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[chriswale]

I just lost my library of music! How on earth can I delete something without intending to.

I had a library called: Music. With a lot of work that had gone into it today, at least several hours today since my last backup.
I was working on a new library called: Photos & Videos. Which I was trying organize.

While I was experimenting with the Photos & Videos, I decided that I needed to delete and restore the Photos & Videos library as I had made a few mistakes. But I couldn't delete the Photos & Videos while I was using the library, so I loaded my Music library, and then deleted the Photos & Videos library.
Now I was ready to restore the Photos & Videos library again , so I clicked on> Restore Library (to load a backed up version of Photos & Videos). I selected the back up file, and without any warning - it overwrites my Music library, with my old Photos & Videos library!
The worst part, is that I was following a completely logical process.
It should have at least said: Do you want to overwrite the current library (Music) or do you want to load this as a separate library (Photos & Videos)!!!

I now know that 'Restore Library' overwrites the current opened library! But I shouldn't have had to learn the hard way!

Please add this feature to 'Restore Library>' command. I won't make the mistake again, but it might help someone else not have to go through the pain.

[Mr ChriZ]

I agree this is not all that intuitive.
It would be better if restore had a list of libraries to overwrite, or alternatively the option to create a new library.

[chriswale]

If I had 10 test subjects in a room, I think 8/10 could make this mistake.
and its not the kind of mistake MC should allow to happen so easily,,,

[StFeder]

and its not the kind of mistake MC should allow to happen so easily,,,

It doesn't!

If I restore a library MC automaticly runs a backup of the overwritten ones. It's named "MC Library Backup (LIBRARY NAME - Before Restore).zip". For me with Vista all automaticly backups are done in "C:\Users\USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 13\Library Backups".

Perhaps the message "Library restore successfull" could include a hint for the backup...

The worst case would be, you restore your library twice, than the first overwritten may be gone forever

[Alex B]

In addition a simple static warning text inside the restore window would make things clearer. Something like: "This will replace your currectly active library."

In general, a restore can help only if the backup file is up-to-date. MC creates an automatic library backup file every other day or so, but that may not be enough. I always create a manual backup file to a safe location before and after any big changes so that I can easily revert the changes and also restore the last changes if something bad happens to my user profile location or library files. It takes only a few seconds.

[Doof]

While I was experimenting with the Photos & Videos, I decided that I needed to delete and restore the Photos & Videos library as I had made a few mistakes. But I couldn't delete the Photos & Videos while I was using the library, so I loaded my Music library, and then deleted the Photos & Videos library.
Now I was ready to restore the Photos & Videos library again , so I clicked on> Restore Library (to load a backed up version of Photos & Videos). I selected the back up file, and without any warning - it overwrites my Music library, with my old Photos & Videos library!
The worst part, is that I was following a completely logical process.

Not that this helps you now, but wouldn't it have been more logical to just do the Restore from the Photos & Videos library? Why go to all the trouble of switching libraries, then deleting the other library, then restoring it?

I'm still not quite clear about why you maintain seperate libraries for Music and Photos and Videos. What benefit do you get from that?

[chriswale]

Thank you for your comment Doof.
I do feel that I did things logically. However, all I am suggesting is that the a small feature is added to the software that protects users from making the same mistake. I must admit, I was a bit over dramatic about the problem when I first posted this topic, but I guess that's how I felt at the time.

To answer your question:

I'm still not quite clear about why you maintain seperate libraries for Music and Photos and Videos. What benefit do you get from that?

Here are some of the main reasons why I like to do it this way:

1) I don't want all my pictures and videos available for viewing when I have friends over and I just want to play music in 'party mode'
I know that I can use: 'Access Control', but I am already using it for something else, and it doesn't seem to be able to create another 'access control'.

2) I have selected in options: 'Allow multiple instances (of MC) to run at one time'. I have two screens, and this allows me to have my music open in one and my photos/videos open in another. 
This enables me to do more than I would if I used one library for all media types, some main examples are:
2.1) Switch between images and audio views without my pane filters resetting back to 'all'.
2.2) Change the music (or reduce volume) while watching a photo slide show (without having to stop the photo slide show)
2.3) Tag music and photos/videos at the same time.
2.4) Keep my music playing when watching videos (reducing the volume as much or as little as I like)

I have suggested a feature be added to that allows the user to open another window, which would allow you to use two screens with one library: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=51267.0

I hope that answers your question.

[Doof]

It does. I never really needed to do things that way, but I can see where it could come in handy. Thank you.

As far as "multiple access controls" You can pretty easily just add or remove a rule to the existing ruleset you already have that would allow/disallow videos/images. For instance, you could have it set to just allow all media types, and then when your friends are coming over, open it up and uncheck the Video and Image types. Just an idea.