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[dls123]

Hi
OK, got the id to find my wireless network.  I have an external usb drive with all music on it.  NTFS.  I connected to the id, and tried the external devices menu.  It doesn't show up.  How can I mount it?  I have no idea what it is called since it is directly attached to the id.  I read your topic on external drives, but no help so far.

Can someone give me steps for getting the id to see an external usb drive attached directly to it?  It has my library backup and all music files and playlists on it and I need to be able to read it

thanks

[JimH]

Is it a Pi version or a NUC?

[dls123]

NUC

[BradATIMA]

Check the External Media Menu (option 20). There is a section that says 'USB Drives' and after that it will say the status. If it says "Currently Not Enabled" you need to enable them with option 1 or 2. After that, you need to reboot the Id for the change to take effect.

If it still doesn't show up, you might need to check the BIOS boot settings and make sure USB isn't disabled. Use F2 when the boot options show after you power on the Id. In the BIOS menu, toward the upper right, click Advanced and then click on the Boot tab. Under the Boot Configuration tab, make sure USB is checked under Boot Devices. Do not check Boot USB Devices First under the UEFI Boot section.

[dls123]

got it working

It is very slowly importing all the music files.  I need to export the playlists from the other machine and hopefully they will rebuild on the id and I am done.

[dls123]

Hi Again,
OK, I now have a local library on the id with all music files.  However, I exported the playlists from the old machine and when I import them they are coming up empty.  I need to export them in such a way that the new library on the id can find all the files.  The files are on the same external drive.  However the drive now resides on the linux id, whereas the other copy of jrmc was running under windows.  How do I export the playlists on the old windows machine in a way that the new implementation on the id can find the files on the same drive, but now mounted on the id?

Also, how can I download mc23 linux for the id?

I have just bought a combined license...

thanks, I am almost there!

[BradATIMA]

When you're exporting playlists in this case, first, you want to make sure the 'Store paths relative to exported playlist location' is checked. It's also probably best if you store it as an MPL playlist. When you're exporting the playlist, make sure the playlist.mpl is saved in the first shared folder. So, if the USB drives shows up on the Id in /mnt/music, make sure the playlist is saved in the music folder. That should make sure the file locations are translated.

As for the MC23 Linux build, you actually cannot install that on the Id as it is. The Id is an entire system, not just Media Center. To install Media Center 23 for Linux, you would need to install Debian Linux on the machine and then install Media Center 23 for Linux. Information for that would be on the Media Center 22/23 Linux forum; however, I strongly advise against doing this on the Id because recovering the Id would be very difficult, especially if the partitions were changed. The other thing is, we backport a lot of the important Media Center 23 Linux changes to the Id.

[dls123]

ok.  How can I open up the file manager app under linux to see where things are stored?

[blgentry]

I feel like it would be easier to restore a backup from MC for Windows and then change the file paths with RM&C.  That way you get all the playlists, all the views, all the metadata.. EVERYTHING! 

But I don't know how well MC for Linux handles converting \ paths into / paths.  Does that work?  If so, backup and restore, then RM&C is the easy, clean, all data method.

Brian.

[dls123]

the problem when you do that is that the id version thinks it is drive F:, which was the windows implementation.  don't know how to back it up in windows with only relative paths...  any ideas?

[dls123]

all the playlists are there, but the paths are wrong and it cannot play any files... aaarrrggghhh....

is there any way to do backup, but relative, with no paths?

[blgentry]

Yes, this "F drive" problem is why you use the RM&C tool to update the paths to the correct ones.  Use the find and replace template to do this.

Brian.

[dls123]

OK, I get it except that I have no idea what the proper path should be.  I can see the id drive on a windows machine and it says \\ID-F44D3067AE56\ExternalStorage\Seagate_Expansion_Drive    and I doubt that is what it is actually called on the id.   How can I open some sort of file management tool to see what the id is actually calling the  location for that external ntfs formated drive?

[dls123]

Update:  I could try reading media files and from that file menu I can see that drive F: is now mounted on the id as

Seagate_Expansion_Drive

I tried a search and replace on a couple of files changing F:  to Seagate_Expansion_Drive and allowing MC to convert the windows to unix /

when I try to play a file I still get the file not found error, but when I look at the message the location appears to match what is on the disk.  Clearly they do not match.  I just need to find out the exact file naming on the id version.

\\ID-F44D3067AE56\ExternalStorage\Seagate_Expansion_Drive\Dons Music\Eva Cassidy\Time After Time\At Last.flac

is what I see in a windows file manager when looking at the drive mounted on the id through the wireless network.

I think it is
Seagate_Expansion_Drive\Dons Music\Eva Cassidy\Time After Time\At Last.flac
 according to the id.....but that doesn't quite work.

Any ideas?

[dls123]

another update.   I am close, but still cannot quite get it to work.

the files are stored as

 /media/Seagate_Expansion_Drive/Dons Music/Eva Cassidy/Time After Time/At Last.flac

I use the template to change a file to this format on the id when editing the windows library that I restored from the backup.   If I go into file, open media file and select a song the above format is what it looks like and it will play on the id.
However, if I select the same song in the library and try to play it I get the file does not exist message, even though it appears to have the exact same destination after I edit it with the rename, move, copy files tool.  Clearly they are not identical jrmc cannot find the file to play it if pointed to in the library, but if you force it by just opening the same song as a media file.  Weird because they appear to have the exact same location.  I must be close now.....

Any advice appreciated.  Otherwise I have to re-create all the playlists in a fresh install on the id.

I cannot seem to import a saved playlist on the id.  It comes in, but has no songs in it.  Even if exported on the windows version with the relative path box checked.  I tried as mpl and other formats.  They come in, but have no songs.  That would be the easy work around, to just export the 10 playlists, import them to the new linux id version and then edit their paths to point to the files on the way the drive is mounted on the id.  But that doesn't seem to work either!

[JimH]

I didn't read the entire thread, but paths on Windows would have back slashes ( \ ) and on Linux, they need to have forward slashes ( / ).

You may be able to use MC's tools or an editor to do find and replace.

[dls123]

Yes, I tried that and it still didn't work.  However, I seem to have found a suitable work around.

I easily let the id linux version find all the files on the external usb drive and happily create a new library.

Then I exported a playlist on the windows version as an mpl file and then edited it with a text editor to change the

\   to /
and also to change F:  to  /media/Seagate_Expandion_Drive

I imported the playlist and the songs all showed up and the first one played on the id!!!!

So now I just have to take my 10 or so critical playlists and do the same on the windows machine and then bring them into the id and I think I will be up and running.   I must have been so close to getting it to work the other ways, but in some ways having a fresh library that the linux id version created is better anyway.  I just wanted the 10 or so key playlists.  Hope this thread has helped someone somewhere!