I need some iTunes experts

[deeaa*]

Funny you should mention this because I recently lost tons of data on an external hard drive that also went south on me too...and like you, I am going back to saving on DVDs. Maybe others can learn from the info on this thread!

What I do is use several HD's. Storage is cheap these days.

I have one drive just for the OS, which I back up to another HD.
I have one HD just for music-making files, which I back up to a fourth HD.
I have one HD just for all my documents, which I back up to a sixth HD.
I have a few other external drives for movies and music, which are also duplicated in the aforementioned drives for storaging. I also have 2 iPods where I keep music, 200G in total.

To add to that, I have 5 terabytes of online storage space for TV programs, plus two 50-gigabyte online storages for www and for posting/online storage of music and data. Plus at work I have basically unlimited backup space for my laptop backups, plus a few network locations plus two online data banks which can be accessed with any machine plus cell phones. Plus of course a couple of HD TV recorders for other TV's in the house.

In addition we have two laptops, which also house duplicates of almost all music. Some of the music is also duplicated to an external drive for Xbox 360.

No way I could save to DVD's...they're only 4,7G and just my music collection is like 200-300 gigabytes. I'm not actually sure but I'm guessing I have something like 3 terabytes of drives for my PC plus laptops.

So what I suggest is just buy a couple of, say 1-3-gigabyte external drives and set up your machine so it copies stuff around daily and you'll have all your data safe in at least 3 places. Better yet, make one of those a RAID NAS drive and hook it up to your WLAN and have wireless access to all data from anywhere, and even yet double-secured.

These days stuff like them HD's is cheap as bread so no reason to play with DVD's or such no more.

And, I also try and change/upgrade my HD's every few years both to get more space there and to get rid of them before their 3-year warranties end.

[Kazz]

There is another tool....that is free for basic functionality which will do what Tone needs.....MediaMonkey....the additional functionality it gives is well worth the 40.00 pricetag.

It will load all of the music from your ipod and allow you to transfer it to your hard drive or to your psp directly I believe....

[Kazz]

One thing about backing up to dvd.....those discs degrade over the years....I went to restore from a backup dvd I once made and it was corrupted and it was kept in a fireproof safe and never touched.

[deeaa*]

One thing about backing up to dvd.....those discs degrade over the years....I went to restore from a backup dvd I once made and it was corrupted and it was kept in a fireproof safe and never touched.

Oh yeah the best you can expect the phyt...cyanine whatever layer to last is about a decade. Silver 'real' discs should last 2-3 times that or half a century or more, depending on how storaged, but even there the aluminum slowly oxidizes.

[Tone2TheBone]

Great stuff here guys thank you. Knowledge is power!

[Commodore 64***]

On the topic of backup, I got a Netgear Stora last year, and tossed an extra 1GB hardrive in it. It automatically mirrors 1 drive to the other, so you get network accessible storage, and a RAID 1 backup.

[kidsmoke*]

Because they like to be propietary, Apple has attempted to make it difficult to transfer music from your iPod to your PC.

However, it is not impossible.


Note: I am assuming you are using a PC. If you're using a Mac, it's a bit different, but same basic concept.

How different??

Hey guys, in a bit of a bind here, and a very similar situation. Have an OLD Pod and a "new" macbook. I wish to get the music off the pod onto the book so I can do all that you do once it's on iTunes.

When I connect the pod, I can view everything in iTunes, but cannot move anything from the iPod to the laptop.

When i attempt to access the iPod as an external drive, I can view photos and other files, but the music files are not even evident.....

Thanks in advance for any help.

[deeaa*]

I use YamiPOD along with iTunes, because I have several iPods.

YamiPod can move files back and forth no problem...so I'd suggest that.

[R_of_G]

Tio Kimo -

For Macs, there are several free programs that will allow you to easily pull stuff from an ipod to your Mac. This page lists a few of them with links to download...

http://mac-dvd.com/top5-free-mac-ipo...transfers.html

[kidsmoke*]

Thanks to both of you for the response. I'll dig into this before the games tomorrow...I've actually got a gig tonight. 2nd time ever... first time with this group of people.... been practicing all afternoon

[R_of_G]

Good for you for the gig. Hope it works out well for you.

[kidsmoke*]

update,
downloaded the iMacsoft iPod to mac transfer, and it works flawlessly. Limited to 100 files at a pop, but it is so simple and clean, I'm not complaining.

Thanks again for the help.

[R_of_G]

Glad you found a workable solution.