external hard drive sync to ipod problem

Hello, when I sync from an external hard drive to my ipod nano it won't load to podcast, just into "other" (as in audio, video, photos, other). It takes up drive space but there's nothing to access. Any suggestions?

Can you explain a bit about what's happening? I'm a bit confused. What exactly are you trying to do? Are you trying to sync the iPod with a library on an external drive?

Yes I am. In Time Machine, in the Itunes Media Files, I select the podcast file I want (1.9 Gb). I then right click and select "Restore NPR Fresh Air podcast to...". That takes me to the Finder, Choose Folder popup where I select the Ipod device. The file then downloads.

In the Ipod, the 1.9 Gb file shows only in "other" which is inaccessible. Podcasts, music, videos are all empty. ??

OK I think the problem is where you are trying to restore the file to. IIRC you cannot restore the file directly to the iPod. If you look at where the file is located in the backup that's where it needs to be restored to.

Here's what I would do:
1. Make note of what folder the file is in now in the Time Machine backup and restore the file there.
2. If the file is not in your iTunes library add it to the library.
3. in iTunes mark it as one of the files to sync and synch the iPod.

Thanks so much for the input. That got me closer but created a new folder within the original and from there the sync still went into "other". I did however get it all to work.

This time, in Time Machine, instead of right clicking "Restore NPR Fresh Air podcast to..." and directing it to the Media file, I just used the "Restore" button on the bottom right of the screen. D'oh. All is well.