Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[comox]

I have a fuzzy recollection from years ago that MC has a hidden section in its database that records items deleted from the library.

Is this true and is there a way to clear it?

I've been pruning my library and would like to remove any clutter that might bog down performance.

[JimH]

In auto import, you can set the import to ignore previously deleted files or not.

[JimH]

But maybe you want to delete those files? 

Deleted files won't affect performance.  Slow drives would.  Antivirus can.

[zybex]

~d=r

[comox]

~d=r

Thanks for the tip. Now I remember.

A search with ~d=r returns no files.
I have the auto-import option to ignore deleted files turned off.
Does that explain why no deleted files are being saved, or is it likely I've done the search wrong?

[zybex]

Try it on the Video->Files or Audio->Files view.
The auto-import option doesn't change what is marked as deleted. Try importing a dummy file and then delete it to see if it shows up.

[comox]

Thanks no luck.

I created a temporary view with Set rules for file display showing type=audio and added the modifier limit database to removed.

No files were displayed, yet I have deleted hundreds of audio files recently.

[zybex]

Did you delete the files inside MC or in the filesystem directly? MC only shows files deleted using MC.
Maybe I'm wrong - it's possible that since you have the "ignore deleted" auto-import option enabled, deleted files are not tracked. I also have that option enabled disabled and I can see some deleted files when I use that filter.

[bob]

You can create a smartlist
Call it "bad or removed"
Don't choose any media type for the smartlist and limit the display to "database" check "bad" and "removed"

For me this is most useful for testing and when MC has seen a file with a media type it doesn't understand for some reason or another and you want to get MC to try import it again.

[comox]

All the files I deleted were imported and deleted from within MC.

LOL, I have smartlists that I created many years ago and forgot about for inspecting the different databases.

My smartlist for showing Removed Files returns zero files.

Very strange.

[marko]

If the files are removed from the database only, they will show up in the 'removed' database as long as the file remains at the location MC expects it to be.

If you subsequently delete the file, or move it, MC will notice that and drop it from the 'removed' database.
If you have "Ignore Deleted" turned off in auto import, it will just re-import deleted files, and thus remove them from the 'removed' database.

If you remove files from the library that are in a location not covered by auto import, then those should remain in the 'removed' database as long as the file exists in the location it was at at the time it was deleted.

At least, that's my understanding of how it works, from my climb up the learning curve some years ago now. I have not tested any of the above in a long time, but I'm also unaware of any changes in this area. That does not mean there hasn't been mind you

-marko

[zybex]

If you subsequently delete the file, or move it, MC will notice that and drop it from the 'removed' database.

Good point, I think that's it.

[comox]

Excellent, thanks guys for the explanation.

My precious database is clean.