User profile for user: Ric Lobosco
Ric Lobosco Author
User level: Level 1
125 points

Access music files from ext drive?

I'd like to set up my old G4 iBook (OS10.4) as a music "server", playing thru a stereo amp, but my music library is WAY too big for the internal HD.


Will iTunes (OS10.4) access the library if I have it stored on an external drive? (Storage is so cheap these days, it's an easy upgrade to an unused old laptop, & will serve my needs just fine.)


I currently have well over 100GB of music on my iMac that I'd like to transfer to a "dedicated" music server, attached to a stereo system. Because the playlists probably aren't backward compatible from Yosemite to Tiger, that will be a challenge all by itself, but one step at a time!


Thanks!

iBook, Mac OS X (10.4.11), G4 1.42GHz 1.5GB/160GB

Posted on Oct 9, 2016 11:55 PM

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8 replies
User profile for user: Kenichi Watanabe
Kenichi Watanabe
User level: Level 8
41,584 points

Oct 12, 2016 7:42 PM in response to Ric Lobosco

Will iTunes (OS10.4) access the library if I have it stored on an external drive?

You can. Here's one way. In iTunes preferences Advanced pane (on iBook), where it says iTunes Media folder location, point it to a location on the external drive. On that same pane, checkmark the boxes for Keep iTunes Media folder organized AND Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library, if they are not already. When you add songs to your iTunes library on iBook, iTunes makes a copy of song files and organizes them into the designated iTunes Media folder, which is on the external drive in your case.


As an alternative, if iBook and iMac are on the same local network, you can share iTunes library on iMac with your iBook, over the network connection. Then, you'd have access to all songs and playlists, without transferring anything to the iBook. The settings for sharing iTunes library are in iTunes preferences Sharing pane. I just tried it between my old PowerBook running Tiger (with iTunes 9.2.1) and my Mac mini running Sierra (with iTunes 12.5.1), and it works. On the iBook, the shared library from iMac appears in iTunes sidebar, under SHARED.

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User profile for user: Limnos
Limnos
Community+ 2026
User level: Level 10
430,055 points

Oct 10, 2016 8:17 AM in response to Ric Lobosco

Copy the entire iTunes folder from the iMac to an external drive. Now you are correct that there will be version incompatibilities. You may find you can rebuild most of your library using the .xml version of the library file. Drag the iTunes Library.itl file to a different place (hopefully you can just trash this later). Start iTunes while holding down the option key and when prompted to select a library file select the .xml file in the folder you copied. I haven't tried this but I am hoping iTunes will be able to use it to rebuild the .itl file in the version of iTunes you have on the G4. Ratings will not transfer, nor will date added or play count. If you need to transfer ratings then before you copy the folder from the iMac sort the entire library by ratings, make a playlist for each rating and add tracks for each rating level to the appropriate playlist. Then when the library transfers you can re-assign ratings to entire playlists to rebuild your ratings.

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User profile for user: Ric Lobosco
Ric Lobosco Author
User level: Level 1
125 points

Oct 12, 2016 7:58 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

I'd never used "Home Sharing" & forgot all about it! That's terrific! I just got the iBook from storage, & linked the two Macs.

But on the iBook, while I see the music files that are on my iMac, iTunes 9.2.1 doesn't show any of my iMac playlists. (It continues to show the playlists that are on the iBook.)

(On the iMac, when I toggle to show the music files on the iBook, it also shows the playlists that are on the iBook.)
I'm not sure if the lack of playlist sharing is a limitation of iTunes 9.2.1, but I can't find anything that seems to apply: Preferences > Sharing is set for "Share my library on my local network" & "Share entire library", not "Share selected playlists."
Home Sharing really will make things simpler, for what I want to do, but without the playlists (or having to rebuild all my playlists on the iBook, if that's even possible), really throws a wrench into the works.
Is this a solvable problem?

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User profile for user: Ric Lobosco
Ric Lobosco Author
User level: Level 1
125 points

Oct 12, 2016 8:05 PM in response to Limnos

No, I don't really care about ratings or play count or date added.
Kenichi's idea to use Home Sharing is working to get the thousands of music files accessible on the iBook (YAY!), but as I replied to him, iTunes 9.2.1 isn't displaying any of the playlists from my iMac (iTunes v12): not so "yay" at all.

9.2.1 still shows the original playlists on the iBook in the left column, but with Home Share selected in the left column, no associated playlists displayed.

v12 completely displays EITHER music files & playlists from the iBook, or files & playlists from my iMac.
At least this is progress, but I'd like to get the 2nd part of this to work! ;-)

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User profile for user: Kenichi Watanabe
Kenichi Watanabe
User level: Level 8
41,584 points

Oct 12, 2016 9:04 PM in response to Ric Lobosco

iTunes 9.2.1 doesn't show any of my iMac playlists.

It worked for me with iTunes 9.2.1 (on my old PowerBook) and iTunes 12.5.1 (on my Mac mini). On the iBook, go iTunes preferences Sharing pane. There's a checkbox there for Look for shared libraries. Make sure that box is checked.


The iMac's shared library appears on the iBook, in the sidebar, under SHARED. You won't see the iMac's playlists there, until you click it.

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Access music files from ext drive?

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