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[cochinada]

Hello,

I guess this should be possible but I'm not sure if it is as simple as I think...

Am I right to assume that all that is needed is to add another path/folder inside the new disc by using this button or what?
If so, is this seamless to the user experience?



I would like to split my collection into two discs as it has grown too big for one already and I was considering one disc for classical music and the other for non-classical.

[mwillems]

I'm not 100% sure what you're asking here, so apologies if this isn't what you're asking, but that window on top isn't a JRiver specific user interface, it's just the OS's filepicker (like explorer on Windows).  If you press the button you're pointing at, the filepicker will make a new subdirectory in that directory, but that has nothing to do with physical discs and won't tell JRiver anything. 

To be clear, the "file location" category you've chosen tells JRiver where to put new audio rips that you do with MC (i.e. that's the folder that MC will put new CD rips and podcasts in per the title). If you just want MC to index existing files, you can add different watched directories under Library & Folders-->"Configure auto-import" configuration. MC's user interface there is pretty straightforward and allows you to monitor multiple different directories at once.

If you need MC to import files from multiple discs on Linux, you should just mount the two discs and then point the MC auto importer to the mount paths.  If you're trying to move existing files onto a second disc using MC, try using the "rename, move, copy" tool, but be sure to test it out using a just a few files first before you do very many.  It's a very powerful tool, and you can make serious trouble for yourself if you're not careful.

[cochinada]

If you need MC to import files from multiple discs on Linux, you should just mount the two discs and then point the MC auto importer to the mount paths.  If you're trying to move existing files onto a second disc using MC, try using the "rename, move, copy" tool, but be sure to test it out using a just a few files first before you do very many.  It's a very powerful tool, and you can make serious trouble for yourself if you're not careful.

I'm sorry I was not clear enough. This is exactly what I want to do! 

I'm scared to death of that "rename, move, copy" tool as I used it once when I migrated from Windows to Linux and needed to "convert" the disc folders in the way that Linux was able to read it. It was a very tough process so this time, I would like to keep it as simple as possible to minimize the chances of me screwing things up.
Also, this time I suppose I don't need to convert anything. I just need to initialize or mount as you say the brand new disc (not sure yet how...) and copy part of my files into it.
BTW, in which menu exactly can I find this "MC auto importer"? They are so many that I often get lost...

Is this the way?


...and in step 5 I should fetch the folder on the new disc, right?

[mwillems]

You're close, but step 5 will just create an empty folder (see above).  Remember that's not JRiver's user interface there, just the file picker.  You need to select an existing folder after step 4. 

You should first mount the new disc outside of JRiver using the file manager for your linux distro, and then pick where you mounted the disc after step 4. 

[cochinada]

Got it!

Linux is very weird. I have two physical discs, one of 2TB and another of 250GB and this is what shows:



Some things don't make much sense to me, like why do I have one '*-disk' and 3 '*-namespaces:x'?

I also notice that the mounting point where my current library files reside is called '/media/Joaquim/Multimedia'.
Now, when I'm ready to install the new disc, I suppose I need to create a new mounting point.
What should I call it?

I found this page with some hints:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallingANewHardDrive

I think I have to follow the "Command Line Partitioning" instructions, then the "parted" as opposed to the older "fdisk" and then "Command Line Formatting" but here I don't quite understand what this means:
As always, substitute "/dev/sdb1" with your own partition's path.

Should I use this command or what?
sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sdb1

Last thing to take care off I guess is section "Automatic Mount At Boot".

This is certainly a lot harder than installing a disk on Windows for as much as I hate Windows...

[mwillems]

So I'm confused, you already have two disks mounted, but you talk about getting ready to install a new disk and setting up a second disk above?  Do you actually mean a third disk? Or did you already mount your second disk? 

In any case, on Linux you can mount a disk at any directory you want, which allows for a lot flexibility.  You can even mount the new disk as a subdirectory under your old disk, which is what I would recommend when you have the new disk.  But you can see each device's logical name and where it's mounted under your df -h command (i.e. /dev/sda2 is mounted at /media/joaquin/Multimedia, etc.).  Until the new disk is attached, you won't know what its logical name will be, but you can partition and format it using a graphical tool like gparted if you want to make your life easier.

[cochinada]

So I'm confused, you already have two disks mounted, but you talk about getting ready to install a new disk and setting up a second disk above?  Do you actually mean a third disk? Or did you already mount your second disk? 

Sorry...
Yes, I will mount a 3rd disk.
Currently I have two NVMe discs:
250GB -> boot device where I installed Ubuntu.
2TB -> where my current library is (just data).

I will install another 2TB SSD disk via SATA III (not NVMe this time).

In any case, on Linux you can mount a disk at any directory you want, which allows for a lot flexibility.  You can even mount the new disk as a subdirectory under your old disk, which is what I would recommend when you have the new disk.  But you can see each device's logical name and where it's mounted under your df -h command (i.e. /dev/sda2 is mounted at /media/joaquin/Multimedia, etc.).  Until the new disk is attached, you won't know what its logical name will be, but you can partition and format it using a graphical tool like gparted if you want to make your life easier.

Maybe I'll try GParted then. Will it make my driver automatically mounted forever?

I would like to divide my library like I said by 'classical' music into one disc and 'popular' music onto the other.
Right now I have that mounting point called '/media/joaquim/Multimedia' pointing to my current 2TB disc.
How can I create or modify this mounting point so that in the end I'll have one mounting point called '/media/joaquim/Classical' on one disc and '/media/joaquim/Popular' on the other for instance?

[BryanC]

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/fstab

[cochinada]

OK, so I've used GPart and now my new disc is partitioned and formatted as Ext4.

Now, what exact line should I add to '/etc/fstab'?

This is what I have now:


I've already created a new directory for the mounting point: /media/joaquim/Multimedia2
My logical name for the new drive is '/dev/sda'

[cochinada]

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/fstab

Thanks!
Looks like I have currently a lot of options on my 'old' disc.
I have no idea what they mean as I followed the instructions of some other guru here at the time so I'll check on your link if they are needed for this new mount or if "default" is enough.

[mwillems]

OK, so I've used GPart and now my new disc is partitioned and formatted as Ext4.

Now, what exact line should I add to '/etc/fstab'?

This is what I have now:


I've already created a new directory for the mounting point: /media/joaquim/Multimedia2
My logical name for the new drive is '/dev/sda'

The article BryanC linked has the information you need.  The first and second subheadings explain the fstab file format and how to uniquely identify discs using the blkid command to find UUIDs for partitions. Relying on the sda or sdb logical names is a bad practice because the enumeration can change, i.e. you can see that what is sdb now used to be sda before you connected the third disc!  But your existing fstab entry uses a UUID so it was no big deal.  Try following the instructions in the BryanC's link and see if you can get it working. 

If you can't get it working or it doesn't work as expected, post what you've tried and we'll help!

EDIT: Oh we cross-posted.  I'd start with the default options and see if everything works as expected.  The wiki link above also explains some common options too!

[cochinada]

Yes! I think I'm on the right path thanks to you guys. 

This is what I did and how it is looking. As my next step I will now try to copy some files between both discs and then setup MC30...

[cochinada]

1st issue:

I cannot create files in the new mounting point.

"Permission denied" 

[mwillems]

1st issue:

I cannot create files in the new mounting point.

"Permission denied" 

It looks like you might've created the new mount point as root or with sudo?  Try changing the ownership and/or permissions on the mount point using the chown or chmod so that your user can access the mount point.

[cochinada]

It looks like you might've created the new mount point as root or with sudo?  Try changing the ownership and/or permissions on the mount point using the chown or chmod so that your user can access the mount point.

You're right. I think I used sudo.
I've now changed group and owner to Joaquim and permissions to 777.
Doing some tests now...

[cochinada]

I've moved all my Popular music into the new disk and updated the library as below:



I guess it will take time until MC builds the new library because as of now, it tells me it cannot find bla bla bla.
How can I know what is happening behind the scenes and if I didn't screw up?

[cochinada]

Major screw up!
After importing the files from the new disk this is shown:



Before this operation, "Popular" was pointing to '/media/joaquim/Multimedia/Popular' and now after the migration, my Popular albums are under '/media/joaquim/Multimedia2/Popular',
What do I need to change?

I've changed the File Path but with no success:



EDIT:
fixed!
I overlooked that I also needed to change the "Set rules for file display".
It looks like I cannot have a logical OR of two rules, which prevents me from having Popular albuns in both discs. I can only chose one or the other. The same goes for Classical albums. 

[zybex]

You can have OR rules:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,135052.msg935181.html#msg935181

But you shouldn't have rules that depend on the location of the files, you should use tag values like Genre instead. As long as files are properly tagged, it doesn't matter where they are stored.

[cochinada]

You can have OR rules:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,135052.msg935181.html#msg935181

But you shouldn't have rules that depend on the location of the files, you should use tag values like Genre instead. As long as files are properly tagged, it doesn't matter where they are stored.

I didn't know that. MC is full of tricks...

In my case it's not practical to use Genre to separate Classical from Popular albums for one simple reason. In Classical albums I have more than 10 different genres and dozens in Popular albums, so making a filter grouping all these genres is way more cumbersome than simply filtering by location because all my classical albums are inside a different folder from where the Popular albums are.

[zybex]

So set [Grouping] or [Keywords] tag to "Classical" and use that in the rules. Or create your own field like [Music Type] and set that instead. Then the rules only need to check that field and you're no longer restricted to where you put the albums.

Note that you can add such tags in bulk to a bunch of files at the same time, and you can also add it automatically on Auto-Import from a given folder.

[cochinada]

That is a very good idea indeed!
I'll try it for sure.

How exactly can I create a custom tag like "Music Type"? I forgot 

[zybex]

Tool->Options->Library&Folders->Manage Library Fields

[cochinada]

Tool->Options->Library&Folders->Manage Library Fields

Thank you. I've created "Music Type" following your suggestion and already filled the correct value on all files


However, I still have a small issue...

In order to have this nice grouped view I still have to use Categories and File Location because the way I achieve this is by creating the same subfolders 0-E, P-Z, etc on my disc:


and if I remove this Categories I end up with this mess:

[zybex]

You can get the same by setting the category type to "Library Field", selecting [Artist] or [Album Artist] (or any other grouping you like), then check the "Grouping" checkbox below with a Grouping Size=3 or 5 or more.
Folder location doesn't matter for this.

[cochinada]

Thank you!

Interesting option but not sure if I can achieve the same, as I'm seeing two obstacles.
Let me give you one example of what I have called Genre=Soundtrack.

a)
Some soundtrack albums have only one artist like for instance Hans Zimmer, for which I have several albums.
All his albums are stored under '/Musica/Popular/F-O/Hans Zimmer/' and I like to display all his albums under his name, after selecting 'F-O' and then drill down to show the albums.

b)
However, other soundtrack albums have several artists and those are stored under '/Musica/Popular/(Various Artists)'.

The difference, with my current scheme of showing things is that for a) all albums are grouped by artist (e.g. Hans Zimmer inside of the alphabetic group that it belongs to) but for b) they are not grouped at all and instead, are shown by Album name only. So there is actually another sublevel involved when the album has only one artist that simply doesn't exist in the case of 'Various Artists'. How to achieve the same without resorting to my brute method?

The other issue I'm seeing is that this automatic grouping does not take into consideration the amount of albums inside each group. One can easily fall into the case of one group having too many and another too few. As I've created the groupings myself, when I did it, I roughly counted the number of albums between two letters in order to achieve a better balance. This is why I have awkward divisions and not a steady and constant number of letters like A-C, D-F and so on like in your example.