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[BJP691]

I'm running MC26 and was doing a fresh setup on my PC. 
Upon import I see a bunch of artists with .(name) dots in front of their names. 
Then as I start scanning the albums many have ._ individual files.
These are duplicate names of the actual files contain the music data.

Is there a way to get MC26 to NOT import these files? 
There are about 50,000+ of these files on my HD and trying to delete is proving to be a serious challenge. 
Total HD is about 4TB - I tried a command prompt (del /s /q /f /a:h ._*) to delete and it fails. 
Search and delete is taking me days due to the total size.

By the way, there are no MAC computers in the process, nor ITunes.

[JimH]

If you can move them to a temp folder, you could clear your library, set up auto-import and re-import.

You could also try restoring a backup.  MC makes them automatically.

If you files are named incorrectly, but your tags are good, you can use Library Tools > Rename files from properties.

The wiki covers most of this.

[RoderickGI]

By the way, there are no MAC computers in the process, nor ITunes.

Maybe not now, but there has been in the past. Or a Linux computer. Is the media on an external drive by chance? Has it ever been plugged into a Mac?

In addition to Jim's suggestions, you can easily create a View with the rule that "[Fielname]" "Starts with" "._" in MC, review the files, and if appropriate, delete them from the Library and hard drive.

[EnglishTiger]

Alternatively you could set up a Smartlist using "Artist starts with ." to give you a list of all those tracks and then select them all so that you can "Delete them from the Library and Hard Drive"

[BJP691]

Maybe not now, but there has been in the past. Or a Linux computer. Is the media on an external drive by chance? Has it ever been plugged into a Mac?

In addition to Jim's suggestions, you can easily create a View with the rule that "[Fielname]" "Starts with" "._" in MC, review the files, and if appropriate, delete them from the Library and hard drive.

No MAC's in my house. 
Not sure why I'm getting these.  I have 5 Windows 10 pc's setup with MC26 and this is the first time I've run into this. 
Appreciate the input, thank you.

[BJP691]

Alternatively you could set up a Smartlist using "Artist starts with ." to give you a list of all those tracks and then select them all so that you can "Delete them from the Library and Hard Drive"

Sounds like my plan for resolving.  Thank you.

[BJP691]

Trying to import 4 TB from USB drive.  A direct copy of NAS files.  On my other MC26 setups everything works fine.  This particular PC is having issues.  Just updated to latest MC26, updated all Windows 10 updates. 

On import I get significant crashes (Program has requested Runtime to terminate in an unusual way - contact software vendor)  after roughly 30K file  level import.

After crash I start auto import again and keep trying.  Half of the entries have no file location, half show the D: drive.  About 1/2 show with the ._ file prefix.  The D: drive is never disconnected in the process.

What combination of issues in the setup might be causing this?  All my other installations work well, before I had 26 on this PC MC24 worked flawlessly.  4 TB import is going to take me a week at this pace

[JimH]

Could be antivirus.

Could also be a USB 2.0 port.  The drive is probably USB 3.0.  Try another port.

[BJP691]

no antivirus running - verified this AM.  I keep this machine 100% off the internet 364 days a year.

Intersting about USB ports - think the drive is 3.0 and my ports are 2.0

Seems unlikely however - I had another slightly smaller USB drive that I had been using with MC24 on this PC.  I had the same issues with it when trying to import to the updated MC26 (which is why I switched to a larger drive)

It worked fine on the MC24 - would there have been software change in the updates over time that would account for this? 
I have another (exact same) PC that still has MC24 on it.  If I keep getting fails with MC26 I'll try running that PC and see what happens. 

[JimH]

Windows version?  Windows Defender may need to be configured.

[BJP691]

Windows 10

Defender, firewall, antivirus all off

[BJP691]

Not sure what the combination of issues is but on an exact same type PC with older Windows 10 (different unit/exact same hardware) with MC21 the import worked as it is supposed to, and quickly. I imported ~90K files in about the time it was taking 20K to load.

On the machine that was giving me issues I did just update both Windows 10 to latest as well as MC26 to latest version.
I used a backup of my NAS library and changed the drive Letter once restored to get around the issues (the USB HD is just a copy of the NAS)- but that was a band aid on the problem - I'm going to have issues again in the future (unless I keep doing the same thing). 

Still interested on what may be the issue - the USB port type does not seem to be the issue (unless specifically related to the Windows 10 update) it is not hardware related.

Thanks for the input - I'm stumped.

[RoderickGI]

Defender, firewall, antivirus all off

Defender is never off, even when you turn it "Off". You need to Tame Windows Defender. Fix that first and see if the issue goes away. It will probably address MC crashes during import, as long as you are running the latest MC26.

As you have never had a Mac (or Linux?) in your home... Oh wait, you do have a NAS, and that would be Linux. You copied the files directly from the NAS. It is very possible that the NAS has hidden files that begin with "." or "./", and when you copied all files to the USB drive you copied those files as well. If you have Windows 10 set to show hidden files, MC would see and try to import them. Any file beginning with "./" would have their filename changed to begin with "._" to meet file naming rules. Maybe MC did that on import, or maybe Windows 10 did it when you attached the USB drive.

Investigate that.

[BJP691]

OK, will read up on taming defender, thanks.  Right now it is set to "off".

you are correct Synology NAS - Runs Linux? 

Windows 10 is set to show hidden files - if I disable that think it would solve the crashing issues?  MC21 imported with no issues, what so ever,  and that is running an old Windows 10.

There certainly are hidden files on the HD, I understand that - trying to get rid of 90K of them was time consuming and really bogging down my desktop PC.

I appreciate the input.

[RoderickGI]

I think Taming Windows Defender will help with the crashing issues during import. There may have been rules in place for MC21 on the old Windows PC, but MC26 on the new PC is a different installation, and wouldn't have the rules. It is also a different executable, so Defender needs to be told how to properly handle it. If you installed MC26 on the older Windows PC you may see similar issues.

With Defender running it will analyse every file that MC touches during the import, which means a lot more work for the processor, which means more wait time for MC, and CPU load, and I think MC can trip up. Particularly if MC is doing other tasks during the import, such an Audio Analysis.

Yes, Synology runs on Linux.

The Hdden Files will just give MC more files to import, increasing load, making the situation worse. If MC tried to write tags to them that may also cause issues. I don't know. Hiding them could therefore indirectly help stop the crashing, but Defender needs to be tamed.

Also note that the ./ files might be (probably are) marked as System Files, and so may be harder to delete, requiring Administrator rights.