[jtwrace]

I used to have a USB dac so my external HD's (2) were both connected to the Mini via Firewire. 

Now I have a Firewire dac so I've connected the first HD via USB.  On the second HD should I connect it USB as well or can I use the Firewire connection from the fist HD (which is connected USB) to the second?

What's the best way?  Does it make any difference sonically?  Of course the main concern is that the two copies are as close to being the same as possible.

[srb]

I used to have a USB dac so my external HD's (2) were both connected to the Mini via Firewire. 

Now I have a Firewire dac so I've connected the first HD via USB.  On the second HD should I connect it USB as well or can I use the Firewire connection from the fist HD (which is connected USB) to the second?

I don't know what model external drives you have, but isn't the FireWire connection on the drive a connection intended for the host computer (just like the USB) and not a slave connection for another hard drive?
 
Steve

[jtwrace]

I don't know what model external drives you have, but isn't the FireWire connection on the drive a connection intended for the host computer (just like the USB) and not a slave connection for another hard drive?
 
Steve

You can run it directly to the computer then slave to the second.  Iomega Mini Max is the drive

[srb]

The FireWire port is a pass-through to connect to another FireWire drive, assuming the first drive is connected to a FireWire port on the host computer.  If the first drive is connected via USB, the FireWire port is not functional and you would have to slave the second drive via USB.
 
Steve

[jtwrace]

The FireWire port is a pass-through to connect to another FireWire drive, assuming the first drive is connected to a FireWire port on the host computer.  If the first drive is connected via USB, the FireWire port is not functional and you would have to slave the second drive via USB.
 
Steve

OK great.   

Should I slave the second drive to the first drive or directly to the Mini or does it not make a differnece?  The second is only the backup to the first.

[srb]

Iomega recommends not connecting the drive to a USB hub, then refers to the USB ports on the drive as a "USB 2.0 hub (3 ports)".  If you have the spare USB port available on the Mini I would just connect both drives directly to the computer.
 
Steve

[Crimson]

Bets bet is to go straight to the computer for both USB drives.

[jtwrace]

I will do it that way.   

[kenreau]

I'm getting close to maxing out my Oyen minipro outboard HD and just read through this thread with interest.  I was intending to daisey chain in another (new)Oyen drive in series with the original drive.  I use FW for my music library HD to mac mini and USB from mac mini to my DAC.

I was under the impression that iTunes needs to reference the music library from one drive & folder location you select under Preferences.  Can iTunes really pull music files from multiple hard drives?  Is there a special set up I need to utilize?

Thanks
Kenreau

Iomega recommends not connecting the drive to a USB hub, then refers to the USB ports on the drive as a "USB 2.0 hub (3 ports)".  If you have the spare USB port available on the Mini I would just connect both drives directly to the computer.
 
Steve

[Crimson]

I was under the impression that iTunes needs to reference the music library from one drive & folder location you select under Preferences.  Can iTunes really pull music files from multiple hard drives?  Is there a special set up I need to utilize?

iTunes can reference multiple drives (3 for me). Once you approach 90% capacity on a drive, attach a second drive and point your iTunes library path to it. Do not consolidate. iTunes will then add all new music to the second drive and still retain all path info for the first drive.

[kenreau]

iTunes can reference multiple drives (3 for me). Once you approach 90% capacity on a drive, attach a second drive and point your iTunes library path to it. Do not consolidate. iTunes will then add all new music to the second drive and still retain all path info for the first drive.

Good to know that.  I will give that a try.

Thanks again, Crimson 

Kenreau

[jtwrace]

iTunes can reference multiple drives (3 for me). Once you approach 90% capacity on a drive, attach a second drive and point your iTunes library path to it. Do not consolidate. iTunes will then add all new music to the second drive and still retain all path info for the first drive.

So do you have all 3 drives named the same?  When you map I haven't seen a place to map 3 different drives to one place. 

[Crimson]

So do you have all 3 drives named the same?  When you map I haven't seen a place to map 3 different drives to one place.

No, they're named differently. Unless you tell iTunes to consolidate, it'll read off multiple drives. Once a drive is full, just change the path to the new drive. It works. Really!

Just make sure 'Keep iTunes folder Organized' is checked.

[jtwrace]

No, they're named differently. Unless you tell iTunes to consolidate, it'll read off multiple drives. Once a drive is full, just change the path to the new drive. It works. Really!

So, you plug in all drives to the Mini via USB and just map one? 

I'm in need of a larger drive and I thought I'd just buy a bigger drive.  This is an option but it's slightly more noise.   

[Crimson]

In case I'm not being clear, you don't just plug any three drives in. You currently have a drive that you're using with iTunes. It is mapped accordingly. Let's call it D1. Over time it starts to fill up. You buy a new drive. Attach it to your Mini and call it D2. Start iTunes and change the path to D2. All new rips will now populate D2, and iTunes will still 'remember' the location of all music ripped to D1. D2 fills up over time, you attach D3. Change the path in iTunes to D3. And on it goes. It's a sequential process and works quite well.

In essence, changing the path of your library in iTunes is only telling it where to store new rips, not where to read already stored music. The ripping process creates an independant path for each song, and can span many drives. 

[jtwrace]

In case I'm not being clear, you don't just plug any three drives in. You currently have a drive that you're using with iTunes. It is mapped accordingly. Let's call it D1. Over time it starts to fill up. You buy a new drive. Attach it to your Mini and call it D2. Start iTunes and change the path to D2. All new rips will now populate D2, and iTunes will still 'remember' the location of all music ripped to D1. D2 fills up over time, you attach D3. Change the path in iTunes to D3. And on it goes. It's a sequential process and works quite well.

In essence, changing the path of your library in iTunes is only telling it where to store new rips, not where to read already stored music. The ripping process creates an independant path for each song, and can span many drives.

Ah ha.  NOW this makes sense.  I guess I didn't understand that the path is where the stored music is only.  So iTunes actually remembers (tags) where each track has been allocated? 

[Crimson]

Yes. As long as all relevant drives are connected prior to starting iTunes, it'll work just fine. If one or more drives are not connected, you'll get exclamation points next to all the tracks that are on the unconnected drives.

[jtwrace]

Yes. As long as all relevant drives are connected prior to starting iTunes, it'll work just fine. If one or more drives are not connected, you'll get exclamation points next to all the tracks that are on the unconnected drives.

   

Thanks for the help. 

[jtwrace]

So if I replace my existing HD and use SuperDuper to copy then I can just plug it in and reset the map to it and that's it.  I will not have to do anything else.  Right?

[Crimson]

So if I replace my existing HD and use SuperDuper to copy then I can just plug it in and reset the map to it and that's it.  I will not have to do anything else.  Right?

If you're just cloning the drive, rename the new drive to that of the old drive and you won't even have to reset the map.