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[harryragg]

I want to ask this question before I might have possible issues.

I am purchasing a new external hard drive and I am going to transfer my music from my old external hard drive to the new one.  The problem I think that is going to happen is my library in MC27 is not going to recognize the files on the new hard drive.  Will that be correct? Example of a file name: /Volumes/My Passport for Mac/Music (FLAC)/<artist>/<album>/<track>.flac

If anyone has transferred their music from an old external hard drive to a new external hard drive, can you show me the steps so things can go smooth when I play my music MC27?

[wer]

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Moving_Files

[harryragg]

I know how to move, copy, paste files.  My question is, when all my music files is on the new hard drive, isn't MC27 going to look for the files that is on the old hard drive? Or is my library going to have two sets of files? One on the old hard drive and another on the new hard drive.

[wer]

You're missing the point of the article.  To quote from the first line in that article:

There are several ways to move files inside Media Center. Doing so inside MC instead of using Explorer, for example, will allow MC to update its library to reflect the move.

By the way, if you google "jriver moving files to new hard drive" you will see this question has been asked many, many times before.  Look at this:  https://tinyurl.com/11jyhzvm

MC is a database. It knows where your media files are (at least the ones you have added to the library) and remembers that location.

If you "move, copy, paste" files in the finder, as you evidently are planning on doing, MC will not know you have done this. It will still remember your files at the previous location.  So it will be wrong. And if you then add the files at the new location, they'll be listed in the database twice.

SO, the point of the article:  Move the media files using MC (the Rename Move & Copy Files tool), instead of copy/paste in the finder, and MC will be able to update its library to reflect the move.

There is also method you can use that allows you to move the files using the finder, and then clean up the database afterwards in MC, but there are some settings you must adjust first (disabling Auto-import, setting FIX BROKEN LINKS=NO) otherwise you will have a disaster.  So I recommend moving the files using MC if you can.

So I suggest you look again at that article, and read the one about the RMCF tool, and use that information to consider how you do your move.

Your question about what will happen in MC after you move your files is only relevant if you move your files using the Mac finder instead of MC. And if you do that, you will either have a small amount of cleanup to do, or a disaster.  The outcomes you mentioned in your question are both possible outcomes, if you do it wrong.  So you need to plan.  Out of curiosity, how much (media) data do you need to move (# of files, and megabytes)?

Knowing how to move files isn't the same as knowing how to move files that are referenced in a database. 

I hope this is more clear.

[blgentry]

I've done this process seemingly dozens of times now.  It's really great the way MC handles it.  It all ends up perfect when you are done.  But it requires some... details.

Here's an outline of the process:
0.  In MC make a database backup.
1.  Use Finder (or similar) to copy your entire MUSIC folder to your external drive.  So now you should have two copies your music collection.
2.  On your original music folder, change its name slightly.  Like make it Music_original, or something similar.  That way you will still have all of your music, but JRiver won't be able to see it any more. 
3.  Change your auto import settings in JRiver so that it no longer looks in your original music folder.  I recommend just deleting auto import definitions in JRiver.  You can add them back later, using the external drive, if you want.
4.  In JRiver, your music should now be inaccessible.  All files should have a red minus sign (-) next to them, indicating that JRiver no longer sees the files on disk.  This is actually what you want at this point.  This is a good thing.
5.  Now you're going to tell JRiver where the files moved to.   Highlight a few files.  Maybe a whole album.  This is going to be your test.
6.  With those files highlighted, open the Rename, Move, and Copy Files tool.  Now set it up approximately like this:
Mode:  Update Database
Directories:  unchecked
Filename:  unchecked
Find & Replace:  Checked
  Find What:  <old file prefix>
  Replace with:  <new file prefix>

The <old file prefix> should be the beginning of the old path name.  Your music was probably in something like:
/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/Dude/Music

The new path is probably something like:
/Volumes/Passport/Music

So you would put "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/Dude" in the Find field and
"/Volumes/Passport/" in the Replace field

See what you're doing there?  You're replacing the part of the path from the old disk with the part of the path from the new disk.

Look at the preview field in the RM&C window and see if it looks correct.  If it doesn't, change things until it's right.  When you're sure, press OK, and MC will update the database to point those files to the new external drive.

Try to play those files.  Do they play?  If so, you got it right, and you can do the rest of the files all in one big chunk.  If not, you can restore an MC database backup, and try again.

This probably all looks like a lot of work, but it's really pretty straight forward.

The only remaining step is to change the original MUSIC folder name back to normal.  Assuming you are going to keep it.

I'm not on the forum much any more, so I probably won't answer questions in a timely fashion.  Perhaps someone else will help if you have trouble.

Good luck!
Brian.

[mschneid]

Any way to keep the original date on the files and folders after the move.     It just seems proper to maintain the dates....   With picture folders.... the folder structure does represent time in life and it bothers me to have every photo album dated  Now/2021?

[harryragg]

You're missing the point of the article.  To quote from the first line in that article:
By the way, if you google "jriver moving files to new hard drive" you will see this question has been asked many, many times before.  Look at this:  https://tinyurl.com/11jyhzvm

MC is a database. It knows where your media files are (at least the ones you have added to the library) and remembers that location.

If you "move, copy, paste" files in the finder, as you evidently are planning on doing, MC will not know you have done this. It will still remember your files at the previous location.  So it will be wrong. And if you then add the files at the new location, they'll be listed in the database twice.

SO, the point of the article:  Move the media files using MC (the Rename Move & Copy Files tool), instead of copy/paste in the finder, and MC will be able to update its library to reflect the move.

There is also method you can use that allows you to move the files using the finder, and then clean up the database afterwards in MC, but there are some settings you must adjust first (disabling Auto-import, setting FIX BROKEN LINKS=NO) otherwise you will have a disaster.  So I recommend moving the files using MC if you can.

So I suggest you look again at that article, and read the one about the RMCF tool, and use that information to consider how you do your move.

Your question about what will happen in MC after you move your files is only relevant if you move your files using the Mac finder instead of MC. And if you do that, you will either have a small amount of cleanup to do, or a disaster.  The outcomes you mentioned in your question are both possible outcomes, if you do it wrong.  So you need to plan.  Out of curiosity, how much (media) data do you need to move (# of files, and megabytes)?

Knowing how to move files isn't the same as knowing how to move files that are referenced in a database. 

I hope this is more clear.

That's what I get for not putting on my glasses. I now understand. Thank you for clarifying.