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[iajim]

I had previously loaded about 100gig of music files from LP's & CD's onto my PC. They are in multi level folders all as WAV files. Using MC11 I built Tags in the MC library ( about 15 fields.

The other day I got a new 500gig HD and using Windows Explorer moved all the files (folders intact) to the new drive.
Of course MC11 now has tag library but no attached music files.
I would really like to recover all this work and not have to reenter.

You have convinced me to switch to APE so now what steps do I have to take to:
1) reattach the library resident on the PC to the WAV files on the 500
2) get those tags properly assigned to converted APE

I really don't want to do anything more that makes it more difficult to salvage ale that work

Thanks
Jim

[marko]

that library you have, the one with all the info... make sure you have a safe backup of it.

it's possible to do what you need, but perhaps just a bit more info first...

What I'm wondering is, do the files on the 500 have the same paths as they did on the PC? ("Yes" is a good answer )
What is the drive letter assigned to the new 500, and what drive were the files on before you moved them?

-marko

[Alex B]

You can easily "reattach" the files with MC.

What was the old location (drivel letter, base path) and what is the new?


EDIT, marko beat me

Let's talk about APEs then.

After the files are found again you can simply convert them with MC. MC will apply the library data to the physical file tags.

[iajim]

Files were originally on C:      shared docs/My Music/Music/

the whole folder .../Music/ was move intact to:

L:/Music/

Nothing has as yet been done to correct MC11 libraries.

[marko]

good stuff. again, in case of disasters, make sure there's a backup of the library safely put to one side.

start MC, select all affected files, right click, choose library tools>find/replace...

In the dialogue that shows, first, for safety, click the 'select none' button, then find "Filename (path)" in the list and tick it.

in the find what field, enter:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Music\

replace with:

L:\

that should reconnect the files. right click on one, library tools, convert format, explore the settings (options button) to choose what you want to happen. most of it is self explanatory, and, as Alex mentioned, the tags should be applied automatically.

They might not be if you have not told MC to "save inside files when possible" If you want the files to be tagged, make sure that's set for each field you would like in the file.

If you ask the conversion process to update the database, it will replace the wav file in the library with the newly created ape file and and all the tags in the database will be correct. The wav files will only be deleted if you choose that option.

as an aside, it's worth noting the double edged nature of using the find/replace tool on the [filename (path)] field.

In your case, we're using it to fix broken links in the database.
If you were to use it to change the filename (path) of an already linked file, it would not 'unlink' the file, it would actually cause the file to be moved to the location specified in the new file path.

[iajim]

Marko

I was able to re associate the Tag Lib with the WAV files on the new 500. Then converted all to APE. The do sound alike on play-back.

But have a question on the results & a problem that looks like a major hassle.

1) How can I tell if the tags were stored with the files? It seems to me that if they are their reather than on my machine's library it will make it easier for machines on the other LAN machines to use.

2)The Conversion process to APE put the converted files (and I assume their tag info) all together in the parent L:\Music folder instead of the sub & sub-sub folders where the WAV files came from. I really want them back in original folder organization; particularly since I can see that MC-11 Drives selection will work just like choosing them from Windows Explorer.
The conversion process retained the original WAV files in their sub folders but disassociated the tag library from them.

Help!

Thanks

[marko]

1st, checkin' I got this right so far:

After doing the conversion, there are no .wav files in your library, only .ape files, and the tag info in the library is correct for those .ape files.
All of the .ape files have been placed in L:\Music\
All of the .wav files still reside in their original locations, L:\Music\...\...\

Decide what you would like to do with the wav files first.
options:

• leave them where they are. If you do this, when we've correctly filed the .ape files, each directory will contain an .ape and .wav version of the same track.
• delete them all (you know you want to really )
• back them up elsewhere
• move them to a new home on the 500 for now

For now, for the sake of getting the job done, I'd move them to a new home on the 500, then decide what to do with them later. Make a new folder on L: called wav files and open it. Leave it open.
Open L:\Music and select all the sub-directories there, taking care not to select any .ape files.
Drag from L:\Music and drop in L:\wav files
When that's done, that'll be the wavs safely out of the way. You can close any open windows.
Now, let's get those ape files filed away properly.
To do that, use the "rename files from properties" tool. When using this tool, it's good practice to work on just a couple of files first to test results. I can't give you exact instructions because you have not said how you choose your folder structure, so, if there's anything you're unclear about, ask first.

Open Media Center...

Select a couple of ape files, right click, library tools, click on 'rename files from properties'


Assuming you choose a common approach to filing, L:\Music\artist\album\track - name.ape

Base Path will be L:\Music
Directory rule will be [artist]\[album
"Use 'assorted' for multi-artist albums" will be checked (this might not work as expected. don't panic if you wind up with a load of artist\album folders containing single files, we can fix that if we need to)
Filename rule will be [track #] - [name]

click OK.

If you're happy with the results, select everything and repeat.
If you need help with multi-artist albums, let us know.

-marko.

[iajim]

It seems like I asked 2 questions.

1) How can I tell if the tags are stored with the files?

2) Is there an easy way to move the APE files back to the sub folders where the WAV files were/are?

[marko]

1) select a single file, then, in the action window, click on file properties, then on file type info. everything you see there is a tag saved within the file. To be sure all file tags are in sync with the database, select all files, right click, library tools, update tags from library.

2) answered in my previous post, above.

[iajim]

You understood the file situation correctly. I'm working on the file relocation.

A related question as partains to multiple PC's on a LAN

Can the file with all the tag info be placed on the L: drive so that each PC is seeing & can update the one and only copy.   L: is fully shared on the LAN.

[modelmaker]

A related question as partains to multiple PC's on a LAN

Can the file with all the tag info be placed on the L: drive so that each PC is seeing & can update the one and only copy.   L: is fully shared on the LAN.

I believe, the accepted, (most efficient), way to sync up the other PCs, (I have a different setup), is to do a File/Library/Library Backup, then, at the other PCs, do a File\Library\Restore from Library and point to the (zip) file:  (main PC): C:\Documents And Settings\Administrator\Aplication Data\J River\Media Center xx\Library Backups\(most recent backup zip file).

Or,

Copy: C:\Documents And Settings\Administrator\Aplication Data\J River\Media Center xx\Library Backups\(most recent backup zip file)

To: (on each of the other PCs) C:\Documents And Settings\Administrator\Aplication Data\J River\Media Center xx\Library Backups

Then do a library restore at each of the other PCs from that zip file.

[iajim]

Thanks for the suggestions. I understand there are "active" ways to make the library available to other PC's on the LAN. But my goal is a passive one. Transparant to other user eg. Dear Wife.

Why can't the library/tag file be directly shared?

I am not wanting the remote PC's to control what's running/playing on any other machine; except to read from the shared hard drive and I may still put that on a server on the LAN. Each PC has its own sound card, AVR & speaker set.

[marko]

iajim, I trust the file relocation went smoothly, no problems with multi-artist albums?

As far as library/file sharing goes, my knowledge is very basic, and I do not have any hands-on experience with the scenario. I can outline some of the basics that I've picked up along the way and then leave it for a member with more experience in those areas to advise you.

just so we're clear, when we say 'library', we will mean all of those database files stored at C:\docs & settings\...\app data\jriver\media center 11\library\
and when we say files, we mean the actual audio files themselves.
It is not safe to share the library with other machines on the LAN. If two machines try to write to the library at the same time, it would break the library beyond repair.

you could share the audio files themselves directly, but then you expose the file tags to the mercy of other users on the LAN. Imagine your face if you discover one day, that all the artist tags have been changed to Cliff Richard? and of course, you already know that no-one would know anything about it. You could take precautions such as making the shared files 'read only' but I do not know how effective this would be nor if there are any other drawbacks to doing this.

If you were to place them on a LAN server, you could install MC on the server and use MC's own library server to share the files. The files are then shared in a read only state, with only the playcounts and last played information being written back to the library on the server. I think this could probably be your best option, but do strongly advise waiting for some advice from someone with more hands-on experience.

Good luck, and enjoy your MC journey
-marko.

[iajim]

Marko,

File & tag recover accomplished. My tags didn't let me do it automatically; but fortunatly with classical it sorts pretty well & I just used tag/column sorting and moved them in big groups to where they needed to go.

I found in MC File-library a dropdown to make a new library. I went ahead and made one on the 500 filled it from the original then made it my default.  I assume since that capability is present in the program that it works. The contents for several files I checked are the same in both files(dbases).
Since it is on the shared 500, I changed its status to "Read Only". Not too concerned about Dear Wife modifying the library. Just hope MC doesn't do so while keeping statistics. I'm not using them.

Haven't tried using it on other machines yet as I haven't loaded MC on them.

The WAV to  APE conversion accomplished so far reduced 50gig to about 26gig. I assume they will also transmit faster on the LAN with smaller size.