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[sadaunhe1]

Hello, I hope I'm not violating rules with this post, but I'm not sure how to address this issue without describing both questions...

I've been trying to understand exactly what happens to my files, when I rip them to my NAS box. What I typically find is that I get two path entries. One is of the form "Y:\artist\album". In my case, Y: is the shared folder for music on my NAS box, which is mapped to my Win10 PC, and the folder names are the ones I've chosen in the CD rip options.

The second entry is of the form "\\servername\music\artist\album", where "music" is the unimaginative name I chose for the shared music folder on the NAS. The true file path is the second one, the first one is apparently a virtual link, even though I can use this link to move files around within MC22.

Here are the questions...

1. Why does MC22 generate two paths to the files? I would prefer that the files only show up once, because it makes building playlists a much more tedious process than it would otherwise be.
2. When I was testing to see which links were the actual links, I chose a set of files (using links of type 2) to be deleted and sent to the recycle bin. WHen I discovered the that the links of type 1 were then useless, I tried to restore the files using either "undo" or "rename", within MC22. Unfortunately, the files were nowhere to be found, either on the NAS or on the PC. What happen to them?

Can anyone help me understand? Thanks.

Scott D.

[JimH]

You just need to set up auto import.  Tools > Import.

If you're just starting, you can reset your library to start over.  File > Library.

[BartMan01]

Is there a specific reason you are mapping the folder to the Y drive instead of just using the network path (UNC path) to access the files?

Somehow the file is getting imported in to MC twice (once from the network mapped drive and once to the UNC path). It is the exact same file, just accessed from two different methods (mapped drive vs network share). If you delete the file from either location you are deleting the file from your NAS. Files deleted from the NAS will not go to your windows trash can they will either go to the NAS trash can (if enabled) or be permanently deleted.

[kr4]

Is there a specific reason you are mapping the folder to the Y drive instead of just using the network path (UNC path) to access the files?

Can you comment on the advantage/disadvantage of using either of these options?

[Fitzcaraldo215]

Kal - I think the key advantage of using the mapped drive alternative vs. network share is overall file path length, which is limited in Windows. The mapped drive letter is a shorthand in two caracters, like X:, for what might be a long character string via the network access path.   People seem to have all sorts of different maximums for Windows maximum file path  length, but it seems to be in the 250 character or so ballpark, more or less.  Not sure exactly.

The problem would occur on import.  If on import you navigated to the folder to be imported via Computer...., you would be using the mapped drive alternative.  Alternatively, if you navigated via Network, the paths for each folder and track would be much longer.  The result would be that some files with long path folder/file names could not import if they hit the Windows maximum. 

Errors and omissions would occur.  Since total path length is the issue,  some tracks in an album folder might not  import if they happened to exceed the Windows max path length.

I try to be careful when I rip so as not to be over the max.  I do a Windows copy prior to import, which will flag path length problems prior to import. I edit folder and file names as necessary to fix this.  Path length is a special problem on occasion with classical albums, whose metadata is overly long and repetitive in generating the bottom level folder and track file names.  It helps to have the top levels of the file path be as short as possible by using drive letters rather than the network path.

[kr4]

Kal - I think the key advantage of using the mapped drive alternative vs. network share is overall file path length, which is limited in Windows. The mapped drive letter is a shorthand in two caracters, like X:, for what might be a long character string via the network access path. 

Understood and I always use the mapped drive option.  I was just wondering if there was any downside to it.

[BartMan01]

Understood and I always use the mapped drive option.  I was just wondering if there was any downside to it.

Downsides:
Extra effort to set up and maintain mapped drives.
Not cross platform if you use different OSes running MC and connecting to the main library as a client.

For me, UNC paths 'just work' 99.9 percent of the time. For the .1 percent where they don't I will fall back to a mapped drive but only as solution to a specific problem.

[kr4]

Downsides:
Extra effort to set up and maintain mapped drives.
Not cross platform if you use different OSes running MC and connecting to the main library as a client.

For me, UNC paths 'just work' 99.9 percent of the time. For the .1 percent where they don't I will fall back to a mapped drive but only as solution to a specific problem.

Thanks.  I originally went with mapped drives for convenience and have not had any issues so far. 

[BartMan01]

If it isn't broken, don't fix it.

The good thing with MC is that using the find/replace feature in rename makes it very easy to switch from mapped drive to UNC path (or the other way around) in the future if you find you need to for any reason.

[sadaunhe1]

Hello and thanks for all the replies to my questions. It appears that I will always have trade-offs, if I continue to use mapped drives. I have not run into issues, so far, using the mapped drives on the host system and referencing the files from my clients, even tho two of my clients are macs. Something to watch for, I guess. I am wondering whether this next problem could be related to this one...

I am having problems using the F6 Rename,... command to move files that have become scattered across multiple folders, when I imported them from my iTunes database. I always receive the following message: "Tagging Error: Media Center encountered... Check that the files exist, are not read-only, and are not in use by other programs." I have checked the permissions on the entire mapped drive, including inheritances, and this does not seem to be the issue. As far as I can tell, there is no other program, e.g. iTunes, that is using these files, unless Windows Explorer counts.

I found this quote, in another thread: "Files only show as being locked by MC causing MC to fail operations." I don't know how to determine whether a file is locked by another program. How do I determine what files are locked and by which programs? Is there something else I should check? I'm about to throw up my hands and re-rip every disc for which this has become an issue. Can anyone help, before I submit to that much pain?