External media library for Mac Air

**4Train** · 10-28-2012, 09:43 AM

Of course, unless you dish out the even bigger $$, the Air does not have much as far as storage. I have been trying to come up with a good system for an external media library. I purchased a Time Capsule with the intent of plugging my external hard drive with my iTunes library into the USB port. Got it to work, but it was too unstable, often taking down the wireless network with it. Then had to reboot Time Capsule. For time being I am running it off my old MacBook, but do not love this. I do not want to do Google Music, etc. I want to run iTunes and have the library getting backed up via TimeMachine, thus wherever the media resides needs to have Mac OS Extended file system. My newest idea is to get a real old MacMini off of eBay and plug it into the Time Capsule with ethernet and have the USB external drive plugged into the Mini. Sometimes the Minis sell for less than $100, especially if the internal drive is shot or missing, which I would not need anyway. Just something to get the hard drive on the network, ethernet connection preferred. I would like to spend less than $100, 50 or 60 would be great. I see these NAS adapters that provide an ethernet connection for USB devices, but they all look like they only support FAT32 file systems. External drives with ethernet built in seem to be all over $100. Thanks in advance for any ideas!!

**Karenkcoulter** · 10-28-2012, 09:51 AM

Did you I've the iTunes library files itself on the USB drive plugged into the Time Capsule or just the media?

If you didn't have it set up that way, then I'd give that a try. That is, create an iTunes library on your Air and then go into the advanced preferences tab and set your media location to the external drive. That may make it more stable.

You could also pay the $25/year for iTunes Match and not have the media stored locally anywhere.

**4Train** · 10-28-2012, 10:34 AM

Thank you very much...trying this now and will let you know how it goes.

**Fausty82** · 10-28-2012, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by 4Train

Of course, unless you dish out the even bigger $$, the Air does not have much as far as storage. I have been trying to come up with a good system for an external media library. I purchased a Time Capsule with the intent of plugging my external hard drive with my iTunes library into the USB port. Got it to work, but it was too unstable, often taking down the wireless network with it. Then had to reboot Time Capsule. For time being I am running it off my old MacBook, but do not love this. I do not want to do Google Music, etc. I want to run iTunes and have the library getting backed up via TimeMachine, thus wherever the media resides needs to have Mac OS Extended file system. My newest idea is to get a real old MacMini off of eBay and plug it into the Time Capsule with ethernet and have the USB external drive plugged into the Mini. Sometimes the Minis sell for less than $100, especially if the internal drive is shot or missing, which I would not need anyway. Just something to get the hard drive on the network, ethernet connection preferred. I would like to spend less than $100, 50 or 60 would be great. I see these NAS adapters that provide an ethernet connection for USB devices, but they all look like they only support FAT32 file systems. External drives with ethernet built in seem to be all over $100. Thanks in advance for any ideas!!

I solved this with a NAS (network attached storage device. Your Time Capsule should have a USB port for an external drive. Put all of your music/media on the external drive connected through the TimeCapsule... then configure your iTunes preferences to NOT copy/organize your media. That way, when you add media to your system, it resides on the network drive... only the meta data gets loaded into your iTunes setup... the downside is that when you are off of your home network, your media is not available to you... but as soon as you reconnect, it is there for you to play/view.