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Author Topic: How to set up library to show only the drive that is attached.  (Read 4429 times)

Tim

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Is it possible to only show only the albums that are on the drive attached at the time rather than everything that the programme may have added over time from anything else that has been attached to the computer.

thanks
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blgentry

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Re: How to set up library to show only the drive that is attached.
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2016, 11:23:19 am »

Your question is unusual.  MC should only import files that you tell it to.  Are these files on missing drives something that you want MC to keep track of?  Or are they a nuisance because somehow MC has imported files from drives that you didn't want it to?

If you want MC to track files on drives that you don't have plugged in, that's fine.  I'm just wondering how you are using MC and your various drives.  So I can suggest the best solution for you.

Brian.
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Tim

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Re: How to set up library to show only the drive that is attached.
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2016, 12:00:47 pm »

Thanks Brian,

I thought I had it sussed when an external drive I used did not immediately dump it's media contents into MC21 build .66. I spent some time only putting those files I wanted into the library and was happy with this clean slate start on the mac. Then I attached another drive which I hope to rip to in future. MC let me specify a file on this drive in cd rips). When I went back to the library however, it had also pulled everything off the new drive that was there without me asking.

I have a version that can (sometimes)play an album through without crashing or saying it's buffering. My windows version is unusable so I only have the mac as an option - though I wish I could use windows version as I do not like to clutter the mac in any way.

So what I want to do is just show the tagged and filed contents of the drive that is attached at any one time. For example if that drive is called elements/E all I want to see in the library is what is on Elements/E - if it is Samsung M3 then I only want to see those albums that are on that drive. At the moment I get everything showing and have to remember which album is on which disk before clicking on the album cover icon.

I would like MC to show, in the interface library view, the available media reflecting what can be accessed according to the usb drive or sd card or whatever source the mac is attached to and not the media that is unavailable until I plug in the hardware containing it. The programme presently shows everything it has ever imported from drives whether they are connected or not.
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blgentry

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Re: How to set up library to show only the drive that is attached.
« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2016, 04:27:21 pm »

I understand you've had some unintentional imports.  I don't understand why you're using two drives and only using them part time.  The solution would seem to be to put everything you want in your library on one drive.  Or, alternatively, to keep both drives plugged in all the time.

Would you like to have everything on one drive?  Would it be good to try to help you move albums/songs from one drive (where you don't want music) to another drive (where you want to keep everything)?

Again, it's only unusual because most people keep all of their music available at all times, which means keeping the drives that they use plugged in.  If we can sort out where you want your music to be, I'm confident we can configure your system to keep your music where you want it.

Brian.
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Tim

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Re: How to set up library to show only the drive that is attached.
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2016, 07:26:44 am »

Thanks Brian,

I suppose I want my music files to display only the files on the drive being used at any given time. For example if I were travelling in New Zealand and a fellow traveller wanted to play me something they had on an sd card. I would only want to see what was imported on that occasion and not for example a whole library of stuff I might have on another drive or two elsewhere back in England (particularly if their were duplicates on her card of stuff I had previously imported from elsewhere).

I do not want any drives plugged in full time - this is a working laptop. I would like the convenience of being able to see only what is on the drive, memory stick, sd, ssd, hard drive or whatever that I am using on that day. The programme shows the drive letter and name first in the tag line - so it must be possible to discern which tracks are actually available to play at any time without presenting the user with everything that has ever been imported.

That's what I would like to be able to do. Is this really so unusual?

thanks again for your attempts to help

Tim.
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DJLegba

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Re: How to set up library to show only the drive that is attached.
« Reply #5 on: April 04, 2016, 07:40:02 am »

You can create a different library for each storage device.

If you want to play something from a friend's memory stick just navigate to the file with the Finder and open it up. JRiver will play the file without importing it into your library.
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blgentry

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Re: How to set up library to show only the drive that is attached.
« Reply #6 on: April 04, 2016, 08:16:22 am »

Ok.  I don't personally agree with importing temporary files from someone else's collection that I'll never see again.  Nor do I know why you want to use more than one drive.  But that's ok, because I'm going to help you.  :)

Can can do this in any view.  The top level Audio view, or an Albums view, or even a new View that you name something like "Albums on current drives".  Here's the procedure:

1.  Highlight the View you want to change.  Right click on it and select "Customize View".
2.  In the dialog box that appears go to Settings > Included files > set rules for file display.
3.  Click on Import/Export at the lower left.
4.  Paste in this code after whatever is already there:
Code: [Select]
[=ismissing()]=0
Click Ok on all of the dialog boxes to save it.

Now that View should only see the files on drives that are currently plugged in.

Good luck.

Brian.
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Tim

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Re: How to set up library to show only the drive that is attached.
« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2016, 01:21:07 pm »

Thanks to both of you. I haven't tried your advice yet but will try and follow it to the letter. That will be ideal if I can make it work.

Brian, purely out of curiosity why would you not share music (or anything else) with someone you had not met before. My example was speculative to date, simply utilised to clarify the question, but I think music is like anything else when travelling and last time I was away a girl I met wanted very much to play her stuff in the car - I didn't have a problem with that. Temp files as tags are easily removed right? There is always the chance of catching a virus, as with other sharing behaviours  :-* but being a strong believer in live before death I try not to get too paranoid - I'm also very discerning ;D. Don't get me wrong we are all different - I mean some people even like pineapple on pizza (cue Zappa track). ;D

So is it easier to create a new library for each device as DJLegba suggests (how do I do create a new view and / or library) and finally why did I get an unwanted import anyway is there something I need to uncheck somewhere.

Thanks for the time you chaps have taken to help - I do appreciate it and will do my best to muddle through all the nooks and crannies to get things as desired.

Cheers

Tim.
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blgentry

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Re: How to set up library to show only the drive that is attached.
« Reply #8 on: April 04, 2016, 02:41:20 pm »

Brian, purely out of curiosity why would you not share music (or anything else) with someone you had not met before.

I only add files to my library that I'm going to keep.  If the drive is going to be removed and never seen again, then I either need to copy the tracks to a drive I *will* keep, or not import them at all.  For impromptu playback of files from a guest, I'd probably just open them with File > Open Media File.

Quote
finally why did I get an unwanted import anyway is there something I need to uncheck somewhere.

I'm guessing that you either have an auto import directory set up that you're not aware of, or that you imported a whole folder at some point.  You should do two things:

1.  Look at your auto import configuration and see what folders are configured there for import:  Tools > Options > Library & Files > configure auto import
2.  Look through your collection by folder.  Go to the left navigation area and choose Audio > Files .  Then see what top level directories you have files imported from.  This should give you a clue as to where your files have been imported from.

Brian.
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Tim

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Re: How to set up library to show only the drive that is attached.
« Reply #9 on: April 05, 2016, 11:15:39 am »

Thanks Brian :)
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bmunroe

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Re: How to set up library to show only the drive that is attached.
« Reply #10 on: April 07, 2016, 08:35:41 am »

I understand you've had some unintentional imports.  I don't understand why you're using two drives and only using them part time.  The solution would seem to be to put everything you want in your library on one drive.  Or, alternatively, to keep both drives plugged in all the time.

in my case I had a laptop with some music stored locally and much more music stored on a portable drive I plugged in when at home base.  This was many years ago, when laptops didn't have huge amounts of storage.  If I recall, I had a view that was filtered by volume to only include local files.

Brian Munroe
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