Questions prior to relocating libraries for home server set up
Currently I have a Macbook with a spanned drive that I attach that contains mostly my already watched media. I'm buying a Mac Mini to set up as a dedicated media server and will be changing my approach somewhat in that the Mini has 1TB of storage and a new external HDD, 2TB (NB: the external is NOT the current spanned drive). So, for now at least, I plan to keep all movies on the Mini and all TV shows on the attached HDD. I think I've figured the easiest way to sort the transfer but just want to check before I go ahead in case I'm missing something, or in case there's an easier way. The current spanned drive contains movies and shows.
I've pretty much got that moving the spanned content is easy enough, just copy all data to a folder on the new drive and re-span to a new folder on the same drive. But that's with Tunespan working on the current computer which it 'knows about'. This is different in that it'll be new, computer, new iTunes install, new Tunespan install, new HDD. All that I will have from the old set up is the media files themselves. As such I'm less sure how to ensure Tunespan will work it all out given that it'll be a new install of Tunespan on a fresh iTunes. So, my workflow I figure would need to be:
1) Copy the current spanned drive to the new spanned HDD drive either by direct copy or Carbon Copy Cloner.
2) Copy any movies from the new drive to a folder on the desktop for the MM
3) Copy any movies I still have on the MBP into the same folder
4) Open iTunes for the first time on the MM. Add all the TV series to iTunes but de-select Copy Files to iTunes Media Folder (this will put the series but not the files into iTunes)
5) Do the same with movies but this time, select Copy Files to iTunes Media . This will add the movies AND the files to iTunes
6) Launch Tunespan. Now, the question is will Tunespan pick up that TV Series are in iTunes BUT that the files for them are already on a drive that is NOT the default iTunes Media folder? Will I simply be able to select the new drive and re-span the tracks OR
7) When I first add the series to iTunes do I need to add the files to iTunes Media too then run Tunespan to span them out.
It's no big deal to add all the media files to iTunes then span it all out again, just seems more time consuming if I can avoid it IF Tunespan will make all the associations it needs.
The same question
Helloooooo????
Helloooooo????
No problem. Sorted it. Did as above in case anyone else needs to do the same:
1) Copy the current spanned drive to the new spanned HDD with Carbon Copy Cloner. In my case it consisted only of movies and shows with the plan to keep all movies in iTunes on the Mac Mini and all the shows in a folder on the new external HDD.
2) Add Movies to iTunes with 'Copy Files to iTunes Media Folder' checked. This moved the movies into iTunes.
3) Copy any movies I still had on the MBP into a folder on a spare external drive. Repeat 2) above with those. All movies now on new Mac Mini in iTunes.
4) Add all the TV series on the new HDD to iTunes but this time de-select 'Copy Files to iTunes Media Folder' (this will put the shows but not the files into iTunes)
6) Launch Tunespan. Select all the shows and span them to a new folder on the same new HDD. This makes sure Tunespan picks them up and spans them (albeit jut to another folder on the same drive) and that iTunes is updated with the Tunespan move.
No problem. Sorted it. Did as above in case anyone else needs to do the same:
1) Copy the current spanned drive to the new spanned HDD with Carbon Copy Cloner. In my case it consisted only of movies and shows with the plan to keep all movies in iTunes on the Mac Mini and all the shows in a folder on the new external HDD.
2) Add Movies to iTunes with 'Copy Files to iTunes Media Folder' checked. This moved the movies into iTunes.
3) Copy any movies I still had on the MBP into a folder on a spare external drive. Repeat 2) above with those. All movies now on new Mac Mini in iTunes.
4) Add all the TV series on the new HDD to iTunes but this time de-select 'Copy Files to iTunes Media Folder' (this will put the shows but not the files into iTunes)
6) Launch Tunespan. Select all the shows and span them to a new folder on the same new HDD. This makes sure Tunespan picks them up and spans them (albeit jut to another folder on the same drive) and that iTunes is updated with the Tunespan move.
Awesome! So glad you got it worked out :-)
Again, so sorry that I couldn't get back to you sooner.
The only thing I would say for the future is that you don't need to span the files to a different folder on the same drive to make sure iTunes knows where everything is. Instead you can select the Span Location that you know the files currently exist in and select all the tracks for the files that are in that folder and just span them into where they already are. If anything isn't synced up in iTunes, then TuneSpan will detect it and run a quick process to update the necessary locations in iTunes without needing to move any files.
But, no harm in your process, that spanning process would just take a bit more time.
Awesome! So glad you got it worked out :-)
Again, so sorry that I couldn't get back to you sooner.
The only thing I would say for the future is that you don't need to span the files to a different folder on the same drive to make sure iTunes knows where everything is. Instead you can select the Span Location that you know the files currently exist in and select all the tracks for the files that are in that folder and just span them into where they already are. If anything isn't synced up in iTunes, then TuneSpan will detect it and run a quick process to update the necessary locations in iTunes without needing to move any files.
But, no harm in your process, that spanning process would just take a bit more time.
Hi. No problem. Thanks. OK. The add to iTunes first only took 2 mins as there was no copying media involved. What you say though might help me a bit as I've decided to change the location of the spanned drive again. It's currently on a mains powered USB drive which I might use as a Time Machine or Clone back up, otherwise the Mini seems to keep it spinning all the time it's connected. I'll check that once the Mini has time to go to sleep and if the HDD is not spinning the whole time then maybe I'll leave it. That said, a bus powered USB 3 drive is plenty fast enough for serving media so I might just use one anyway and keep the powered for switching on as needed only to back up.
So, all that said!! I'm now cloning the Shows drive again to a new drive. Now when I plug that in I know that it will say the new drive has no media to display. So how can I select the media on the new drive and span it again? Or do I select all the shows again from the iTunes / Shows part of Tunespan and span it to the new location? I just can't fathom how Tunespan will know where to span from. Will I have to tell it or will it go looking of its own accord on attached drives until it finds it.
Hi. No problem. Thanks. OK. The add to iTunes first only took 2 mins as there was no copying media involved. What you say though might help me a bit as I've decided to change the location of the spanned drive again. It's currently on a mains powered USB drive which I might use as a Time Machine or Clone back up, otherwise the Mini seems to keep it spinning all the time it's connected. I'll check that once the Mini has time to go to sleep and if the HDD is not spinning the whole time then maybe I'll leave it. That said, a bus powered USB 3 drive is plenty fast enough for serving media so I might just use one anyway and keep the powered for switching on as needed only to back up.
So, all that said!! I'm now cloning the Shows drive again to a new drive. Now when I plug that in I know that it will say the new drive has no media to display. So how can I select the media on the new drive and span it again? Or do I select all the shows again from the iTunes / Shows part of Tunespan and span it to the new location? I just can't fathom how Tunespan will know where to span from. Will I have to tell it or will it go looking of its own accord on attached drives until it finds it.
Sorted that too. Found another thread that basically said just re-span the folder with the question marks to where the media is to marry it up :)
Sorted that too. Found another thread that basically said just re-span the folder with the question marks to where the media is to marry it up :)
You got it :-)
If the files are not found in their current location, TuneSpan will check to see if the files exist in the new location before starting a span, and if so, it will just proceed with the span and use the files in the Span Location with no issue.
You got it :-)
If the files are not found in their current location, TuneSpan will check to see if the files exist in the new location before starting a span, and if so, it will just proceed with the span and use the files in the Span Location with no issue.
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