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[okvaal]

Hi.
I have just reinstalled XP Home and also MC11 (later upgrading to 12). Most things went rather smoothly, but I can't figure out how to - if possible - restore two customized tags that I made for classical music. Before reinstall I copied whatever was stored under Documents and Settings/myname/Progr., also C:\Program files. In addition to this, I was recommended to copy MC_Bars and Property_Keywords from Registry_HKEY_CURRENT_USER_JRIVER etc. (Frankly, I don't know what to do with the latter, or if it will work in 12.0.)
Any help or hints would be much appreciated, as I did put quite a few hours of work in tagging those files.

bow,
Ole Kvaal

[Jaguu]

Either you have to restore the backed up library first, or you have to create the missing fields first before importing all the files. Just importing the files does not recreate missing fields in the library. The library has to know what kind of fields need to be created, and this information is not stored in the files.

[okvaal]

Either you have to restore the backed up library first, or you have to create the missing fields first before importing all the files. Just importing the files does not recreate missing fields in the library. The library has to know what kind of fields need to be created, and this information is not stored in the files.

Thanks for your reply. I do not have any recent backups, unfortuneately. (Asking in the 11.x group what to take with me, I was only pointed to the registry files.) Will creating the missing fields and then re-import the files do?

ole k

[Jaguu]

Yes, but you will only get the information stored in the files!

[Alex B]

All library fields are included in the library database files (*.jmd).

If you had your old library files in the default location and they are included in your saved files you can replace the new default library files with them.

The default location is:
C:\Documents and Settings\[your username]\Application Data\J River\Media Center 11\...   
(I don't have an MC11 library in the default location, but possibly the subfolder name is "Library". In any case it contains a lot of .jmd files.)


In addition MC11.1 creates automatic library backup files in:
C:\Documents and Settings\[your username]\Application Data\J River\Media Center 11\Library Backups

If you have those files you can restore the latest backup zip file.

[JONCAT]

I have two users (uncle & brother) that I sent .ape files with custom tag fields. They created the tag fields in their libraries after importing files. Then tried to update Library From Tags to no avail. The info was stripped. Recently I tried this mysefl and couldn't recreate it, but I want to test again as there was an mp3 bug like this once.

DC

[okvaal]

Thanks all. Your collective efforts made me take a good night's sleep and starting afresh this morning, convinced that I must have missed something somewhere. And quite right, there was the back-up I took two days before reinstall, and which I thought I'd lost!
Thanks a lot again, you're most patient and helpful.

rgds,
ole kvaal

[okvaal]

Maybe I was a bit too quick to reply: my custom made columns are restored, but they do no longer contain any data. How are these retrieved?

ole k

[JONCAT]

My kinds of file types are not able to be restored. Sorry if I didn't read your comments clearly enough: you have tried to Library Tools>Update Library From Tags?

DC

[okvaal]

I tried it just now, but the fields are still blank . . . . 

Thanks a lot, anyway.

ole k

[Jaguu]

Probably you restored the library and then reimported the files. If your custom fields are set not to be "stored in file tags", their tags were never stored in the files.

Try the following:
1) Be sure the missing info is in the library backup.
2) Restore the library
3) Don't import the files, move them to the same folder as before. If you changed the folder location, you may need to change the pathname by using Search/Replace in MC12.

[okvaal]

Try the following:
1) Be sure the missing info is in the library backup.

It's hard to be sure, but I did the backup before formatting my PC, so the original info should be there.

2) Restore the library

OK. Although that's what I did, should I do it again?

3) Don't import the files, move them to the same folder as before. If you changed the folder location, you may need to change the pathname by using Search/Replace in MC12.

Do you mean I should skip the "Import Folder" function here? And, if so, should I move them from the backup folder to the new path on my present partition? (I'm really sorry if I'm a bit slow here. Also, I'm very grateful for your help  .)

[JONCAT]

All my custom tag fields were set to Store In Tags; probably it was a problem in an old build but I am going to check today again with a friend.

DC

[Alex B]

Do you mean I should skip the "Import Folder" function here? And, if so, should I move them from the backup folder to the new path on my present partition? (I'm really sorry if I'm a bit slow here. Also, I'm very grateful for your help  .)

Obviously your media files are in a different location than before. Otherwise the files would have been available instantly after the library restore.

If you import files from a different location MC can only import the tags that are actually inside the files. You can check the physical file tags by selecting a file and clicking the "Format" field in Action Window > Tag. The expanded format window shows the actual file contents, not library data.

Jaguu means that you can select the files (which are now offline) and use the Find and Replace tool for fixing the "Filename (path)" field. For example, if the old location was  C:\My Music\[Album]\[Artist]\ and the new location is is D:\Media\Music\[Album]\[Artist]\ you can type C:\My Music\ in the "Find what:" dialog box and D:\Media\Music\ in the "Replace:" dialog box.

You should disable the Auto-Importer before doing anything else because it may remove files that are not currently available and interfere the Find and Replace process.

[okvaal]

Obviously your media files are in a different location than before. Otherwise the files would have been available instantly after the library restore.

Jaguu means that you can select the files (which are now offline) and use the Find and Replace tool for fixing the "Filename (path)" field. For example, if the old location was  C:\My Music\[Album]\[Artist]\ and the new location is is D:\Media\Music\[Album]\[Artist]\ you can type C:\My Music\ in the "Find what:" dialog box and D:\Media\Music\ in the "Replace:" dialog box.

You should disable the Auto-Importer before doing anything else because it may remove files that are not currently available and interfere the Find and Replace process.

The files were all imported, their paths are now correct, and I have been able to retrieve two of my custom made tag headers from the backup. The only thing I miss, are only the tags themselves. (In my case, to the classical music view, I had added two columns: Opus # and Movement#/Name. These 'headers' as I call them, are now restored, but the columns include no data.) I.e. the library is restored and running, alive and well, but not these two columns. OTOH, I had also two other customized fileds (called sub-genre 1 and sub-genre 2) which have been retrieved. I don't know what I might have done different with these two . . . .

rgds,
ole k

[Alex B]

Did you check if the files have the info in the physical file tags as I adviced:

If you import files from a different location MC can only import the tags that are actually inside the files. You can check the physical file tags by selecting a file and clicking the "Format" field in Action Window > Tag. The expanded format window shows the actual file contents, not library data.

If the field data is not included in the file tags the only way to retrieve it is to restore an older library and fix the file locations instead of importing the files from a different location. You should start from the scratch -- restore a library backup file and after that fix the file locations if needed.