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[dcwebman]

My library is getting big (mainly hard drive) and there are a lot of songs that I listen to rarely but I don't want to get rid of them because I don't feel like re-ripping. I have created a large playlist of those songs. I have multiple IDE drives of different sizes that I can choose from to connect to a USB cable to have an external drive. What I would like to do is get all those songs moved from the main hard drive to the external drive but MC still have them available if I want to listen to them. I'm not sure the best way to do this using only MC. It can't be as simple as a Move since those songs would then have to be designated as being available offline too. I have never tried any offline songs so I am hoping that MC prompts me for whatever drive and then can play them.

What are the easiest steps to accomplish all this?

[jgreen]

DC--

This is exactly how I've managed my audio collection, since moving it to my laptop a year ago.  It's easy and it works great, although there are a couple of points to bear in mind:

--Under "tools/options/library&folders/auto-import folder", you CANNOT enable "fix broken links: Yes".  The only thing this fixes is the size of your library.  You CAN do "fix broken links: Yes (protect network files)".  I don't care about a few orphan files, they're easy enough to find, so I do "fix broken links: No".

--The EASIEST way to move your files is by renaming files from properties.  Others will point out that find/replace or simply renaming in details view (substitute "H:" for "C:") are simpler and quicker, but I've been down both roads, and rename from properties has been more consistently bulletproof against operator error.

--Turn on "update for external changes".

--Suggestion #1:  Create a custom calc field with an "IsMissing" conditional.  I don't want MC to tease me with tracks I can't play. 

--Suggestion #2:  Add a "file path" pane to your default view scheme.  Since some drives are missing now and then, this makes it easier to manage your stuff. 

As far as MC promplting for whatever missing drive:  ha!  AFAIK, the closest you'll get to this is a view scheme that plainly tells you where the track is currently sitting.  If you're thinking of sending your offline tracks out to multiple drives with differing capacities, etc etc etc, I would only say this:  Seagate 500 GB drives are going for $100 online.  Why take the pain?

[glynor]

I do this same thing with my video files...  I just use the Rename Files from Properties.

The biggest problem, and one I've complained about a few times (but since it's summer and I'm busy not that enthusiastically), is that you cannot manually assign the [Removable] tag.  If you could, it would solve all my problems.  As it is, I have issues... The way I've been doing it is:

0. I mount all the removable drives as the same drive letter (S in my case).  Most of my view schemes have a search that excludes those files from the view (Not Volume Name S).  I don't like to use the IsMissing method because it's slow and because if a file REALLY goes missing I don't want it to vanish, I want to know about it.

1. I assign a custom tag ([ArchiveID]) to the files with the volume name of the drive I'm going to move the files to.  I have some "all media" view schemes designed that show these files along with the rest of my media.  These schemes have a pane with this custom field added, so I can filter in/out the drives I want to look at.

2. To move new files over, I first assign the [ArchiveID] tag.  I browse around my library assigning this tag.  I then use a view scheme that has these panes: [ArchiveID], and [Volume].  It's easy then to find all the files that I've "queued" to be moved, but which haven't been moved over to drive S.  I connect the appropriate drive and use Rename Files from Properties to move them.

The biggest issue is when you have more than one drive assigned to drive S.  When you have a bunch of files on drive#1, and a different set on drive#2.  When you connect drive#2,  the Auto Import Fix broken Links function will consider the files from drive#1 "deleted" and remove them from the library (because it can see the parent drive -- so they fail the "protect network files" test).  If you could manually assign the files "removable" status, then this wouldn't be a problem!  As is, you basically can't use the Fix Broken Links feature, which is a bummer.

[dcwebman]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll give it a go this coming weekend. Not sure why we can't change the Removable field. Will have to check into that. How does it get set by MC?

[jgreen]

DC--

Have a look at Sparta's "Replace master".  I seem to recall at one point or another that it would write to ANY field in MC, even non-user editable ones.  Or I could be imagining this.

[hit_ny]

The biggest problem, and one I've complained about a few times (but since it's summer and I'm busy not that enthusiastically), is that you cannot manually assign the [Removable] tag.  If you could, it would solve all my problems.  As it is, I have issues... The way I've been doing it is:

It may be possible by using mpl, tho this isn't too easy. Undecided on whether this is a good or bad thing

- Select files whose tags you want to modify,
- add to PN,
- save the files in PN to mpl
- Open mpl in a text editor and do a search/replace for the tag. Save.
- File->Import playlist, select the mpl

Those tags should now be updated.

[dcwebman]

Have a look at Sparta's "Replace master".  I seem to recall at one point or another that it would write to ANY field in MC, even non-user editable ones.  Or I could be imagining this.

It has the field in there but I couldn't get it to work. I posted over in the plug-in forum.

It may be possible by using mpl, tho this isn't too easy. Undecided on whether this is a good or bad thing

The Removable tag wasn't in the MPL. I added it but it still did not get changed.