I decided to buy 50GB worth of Dropbox space since MobileMe and iDisk will be done soon, and since I am trying to free up some hard drive space on my MacBook and iMac. However, I find that Dropbox uses the same concept as iDisk did; namely, it creates a local folder the same size as the Dropbox folder on your hard drive and then syncs it all up later when on a WiFi connection. This doesn't solve the problem of conserving hard drive space, however, and when I move the whole Dropbox to an external drive attached to me Apple Extreme at home, I cannot access this drive when I am away from home. Or can I? Is there a simple way to make Dropbox work for all my computers as a "hard drive in the sky" without using up precious local hard drive space? Anyone? Anyone?

If you can successfully move your dropbox folder to an external disc you can use the web interface to access the dropbox while away. You will conserve the space and have access. Not as convenient but it works. Why not look at alternatives that don't synch such as Skydrive or box.net if all you want is new based storage?

Or maybe a NAS that has remote access functionality, like a Synology DiskStation?
Not the cheapest of solutions but will give you what you are looking for and potentially expansion bays (depending on the modle) to grow disk space into the future..

BReligion

dlink also makes a few enclosures you can pop whatever drives you want into and setup to access over the web..

These may be worth exploring. Is there an easy way to store all your iPhoto library offsite (beyond the 1000 pictures in Photo Stream)? This is easily one of the biggest memory hogs currently. I can't offload mu music files, but I don't need to have quite so many photos on the local hard drive. On the iMac at home, I just have all new iPhotos, including Photo Stream photos, automatically go to an external FW drive and it has improved the memory and performance of that machine considerably. The ext drive however is always attached to the computer—not as convenient with a MacBook, though I suppose I could just plug in an external drive whenever I need to use iPhoto.

Is it possible to use Dropbox without making a copy of it on your local hard drive? Where it simply functions as an cloud drive for all your devices? Or is really all about the syncing? Or maybe selective syncing is what I'm looking for. What do you guys do? I mean, I'd like to use since it's fast and already paid for.

Is it possible to use Dropbox without making a copy of it on your local hard drive? Where it simply functions as an cloud drive for all your devices? Or is really all about the syncing? Or maybe selective syncing is what I'm looking for. What do you guys do? I mean, I'd like to use since it's fast and already paid for.

Exactly, it's more of a file syncing service than it is a storage service.

Selective syncing will allow you to exclude selected sub directories from syncing, not what you're looking for.

You mentioned that you have an HD connected to you airport extreme? Why not simply enable iCloud/Back to My Mac access on it? It'll show up as a shared device on any machine that you're logged in to iCloud with. You wouldn't need to duplicate the storage then.

Exactly, it's more of a file syncing service than it is a storage service.

Selective syncing will allow you to exclude selected sub directories from syncing, not what you're looking for.

You mentioned that you have an HD connected to you airport extreme? Why not simply enable iCloud/Back to My Mac access on it? It'll show up as a shared device on any machine that you're logged in to iCloud with. You wouldn't need to duplicate the storage then.

By George, I think you've got it,vPolywog. Are there any particular things one must do when attempts such a venture? I mean, obviously the Airport Extreme would have to always be on, which it is anyway. Is this configured from within System Preferences? Or Airport Utility?

Even if Dropbox was designed for backing up (rather than syncing), it's hard to image that offloading 50GB of files would make a huge improvement to your hard drive situation.

It sounds like you're going to need to start offloading files to an external device (which you'll want to ensure is properly backed up).

You might also want to look into moving from iPhoto to something like Aperture, which works really well with photos stored on external drives. Aperture stores preview files on your local drive, saving considerable amounts of space. You can specify the quality / filesize of the previews that Aperture creates.

Here's a thought: is it possible to have one iPhoto Library stored externally that more than one computer and iPhoto app can access? Sort of like Photo Stream, but for ALL your photos rather than just the most recent 1000?

By George, I think you've got it,vPolywog. Are there any particular things one must do when attempts such a venture? I mean, obviously the Airport Extreme would have to always be on, which it is anyway. Is this configured from within System Preferences? Or Airport Utility?

It's pretty straightforward: Under "Base Station" in AirPort Utility, there is a section at the bottom called Back to My Mack. Hit the plus, and add your iCloud username and password. You can add as many iCloud accounts as you like so they can all get access to the shared drive.

http://cromulent.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/b2mm.png

Here's a thought: is it possible to have one iPhoto Library stored externally that more than one computer and iPhoto app can access? Sort of like Photo Stream, but for ALL your photos rather than just the most recent 1000?

It has been a while since I looked into it, but it used to be not recommended. Bad things would happen if two computers would try to read/write to the library simultaneously.

But with the newest version of iPhoto, Apple is using a different library structure that is compatible with both Aperture and iPhoto -- perhaps things have changed.

Here's a thought: is it possible to have one iPhoto Library stored externally that more than one computer and iPhoto app can access? Sort of like Photo Stream, but for ALL your photos rather than just the most recent 1000?

Not for read/write and having your library stored on a remote filesystem would likely be painfully slow.

But you could turn on sharing in iPhoto. Then other computers could access the photos stored in that particular library. You'd want to make that the 'primary' library that all of your imports are done to. I believe you can copy from the share library, to local libraries if that helps.

It has been a while since I looked into it, but it used to be not recommended. Bad things would happen if two computers would try to read/write to the library simultaneously.

But with the newest version of iPhoto, Apple is using a different library structure that is compatible with both Aperture and iPhoto -- perhaps things have changed.

It's still not recommended, same as it's a bad idea to use the same iTunes library simultaneously on multiple computers.

Also, iPhoto over iCloud/Back to My Mac is going to be painfully slow. A photo library like iPhoto is something that should be stored locally, either on a fast NAS or an internal/external drive.

It's still not recommended, same as it's a bad idea to use the same iTunes library simultaneously on multiple computers.

Also, iPhoto over iCloud/Back to My Mac is going to be painfully slow. A photo library like iPhoto is something that should be stored locally, either on a fast NAS or an internal/external drive.

Can it even be done? I have one iTunes Library on my NAS that all 3 computers in the house can access, but if iTunes is open on one the music Library can't be accessed by another at the same time, iTunes asks you to choose another Library, create a new one or cancel.

Can it even be done? I have one iTunes Library on my NAS that all 3 computers in the house can access, but if iTunes is open on one the music Library can't be accessed by another at the same time, iTunes asks you to choose another Library, create a new one or cancel.

I'm genuinely curious why you do that, when you could use home sharing?

Or maybe a NAS that has remote access functionality, like a Synology DiskStation?
Not the cheapest of solutions but will give you what you are looking for and potentially expansion bays (depending on the modle) to grow disk space into the future..

BReligion

+ 1, and the Synology Diskstation has a Cloud Station, and other very useful features.

I'm genuinely curious why you do that, when you could use home sharing?

I store my iTunes library on my NAS, so I don't have to worry about drive failure (at least, not as much). That, and as expandable storage, it's easy to add more if you run out of space.

I decided to move my MacBook iPhoto library to an external USD 500GB Drive (partitioned with the other side for Time Machine) and so if I want to access iPhoto, I just have to make sure the external HD is plugged in. Not as convenient as saving on the internal HD, perhaps, but I really need the space. I am going to explore the Back to my Mac option a little more closely, and see how I can make max use of DropBox without having to have an exact duplicate all the time synced on my HD (seems a bit redundant).

I'm genuinely curious why you do that, when you could use home sharing?

Because it allows one database (i.e. one iTunes Library) to be shared by all my Macs and needs to be updated only once i.e. one database to rule them all. TBT this was the strategy I employed before home sharing was available in iTunes and so I really don't know that much about it and its strengths and weaknesses...

What I do know is that this strategy continues to serve me well without any hiccups or glitches.

As I understand it if my Library is on one Mac then that Mac needs to be on to share with the others using home sharing. By having it on a NAS no Mac needs to be on other than the one that wants to play the music because the Library and source music is on the NAS.

The NAS takes a lot less power to be constantly on than my Mac Pro which is the only computer in the house (other than the NAS) that has enough storage space to store my iTunes Library and the source music files... I have about 300GB of music.

I decided to move my MacBook iPhoto library to an external USD 500GB Drive (partitioned with the other side for Time Machine) and so if I want to access iPhoto, I just have to make sure the external HD is plugged in. Not as convenient as saving on the internal HD, perhaps, but I really need the space. I am going to explore the Back to my Mac option a little more closely, and see how I can make max use of DropBox without having to have an exact duplicate all the time synced on my HD (seems a bit redundant).

How do you plan on backing up your iPhoto library?

Personally, I *like* the redundancy of duplicating my hard drive's importnat files to Dropbox.

Is there a simple way to make Dropbox work for all my computers as a "hard drive in the sky" without using up precious local hard drive space? Anyone? Anyone?
If you haven't already, maybe read this link (http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=36983), it seems to relate to what you are trying to do.

Because it allows one database (i.e. one iTunes Library) to be shared by all my Macs and needs to be updated only once i.e. one database to rule them all. TBT this was the strategy I employed before home sharing was available in iTunes and so I really don't know that much about it and its strengths and weaknesses...

What I do know is that this strategy continues to serve me well without any hiccups or glitches.

As I understand it if my Library is on one Mac then that Mac needs to be on to share with the others using home sharing. By having it on a NAS no Mac needs to be on other than the one that wants to play the music because the Library and source music is on the NAS.

The NAS takes a lot less power to be constantly on than my Mac Pro which is the only computer in the house (other than the NAS) that has enough storage space to store my iTunes Library and the source music files... I have about 300GB of music.

Does your NAS allow you to set up an iTunes Server? I ripped all my CDs to my NAS, and can access them on the MacBook Pro, via Home Sharing, and on my ethernet connected TV. No clashes due to multiple devices trying to access it either.

So I decided to embrace Dropbox as just part of the hard drive structure of both my computers and store documents there that can be synced. Works like a charm too, for the most part. All fine and dandy on the iMac, where Dropbox works pretty much in the background using very little CPU power.

However, on my MacBook, which you'd think would be identical, it is attempting to index 300,000 + files, eating up all of the CPU power. I don't get it! I gave the same files set to sync on both computers, and there's no way there are more than a few thousand of those.

Any ideas?

Anyone? Anyone?

Bueller? Bueller?

Actually, I'm going to assume those 300,000+ files include all the parts and pieces and mostly hidden bits of code that exist behind the scenes. After a few days of intense indexing, CPU use appears to be functioning within established parameters again (less than 5% at rest).