How do I add media to an XBMC PC

July 22, 2009 7:50 AM

How do I add content to the hard drive running XBMC live on my new media center PC?

I recently scored an older HP media center PC for free. The hard drive was wiped, so I installed live XBMC (the version that can boot from a CD, or be installed to the drive). It runs great--recognizes and plays thumb drives, portable hard drives, and DVDs. BUT...I can't for the life of me figure out how to add more stuff onto the hard drive that is inside the machine. Its not huge--200 GB, but that is enough room for all my music files and pictures, and I'd love to get them in there so that I wouldn't have to use the external drives all the time. How do I add music, pictures, or DVD rips onto the drive? Can it be done within this software?

posted by midwestguy to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Have you read the manual? You will probably need to use the filemanager to move files off the external drives and onto the internal one.
posted by gergtreble at 8:07 AM on July 22

Yep you defiantely need to use the filemanager..

You might also want to have a browse around the XBMC forums. they can be uber helpful if you get stuck.
posted by gergtreble at 8:10 AM on July 22 [1 favorite]

Thank you gergtreble! I am embarrassed that I didn't find the info on the filemanager before, despite looking at the manual. I will give it a go when I get home from work. I hadn't seen the forums either, so I'll definitely check those out. I'm super excited about getting this to work. Nothing better than a free gadget (although I'm going to have to buy a video card).
posted by midwestguy at 8:14 AM on July 22

I find it easier to use FTP (obviously requires the XBMC machine to be on your network).
posted by exogenous at 8:46 AM on July 22

FTP works just fine in my experience. Just get the IP of your Xbox (I forgot precisely where to find it at the moment but it's not hard), and the default username/password is xbox/xbox.
posted by booticon at 9:50 AM on July 22

Ok, got home, read the manual, and lo and behold, there was the file manager that I had been looking for (albeit not where I expected it to be). It worked great, and I greatly appeciate everyone's advice and help.
posted by midwestguy at 8:14 AM on July 23