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[bspachman]

Let this be a lesson...RAID is no substitute for backups. I had some errors on my music storage RAID the other week & they affected the NTFS filesystem. CHKDSK was able to rebuild some of the data, but I have to go to the backups to restore the rest.

However, my MC library is totally intact. Because I only back up the APLs I use, I'd like to find an easy/quick way to find out if any of the tracks in the library have disassociated from their APLs on disk (other than playing 11,000 files).

Is there a way to search for these problematic files?

Best,
Brad

P.S. MC 10.0.173....

[Alex B]

If I understand correctly your library and the APL files are OK (since you have a backup for the APL files), but you are not sure if the associated APE files are available.

That is difficult because MC don't now if the link inside an APL file is valid before it starts doing something with it.

You could do a smartlist using no duplicates for the Album tag. Then convert the tracks in that playlist to wave format using some temporally location. Do that in small batches. MC displays an error message for the files that are not converted in the conversion dialog (before you close it).

[Alex B]

I found a better way: Make a new empty MC library. Use Windows Explorer and search for the .apl files. Import the .apl files from the Search Results list to MC (select all > right-click > Media Center > Import). Change your list order to Bitrate or Duration. You see instantly what tracks are missing the information.

[JimH]

Brad,
I think that MC11 will do what you want, but that MC10 can't.

[LonWar]

Let this be a lesson...RAID is no substitute for backups.

Even if you have back ups you are still running a risk. My Drive and My Back Up Drive both failed and had to be replaced....   Luckily my Music is on a 3rd drive that was ok... But my Ghost image is toast.

[bspachman]

Even if you have back ups you are still running a risk. My Drive and My Back Up Drive both failed and had to be replaced....   Luckily my Music is on a 3rd drive that was ok... But my Ghost image is toast.

Yeah. I try to back up the hard-to-replace media files. For me, that primarily means the APLs and CUE files. I can fairly easily replace any of the album-ripped APEs that go down the tubes. However, my latest experience is making me rethink a little. It's still hard to back up .5TB of music, but a couple of large firewire drives could help.

I found a better way: Make a new empty MC library. Use Windows Explorer and search for the .apl files. Import the .apl files from the Search Results list to MC (select all > right-click > Media Center > Import). Change your list order to Bitrate or Duration. You see instantly what tracks are missing the information.

Thanks for the suggestion.... However, I believe MC stores the bitrate/duration for the APL files in the tags of the files, so I would actually get the correct information after the import, yet still have missing master APEs.

I'll try to be clearer. I have 2 problems that would be nice to have MC help me with:

1) APLs that are in my library that have disappeared from the hard drive (disassociated files).

2) APLs that are valid in both the library and the hard drive, but the master APE is either missing or invalid (missing masters).

3) APLs and APEs that are in my library that are now invalid, primarily because the file on the hard drive shows a size of 0 bytes (corrupt files).

This third problem is easily resolved by searching in explorer for files sizes that are no bigger than 1KB. That gives me a list of the 0KB files that I can then restore or rerip.

AlexB gave me a couple of ideas for solving my "missing masters" problem. I think the Monkey's Audio application can do a verify on APLs, so I'll try searching for all of my APLs in explorer, then using that feature to check them.

I still don't have any ideas for finding disassociated files other than adding all my tracks to "Playing Now" and skipping through each one with the track adavance button to see which ones have their icons change to the dreaded red 'X'.

Any other thoughts?
Brad

[Alex B]

1) This is an old problem with all file types and asked for many times. No solution yet. MC can remove the entries, but not show a list of them.

2) My suggestion should work. I tested it with some old tagged .apl files. I renamed the main APE file temporally and imported the .apl files to a new empty library. MC reads and calculates the bitrate/duration information for the individual library tracks when importing the APL files. If the APE file is missing or corrupted that is impossible.

[KingSparta]

1) This is an old problem with all file types and asked for many times. No solution yet. MC can remove the entries, but not show a list of them.

Yes Your Right

[KingSparta]

But my Ghost image is toast.

I hate that program.

[bspachman]

2) My suggestion should work. I tested it with some old tagged .apl files. I renamed the main APE file temporally and imported the .apl files to a new empty library. MC reads and calculates the bitrate/duration information for the individual library tracks when importing the APL files. If the APE file is missing or corrupted that is impossible.

Sorry. Of course, you're right--I was thinking about solely tagged values like Replay Gain and BPM.

Anyway, this method takes care of both missing and corrupt APEs & APLs. Now if only MC could find the disassociated files....

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm off to re-rip about 20 albums -- all & all, not too bad. That's only about 3% of my collection.

Best,
Brad