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Author Topic: Using MC on two computers  (Read 2036 times)

shreksbro

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Using MC on two computers
« on: September 23, 2006, 03:06:45 am »

Hi everyone, I auditioned MC a while back, my trial has since expired and I'm keen to register, but I have two questions first:

1. Can I use my license on two computers (I have a home theatre PC and a laptop)?

2. Is it possible to use the 'same' library on two computers? For example, I use my laptop most of the time. I regularly backup all of my data onto the home theatre PC. What I would like to do is occasionally use MC on the home theatre PC, but obviously accessing the library and media which is modified on the laptop.

My guess is that this would work as long as the media was all located at the same relative address at both computers, eg 'D:\media' - am I right?

Hopefully I've explained myself well enough!
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Zoom

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Re: Using MC on two computers
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2006, 05:46:58 pm »

Yes, I use MC on my desktop and laptop and never had any problems...

I use MC on my laptop the most... and thus it has the most current database... I normally just reimport everything and transfer all files over (long way).

I am SURE there is a better/easier way, but this is just how I do it.

-Z
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Alex B

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Re: Using MC on two computers
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2006, 06:19:00 pm »

1. Can I use my license on two computers (I have a home theatre PC and a laptop)?

This is allowed in the license terms.

Quote
2. Is it possible to use the 'same' library on two computers? For example, I use my laptop most of the time. I regularly backup all of my data onto the home theatre PC. What I would like to do is occasionally use MC on the home theatre PC, but obviously accessing the library and media which is modified on the laptop.

My guess is that this would work as long as the media was all located at the same relative address at both computers, eg 'D:\media' - am I right?

Correct. You can restore a library backup file on another PC if the media files can be found from the same path.
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shreksbro

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Re: Using MC on two computers
« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2006, 09:07:14 pm »

Yes, I use MC on my desktop and laptop and never had any problems...

I use MC on my laptop the most... and thus it has the most current database... I normally just reimport everything and transfer all files over (long way).

I am SURE there is a better/easier way, but this is just how I do it.

-Z


The way I intend to do it is to use Vice Versa Pro to perform a nightly backup from my laptop onto the PC. As long as I can replicate the path on both computers it looks like it should work.

What I'd really like to do, is tell MC on the PC to use the library files created by the laptop (which have been copied to the PC). This way, whenever I open MC on the PC, it should look like the most recently backed-up laptop version (along with any changes, updates, new playlists etc that I had made since the previous backup).

Not sure if this will work. If not, maybe I could backup the entire MC installation directory onto the same directory in the PC? That way, ALL MC files on the PC would be identical to the ones on the laptop as any changes would be copied over each night?
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razumik

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Re: Using MC on two computers
« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2006, 09:43:02 pm »

shreksbro,

I  use Vice Versa to do exactly what you are thinking about.  Currently the way that I handle the process is as follows:

--I have the same relative paths on both pc's like you mention.  I also have the libary named the same on both pc's and store my library in the same location as my music.  The path to my main MC library is c:\music\_lib.  All of the lib files are in that folder so there is really no need (that I know of) to constantly Backup/Restore libraries from the zip files that MC creates...though I def recommend occasionally creating backups just in case.

--My Vice Versa profile is set for Advanced Sync and syncronizes my music folder (which contains my MC library) in addition to the MC thumbnail folder that is stored in c:\documents and settings\user\application data\j river\Media Center 11\thumbnails)  I found that if I do not sync the thumbnail folder I end up rebuilding thumbnails over and over.

That is pretty much it.  I have it set to sync each night and have a sync shortcut setup in case I ever need to sync during the day.  I have been using this process for quite awhile without issue.  One thing to remeber would be to not run the sync process when either of the pc's have the client open since Vice Versa may not be able to sync some of the lib files while they are in use.  You will also need to sync your Cover Art folder if you do not currently store your cover art in the file itself or next to it in the music folder.

Hope this helps
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