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[gottwavo]

I today messed up my library today. It wasn't too bad since I had a - somewhat older - backup and quickly could restore everything. I understand that MC creates an automated backup of the library. GHowever I could not find it.
Where is it hidden? And how can I configuere the automated backup?
I could not find anything in the Wiki nor in the Forum ...

Thanks for letting me know and learn.

[Matt]

Automatic backups are saved in Documents\JRiver (configurable in Options > File Location).

[JimH]

Search the wiki and you'll find more.

[gottwavo]

The Wiki has nothing on "library backup automated" and too much on "library backup" to find the good one ...

When I set the directory in Option --> File Locations for the library backup this seems to be for the manual backup only. At least I did not have anything else there but what I did manualy. But where is the automated backup stored and how often is it done? And can I configure this?

Any link to anything would be appreciataed.

[MrC]

By default, in earlier versions of MC17 and prior versions, the backups would be at:

   C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 17\Library Backups

But recently, MC17 changed the location to place the library backups in your Documents folder, as Matt mentions.

17.0.55 (12/14/2011)

8. Changed: Library backups go to [Documents]\JRiver\Media Center 17 instead of into the application data folder (configurable in Options > File Location).

You can change this in the Tools > Options > File Locations setting, bottom of the options dialog.  You can move the old backups from the Appdata location to your new location, or just use them when necessary.

[edited w/additional info]

[gottwavo]

Thanks

However, I do not have the repective directory (see screenshot):



and what do you mean by "Tools > Options > File Locations setting, bottom of the options dialog". I do not see anything here (see screenshot) that looks like "bottom of the options dialog" in file locations. Do you mean to change the temp directory?

And I don't have a folder documents/jriver. 8I have German speaking Windows7. Here the folder would be "Dokumnete", but there is no subfolder jriver.)



And how often does the auto-backup happen?

[MrC]

If you don't have the Library Backups directory in Appdata, then no backups were created in this prior location.  All would be in your set location.

Your screenshot shows the location of the backups directory.  It is the setting just below your highlighted entry.

I'm not sure exactly when MC performs automatic backup.  Mine seem to be every couple of days.  Probably there are additional triggering events, such as MC updates.

[gottwavo]

Thanks for the support so far and getting closer to understanding the backup issue.

I scanned the files on my Music-PC and I have nothing that looks like an automated backup of the MC library. I just have the files that i created manually with the different (old) dates in the filename

So I wonder, if MC 17 really does this famous automated backup on my system. I was reading somewhere it would be done every three days. Since i have MC longer than three day there should be at least a few updates somewhere ...
And if so, is there a a new file created at every backup or the old one jut overwritten?

[MrC]

They are just zip files.  Here are some from my virtual machine's install:

The format of these files doesn't change - automated or manual backups just produce a zipped collection of MC data for use by MC during a library Restore.

Is it possible that your backup file location is/was not writable by MC?

[gottwavo]

Yes, I have these same files (four of them, 1 from today of course and three from last year's summer when I played around with MC), but only the ones I created myself. I will watch what's happening.

Backups are only useful if they run in the background. If you have to think about doing them, you don't have them when needed.

No write access? Difficult to imagine, since the manual backups are stored. It might be that MC is trying to store at a location that is not existing and then gives up, without telling me.

[MrC]

I'm just a user like you, just sharing what I've learned.

I suppose we'll never know why your backups didn't occur in the past - perhaps the system clock was off and didn't compare favorably with the Last Backup time that's stored per-library.

[gottwavo]

... it would be great if someone from JRiver could comment and give some insight ...

[JimH]

No idea.  Backups should appear if you go to File/Library/Restore.  I think the default path on Win7 is:

C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 17\Library Backups\

[gottwavo]

Yes, Library appears when I go to File/Library/Restore. And i can backup and the files are stored in the directory defined in the Option/file Location menu.
So far so good.

But there is no directory C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 17\Library Backups\

On my German Windows 7 it is/should be C:\Benutzer\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 17\Library Backups\

Consequently there is no backup file since I have installed MC17.

From the MC16 installation I see the directory C:\Benutzer\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 16\Library Backups\
However in there are to old files dated July 2011, the same day. I can't remember, when I switched to MC17, but there also should be more backup files, if the backup had worked.

I have created the missing folder manually and watch what happens. I keep you updated.

And yes: I still miss a precise information on how to config the automated backup. How often? Can I change the frequency? Can I change the file location? And if yes, where?

[gottwavo]

After watching the backup for a few days I found a few interesting things I did not know and want to share with others that may also not know (Those that know everything anyhow may want to stop reading here.) Note: I have a Windows 7, 64 bit System with MC 17.

1. The library that is used "live" is stored in the directory C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 17\Library\

2. The backups. (manually or automated) go to that directory that you configured in Tools-->Options-->File Location-->Program Files (the last line in the window).



I could easily do manual backups and they ended up where expected as a .zip file with the data added
I did not see automated backups since long.

I changed to run MC 17 as administrator and then it seems to work. There is a backup of the library in a subdirectory of the above specified one which is called "J River" and has no zip file, however all the files and the structure of the one used by the program (C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 17\Library\...)

It seems that the automated backup always replaces (writes over it) the old backup. So you do not have a history of backups, which could become an issue, if you recognize an error in your library relative late after a few days. If you did not do a manual backup, you have nothing good to go back to.

3. Additonal Backup. I am using SyncBack Pro for regular backups of all my data and mp3 files. So I decided to have more control over the Library backup and created a backup job with SyncBack Pro. And there may be other software that does the same job as good. The backup job creates a backup of the library in C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 17\Library\ to the Library Back directory every day at the same time (when the PC is running, when not it's skipped). The backup is automatically condensed into one zip file. To preserve more than one backup, I have decided to name the files with a date parameter. By that I am keeping a long list of backups and can frequently go back an delete the very old ones.

Below is how this looks on my PC.



I have tested the restore with these backups created from SynBack Pro. It works. And you still can decide to do a manual backup whenever you think of it.

I feel much better now knowing when and what is saved where.

[MrHaugen]

I've not read all of the text here. But I think I'm looking for the same thing as the OP. I was also surprised that the Backup location was not honored for automatic backups. I would very much like them to be set to my file server for backup. Now I have to install a sync tool to get daily backups without user interaction. That is not ideal.

[Urbanito]

I do my backups manually, but I don't like that. In the other hand, since the backup files are stored on the same computer, we risk to lose everything if there is a crash.
So, I decided to backup all the music files that are stored on My Music to an external hard disc. After I did it for the first time, I installed Media Center 17 on my other PC and transferred all the files backed up on my external hard disk to MY Music of the new one.
After that, all the files were imported to MC and everything was OK: all the albums with their cover art and ready to play. This was just an experience and it
resulted well.
Now I have my music files in 3 places, physically distinct, and I feel safer.
I also have a network software from Cisco, called Network Magic. It is really grate. On a matter of seconds I have everything on my network and I can look the content of my shared files in any of the computers and change from my laptop whatever I want, for instance on my PC, including importing or exporting all the files or documents I want. It is really great. I am less worried with MC backup capabilities.
I also can compress the files before backing up.
It may sound very naive to you, but I found that I should share this with you.
Kind regards to all,
Urbanito
PS: Please indulge my English, not my native language.