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[donlboy]

Using MC 31.0.34, Win 11 22H2
I have encountered a strange situation when using Rename, Move & Copy Files/Find & Replace. I have used my HP laptop as an HTPC in my theater, but also needed a fully portable setup so I copied my media files from my NAS to a 1 Tb USB drive, then set up a new library and used Restore Library to set up the new library. I planned to use Rename, Move & Copy Files/Find & Replace to change filenames from the NAS IP address to the USB drive letter. I needed to work with an existing playlist so started with just the songs in that playlist. I selected all files and used the tool. Simple, and I have done this many times. However, I ran into a major problem with the playlist files that were on Cloudplay. I could have just selected the NAS files to use the Find & Replace but took the easy way out and selected all files since (I thought) the Cloudplay filenames would not be affected. Before I realized what had happened I did the same thing to several more playlists so I now have many incorrect filenames. Here is an example of what happened to all Cloudplay songs in the playlists:

The original Cloudplay file name was http://RadioJRiver: . . . address (I’m using “. . . address” for the very long many character main part of the song URL). When I opened Find & Replace it showed the Original filename as \\?\http://RadioJRiver: . . . address, which is clearly incorrect. It showed the New filename as \\?\___RadioJRiver_ . . . address. Changed, but still wrong. I did not notice this when I ran the Find & Replace, I just saw all of the NAS IPs were replaced by the USB drive so ran the operation. The local files all played fine from the USB drive but, no surprise, the Cloudplay files all failed to play. I realized what had happened and attempted to use Find & Replace to change the Cloudplay filenames back to the correct ones. Again, no success. Now the Original filename showed as \\?\___RadioJRiver_ . . . address and the New filename showed “<invalid change>. I fixed the first playlist by using the right click Rename function and cut/pasted in the correct filename, but I have many Cloudplay files mixed into playlists so I don’t want to go through all of them  that way. I would like to know why this happens and if there is a way to use Rename, Move & Copy Files to fix the ones that are messed up.

I know this is a confusing mess but I assume there is some simple explanation for what happened. Maybe Rename, Move and Copy Files/Find and Replace isn’t intended for web addresses? And, hopefully, a simple way to fix the 100+ bad filenames I now have.

[JimH]

You shouldn't need to rename the Cloudplay entries.

You could select everything else and rename those.  In the search window enter -RadioJRiver.

You could restore a backup and try again.

[donlboy]

I didn't think that applying Find & Replace to change the NAS IP to the USB drive would also change the Cloudplay links. I limited the use to only the ones I wanted to change after I realized that Find & Replace had a weird effect on URLs, including music I have on other cloud servers. I'm a little bit cautious of the tool now and I thought you might want to know what happens, or explain a bit what to avoid in the future. I have some music on Amazon S3 and want to move some around, requiring new links, but it appears that Find & Replace will not work for that.

[donlboy]

Can you confirm that Find & Replace does not work for changing web IPs? Or am I missing something?

[JimH]

No, that won't work.  You should not need to change anything.

[blgentry]

You might consider mapping drives for your NAS.  Then you can have a drive letter in MC's database instead of an IP address.

Later, when you want to change IPs for your NAS, you just change the mapping.  Same drive letter, different IP address. 

Brian.

[donlboy]

No, that won't work.  You should not need to change anything.

I understand I don't need to change anything for Cloudplay/RadioJRiver files. I do have music on other cloud servers and sometimes need to move them around, so the server IP address changes. Are you saying that Find & Replace will not work for that?

[JimH]

A URL to a file on the Internet shouldn't need to be changed.

Find and Replace might work, but it's unusual to change a URL.

[donlboy]

You might consider mapping drives for your NAS.  Then you can have a drive letter in MC's database instead of an IP address.

Later, when you want to change IPs for your NAS, you just change the mapping.  Same drive letter, different IP address. 

Brian.

I do have my NAS mapped to a drive letter, but I use the IP in MC. I use a fixed IP for the NAS so it has been constant for several years even though I have upgraded the NAS a couple of times. I can use Find & Replace to change from either the IP or drive letter to a USB drive with no problem. My problem was that I inadvertently included some Cloudplay/RadioJRiver files in a change and Find & Replace apparently doesn't work for web IPs - in fact, it changes them to unworkable addresses (example " http://RadioJRiver: . . ." was changed to "\\?\http://RadioJRiver: . . ." and this could only be changed back to the correct address manually, one file at a time.

[blgentry]

Ok, I think I understand.

The normal answer for "oh no I changed file name pointers to the wrong thing" is to restore a database backup.  File > Library > Restore Library .  If a backup from a day or two ago is good enough for your purposes, then you might do that. 

As for RM&C mangling CloudPlay URLs, I have no comments or suggestions.

Best of luck to you.

Brian.

[donlboy]

Thanks for the help and advice.