PowerBook (40GB) acts as the workhorse for FCS etc and is kept as lean as possible and, finally, the biggest honking external HD I could afford, a 250GB with a smaller partition for a system backup I can boot from in case either of the other HDs give up the ghost and a much more spacious partition where I can dump stuff to my heart's content and only have to worry about tidying it up a couple of times a year.



    Fortunately, I already had the first three (and most expensive) items. Ultimately, it depends what exactly you want to do and where but my advice if you're working with media files regularly is go for overkill when it comes to storage.



    Having said all that, it still sounds like an iPod might be your best option, anyway.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    augustwestaugustwest Posts: 157member
    I didn't see the humor in your comment until I re-read my post, so I really set myself up for that one!



    Given how infrequently I actually use the computer outside of home, you may be on to something-- just use my Nano for on-the-go music and my large external for at-home media.



    Even better, you just gave me a good reason to buy the largest capacity iPod Apple releases shortly! All my music and photos in one securely backed-up place with a portable hard drive for emergency use...



    Now when is that terrabyte Video iPod coming out so I can implement this strategy with video as well?
  • Reply 3 of 3
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member




    You know, I just gave this same advice to my wife last night... she was talking about how my plan to merge the home media onto the server would be a pain for when she takes her laptop to the coffee house, etc, and wanted to know what I recommended for that? Should she try and keep a separate library, or maybe an rsynced sublibrary based off of an exported playlist from the server, or...



    I coughed, picked up her iPod, and placed it in her hands.



    She looked at me sheepishly, and said "Oh yeah, that was kind of obvious, wasn't it? "



    Sometimes we get so wrapped up in what we think is necessary, that we forget to look for the simple, obvious, easy solutions.
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