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[Blue Boy]

I use a portable install and using wav. files ( I know there is lossless options but I'm a stubborn man..)
I do it like this: I drag and drop a folder with an album ripped to Wav., using the tag meny to enter atist and album names. then I add coverart from a folder (I have cover arts stored in a separate folder in every album.
Don't know if this is the way to go, but it seems to work out.
What I want to do, is copy this setup to another HDD, so if somethings happens I have a backup (when every CD is ripped there will be about 2 000)

I have tried to copy both the musicfolder and MC 15 folder to another drive, it works but then MC 15 says
this is a trial version that expires xxxx. How can I use a sharp registred version on the backup HDD?

I'm asking this as there will be a lot of safety copying over the year to come....and if this don't work? How can I make a secure backup with all info, when I'm using Wav. files?

Kindly 
Blue Boy

[JimH]

There's no reason to copy MC to the new drive.  Just install it there when you need to.  If it's another portable drive, use the portable install.

With FLAC or Monkey's Audio (APE), the cover art and metadata could be embedded in the file.  The sound is identical to WAV.

[Blue Boy]

Okey, but of course there is a need to have it installed on another drive for security reasons. So if I install it to another drive, using portable install and my registration key, can I then be shure to copy it without losing the registration key on the backup HDD?

[JimH]

I think you know this, but the way the Portable Install works is this:

1.  Install MC on a PC.

2.  License it.

3.  THEN do another install, this time choosing the Portable Install.

If you had another portable drive, you would do the same.

If you wanted to run MC from another PC, you would have to do step 1 and 2 again, but you could avoid this by running from the portable drive.

The best way to learn more is to try.   Details about licensing are under "Purchase" above.

[Alex B]

1. The important thing is the database aka MC's library. It contains all metadata, playlists, playback statistics and view configurations. You can save a backup file of it in File > Library > Back Up Library... Do this weekly or whenever you have done lots of changes to your library. Copy the backup file to a safe place or perhaps to two separate places.

MC creates backup files automatically, but they are stored on your system drive (in the user profile location) and they may not contain they most recent changes.

2. You don't need to back up the installed program files. If your hard drive crashes you can reinstall and restore a library backup file after the problem has been fixed. If you want you can store a copy of the installer file in safe place (currently MediaCenter150046.exe).

3. In addition you should backup the registration code (from the email you got) and the password that can be used for changing the email address.

4. You don't need to use the portable install option for backing up anything. The portable install has some functional limitations and I'd recommend using the standard install and installing MC on your system drive (usually C:). Having MC installed on the system drive doesn't limit its capability to access and maintain files on external drives. Naturally, you can create a portable installation in addition to a standard installation and evaluate its usefulness.

5. MC can add metadata to Wave files. It is a relatively new option that was added some months ago. It is disabled by default, but you can enable it in Tools > Plug-In Manager > Input > Wave & AIFF Plugin > Configure...

After the setting is enabled you can write the metadata that you already have in the library to the file tags by using the Update Tags (from library) tool. Future changes will be saved automatically to the files.

If you use the files with other devices and/or programs I'd recommended testing compatibility before tagging your files. The tags are stored in a way that is allowed in Microsoft's Wave file standard, but most other players cannot read them and some may have playback problems with tagged wave files. Personally I have not experienced any playback problems, but I have tried only some common Windows player programs.

EDIT

Jim posted while I was writing my reply.

[Tezzles]

I'm new to all this stuff on forums and stubborn too. It's probably because I'm OLD.  Anyway, I have been paranoid about loss of sytems over the years, having experienced several crashes and hard drive failures. And so I have several hard drives in my old machine and two in the new one, plus externals. I have used software like Paragon Partition Manager to do complete copies of drives/partitons, etc.  I also keep my CD covers in separate folders, like you.  On top of that I keep library backups, again in a separate folder.  If I am reading your post correctly though, it sounds more like a synchronizing issue.  All I can suggest is that you copy all of your files onto a new drive; then change the drive letter on the old one to say X:; then change to letter assigned to the new drive to that which was on your old drive originally (assuming you have all of your music files on a separate drive). If you always adopt a consistent system of attributing a drive letter (or partition letter) like M: for music, and you have backups of the libraries, you should not run into any problem in the event of a crash.  One word of warning, don't use letter A: or B: as I have just discovered that MC 15 does not like it even for a CD drive.  Good luck.  Terry

[Mr ChriZ]

MC creates backup files automatically, but they are stored on your system drive (in the user profile location) and they may not contain they most recent changes.

I think with Portable Install they are actually stored with the Portable Install.

[Alex B]

Hi Chriz,

You are probably right, the portable install should not save anything to the user profile location.

Did you notice the other thread and my question there? :

- possible registration or update issues if you have a used the portable install option:

I have not used the portable install for a long time. I must try it again before posting anything. Stand by...
If anyone else has recent experiences of updating a portable MC instance, please tell about them. Mr ChriZ?

[Mr ChriZ]

Answered in other thread,

Thanks,
C.