Help with access to Time Capsule away from home

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I have successfully moved my iTunes media off of my MBP harddrive and onto my 2TB Time Capsule - was just running out of room on my MBP so had to make the move. I am now faced with the following three problems:

-is there anyway to make my Time Capsule mount each time I open up iTunes on my computer(when on my home network). Currently if I have not had iTunes open for a few hours I have to manually connect my computer to the Time Capsule before iTunes knows where to find the media content

-now that I have no media content on my computer, how can I access my Time Capsule when I am not on my home network? I travel a lot so would like to be able to access the content on my home network

-when I am away from home and not on the network, is there a way to have iTunes play from a secondary media library on my computer or a small external drive? I intend to take my 100 favourite songs and a few movies for the times in between having a network connection.

Thanks!
 
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Hmmm, this is not something that will be just a few clicks. The biggest problem will be getting a hole in your router to your home network. It can be done a few ways, but I really dont think that TC will allow access that way.

For example. I had a NAS (Network Storage) server with 2 USB drives hooked up at my home through my router. I could access it from my PC when I was connected to my network as shared drives. However, when I left the house, my NAS server would only allow access via FTP which I had to open and forward in my router.

Opening any kind of port in your router will open you to issues with attacks and viruses (DoS attacks) against the router and possibly other computer inside the network.

I dont have a TC, and after much research and face to face with some people, I wont be getting one. I will be getting an AirPlay Extreme and hooking up a USB drive that way instead. Will I be able to set up external access to an internal drive? I dont know yet.

I think you would probably be better off getting a small external drive (I have a WD 1TB USB-powered portable drive) with my iTunes library on it. All 400GB of it. It adds a drive and 1 USB cable to my bag, which isnt much to worry about.

I just dont think you can access (easily) the TC from outside the network. Some other NAS device, possibly.
 
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Are you a MobileMe user? You can get to your TC by using your MobileMe credentials. There is a spot in the configuration for this.
 
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Yes I am! How do I do it?

Go to your Airport Utility and get into your TC configuration page, and look in advanced for the spot to place your MobileMe details. I can't remember off hand and I am away from mine, so I may be off on the location. When you find it just put your account name and password in and when you are away from home you will see the TC in finder. I use it all the time and it works great. As always, use a good password and change it regularly.

If you can't find it let me know and I will look when I get home for you.
 
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Ok! I'll give it a try, thanks. Will my iTunes be able to play through this connection then? Are you doing the same thing?

Any ideas on my other question on if I can make my TC mount when iTunes opens?
 
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Ok! I'll give it a try, thanks. Will my iTunes be able to play through this connection then? Are you doing the same thing?

Any ideas on my other question on if I can make my TC mount when iTunes opens?

Not sure away from home with your library. The problem that I see would be bandwidth. I use mine as a sort of drop box for files and such. I am not sure why you have to manually login every time for your iTunes. the library should call that location and it should be there. Double check all of your settings for disk access when you get into your config.

I keep my library on my Drobo and it is always available when I launch iTunes.
 
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I think you would want to use Apple-script. I haven't looked yet as I don't have my Mac yet. You would want it to mount first, then open iTunes after it has fully connected to the TC. Depending on Applescript, you could add a time delay between mounting the volume and kicking off iTunes. Just speculating at this point.

When you do get this set up, Let us know how well the syncing works. I have a feeling you may get some skips in music/movies/tv if packets happen to get dropped during the transfer.
 

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