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[5881]

My music server (running MC21 on WS2012 R2) uses multiple internal and external storage drives, and I'm looking for an easy way to setup various libraries / modes / users profiles of specific drive combinations. Unfortunately I don't believe I can set up something like a single or group of drives as a stand alone library, they need to be imported first, which in my case would create duplicates.

In other words, I'm trying to setup a master library and sub music libraries without overlap...

I tired setting up user accounts, which is fine except I can't find a way to assign more then one drive letter to a user. I'm missing something here, there must be a fix or another way to set up this scenario up?

[AndrewFG]

I don't believe I can set up something like a single or group of drives as a stand alone library, they need to be imported first, which in my case would create duplicates.

Why do you think that would create duplicates?

[5881]

Because I have duplicates on various drives which I'm trying to keep segregated

[blgentry]

MC has multiple mechanisms for segregating media files. It (very roughly) breaks down like this:

1.  Libraries:  MC can have multiple separate libraries if you choose.  One library can not see anything in another library.  Different libraries can contain some of the same files if you want.  Or a completely different set of files.  The point is, they are TOTALLY separate.  This is useful for some very isolated situations.  It's not normally a good fit for just trying to separate "my favorite music from my wife's favorite music".  Libraries can NOT be combined without lots of manual effort, so when you set these up, they are sort of a big decision in terms of organization.
2.  Views:  You can have a large library with many different types of music in it:  Classical, Jazz, Popular, etc.  Views let you control what you see in a particular way.  For example, I could set up a view that shows me just my Classical music and organizes my Classical music by year, then by composer, then by conductor.  This same library can still have all of my Rock and Blues and everything else.  But the Classical VIEW I set up, only shows me Classical (in the way I want to see it) when I click on this view, or look at this view through JRemote.  Views are *extremely* powerful and can do all kinds of cool stuff.
3.  Users:  I have very little experience with users.  The mechanism is fairly well documented and seems to include the ability to tag songs (files) for what user should see them.  Just highlight the files, and set the [User] field to the name of the user that should see those files.  Then they are restricted to just those files.  There's also a way to filter what a user sees by rules.  Here's the wiki entry explaining this:

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Users#Restrict_Files_or_Users

Generally speaking, there's no good reason to have several copies of the *exact* same files.  MC can show files to multiple views, multiple libraries, and multiple users.  Unless those files are going to have different metadata, there's really no good reason to have copies.

If you give us an overview of what you are trying to do, maybe we can recommend the right strategy.  I have a feeling that Views is probably the answer for you.  But *maybe* you need one of the other mechanisms instead.

Brian.

[5881]

In this case lets focus on setting up libraries or users that can only access specific complete drives and not dwell on files, tags or views.

As to the why's, to keep it brief, I have a vast amount of music (think of it as the master library) contained on several large external spinning drives, I also have a condensed version that is stored internally on SSD's (think of it as the best of the best), my interest is to keep them separate but be able to switch between with ease. Users would work if I could specify multiple drive letters, a library would also work if I can form one from say an external hard drive/s alone.

Hope that clears the waters, if not please ask specific questions and I'll do my best to answer

[ferday]

the easiest (and fastest/best performing) method:

if your SSD is (say) C: and the other drives are E: and F:

make a view in audio, call it "best" or whatever.  in the view rules, specify filename (path) must contain C:, and must NOT contain E: and F:
make a new view called "not best" or whatever.  in the view rules specify filename (path) must contain E: and/or F: and NOT C:

this way the whole library is loaded so if you want to tag or move files they're all there, but the view will only see the ones you want.

i do this for most of my audio stuff

users are also pretty simple, just make a user "best" and specify that user can only see the C:, and make the "normal" user able to only see F: and/or E:

multiple libraries is not the correct way to do it IMO

[blgentry]

It's tough to figure out how to help you because you have conflicting requirements and you say you don't want to use the most obvious features like Views.

You could set up separate libraries.  Libraries can contain one or more drives.  So you could have D: and E: in one library and F: in another and G: and H: in a third.  You can only have one library open at once.  Switching libraries is sort of slow.  Like 5 to 20 seconds.  But it would segregate your media fully.

You could also import everything into one library and set up views.  Views can easily show you only one drive, or two drives, or whatever you want.

Reading what you've written, it seems like you haven't fully embraced the JRiver way of media organization.  You seem to be focused on disk as the only way of organization.  The whole "best of" concept is what ratings are designed for.  Or playlists.  Copies of the exact same media are sort of the opposite of the JRiver approach.  I'm not trying to be negative.  I'm trying to guide you toward the way that JRiver does things.

I'm not sure what to advise because I'm not sure how you're planning to use these segregated copies/views/libraries.  Maybe someone else has some more insight.

Brian.

[5881]

I see both of your points, its a different perspective, but I can work within the parameters.  However I am apparently doing something wrong, as I am unable to create a view or user that can see multiple drives. One drive yes, but as soon as I add any language or additional rules to denote more then one drive, all the albums are removed from view.

User profiles or custom views would be quick and simple...  please advise

[blgentry]

As per the link above on Users:  To make a complex rule (like several drives), you first want to make a smartlist.  Set up the smartlist so that it sees *exactly* what you want your user to see.  In your case, set up your smartlist with several [filename (path)] rules.  You'll want to use an "or" rule with these.  See this for how an OR works in a Smartlist:

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Smartlists#Tips_2

Once your smartlist works correctly, you'll need to go to the Import/Export box for the smartlist and copy the definition.  That definition can then be pasted into the user definition and it will control what they see.  It will show them exactly the same songs as the smartlist shows.

You don't need to keep the smartlist when you're done.  You're only using it to generate the definition and verify that it shows what you are expecting.

Brian.