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[MusicHawk]

A while back I switched from MC13 to MC14, and my library and everything I expected was transferred or used by MC14 with no surprises. I had complex Rename expressions, carried over from MC13, and they worked fine.

I was using 14.0.46 on my editing PC, then left town for a spell so no interim upgrades until yesterday when I upgraded to 14.0.69.

I started .69 and my custom Rename expressions had vanished. All I had was MC's default expressions. My expressions were quite complex, so I didn't want to have to recreate them.

I restored a backup, but my custom expressions still were missing. Apparently this is not something included in a library backup.

I regularly copy MC's entire library path, including all my custom field files, plus the hard-to-find saved views folder, across my LAN to my family room playback PC, so I looked there -- nothing. I never do library editing on this PC so probably the custom Rename expressions were never there and never noticed.

Fortunately, after upgrading to MC14 I kept MC13 on my editing PC "just in case" -- and this was that case! I opened Windows Registry, located the keys where MC13 stores Rename expressions, and copied them to a Notepad file (for easier disaster recovery in the future), then into MC14 -- problem solved.

Is there a documented list of what is stored in a library backup and what is not, AND a list of where all the other critical files and configuration info are stored so they can be saved "just in case"?

I have long wished that MC does not use the Registry for user configuration and data information and now I'm doubling that wish. If EVERYTHING I configured and stored in MC was in external files (bring back .ini files), in a single documented location, MC would be easier to manage, backup, transfer to another PC, etc.

My reference gold standard is IBM Lotus Notes, which runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, and some mainframes, yet all versions use a single text .ini configuration file that can even be copied between versions/installations and with tiny editing (mainly file path) be used. One "notes.ini" text file does it all -- my wish for MC too.

[JimH]

I regularly copy MC's entire library path, including all my custom field files, plus the hard-to-find saved views folder, across my LAN to my family room playback PC, so I looked there -- nothing. I never do library editing on this PC so probably the custom Rename expressions were never there and never noticed.

Maybe you copied in the wrong direction.

[MusicHawk]

>> Maybe you copied in the wrong direction.

Nope.

I've been doing this process for a couple of years, automated via SyncBackSE (as explained in other posts as a useful technique). It's purely a one-way copy, no chance of polluting the master PC. Besides, this had nothing to do with the problem I'm reporting -- the second PC was OFF until well after the problem occured -- it has been OFF for more than a month. And even if ON and doing its backup process, the Registry is not part of the process at all.

The problem I'm reporting is that the custom Rename expressions MC stores in the Registry got overwritten by MC's default expressions - BY MC. Seems like a BUG.

The request I'm making is that JR document where critical data is stored, and even better, stop storing it in the Registry.