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[ssands]

A week or so ago, I mentioned how my library got corrupted and said I post again if it recurred. Well, it just did.

I was watching a youtube video through MC. The second one I went to play hung up and MC stopped responding. I killed it and restarted. I played another youtube video (or two), selected another video, and it hung again.

This time when I restarted MC, the audio in my lib had lost is sort order, that depends on custom lib fields.

Why would this happen? What is causing MC to lose the custom field information?
I restored from a back-up, but that doesn't address the root cause.
I'm using V22.0.32 on Win 10-64.
Library is on a local SSD.

[RoderickGI]

I just read through your other thread. While there may have been some issues like thumbnails still rebuilding that wasn't mentioned, my first thought is that you have a failing SSD.

What brand and model is it? If, like Intel SSDs, it came with some diagnostic software, check it out ASAP. If it didn't come with suitable software, get some software that will query the SMART parameters of the drive and evaluate its health. I use Hard Disk Sentinel and have it set up to warn me of any problems before the drives fail, for both SSD and rotating hard drives.

Perhaps also run "sfc /scannow" in a Command Window to check if all the system files are okay, and if that doesn't show up anything, reinstall MC just in case there was a problem it.

The symptoms you previously described, where the sort sequence suddenly changed without any reason, could indicate that the library file in which sort or view information is stored was corrupted, so MC recreated it with the default sort and/or view. That information will be lost, except in old library backups, which may be corrupted themselves if the SSD is having problems. Restoring an old backup could have its own issues, since you would need to tell MC where the files have been moved to again, and import any new additions.

[ssands]

I use Hard Disk Sentinel and have it set up to warn me of any problems before the drives fail, for both SSD and rotating hard drives.

Perhaps also run "sfc /scannow" in a Command Window to check if all the system files are okay, and if that doesn't show up anything, reinstall MC just in case there was a problem it.

Thanks for the reply. I downloaded Hard Disk Sentinel but it doesn't seem to have a driver for my Toshiba SDD (I don't have the model # on hand as I am at work). That seemed to prevent reading of the SMART values.
I'll have to look around tonight and see if there are other utilities. The Toshiba site was not helpful at all.

I'll also try SFC just to be sure of things on that end too.

The SDD is less than a year old. I do hope that is not the issue.

[RoderickGI]

The SDD is less than a year old. I do hope that is not the issue.

I would hope all SSDs are reliable now, but I don't know much about the Toshiba units.

I had a relatively early OCZ SSD that died, unrecoverable, after 18 months. I won't buy their products again not because of the failure, and lack of replacement, but because of their total lack of assistance and bad attitude in the whole process. Because of that experience I am wary of SSDs in general though.

Hopefully it is something else. But I don't know what it could be. MC's library hasn't ever just lost data for me. If not the SSD, I would be looking at other software interfering, very possibly antivirus or anti-malware. Or perhaps even some other hardware issue, like a failing power supply, which can cause all sorts of strange things to happen, like partial or failed writes to a drive.

[ssands]

SFC /scannow reported all files were OK.

SMART results show everything is fine.

I'm thinking of running SpinRite on it tonight and see if anything turns up.

I may turn MC logging on and see if anything is revealed.

[marko]

Sort order...

Just for chuckles, try this...

Close MC.
Go to your library folder, typically found at "C:\Users\<USER NAME>\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 22\Library"

In there, you should find a cache folder (a folder called "Cache"), go inside that, and you should find another folder called "File List Sort"... go inside that.
Delete everything you find in this folder (should be a whole load of .dat files)

Restart MC.
Are your sort issues fixed now?

I have had to do this twice in recent times to cure odd sorting issues. The problem is, I can't make it happen at will, and untill we can figure out a way to reliably make MC break its sorting, there's not much chance of it being fixed.

-marko

[ssands]

Sort order...

Just for chuckles, try this...

Close MC.
Go to your library folder, typically found at "C:\Users\<USER NAME>\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 22\Library"

In there, you should find a cache folder (a folder called "Cache"), go inside that, and you should find another folder called "File List Sort"... go inside that.
Delete everything you find in this folder (should be a whole load of .dat files)

Restart MC.
Are your sort issues fixed now?

I have had to do this twice in recent times to cure odd sorting issues. The problem is, I can't make it happen at will, and untill we can figure out a way to reliably make MC break its sorting, there's not much chance of it being fixed.

-marko

Marko,

Are you suggesting I try this the next time the sort order vanishes on me? With a restore from backup, and some tweaks, I have it the way I want again.
Or are you suggesting to do this now and when MC restarts it would re-populate the cache?

[marko]

If you're all good at the moment, I would just leave it. Certainly though, if sorting gets messed up again, it's the first thing I would try doing.

to be clear, this is not something I find myself routinely having to do. Something like twice in the past six months. Each time, it has to do with photos, where I have updated the EXIF shooting time using an external program. MC would correctly pick up the change, and update its database, but until I cleared the cache, nothing, but nothing, would get the updated photos to sort correctly.

If it goes on you again, try clearing the cache and let us know if that helps. If we can reliably force the sorting to break, and the JRiver team can reproduce, they should be able to fix it. Until then though...

[ssands]

Thanks. I have not (yet) found any reproducible pattern to having the sort order get messed up.
I'll definitely keep clearing the cache in mind if it happens again.

[ssands]

Well, I was just able to make it happen (Library corruption, that is).

Everything has been fine. I was listening to audio. I *never* do this, but decided to check out Theater view. browsed around a bit as I listened to music. Exited Theater view and my preferred view was now corrupted.

I view audio alphabetized by Last Name (when the artist is not a group). But I display the Album-Artist by Firstname Lastname.

Any ideas, why theater view would corrupt my library?