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[bbogart]

Hello,

My MC stops responding when ever I try to view my entire library by selecting "Media Library" From the tree on the left.

Things I can think of which could be related:
I recently purchased a new computer and have re-installed MC and restored my library from a backup.
A lot of the 20,000 songs in my library is in a network drive.  I can play songs from the drive just fine in mc.  The problem is only that MC hangs when trying to view the entire library.

Any help or suggestions with regards to what I could do to diagnose the problem would be much appreciated.

Thank you,
Ben

[Alex B]

I don't know how much checking MC10 does in the background when the files are just viewed. I suppose that it doesn't look for the actual disc files before something is done with the tracks. That would mean that the problem is in your library instead of the network connection, but I can be wrong in this.

You could try to split your library into smaller parts for isolating the problem, but it's not possible if you can't access it.

One possibility is to install MC11 and restore the library backup to it. It converts the library to the new format. If you are lucky, that fixes the problem or perhaps the corruption in the library will not totally hang MC.

[Alex B]

On second thought, have you checked your memory stability? Sometimes too tight memory settings in BIOS options can cause strange program behavior even if the memory circuits are OK. MC accesses more memory addresses when the whole library is listed.

[bbogart]

Here is more info.  I have not solved the problem yet.

When I access the network drive through explorer there are no problems.
Playing a song off the network drive works fine.
Viewing the library while the network drive is disconnected does not cause MC to stop responding.  (It displayed the broken file icon but that is expected).

So it seems to be a problem with my network drive.  Or it could be something in the library which when verified causes MC to stop responding.

Hmm..

Alex B - thanks for your reply.  I looked in the bios and the only setting which could be related to memory was something like Automatic DIM (with one M).  I left it enabled because I don't know what it does.

I'm also afraid to upgrade my library by importing into MC 11, which is still beta.  I dj dances with MC and cant aford to have unexpected problems while djing.

Thanks, for your continued help.
Ben

[JimH]

Are you running Samba for the network drive?  If so, try a search here for a naming problem.

[bbogart]

I don't think I'm using Samba.  My understanding is that Samba is for sharing drives from Linux or a Mac.

I just share the drive with one XP machine and map it with another.  It has worked wonderfully for over many months, them MC just started freezing.

Ben

[JimH]

What changed?

Are you in thumbnail view for the Media Library?  It builds all thumbnails, which would take some time.  You can force a build from Options/View.

[bbogart]

Nothing changed.  And, I don't think it's doing anything.

I just downloaded MC11 as suggested.  I have the same problem.

If a song is playing when I try to view the contents of the network drive the song plays for a while... stops for a while... resumes playing etc.  The display never updates.

Is there a way to rebuild ore repair the library?

Ben

[bbogart]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I am not in thumbnail view....

however, when I try to build the thumb nails as suggested above the process stops at #115.  I canceled about 5 minutes ago and the process still hasn't stoped, or moved on.  Can I find out what file #115 is?

B

[JimH]

I don't know what the problem is, but try this.

Set up a new library and try importing a few files at a time to see if you can isolate any file or files that are causing problems.

[bbogart]

I started doing this and I realized before long that the network drive was going bad.  I'm saving what I can but it is quickly on it's way out.

Here is my question, not exactly an MC question but maybe someone will be kind enough to point me in the right direction:

The is my 4th drive failure in 3 months.  There is no similarity between the drives.  One was a 2.5" 40GB IBM/Hitachi in a laptop.  Another was an 80Gb 2.5" inch in an enclosure.  The one that just wne is in an enclosure and attached to a different computer.  And the las was in a laptop.  I don't remember what it was.  So my question is what could be causeing this?  Something enviornmental?  It's clearly not related to one system because this is happening on a variety of computers in the same office.

Thanks for the help above.

MC is great, thanks for the great software.

Ben

[Alex B]

In my opinion drives are not as good as they used to be. They are bigger and faster, but they don't last. The only environmental factor that makes difference is temperature. Effective cooling can minimize that factor. Also, you could use voltage regulators or UPS devices if voltage fluctuations are common in your area. However, it has always been possible that a drive that works perfectly well is completely dead a moment later.

So the only good answer is: backup.

Use external hard drives, internal hard drives, optical discs, tapes, drive duplicating programs, backup programs, whatever you like, but backup. Keep at least two archived copies of your data and store one of the copies in another location. Update changes to a third copy and exchange that third copy regularly with the stored copies. Cycle all copies so that one has the most recent data, one is in the middle and one has the oldest data. That will minimize the possibility that the backup will contain already corrupted data. This system is not foolproof, but it is reasonably safe.

If that is too much work accept the fact that you can loose your data at any moment.

[KingSparta]

External Drives Should Use A Metal Case And Not Plastic Since Metal Cases Disapate The Heat Better.

I wish they would have a small fan in them