MacBook – How to store the iPhoto Library and iTunes library in Lion Server (Mini) and access it via the MBP

iphotoituneslibrary-managementmac-minimacbook pro

My iPhoto and iTunes library is taking up most of the space in my 128GB SSD MBP.

I'm considering to buy a mac mini to store all of my media for iPhoto and iTunes libraries and sync a few of my favourite playlists/events to my MBP.

Is this possible? If not, is it better to just buy a 'Little Big Disk' and store everything there and back it up via my Time capsule(can this be done too?)?

Best Answer

Unfortunately you can't easily do Mac-to-Mac syncing of iTunes libraries in that manner. Your best options for networked iTunes access are:

  • iTunes Library Sharing: put your library on the server, and you can get streaming access from your MBP. Downsides: no remote/offline access, you need to be on the same network as the server; all media/playlist management has to be done on the server.
  • iTunes Home Sharing: same streaming access as above, but you can also copy files from the server to your MBP. Downsides: it's not syncing, you need to manually select and transfer the songs you want.

  • Store iTunes Library on a Network Share: change the iTunes folder location (Advanced section in the iTunes Preferences) to a shared network drive on the server (or any shared drive, doesn't have to be a Mac). This gets you local control of the library, just like any standard functions. Downsides: have to be on the local network to get access.

    • With this option you could make a second library (option-click iTunes when you open it) on the local drive with a smaller collection of songs you want for off-network access, but again, you don't have any syncing abilities, you have to manually add what you want.

I don't know that much about iPhoto sharing, I think it's more limited, but you can always put the iPhoto Library on a network share, as in the third option above, with the same limitations. There's also iCloud's Photo Stream, which is fairly limited, but may work if you just want to get recent photos from point A to B.

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