More > JRiver Media Center 26 for Mac
Need help setting up Portable Library for an external HD
tangolovers:
Hi,
I need to create a Portable Library of my music (and playlists) on an external/portable HD so I can easily play it from my 2 Windows-PC's or my MAC which all have MC26 installed (with my Master MC license).
My main MC library and music files are located on one of my PC's. I have copied my Music folder/files and the MC library backup to external HD (Drive B) in order to connect it to my other machines and play it from there. I am trying to use the Portable Library feature, but cannot figure out how and I can't find instructions anywhere. I tried experimenting with the Portable Library Rule but cannot get it to work property.
What I have tried so far on both my MAC and a 2nd PC (but nothing worked):
1) I performed a Library Restore from HD B, then
2) I selected File > Library > Portable Library and tried multiple times to set up a rule (but can't find an instructions). I tried every which which way... for example:
oOn my MAC Rule 1 = C:\users\susie\Music\My Music|/Volumes/B/Music/My Music
on my other PC Rule 1 = C:\users\susie\Music\My Music|E:\Music\My Music
3) Ran File Import
In both cases (PC & MAC) Everything appears to play and the paths look like they got converted correctly which is encouraging... However, none of my playlists transferred at all. :-\ I feel like I'm close, but obviously doing something very wrong.
Any help in setting up with portable library would be very much appreciated!!
Thank you,
Susie
Matt:
You're on the right track setting up a Portable Library.
A rule like this should work properly:
C:\users\susie\Music\My Music|/Volumes/B/Music/My Music
You should be able to start playback of a file in that path after the rule if it's right. If it's not, double-check closely for what might be going wrong.
Playlists should ride along no problem since you're loading the same library with the playlists.
tangolovers:
Hi Matt,
Thank you so much for your response!! First, I figure I should let you know I have the same thread going on under Windows because I am trying to go Portable from PC-to-PC and PC-to-Mac and I know I'd likely not get too many answers regarding the Mac on the Windows forum. ;D So forgive me, but I wasn't sure if there was a better way of going about getting the help I need. Similar thread on Windows: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,126128.0.html
Back the the issue at hand. On my Mac, I tried multiple rules just like you state below. I even just tried using the syntax that is specified in the Portable Library banner: Rule 1 = E: to /Volumes/ESD-USB/, where there's a slash at the end of the Mac portion of the rule... Doesn't seem to make sense but I tried that as well. Here are examples of what I've tried:
C:\users\susie|/Volumes/E
C:\users\susie\|/Volumes/E/
C:\users\susie/Volumes/E/
C:\users\susie\Music|/Volumes/E/Music
C:\users\susie\Music\|/Volumes/E/Music/
C:\users\susie\Music|/Volumes/E/Music/
Nothing I have tried has worked andI have double & triple checked everything I can think of. I did a Library restore before adding or changing rules. I can see all of the audio files. My main PC#1 has 8124 and my Mac is displaying 8125 (not sure why there's one extra, but it's the least of my worries). All of my playlists seem to be in tact with the right file counts, so I am very optimistic. The problem is, every audio file has a "-" next to it and they return a "File could not be found" error.
Diverging for a moment... Something similar happened on my PC#2. I tried every rule & syntax I could think of syntax and nothing worked until I resorted to RM&CF, which I thought Portable Library was meant to eliminate. Initially many, not all, audio files had "-" but everything played! Finally after a reboot everything mysteriously appeared perfect! No audio with "-" and everything plays, but it I think RM&CF had something to do with it. I did notice on my PC#2(no audio files stored locally), after adding a Portable Library rule, the Audio View always points to C:\users\susie, but in RM&CF under Original column it shows the correct path of E:\users\susie\Music\My Music\... Whereas on my Mac, after adding a Portable Library rule, both the Audio View & RM&CF Original column point to C:\users\susie\.... see the following attachments:
Attach1: PC#2 RM&CF View - "Original" path points to correct path E:\Music...
Attach2: Mac AudioView - path points to original path C:\users\susie\Music... I think this is correct
Attach3: Mac RM&CF - "Original" path still points to C:\users\susie\Music...
What I wonder is how in the heck is MC even seeing the audio files on "E" if the paths are not displayed correctly anywhere.
I also ran a right-click > Locate > On disk (external) for a few of the audio files and they all returned "file does not exist".
I'm at a dead end, no fresh ideas. Any suggestions?
Matt:
Rules aside, can you share a filename if you just import directly on the Mac? And what is the same filename on Windows? I'm hoping we can figure out the right rule. Thanks.
tangolovers:
Hi Matt,
Forgive me, I'm not sure I understand your question... but let me try... Are you asking if the "Filename" in MC appears differently on Mac vs PC? To the best of my knowledge, no. As to how it imports, I'm not sure if I can answer that question. I will tell you what I have done successfully in the past, let me know if that helps:
Previously I was storing the Music files locally on both Mac & PC, but due to space considerations on my Mac I need to change that. That's why I started with Portable Library, not to mention a simpler way offing things. I simply copied Audio files/structure & Library Backup from PC to External HD to Mac. Then with help from the forum I developed a procedure that worked fairly well. Of course I had to use RM&CF to do this. Here's where I posted the detailed steps: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,111695.msg771944.html#msg771944):
As a side note.... at one point in time I did have some issues with filenames/folders because many of the foreign songs contained special characters (from foreign Music - French, Spanish, Polish etc) which would often insert an undetectable blank space. What I mean by that is you cannot see the space until you go to edit the name (file or folder) and when the cursor gets to the special character suddenly you see an extra space that was not visible before). Here's a link to where I got help solving this problem: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,123158.msg853026.html#msg853026.
I'm not sure of the original cause of the special character issue, but one reason (of many) could be something to do with importing differences on Mac vs PC.
I know I had the issue on the PC and pretty sure on the Mac too. Maybe this is the you mean by being able to "share" a Filename? Perhaps with your guidance I could run an experiment re-importing some of these foreign songs between PC/Mac. Of course I wouldn't be using my main source PC for this. There also were many other issues with my database that had to be remedied a result of my not knowing how to use MC correctly.
I hope I answered your questions... hopefully not TMI. ;D
Thank you,
Susie
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