I switched to Mac last year. I now own a MacBook and I am loving it. But I am experiencing a problem. My drive is only 80GB and it is near capacity. I have an external drive and I drag and drop files to the external in order to make room on my HD. The problem occurs when I open the files on the external later on. For some reason, my Mac places the files back onto the HD, defeating the purpose of using the external in the first place. I am not that computer savvy, but I never had this problem before with Windows. I know there has to be a solution; it's a Mac.
External Drive woes
- Thread starter JCervo
- Start date
ElDiabloConCaca
U.S.D.A. Prime
Can you give a specific example of your Mac moving files back to the internal hard drive from the external? Perhaps a screenshot or two?
Also, are you sure you're not opening disk images from the external drive? Opening a disk image mounts a virtual disk on your desktop -- this, to the non-computer savvy, may seem like the computer is "moving" files back to the internal drive, but it's really not.
Also, are you sure you're not opening disk images from the external drive? Opening a disk image mounts a virtual disk on your desktop -- this, to the non-computer savvy, may seem like the computer is "moving" files back to the internal drive, but it's really not.
Here's the example: I click and drag iTunes files from the Mac to the external drive. Then I delete the files in iTunes, freeing up space. No problem so far. Later, let's say I want to listen to a song or watch a movie, so I plug in the external drive. I click on the file, then suddenly iTunes opens and the file "re-appears" in the iTunes sidebar-- and it's now back on the internal drive. I am pretty sure it's not a disk image because the file would remain in the iTunes directory. But I could be wrong...
ElDiabloConCaca
U.S.D.A. Prime
You have the option to "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" enabled in the "Advanced" pane of iTunes' preferences. This not only adds the music file to your iTunes library so that it displays as a song in iTunes, but it also copies the music file itself to your iTunes library, which is most likely located on your internal hard drive.
Simply disable this option in the "Advanced" pane of iTunes' preferences. You will then be able to store music on the external drive without having it copied to the internal drive.
It's not your Mac misbehaving at all -- it's iTunes, and it's not misbehavior. Exactly what's supposed to be happening according to iTunes' preferences is happening.
Simply disable this option in the "Advanced" pane of iTunes' preferences. You will then be able to store music on the external drive without having it copied to the internal drive.
It's not your Mac misbehaving at all -- it's iTunes, and it's not misbehavior. Exactly what's supposed to be happening according to iTunes' preferences is happening.