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SOLVED How to have a consolidated view of multiple hard disks like Foobar2000

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AndreaT:
SEE FINAL SOLUTION POSTED ON 3RD FEB 2022
Cheers, Andrea


Hello,

I am new with MC 23 (testing the trial version). I come from Foobar2000 (user since 2012) and I would like to have a consolidated (distributed file system) view as by default provided by Foobar2000.

I have already arranged my library over 5 HDDs having similar directory structure and I am used to navigate through all at once as these should be a single large HDD.

I see that MC 23 has a File View of All HDDs connected, but the original directory structure is lost. The view provided is like a flat "Excel sheet" almost impossible (for me) to navigate.

Is there any option to customize it and to get such a kind of legacy and easy browsing structure I am used to have in Foobar?

Thanks and regards
Andrea

Spike1000:
For me the great benefit of MC is that once your media files have been imported into a single database you no longer need to care/worry about the physical location of your files. The metadata (tags) provides the information used to create the customisable views. This is much more powerful and flexible than browsing based on a file structure but does require accurate metadata.

The topic of a 'file structure based' view came up only a few weeks ago. Search the forum for that discussion it may answer your question but I don't know if the options given would work with multiple drives or match Foobar2000 but it's a good place to start at least.

Spike

astromo:

--- Quote from: AndreaT on August 14, 2017, 05:22:24 am ---I see that MC 23 has a File View of All HDDs connected, but the original directory structure is lost. The view provided is like a flat "Excel sheet" almost impossible (for me) to navigate.

--- End quote ---

I don't follow you. Using standard view I navigate to Audio > Files and I can click on:
- All Locations
- Drive 1
- Drive 2
- Drive ...

Picking each drive in turn, I can the drill down to the various sub folders where, in this case, audio files are located. No audio then nothing to show.

If I'm after everything, then I head to Drives & Devices where an Explorer emulation is provided. This is important because any cut-paste/move of files is kept track of by the MC library. If you do this sort of thing outside in Windows Explorer, MC will display a "not found" "equivalent" indication (a no through road sign) because it used to have a file in a location but now it has lost track of it.

Regardless, as far as I can tell you've got what you're after and have more to hand than you're asking for.

AndreaT:
Dear All,

in attachment a view of a portion of my library from Foobar2000 as "view by folder structure".

As you can see, my library is NOT organized by artists or by albums only. As well as you can see (figure out) that it is linked to any physical HDD, it is just a global logica view of all my 5 hdds).

My library has a complex structure sometimes headed by artist/author, other times by executor, other times by publisher (recording label) and other times by other special entry label.

Because I spent 5 years organizing my library in this way, it is so far the best and logical "structure" for my use.

With the default MC organization/structure, I cannot find my records.

Is it possible to have something similar in MC 23?

Thanks and regards
Andrea

RoderickGI:

--- Quote from: AndreaT on August 14, 2017, 07:33:11 am ---Is it possible to have something similar in MC 23?
--- End quote ---

Yes. In fact, I would think you could create something exactly the same, if that was the best solution for you.

As I understand it, you have multiple drives, each with the same directory structure or a directory structure based on the same rules, which is based on some attributes of the music. I don't understand from your image what attributes you are using for the structuring, but if you do, and can write the rules down for it, then someone will be able to help you create what you want.

i.e. You have some structure like;

"D:\Attribute01\Attribute02\Album\Track"

and that is repeated on various drives;

"E:\Attribute01\Attribute02\Album\Track" 
"G:\Attribute01\Attribute02\Album\Track" 
"W:\Attribute01\Attribute02\Album\Track" 

Within MC, all you would need to do to recreate what you are using now is a create a View that looks at the path to the files, ignores the drive letter, and groups all your music by the Attributes you want. MC has a comprehensive Expression Language that could do that, and there a quite a few good Expression Language experts around here who could help you define the correct Expression. I'm not really one of them though.  8)

Something like;

removeleft([filename (path)], 3)

would be close though, to select the file and group them across drives. Yep, that simple. Because now MC would just select the audio to display based on the "Attribute01\Attribute02\Album\Track" component of the location on disk. I just built such a View, and it worked fine for my data. But I don't have your multiple drive setup, nor do I know what attributes you want to group audio within. So my simple example just selected all the files based on the Expression above, and then Grouped them by [Album] and sorted within [Album] by [Track #], which is the default but is customisable.

If you then wanted to Group and Sort using the Attributes buried in the directory structure and file name, there would be quite a bit more work, but not impossible.

A better solution is to take those Attributes that you are using and get them into Tags in the MC Library. MC then wouldn't care where the files are located, on which drive. It would just display the files by the Attributes stored in tags for each file. Each of your Attributes would probably map to existing Tags in MC, and if not, new Custom Tags can be created. MC will still be able to manage the directory and file structure as you want into the future when you add new files. It has a great tool for doing that. MC also has tools to read your existing directory structure and file name, using a Template you define based on your rules, and update Tags in the library from that information. So you won't have to manually key in all the Tags for your collection.

You may need help with deciding how to move forward. You need to provide more information so that people can help. Specifically, your structuring rules. You will also need to help yourself by learning about Creating and Customising Views, Tagging and Custom Tags, the Expression Language (although as above, if you can define what you want to do, usually people here will help you with Expressions), the "Fill Properties from Filename" function, the "Rename, Move, & Copy Files" function, and so on.

Back to you.

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