12-25-2011, 10:30 PM

What's a 3rd party utility/tool that I can use to selective create a folder of music I'd like to transfer to my new Mac?

I don't want to transfer my entire 60+ GB iTunes library so that won't work. I'd like to be able to browse and select tracks, albums, etc. And dumb the selection on a USB or Network and transfer it to the new Mac?

Thanks in advance

12-25-2011, 10:33 PM

Have you heard of "Home Sharing" in iTunes?

Understanding Home Sharing

12-25-2011, 10:35 PM

Yes I have but that's not what I'm looking for.

I'm trying to transfer physical data (x GB's) from A->B

I can't home share a library if I'm not on my LAN...

12-25-2011, 10:38 PM

I guess I'm not quite understanding what you're trying to do. It sounds like you just want to move data from one machine to the other. That can easily be done via a Flash drive or even just connecting one Mac to the other with an Ethernet cable via the Finder or using Target Disk Mode.

Are you hunting for a means to do this in an automated fashion on a regular basis, or just a one-time transfer?

12-25-2011, 10:46 PM

Let me clarify.

I'd like to take X amount of music files from iTunes -> USB -> New Mac Air

I guess I'm limited to drag-n-drop from iTunes to an external volume???


--
Side note: Do you have a recommendation for a utility to browse an iOS device (i.e. iPhone, iPad)... I'd like to be able to drag photos + videos out of my device (to a Mac, for example) instead of syncing with iPhoto which I don't use.

12-25-2011, 10:53 PM

Originally Posted by dakrisht

Let me clarify.

I'd like to take X amount of music files from iTunes -> USB -> New Mac Air

I guess I'm limited to drag-n-drop from iTunes to an external volume???

What is the "source" device? Another Mac, a Windows machine or an iOS device of some sort?

--
Side note: Do you have a recommendation for a utility to browse an iOS device (i.e. iPhone, iPad)... I'd like to be able to drag photos + videos out of my device (to a Mac, for example) instead of syncing with iPhoto which I don't use.

Unfortunately, I don't. The filesystem of iOS devices is locked down to some extent. Macs don't mount the filesystem in a way that is user-accessible, so you'd certainly need a dedicated tool. The last time I ventured into this arena, I was using Red Chair software's Anapod Explorer, but the company appears to have gone defunct. There was another tool called Senuti, but I don't have any experience with it or whether it's useful for iOS.

12-26-2011, 01:28 AM

For the music, it would be Mac -> Mac

For the photos, an iOS device, I remember Anapod, worked well, I'm trying Senuti now... Looks promising so far... Apple is annoying with their iOS lockdown bs...

Thanks cwa...

12-26-2011, 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by dakrisht

For the music, it would be Mac -> Mac

OK.

Without being on the same LAN, the easiest thing to do would be to make a peer-to-peer connection using an Ethernet cable (assuming both machines have an Ethernet port). All Macs have an auto-sensing Ethernet port, so there is no need to use a crossover cable. Both machines should automatically configure an APIPA address, so you shouldn't have to worry about setting any network configuration.

From there, you could do either Home Sharing, or you could simply use the Finder to connect to the other machine and grab your files and move them over.

I'm not sure about USB options - I know that there are many special cables on the market geared toward Windows for data transfer. But typically USB is a peripheral bus, not a medium for transferring data between hosts.

Another option is to do a target disk mode connection through Firewire, which essentially allows you to make one Mac behave like an external hard drive.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode

I think those are about the simplest options that don't involve being on the same LAN or any external drives.

As far as software goes, I can't think of any reason you'd need anything other than Finder (or if you're savvy with command line options, Terminal). Basically, iTunes just lays out your music in an open folder structure, so you can just grab what you want and copy it like you would any other file.

For the photos, an iOS device, I remember Anapod, worked well, I'm trying Senuti now... Looks promising so far... Apple is annoying with their iOS lockdown bs...

Thanks cwa...

Cool. I'll be interested to hear how you make out.

12-26-2011, 04:05 PM

can moving files with a usb flash drive cause any quality loss to film and music files? if so which would be the safest option to transfer large amounts of data between two mac computers?

12-26-2011, 04:46 PM

Originally Posted by Thudbutt

can moving files with a usb flash drive cause any quality loss to film and music files? if so which would be the safest option to transfer large amounts of data between two mac computers?

No, simply moving files, regardless of the medium will have no effect on quality