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I started using Apple TV on a PC laptop which has run out of disk space. I want to move all of the Apple iTunes content (movies, songs, etc.) to a PC desktop computer with more drive space; without losing any content that I have already downloaded. How can I do this?
You could copy your iTunes library folder from the laptop to the desktop either through your network or by connecting them together directly with a cable, then set that as the location of the iTunes library in iTunes on the desktop. You would then need to run the sync setup from the ATV to sync it with the desktop PC.
What kind of cable, a USB? Would you connect it from USB port to USB port? How do you determine which C diuve is which? where is the itunes library folder located?
Thanks
by cable he meant network work.
you should never connect 2 PCs together using a USB cable (unless the cable is specifically designed for transfer, standard USB cable aren't).
You can connect them together by Ethernet cable, set up networking directly between the two, then transfer the files that way.
As an alternative, if you want to avoid future storage problems on the desktop, you could copy your iTunes library folder from the laptop to an external hard drive, then connect the external drive to the desktop and set the iTunes folder you copied as the location of its iTunes library.
The most straight forward way to accomplish this is to hang a big USB drive off the laptop. Copy the Itunes data (not the library index) to the USB drive. Then go into Itunes and in preferences make the external USB drive the Itunes libray disk drive.
considerations
If you move Itunes to a different host, you must
1) authroize that new host with Itunes store. there is a 5 computer limit. Until you authorize a host computer with Itunes store, you can see the data but not play it. If you hit the 5 computer limit, you have to deauthorize one of the 5 before you can authorize a new 5th computer. If you loose or sell an authorized computer then you are a) out of luck or b) once a year can ask Itunes support to deauthorize ALL your computers and start over again.
2) go to your ATV and dissociate it with the old Itunes host, and then reassociate the ATV with the new Itunes host (5 digit code)
On a windows box (all I have experience with) there is an Itunes folder created inside my music for the user. You go there to find the library data file and the folder that contains the actual playable content. You drag the folder with the playable content to the USB drive and copy it that way. You could drag the entire Itunes folder to the USB drive and back them up there. Not a bad idea.
I have copied the itunes folder (which I believe hold all of the iTunes stuff) from the "My Music" folder onto a external drive.
Where is the "Library Index" located? Why would I not move it also?
For the "considerations", are those items to be considered if I move the external drive to the desktop, or if I keep the external drive hooked up to the laptop?
After you move the library and set the library location in iTunes on the desktop, you should be able to use the Organize Library options from the Library submenu in the iTunes File menu to index everything properly.
It's good to move the iTunes library to your external drive on the issue of space, but when the laptop access the data of this delay and then speed access are low. My recommendation is to switch to a more comprehensive hard disk.
Of the various ways of connecting an external drive to a computer USB is by far the slowest, however even USB should be significantly quicker than required for use with itunes/Apple tv. If you are having problems watching content from an external drive on your tv, there is likely something wrong with your set up.
I came in looking for suggestions on how to set up a new computer to replace a older one with Appletv and came accross this thread. Great Thread great info!
I did exactly this over the weekend when we purchased an IMac to replace our XP laptop as the main system. I was able to set up a personal wireless network between a few PCs in the house and the IMac, then shared Itunes folders on all systems as well as other folders on the XP's then dragged everything over to the Itunes folder in the IMac. We consolidated a lot. The library organize feature is a good tip because in my case, once everything was in the new Itunes folder, I dragged everything again into Itunes. I guess Itunes needs to reassociate itself to the song folders in Itunes folder. Bet library orginize would have taken care of that, but that part was nothing in comparison to everything else. At the end, it took me a few hours. Knowing what I know now, I think I would have been better off getting an external drive and just dumping everything twice ,once to the external then to the IMac. But I ended up learning a bit on Imac networking features as well as other things here and there. Way cool and lovin' it so far.
In moving the iTunes library from the laptop to the external hard drive, I now have two of everything on the external hard drive.
To complicate matters even more; when I try to sync apple TV and the computer I get a message that says that I have to change the firewall settings to allow "Port 3689". The Windows firewall is turned off and the McAfee specialist was able to "allow" port 3689; yet I still get the message when I try to sync.
In terms of the duplicates, are they merely duplicated on the drive or are they also duplicated in itunes and how much space do they take up and how much free space do you have on the drive.
In terms of the firewall error, I don't know much about windows, but I do know McAfee is a known problem in relation to the tv.
The port 3689 error wouldn't likely be caused by moving the library files. In any case, make sure you ran the Organize Library options in iTunes to clean up any file location errors. A few people have reportedly resolved the port 3689 error problem by deleting the iTunes application file and then re-installing it.
