09-18-2009, 07:29 PM

Hey Guys,

I just got into the Mac scene, finally was able to buy one (wife gave the OK!) but I work as an electronics store so I know how the basics of the mac OSX works.

I got a Mac Mini to connect to my living room TV (Sony 46" XBR4) and my sound system (Yamaha HTR-6180 with Klipsch Quintet SL's) and I want to use it as an HTPC equivalent for iTunes/Pictures/Video's/Video Conferencing/and potentially photo editing (I picked up a copy of aperture 2).

My first question is this: I have a home network with 2 other PC's (My Dell Mini 10v and my main desktop in my office) along with my PS3/360 in my living room that my Mini's in. I'd like to network all of it together. I'm VERY PC competent, not so much however on Macs, so how would I go around file sharing throughout all the computers if possible?

2nd: Asuming the previous question isn't possible, I also bought a Time Machine a few months back mainly becuase A: I got a good deal on it B: I've run out of 2.25TB of hard drive space on my PC so I moved a lot of my pictures, music, and video's from my camcorder onto the time capsule (the more important files) for storage sharing amonst my PC's. How can I set iPhoto/iTunes to NOT import files into the mac mini's petty hard drive (120GB) and stream off my Time Capsule?

3rd: What cool things can I do with my mini

Thanks for your help guys! I really appreciate it!

09-18-2009, 09:59 PM

You can set iPhoto and iTunes's libraries to different locations, including the external.. But if something goes wrong with your network, you are screwed.

Then, I would recommend putting aliases to the iPhoto/iTunes libraries' folders in their original folders, so it's easier to access them.