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[8139david]

My Main Library is about Audio on one external drive and Video on several external drives.

I have another library, T440s, which is currently about Audio on my laptop.
I'd like it to also have the information about the Video on external drives. How can I do that?

One solution is plug all the drives one by one and do an import each time. But I'd like to avoid that if possible.

Hence my question:
How can I copy the info about Videos from the Main Library to the library T440s?

[CountryBumkin]

 I don't know what "T440s" means. Is that a reference to computer #2?

Is your "main library" (the JRiver program) on an external drive? That is not the recommended method. It should be on the primary drive of the computer.

Why not have the same Library on both computers? It would be easy to backup the main Library on computer 1, then do a "restore" of that Library on computer 2.

That would also give you the Video and Audio links on both computers but you could remove those links/references you don't want (although I don't see what harm it would do if everything was on both computers).

If your going to use external drives and share them between computers, you want to be sure that each time you connect the external drive it is using the same drive letter (there are several ways to do this like assigning "high letter" drive letters "V" for video or "X", "Y", "Z", etc.

And be sure to have "Yes, Protect Files on missing drives" checked at Tools>Options>Library & Folders>Config Auto Import>Fix Broken links

[blgentry]

Hence my question:
How can I copy the info about Videos from the Main Library to the library T440s?

I'm not sure what you are trying to do.  Do you want to see your video information on your laptop, but NOT be able to play it there?  Because without the drives plugged in, you won't have access to the video files right?

If all you want is sort of "dummy entries" you can easily do that.  Just highlight all of your video files on the MC with video.  Then export playlist as an MPL file type.  Copy the MPL file to the laptop and then import playlist.  That will transfer all of the information about the video files to the laptop.

Brian.

[yannis]

I think the OP wants to merge or sync the content of his two libraries; I'd be interested too to know if it's doable.

[CountryBumkin]

I think OP has Audio and Video on computer #1 (with media stored on external drives), and just Audio on computer #2. Now he wants to add the Video to computer 2.
If this is correct, he would essentially have the same Libraries on both computers.
Maybe I'm wrong - we'll have to wait for OP to clarify.

[ferday]

if the library is on the same drives (as in files, not the library database), you are correct the same library should be used

in my case i have the library on internals, and i use my backup externals as portables, so i need different libraries.  i've had varied success with "syncing", mostly it's just a time thing but i am curious as to potentially better methods

[8139david]

Thanks for your answers.

I have a single computer (a laptop).

My music takes a lot of space on one external drive, and a small part of it is also on my laptop.
My movies take a lot of space on several external drives (hard discs).

My main library is about what is on the various external drives.
But since these are not always connected (especially when I travel), I have created a special library for the music on my laptop.
Since that music partially duplicates that on the external drives, I don't want to put it on my main library. It would create duplicates and make it hard to know what I'm listening to or tagging.

But when I travel, I would also like to have immediate access, on the special library, to my movies, with their thumbnails.
To see what they are, tag them eventually, and since I brought one external drive, watch some of them.

[blgentry]

I do something similar with some files stored internally on a laptop and a lot of videos stored externally on USB drives.  My approach is really simple:  My main library has everything imported:  Music and a little bit of video on the internal drive.  Lots of video on external.

When I travel, I just unplug the external drive and go.  MC still sees everything on the internal drive.  It also still knows about everything on the external; it just sees that the files are missing and puts a red minus sign next to them.

It all works well.  I don't think you're gaining anything with a second library.  Just put what you want on the internal drive.  There's no need to try to do duplication.  Or maybe I'm missing something.

Brian.

[8139david]

As said, the music on my laptop (X) is already a copy of part of my whole music on external drive (X+Y).

Suppose I had a single library for everything (music X on laptop, and music X+Y on external drive).
Then whenever I would select a piece of music which is shared, it would show me, at the end of my manipulation of views, that it is on two locations: laptop and external drive.
That's what I wanted to avoid, fearing it would be cumbersome.
But I'll try it on a new view and see how it goes.

[blgentry]

What I'm saying is to eliminate the duplication.  Delete "x" from the external drive.

Brian.

[8139david]

Since I back-up all my music, I thought it easier to have it all on external drive 1, and a back-up copy on external drive 2.
But I guess I could do what you suggest and tell my backup program to do a regular copy of:
* X on laptop to external drive 2
* Y on external drive 1 to external drive 2

I also thought it would be annoying to be offered some music in my views, only to discover later that it is not currently available (because on external drive 1). Here is what it looks like currently on my main library. When I select a genre, nothing shows the music file is unavailable until I try to play it.

I could add a location view. But I don't find it's very practical. I prefer to use my custom views.

PS: I have already selected the option "Display missing file image". But as you can see, it doesn't show anything when I look at whole albums. (All the Korean music is on the external drive 1 which is not connected currently.)

[8139david]

Of course, when I show files, I can see that they are missing if I use, say "Image (small icon)" in the information to display (see pic).
But that's only at the end of the selection process.
I will first navigate through my genres, arrive at a display of albums (as pic in previous post).
And only then, perhaps, ask to see the files. In fact, typically, I just ask the whole album to be played without demanding to see the files.

[8139david]

I could try to create a new special view for what's only on my laptop.
And then have it duplicate all my other views, as sub views. Is that possible?
I mean this: the new Laptop View would need to offer me as choices: 24 bits, Albums, Chanson française, Classique: compositeurs, Classique: interprètes, Classique, etc.

A surrogate would be to just have its first category be Genre.
Then it would not contain my special views Classique: compositeurs, Classique: interprètes.
But since it's only for travel, it might be ok?

[blgentry]

You could do that.  Or you could just alter your top level view (Audio) to exclude missing files.

You can add this, as a custom search term to any view, and it will exclude missing files:

[=ismissing()]=0

Better yet, make it a Search List pane and make that one selection.  Click it and all missing files disappear.  Unclick it and you see everything, including missing files.

Brian.

[RoderickGI]

I agree that it would be good to have all your music on the external drive, and copies on your internal drive of those files you want to carry with you. So much easier and safer for backups.

I thought about this quite a bit, and every potential solution had a downside, or a failure mode. So I think I would have music both on the laptop and the external drive, and put up with duplicates.

What you are really trying to do seems to be;
Assuming: Your external drive is drive M:\ and your internal laptop drive is C:\.
Rule: If external drive M:\ is attached, show me only music files from M:\. If external drive is not attached, show me only music files from C:\

I couldn't work out how to do that globally, particularly as you would want to protect the record of files on M:\ even when the drive isn't attached.

However, there is a rule available in Views, under the "Set rules for file display...", that allows Duplicates to be removed. Now I assume that this just means that the records of the duplicates are removed from the view, and not removed from the library. What I don't know is how this rule would handle the situation where there are duplicates in the library, but one of the files isn't available because the hard disk isn't connected, while the other is available on the internal drive. If the rule automatically keeps the record for the files that is available, and discards (hides) the records for the duplicate that isn't available, then you have a solution.

If the rules works as I hope it does, just add the "Modify Results" rule "Remove duplicates of: Album; Artist; Name" and when the external drive isn't attached MC would show the local copy of the duplicated file, and when the external drive is attached, MC would show only one copy of the duplicated file. Which copy is shown wouldn't matter really, as long as it was identical.

WARNING: If you try using the above rule, back up your MC library manually first, and make sure it is a good copy. If the rules deletes duplicates rather than hiding them, you will want to be able to restore your library!

Also, if you can figure out a rule that only displays files that exist, then you would have a complete answer, using one library with all media recorded in it, display no duplicates, and only display files when they are available. I think I have seen someone describe such a rule previously. It may have been using the "Limit (Advanced)" rule.

EDIT: I see Brian has provided the rule for excluding missing files from the view.  

[RoderickGI]

BTW, if you apply Brian's rule at the top Audio level, and then apply the Duplicate rule at the View level, or just after Brian's rule, then the Duplicate rule should correctly show the version of the files that exists, when the external drive is not connected.

Also you could modify the Duplicates rule to include your definition of what constitutes a duplicate, rather than mine of "Album; Artist; Name".

[8139david]

Thanks. I don't know how to make my current views a subset of one single view.
If I create New View (say), can I easily populate it with my existing views, as subviews? How?
PS: I like to navigate with Album Thumbnails, not pure text.

[RoderickGI]

If you add (test) the rules mentioned above to your current views, as per the attached image, you probably don't need to create new views.

Just make sure to BACKUP your MC Library before testing!

[blgentry]

All views inside of a parent "container" automatically inherit the properties of the parent.

So, in the Audio section, everything under it gets the rules from Audio.  The Albums view, Artists view, etc... they all inherit the properties of Audio.  The stock Audio view just has "Media Type = Audio" as a rule.  But you can add more rules to Audio, and then every view under Audio will obey those rules.  You can set a flag in any view to NOT obey the top level rules.  But, by default, all children views inherit the properties of the parent view.

I still see no reason at all to duplicate.  There's no good reason to do so.

You need backups for sure!  My backup process copies Internal drive to external drive 2.  It also copies external drive 1 to external drive 2.  But I NEVER import external drive 2.  It's only for backups.  This is as it should be:  Primary data several on drives.  One backup of all primary data, on a separate drive from any primary media.

Brian.

[8139david]

Brian, can you show me with a picture how you set up what you proposed?

Here is what I tried for one view, but it's not great.

Also, I really don't know how use my Views as subviews...

[8139david]

For instance, here are my 3 views about classical music.
How would I integrate them in a single view?

[RoderickGI]

I still see no reason at all to duplicate.  There's no good reason to do so.

One reason to duplicate files onto the laptop is if you want to change the media files that you carry with you on the laptop regularly.

In that case, the best solution would be to use the Handheld Synchronisation function to copy and synchronise files from the external drive that holds all media, to the internal laptop drive. Then when you want to change what you a recarrying on the laptop, you don't need to move the files back from the laptop to the external drive, before moving the new files from the external drive to the laptop drive. Yes, the Rename, Move and Copy Files... makes that easy to do, but you still need to do two steps.

All you would need to do is, with the external drive selected, change the media that you want on the laptop and then run the synchronisation. MC will take care of the rest.

Then with your ismissing rule above, and the Duplicates rule, you would only see what is on the laptop when you had no external drive connected. The only potential problem with that is that I think you would need MC to watch folder that it synchronises to on the laptop, and I'm not sure how MC would handle having the synch process remove files from that folder. i.e. Whether it would remove the record of the files it removes from the library, or leave them there to accumulate. They wouldn't be displayed though, due to your ismissing rule.

I'll leave you to explain the views questions Brian. 

[8139david]

Following Brian's suggestion, I can do the following for any view. Here I did it on my Director view for movies (see first pic).

That works well for hiding not connected files, but then I'm not using the category views I'm so fond of (see second pic).

Any suggestion?

PS: One can also save the Wizard search '[=ismissing()]=0'.
But then it requires three actions to make it operate:
1) left click in the Search panel
2) move the mouse to Load / Saved
3) click on the saved Wizard search to load it

[8139david]

Well, at least I found a way to easily create the special library for my laptop, so that it is a proper subset of my main library (conserving views and settings):
1) Clone my main library view and load the clone (ie the new special library)
2) Select all files in Audio
3) Library tools > Rename, Move & Copy files > Update database to point to new location (see pic)
4) Search for '[=ismissing()]=1'
5) Delete the corresponding files from the special library
Since the special library is a clone of the main library, it contains all the information about the movies.

PS: But in fact, most thumbnails have disappeared in the process 
To get them back I would need to connect my external drives one by one, etc.

[blgentry]

Brian, can you show me with a picture how you set up what you proposed?

Here is what I tried for one view, but it's not great.

Also, I really don't know how use my Views as subviews...

I was not suggesting that you rearrange your views into a different hierarchy.  I was suggesting that you edit your top level AUDIO view.  Literally click on Audio, then right click > Customize View.  Then add the "ismissing" rule to it.  See attached screen shot.  I modified my top level Video view instead, since I want to hide offline video files when the external drive is disconnected.  You can do the exact same thing for Audio.

Now every view under Audio will automatically follow the "ismissing" rule.

Brian.

[blgentry]

One reason to duplicate files onto the laptop is if you want to change the media files that you carry with you on the laptop regularly.

I do this with my solution.  Not super regularly, but I do it often enough.  All you do is use a view that shows you files by file location. Then pick files from the external drive you want to put on the internal drive.  Then use Rename, Move, and Copy files in Move (rename) mode to move them from external to internal. 

When you want to move files from internal to external, it's the same thing:  Just pick files from Internal, and use RM&C to move them to external.  It's all very easy and very automated.  Just use a Find and Replace rule to change the drive letter (or in my case mount point under /Volumes since I'm on a Mac).  You might also need to adjust the first part of the path if your leading directory on each disk is different.  But that's cake with RM&C.  See attached screen shot for my Video Files view, which I use for this kind of maintenance.  Notice that I have files from only the internal drive selected.

This avoids all of the craziness of having to try to sync two libraries, and the mess of trying to get auto import to work.  You just use your library normally; no special import, export, or sync.  ...and move files from place to place as you choose.  All supported by the amazing RM&C tool!

Brian.

[8139david]

Thanks, but it doesn't work.
First, it doesn't offer me the choice for Video when I click on it: clicking on Video jumps directly to one of the subviews. It gives me the choice only on the first time I modify the Video view.
More importantly, I can't combine the choice I then make (eg hiding missing files) with using one of my subviews (eg Director).

[blgentry]

Following Brian's suggestion, I can do the following for any view. Here I did it on my Director view for movies (see first pic).

Great!  You figured out how to do it with a Search List. 

That works well for hiding not connected files, but then I'm not using the category views I'm so fond of (see second pic).

Any suggestion?

Sure, just change it back to a Categories view. Now your top level category will give you the choices in your Search List.  You'll want to add in another entry called something like "Show All" if you want to see offline files too.  That entry can just use an empty search because there's nothing special to modify.

You'll want to experiment with this to find what solution suits your use best. Good luck. 

Brian.

[8139david]

Then I arrive at this kind of solution (here implemented for my Video > Director view; see pic). I don't find it's convenient.

So if I reorganize my files as you suggested, I will just create a Genre view restricted to my laptop (for music):
Location (restricted to C) > Genre > ...
That will be quicker in order to play music.

[blgentry]

Then I arrive at this kind of solution (here implemented for my Video > Director view; see pic). I don't find it's convenient.

I'm glad you posted the picture.  That's not what I was trying to describe at all.  Here, let me build a view real quick to show you...  See attached image for how I've constructed my example view.  At the top level you'll get a *choice* of Hide Offline files OR Show All.

As a side note, have you tried Panes browsing showing thumbnails of the Movie covers?  You can add as many panes as you want and it's much faster to navigate, but still gives you the attractive movie covers to look at.  See 2nd screen shot for an example.

Brian.

[8139david]

Thanks!
If I implement your solution with Categories, on my Director View, it gives this (see pics).

Not bad. But I think I would stick with a refined Genre view, restricted to the laptop.

[blgentry]

You can always build two views:  One "connected" and one "all".

You could even have a sub-tree under Audio or Video called "connected".  Then just set the connected container to use [=ismissing()]=0 .  Drag views under that container and select "copy".  Then those views, in that container will all follow your connected rule.

Best of both worlds?

Brian.

[8139david]

Ah, ok! That's what I was missing: how to integrate my views within another one.
Here is the result for Video (see pics), having just used Set rules for file display > Custom > [=ismissing()]=0.

[blgentry]

Cool.    Glad we could find a setup that works for you. 

Brian.

[8139david]

The thing now is that it will be tiresome to separate X from X + Y on my external drive.
Currenly, X and Y are in the same folder, with many many subfolder.
Any idea of a procedure to do so?

[ferday]

just off the top - what about making a split view with X and X+Y, doing the same sorting, and mass selecting from there?

[8139david]

I don't know how to do that
A picture might help.

[blgentry]

The thing now is that it will be tiresome to separate X from X + Y on my external drive.
Currenly, X and Y are in the same folder, with many many subfolder.
Any idea of a procedure to do so?

Are you trying to move "X" onto your internal drive?  If so, how do you define "X"?  You can move the files right from inside MC.  The disk structure doesn't matter.  MC can use your existing structure, or can be told to enforce a new disk structure as it moves the files.

If you can give an example of what you're trying to do, that might help.

Brian.

[RoderickGI]

Thanks, but it doesn't work.
First, it doesn't offer me the choice for Video when I click on it: clicking on Video jumps directly to one of the subviews. It gives me the choice only on the first time I modify the Video view.
More importantly, I can't combine the choice I then make (eg hiding missing files) with using one of my subviews (eg Director).

You guys have been bouncing around the ideas and making some real progress. 

I just thought I would comment on the above bolded comment, as it seems to have been missed.

When a View is at the top level, "Root" of the views structure, it usually and always for the default views has the "Allow Tree Selection" checkbox unchecked. That means that you can't select it with a left click to customise it. You must right click on the top level view (Audio, Video, etc.) and select "Customise View".

The you can add any rule at the top level, and it will apply to all lower levels. So you could always hide missing files by adding the ismissing rule to the top level view that way.

The above is a simple thing, but often overlooked.

[RoderickGI]

Issue:

The thing now is that it will be tiresome to separate X from X + Y on my external drive.
Currenly, X and Y are in the same folder, with many many subfolder.
Any idea of a procedure to do so?

Answer:

I do this with my solution.  Not super regularly, but I do it often enough.  All you do is use a view that shows you files by file location. Then pick files from the external drive you want to put on the internal drive.  Then use Rename, Move, and Copy files in Move (rename) mode to move them from external to internal. 

When you want to move files from internal to external, it's the same thing:  Just pick files from Internal, and use RM&C to move them to external.  It's all very easy and very automated.  Just use a Find and Replace rule to change the drive letter (or in my case mount point under /Volumes since I'm on a Mac).  You might also need to adjust the first part of the path if your leading directory on each disk is different.  But that's cake with RM&C.  See attached screen shot for my Video Files view, which I use for this kind of maintenance.  Notice that I have files from only the internal drive selected.

This avoids all of the craziness of having to try to sync two libraries, and the mess of trying to get auto import to work.  You just use your library normally; no special import, export, or sync.  ...and move files from place to place as you choose.  All supported by the amazing RM&C tool!

Brian.

All done within MC, and not externally using Windows Explorer or anything else.

Yes, Brian, your method is simple and straightforward. Probably easier to understand what is going on as well. My method using the Handheld functionality may have downsides, but it does not require syncing of libraries, just syncing of a library to a handheld.

[8139david]

Maybe it's simpler than I thought.
I have several musical genres, and within each genre, I have some albums I'd like to be on my laptop.
So then, within my main library view, I would do this one genre after another:
1) Click on the albums I want on my laptop
2) Ask MC (F6) to do a Rename (moves files if directory changes)
This will move these albums from my external drive to my laptop, while keeping them in my main library.

In fact, currently, these files are already on my laptop (and on my external drive).
Should I do as above? Or should I delete them first from my laptop???
Answer: I need to delete them first, otherwise MC asks me for each file what I want to do with it (replace, ...).

I could do a simple "Point to a new location". But then I will have to manually erase the files afterwards from my external drive.
Well, it might be less time consuming: look at MC on the one hand, and look at a folder on the drive at the other, and manually delete them in windows.

[8139david]

You guys have been bouncing around the ideas and making some real progress. 
I just thought I would comment on the above bolded comment, as it seems to have been missed.
When a View is at the top level, "Root" of the views structure, it usually and always for the default views has the "Allow Tree Selection" checkbox unchecked. That means that you can't select it with a left click to customise it. You must right click on the top level view (Audio, Video, etc.) and select "Customise View".

So is your advice to select Allow tree selection?

[RoderickGI]

So is your advice to select Allow tree selection?

No.

Brian was explaining how to add the ismissing rule to the top level Audio view. You said you couldn't do that, because you couldn't select the top level Audio view. I was just explaining how it was done. None of the top level views should be selectable. They are just used for grouping the lower level views together.

Adding the ismissing rule to the top level Audio view makes a lot of sense if you never want to see the files that aren't available. However, you have now gone down the path of selecting whether you can view the files that aren't available or not. If that is the way you want to go forward, don't add the ismissing rule to the top level.

[8139david]

Thanks to both of you, I arrived at a view I like (see last pics). So all is good

By curiosity, I tried the option 'Allow tree selection'. But I don't understand what it does?

[8139david]

I found the answer here
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=81928.msg559157#msg559157

[8139david]

Maybe it's simpler than I thought.
I have several musical genres, and within each genre, I have some albums I'd like to be on my laptop.
So then, within my main library view, I would do this one genre after another:
1) Click on the albums I want on my laptop
2) Ask MC (F6) to do a Rename (moves files if directory changes)
This will move these albums from my external drive to my laptop, while keeping them in my main library.

In fact, currently, these files are already on my laptop (and on my external drive).
Should I do as above? Or should I delete them first from my laptop???
Answer: I need to delete them first, otherwise MC asks me for each file what I want to do with it (replace, ...).

I could do a simple "Point to a new location". But then I will have to manually erase the files afterwards from my external drive.
Well, it might be less time consuming: look at MC on the one hand, and look at a folder on the drive at the other, and manually delete them in windows.

I'm still wondering if I could follow a simpler procedure to do that semi-automatically.

I tried this on one album, but it didn't work.
From my main library (which points to external drive 1), I import on album which is also on my laptop.
Then I look for duplicates. But MC didn't find any duplicates! Maybe because external drive wasn't connected?
Then I would sort by filepath, select all those from my external drive, and delete them, both from my library and from my external drive.
Obviously for thise last step I would need the external drive to be connected.

For this to work, I would also need to be sure that when importing files from my laptop, they receive the same tags as the files on my external drive.

[blgentry]

If you are sure you have X on your internal drive *and* X on your external drive, I think it makes the most sense to delete one of those copies.

Otherwise, you'll definitely be going through this exercise, one by one, trying to figure it all out.  Introducing duplicates, or worse, partial duplicates isn't fun to sort out.  I've built a decent duplicate finder view, but I wouldn't want to use it if I could just delete files instead.

Brian.

[8139david]

My goal is precisely to remove the current duplicates (X on latop, X+Y on external drive).
I was just suggesting a simple way to do it.

But maybe the longer way I had envisionned in this post (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=105424.msg733612#msg733612) is safer, so I should just follow it.

[blgentry]

Use whatever method makes you feel like you did the job to your standards.

One other way to consider:  Move the files on the Internal hard drive to a new top level folder like "Music Old" or something.  Then do all of your moves from the external drive, using MC's RM&C to drive the process.

When you're done, compare the "Music Old" with "Music" on the internal hard drive and make sure you didn't miss anything.  Or just use Music Old as your driving factor in what to choose from the external drive to be moved to internal.

Just some ideas for you.

Brian.

[RoderickGI]

Just be aware that MC keeps track of files that have been deleted. So if you delete the files from the laptop, and then put identical files back in exactly the same place as they were previously, there may be some confusion.

You can see which files have been previously deleted using the standard Smartlist called "All Previously Removed Audio Files".

Personally I would check that I had all the files on the external drive that I had on the laptop, and move files back to the external drive if they were missing there, using the RM&CF function. Using the main library of course.
Then I would delete the files off the laptop using MC.
Then I would remove all those files from the "Previously Removed Audio Files" list, using the Smartlist and leaving any others in there that were not part of the clean-up.
Then, knowing I had one clean copy of all files on the external drive, I would move the files I wanted on to the laptop using the RM&CF function.
Then manage the files from then on using the same function, as Brian has described.

Just remember that from then on you will need to backup both your primary external drive, plus the files on your laptop, to your secondary external drive.