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[milehigh]

I had my entire library displayed as a playlist - auto smartlist - all music - and then I went to remove duplicates - - saved playlist and thought everything was fine - went to auto task - incomplete albums - guess what - several files that I know were present when I ripped the albums were missing - and all the incomplete albums contained were missing the songs that were duplicated somewhere else!  The weird thing is - it wasn't all the duplicates (thank goodness) but 30 CD's were missing files! - These were not only missing from the library - they were completely deleted off my hard drive.

I am using MC 9.1.274.  Unfortunately I can't give other details of what was happening at the time since a day or 2 took place between me checking for duplicates and incomplete albums.

I was under the impression that whenever you were working with playlists or the library and you deleted or removed something - it was only deleted from the playlist or database! I know that there are instances where a pop up will give you a choice of deleting from the database,  hard drive, or sending to the recycle bin.  But to do it without a prompt or option setting is awful!

2 questions - is there somewhere that you can set MC to only delete information from the database - I looked under tools, options and couldn't locate anything - if there isn't there should be - or you should be prompted everytime!

If my make all my files read only - will this prevent MC from deleting them?  (I don't think so but want to check).

I don't let MC write or alter my tags - I only want certain data to be in the tags - which is one reason I went with MC becasue it kept other information in the database - I certainly didn't expect it to delete files if I was altering a playlist or library.  

I don't want to try and reproduce this but thought I would mention it - anyone else experience this???

[LisaRCT]

I have never seen MC delete files from my drive without first asking.  

I have, however, seen MC list duplicate files, which when I checked in Windows there was only one copy of the file NOT two!  Deleting the 'duplicate' in MC in fact deleted the ONLY copy there actually was on my drive. (I realized this after deleting several but not all the reporte duplicates)
I have posted this previously but it appears hat so far I am alone on this situation.

Could this be what has occurred?
Do you still show any duplicates?  
Can they be confirmed in Windows?

[milehigh]

I am not exactly sure what happened - I was checking for duplicates becasue I wanted to remove songs that were repeated (ie - same song by artist but on 2 different albums) - I wanted to remove one copy (which now I know that is not what the "remove duplicates" does - it actually removes both copies (has someone come up with an option to check for duplicates and then give a choice to remove one or the other?)

So what I think happened is what you are describing - 2 songs (which were actually on my hardrive - but in separate folders -  and duplicated in the library - once it removed them - for some reason it actually deleted one of the files off of my hard drive)!  

I don't know what really happened!  This being said I won't be utilizing the remove duplicate feature on MC in the library or on a playlist until this is fixed or a clear explanation of how it is supposed to work is given for fear of deleting files off my harddrive!!!!!!!!!

[LisaRCT]

Wait a minute.
I think we are speaking of 2 different things.
1- There is a right-click menu option "Remove Duplicates", which merely removes the duplicate entries in a playlist (possibly only the Playing Now list but perhaps also other playlists . .  not positive).  This removes the entry from the playlist NOT from your library or your drive.

2- There is a Smartlist, "Task -- possible duplicates" which shows files in your library whch are by the same artist and have the same song name.

Let's make sure we are on the same page here, which are you speaking of?

[milehigh]

I did the auto-smartlist "all music" then once I had this "playlist" up - I clicked the little window that has an arrow at the top - brings up window asking for rules, modifiers, etc - went to modifier - duplicates - then I entered [name] for duplicate tracks - and than ran it.  I am pretty sure this is where I did it - I am new to MC so I have been playing around -

I think I also did this exact same thing in the library section - had my entire library displayed - selected all - did the little window at the top - went to modifier - duplicates........etc....

I don't know which of these deleted the files - but one of them did!  

The views look so similar that you could be looking at your library - get distracted (especially if you have kids or something else going on) - come back - delete items or move items around and walla - deleted files.  It would be nice if these sections were combined - at least for management purposes (adding, deleteing, etc).

I also think that there should be some sort of default that you can set for the whole program that will only delete the database information (obviously an option that can be turned on or off at user preference) - at least this way you could actually do some messing around without actually damaging/deleting your actual files.......much easier to reimport some files than to re-rip cd's.........

LIke I said before - I am not exactly sure what happened because I didn't notice it until a day or so later - what I do know is that it definitly had to do with duplicates.......and I am not messing around trying to reproduce it (since I am still re-ripping the deleted files!).

Anyway - I have learned that MC is not the most user friendly interface - a great program but a little bit of a learning curve - and the help isn't too helpful sometimes........
 

[Omni]

The views look so similar that you could be looking at your library - get distracted (especially if you have kids or something else going on) - come back - delete items or move items around and walla - deleted files.  It would be nice if these sections were combined - at least for management purposes (adding, deleteing, etc).

A smartlist is just a dynamic, customizable playlist.

The library is the actual dataset from which the playlist is derived.

Suggesting that they be combined makes no logical sense if you stop and think about it for a moment.

LIke I said before - I am not exactly sure what happened because I didn't notice it until a day or so later - what I do know is that it definitly had to do with duplicates.......and I am not messing around trying to reproduce it (since I am still re-ripping the deleted files!).

What happened was you hit the delete key when in the library view, and when the "Confirm Action" dialog box came up, you accidentally selected the wrong radio button.  There are three mutually exclusive choices provided in that dialog box:

   *   Remove from Media Library
   *   Remove from Media Library and send to the Recycle Bin
   *   Remove from Media Library and permanently delete from disk

You just selected the wrong one.  Operator error.  It happens to us all.  Admit and move on.      

Omni

[dragyn]

There should be a prompt that says: Are you sure you want to DELETE the following files?

This should have a check box on it so you can turn it off. It would work like the windows Recycle Bin.

I know some apps make you type out YES in the box. A perfect failsafe to the problem

[milehigh]

Thanks Omni -

I have seen the window you are talking about - where it asks for your selection and believe me - I didn't delete these files - and I certainly didn't do it 30 times in a row and the selected files range anywhere from A to Z - so I didn't go through 20000 files and pick out all the dupes - I definitly think something happened - I have done a search in the forums and I have seen this mentioned before............

An option in the option settings to make ALL deletes just from the database would be ideal.....

[Omni]

An option in the option settings to make ALL deletes just from the database would be ideal.....

It certainly wouldn't hurt, I suppose.  Either that or Dragyn's suggestion.

I'm just happy (for you) that these were tracks you ripped from a CD and could get them back (with some work).

With iTunes for Windows out and MC's new support for those purchased AAC tracks, JRiver might want to listen to you two.  I don't know how iTunes works, but if one can't re-download a previously purchased track, then it would really be bad if one accidentally deleted them in MC a $1 a track!  

[agco6810]

thought this program was pretty good until i saw all the duplicates. As i used it to create flac files i deleted them as i saw them. when i went to transfer to sd card i noticed all the duplicates. how in the world do you get rid of this stuff. could t be more comlicated. thanks

[JimH]

You may have import options set to import a network drive that is also mapped as a local drive.

Use your mouse to hover over two of the duplicates, one at a time, to see the locations of the files.