Q: Time Capsule and external hard drive
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Sep 6, 2016 5:22 PMby Rysz,For the first issue, that's what iCloud Music Library and/or iTunes Match services were designed to address. I.e., provide remote access to entire iTunes library. Another option would have been a Wi-Fi equipped external drive.
For the second question, Yes you can perform manual backups while TM is doing its magic, but you might experience lower performance.
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Sep 6, 2016 5:29 PMby cpd5215,Is there a simple way to do this automatically with the equipment I have....For example, can I plug the external drive into the LAN port of the router or TC to cause the TC to automatically backup the attached external drive when it does its Time Machine backup as well as allow Itunes to access the library when I open itunes. Trying to kill two birds with one stone automatically.
Thanks.
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Sep 6, 2016 6:14 PMby Bob Timmons,Unfortunately, Apple does not make it easy.
If you want Time Machine to back up both your Mac and an external hard drive......the external hard drive must be connected directly to your Mac using a USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt connection.
Another way of saying the same thing would be to state that Time Machine cannot back up a network drive. It can only back up a "local" drive connected directly to a Mac.
By default, the external drive will be excluded from Time Machine backups, so your next step will be to go into Time Machine Preferences / Options and remove the external hard drive from the list of items that are excluded from backups. Then, it will be included with the backup of your Mac on the next pass that Time Machine makes.
As far as allowing iTunes to access the Media Library on the external drive, you will need to "point" iTunes at the location of the external drive on your network. This Apple support document will tell you how.......Locate and organize your iTunes media files - Apple Support
The Media Library will tend to get "lost" occasionally when you do this, so you should expect to repeat this process once or twice a month, on average.
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Sep 6, 2016 6:09 PMby LaPastenague,Time Machine cannot backup network disks. It is totally restricted to a disk plugged directly into the Mac or internal.
However other backup software is not so encumbered. Carbon Copy Cloner is one choice.
Please note it will be super slow as the backup must copy the files from source to target via the laptop and over wireless this is not great. On the other hand your itunes library is not changing a lot on a daily basis and you could setup the backup for once a day outside of hours.
Apple really moved away from iTunes as home sharing and went to iCloud as Rysz commented.. and that is fine and dandy for people with decent internet.. for the rest of humanity it is just a total pain.
