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[Urbanito]

Hi:
Something strange happened - is happening - with my music data base.
I already had more than 500 CDs ripped with MC, with a few imported from HD Tracks.
I started to notice that a lot of them had disappeared. Vanished.
I was and I am very worried, since they represent a lot of work and even learning how to use MC.
Since I started checking, two days ago, I noticed that I have "lost" about 250. Since I have the CDs, I started ripping them again, but this can not be the way to go.
Jim suggested me to restore the backups inside the MC, but I was lost. I didn't know which date to pick of the several presented.
Anyway, I end up to restore about 50.
Since I don't understand well how to proceed, I gave up the restoring method.
I ripped about 150 and, today, I noticed that some of the recent ones had vanished again.

I beg your support for:

Try to understand what may be causing the problem. (I am very conservative in terms of exploring MC. I allways finish the program, pressing the red X on the top right of the screen. I also am not using any network for anny purpose).

Trying to find a solution for the problem and get back my albums.

I have a question: IS THERE ANY LIMIT FOR THE NUMBER OF FILES? This could explain why I am loosing albums, but I don't think so.
I still have 354 GB free in my PC.

Sorry to be so long, but I wanted you to understand well my problem.

[Matt]

Where on disk do you keep files?  What do you see if look there with Windows Explorer?

There is no limit to how many files Media Center can handle.

[Urbanito]

Thanks Matt.
My music files go automatically to MY MUSIC, where they are stored on folders, like it happens with my pictures. I don't do anything to them in there.
With the photos I send them to Photo shop from my pictures folders and "save as" to the same folder once I have treated them, or I create sub-folders.
I don't know if I answered your question.

[Listener]

Thanks Matt.
My music files go automatically to MY MUSIC, where they are stored on folders, like it happens with my pictures. I don't do anything to them in there.
With the photos I send them to Photo shop from my pictures folders and "save as" to the same folder once I have treated them, or I create sub-folders.
I don't know if I answered your question.

Urbanito,  Matt was suggesting that you use Windows Explorer to see what music files are present.  You answered with your assumption about where the files were located.

Just because you are not seeing your music files in MC, they are not necessarily gone from your hard drive.  You should not jump to conclusions and do anything drastic.

First, see whether your files are still present on you hard drive where you expected to find them.

Then check the file location settings in the Tools/Options/File Location dialog to be sure that you have been ripping files to the "My Music" location you expected.  If you were using some other program to rip CDs, check the file location settings in that program.

Next, examine the view you are using in MC to look at your files.  Views in MC filter out some kinds of files.  For example, the audio view and the views under it filter out image files and video files. 

Check to see it you have a search criterion in use (top right corner of the screen).  If so, clear it. (Click on the arrow head at the left edge of the search box and then click on "Clear".

Neither MC nor Windows arbitrarily delete files.  Unless you explicitly deleted those files, it is likely that your files are still present.  They may be present in the MC database as well.  You just need to go through a troubleshooting process to understand what has happened.  Then if some corrective action is required, you can take the appropriate action.   Do not continue re-ripping your CDs until you are sure that you need to.

Bill

[Urbanito]

Thank you very much Bill for your support.
Unfortunately I don't understand very well the steps to follow on your recommendation.
I know that it is too much. But could you explain me on a step by step basis how I shall proceed?
Sometimes I don't know if and when you are referring to Windows and to MC.
One thing I know, however: I had the albums on all the MC display modes: Albums, Genres and 3D - the ones I use more - to listen to music and at a certain moment half of them were not there anymore. I know that they must be on the computer memory, but I don't know were.
The folders on My Music have a strange organization. Sometimes, I have 6 or 7 sub-folders on the same folder. I don't do anything to provoke that. I just rip my CDs always using MC and they appear there.
Is there anymore places on the computer where the files may be? I thought that all the files were stored on My Music.
I know that I must not keep ripping again and because of that I stopped.
Any additional help you may give to me will be crucial to solve the problem.
Best regards

[Urbanito]

Hi Bill.
With my poor knowledge I end up to check My Music Files and the ones that are there are the same that show up in MC. And the ones I have lost were on both places.
I don't recall to have done anything that may have caused this. One thing I am sure: I didn't delete anything, unless it was any command that has that capability, but it is not called "delete". And when I want to delete anything, Windows reminds me if I really want to delete.
Than, what may have happened?
Let me tell you about some strange things that happen sometimes:
One album may only some tracks (this is quite frequent);
Disc 1 and 2 appear under the same album, even if they were regularly ripped, always with MC and in FLAC.
Some time ago I backed up all my albums on MY Music to an external hard drive and transferred them to my main PC. When I installed MC and imported the albums, the operation was very smooth and all the albums, with their cover arts were showing up and I listened to music very well.
I didn't lose any albums on this PC, but I use it more for photography.

Does this information helps?

[Listener]

Urbanito,

I am unable to type much at a time due to pain in my hand, so my responses may be slow and limited.

> But could you explain me on a step by step basis how I shall proceed?

Without more specific details on your level of PC skills and skills in using MC, I can't provide exact instructions at the level of detail you need.  I'll explain the steps I listed earlier and ask you some questions.

Q1.  Are you using standard view or theater View?

The instructions that follow are specific to standard view.  If you are in theater view, press escape and then click on "Exit" to return to standards view.  If you are in Display view, click on "close display".

> Sometimes I don't know if and when you are referring to Windows and to MC.

The first step referred to using Windows explorer to look for files that you don't see in MC.  Look first in the "My Music" folder where you expect to find the files.  If you don't see the files there, click on "C:" in the folder pane on the left side of the Windows Explorer window.  The search all of drive C for the missing files.  (The way you perform the search is different for different versions of Windows.)

Q2. Which version of Windows are you using?

You should search for a specific word that should be part of the file name in one or more of the missing files.

There may be more than one folder named "My Music" on your computer.  There is one such file for each user name on the computer.  If you were logged in as "urbanito" when you ripped some CDs, those CDs might not be visible if you logged in as "ralph".  In addition, there may be a "My Music" folder for the default user.  Searching for the files using par tof the file name on the entire drive C will find the files if these exist anywhere on drive C.

> Is there anymore places on the computer where the files may be? I thought that all the files were stored on My Music.

I have just given you a way to search for the files using Windows Explorer.

In my earlier post, I suggested that you look at MC settings to see where it would store files created when it ripped CDs.

In the instructions I gave you earlier, I referred to the " Tools/Options/File Location dialog".  "Tools" refers to the tools command on the main menu at the top of the MC window.  When you click on "Tools", a menu drops down.  The "Options" command is at the bottom of that menu.  Click on "Options" and a large dialog window appears.  On the left side of that dialog window, you will see a list of words describing specific kinds of options.  For MC 17, this list starts with "Audio". Click on "File Location" in this list and the right side of the dialog window shows a number of options to specify where MC should place files.

The top 3 options (settings) specify where MC will place files created when you rip CDs.  The top setting specifies a base folder under which all the files will be placed. On my Windows 7 laptop, the default value for the base folder is "C\Users\Me\Music" where "Me" is the user name with which I log in.  The next option specifies a rule for creating a folder name for each file.  Normally, this rule uses tag values to build folder names.  I think that the default rule is "[Artist]\[Album]".  The third option specifies a rule for building a file name for each file when a CD is ripped.  I think that the default file name rule is "[Artist] - [Album] - [Name].

For example, If I tagged a track from a CD with Artist="Sinatra", Album="Come fly with me" and Name="Brazil", MC would store this file in the location

   "C:\Users\Me\Music\Sinatra\Come fly with me\Brazil".

There are two very important ideas you should understand now:

1. Look at these three settings to see where MC is storing files create when you rip CDs.

2. You can control where MC stores these files by changing the three settings.




> One thing I know, however: I had the albums on all the MC display modes: Albums, Genres and 3D - the ones I use more
> - to listen to music and at a certain moment half of them were not there anymore.
> ...
> I don't do anything to provoke that.

When Windows or MC appears to be behaving differently, it is often because you have done something different.  It is very common for a PC user to fail to remember just what they did to cause such a change in behavior.

> I know that they must be on the computer memory, but I don't know were.

Follow the instructions I have given you and you can find the files.

> The folders on My Music have a strange organization. Sometimes, I have 6 or 7 sub-folders on the same folder.

It is likely that the first level is the Artist name and the second level is the Aalbum name.

> I don't do anything to provoke that. I just rip my CDs always using MC and they appear there.

Suddenly, you needed to understand more about how MC works.  I've tried to give you some problem solving skills as well as to shed light on your immediate problem.

>  Let me tell you about some strange things that happen sometimes:

I'll explain a likely cause of what you are seeing.

> One album may only some tracks (this is quite frequent);

The rules for folder names I described are applied to each files as it is created.  If some of the files in an album have Artist="Cher" and others have Artist="Sonny", the default folder name rule ("[Artist]\[Album]") would cause some files to be stored under the "Cher" folder and others to be stored under "Sonny".

> Disc 1 and 2 appear under the same album, even if they were regularly ripped, always with MC and in FLAC.

With the default folder rule, if both CDs had the same Artist and Album tag values, all the files from both CDs would be stored in the same folder.

> Some time ago I backed up all my albums on MY Music to an external hard drive and transferred them to my main PC.
> When I installed MC and imported the albums, the operation was very smooth and all the albums, with their cover arts
> were showing up and I listened to music very well.

> I didn't lose any albums on this PC, but I use it more for photography.

This does not contribute to understanding whether any files are missing from the first PC and if not, where they are.  It is good that you have a backup copy of your files.

> Any additional help you may give to me will be crucial to solve the problem.

I have tried.  Now you need to try out the instructions I have given you.

Bill

[Urbanito]

Bil:
I am sorry for your pain and hope it is nothing serious. I am very grateful for all your work, explaining me how to proceed. This defines a man that is good and kind and practices the values of solidarity.
Due the difference of hours (I suppose that you live in the US), I just started my day.
I am going now to do what you suggested, now much easier, with the instructions you gave to me.
I will let you know the results as soon as I have them.
Thanks again and I will come back later on.
My warmest regards,
Urbanito

[JimH]

Thanks, Bill.

[JimH]

Urbanito,
Are you using MC to rip? 

[Urbanito]

Hi again Bill:
I think I have done my homework and I will try to expose it the most clear I can.

Q1.  I am always using Standard View. It is more than enough for me. I never tried the other modes.

   My confusion with Came from having my Windows in Portuguese. I use it quite frequently, but under another name.

First step:

I went to “MY Music”, looked very carefully and couldn’t find any of the “missing” albums. All the ones that wert her, did match the ones in MC.

I looked in “C:”, and I didn’t find any.

I entered the names of 30 “missing” albums sorted from the bunch in no particular order and I couldn’t’ find anyone.
However, the covers that I found on “images” were all there. I keep them on a folder in “My Pictures”
Is it too early to conclude that They were deleted, even if I don’t know or remember how?

Second step:

I looked at MC and I went to “Options” > File Location:
My default value for the base folder is also “C\Users\Joao Urbano\Music”
The value for the second option is “Artist\Album\”
The value for the third option is “Artist – Name”

You gave me an example with a Sinatra album and you say that MC will store the file in the location “C:\Users\Me\Music\Sinatra\Come fly with me\Brazil”.
Where can I find the location, in order to test with an example of mine?

Q2.  I have a Windows 7 Home Premium Pack 1 and I am the only user. So, I have just one account. My wife has her own Laptop. So, I can’t login on a different name.

Later in your answer you say:

1.   “Look at these three settings….”

I looked and as I have explained before, MC is storing files in the “C:\Users\Joao Urbano\Music\”

2.   “You can control where MC stores the files…”

I don’t think that, for now I will want to change this.

You also told me about the reasons that may me the cause of one folder to have only some tracks and Disc 1 and 2 appear in the same album. I understand the reasons, but I don’t know witch rules to apply in order to avoid this. Could you be so kind to suggest me the rules to apply?

Conclusion(?):

I am sure I have done something very wrong, since I couldn’t find the “disappeared” files. But what?
Is there anything that I may have done witch deleted a big bunch of files, like a delete from the computer and not just from library or sent to recycle bean without pressing the delete button? And how could have done that, not once, but about 200 times?
This is what worries me, the possibility of happening again.
Sometimes, and trying to learn more about MC, I explore it and I may have done something wrong, if such possibility exists. Is there any possibility of erasing most of my library if I do something wrong, while “playing” with MC? What and where?

This is already a lot of text and a lot of work that I am asking you. For this I am very sorry.

I will remain very grateful to you.

Warmest regards.

[Urbanito]

Yes, Jim. I am using MC and just MC to rip.
Please look at my answer to bill, if you have time, to better understand my problem.
Kind regards

[JimH]

Click on Audio in the tree, then use the search window in the upper right corner to search for "missing" albums.  Use a small segment of the name.  "Sina", for example, is enough to find "Frank Sinatra".

Do you see anything?

You could also use Windows Explorer to watch the folder where the music should be going at the same time as you are ripping.

While you are ripping, you can also choose the "details" button and see the files as they are being ripped.  Hover your mouse over one to see its location.  Use Explorer to see if it's there.

In the same view, you can also right click on a file and use "Locate (external)" to find the file.

In other words, watch in detail what is happening as you do it.  You may learn something.

There are two possibilities I can think of:

1.  The files are being stored in the library and on disk, but you're not looking for them in the right place.
or
2.  The files actually are being removed by some other program as you rip them.

It would help a lot if you can discover which is true.

[Urbanito]

Jim:
Thank you again for your are.
I have already used the search button and this is the way I confirm that the albums are missing. I have the CDs with me and I search if they are there, using the search facility. If they are not found, I look at all the albums I have in MC, to confirm if they are missing. There is a perfect match in all the cases. Than, and after Bil's suggestions, I went to Windows manager and looked first at "My Music" and they were not there. Than I went into "C" and they were not there also.
Where can they be? I am guessing more and more that I may have erased them, but I don't know how.
I didn't press the delete button. But it will be more than 200 pressings, with the specification: "delete from the hard disk", to get this result.
As I told Bill, I am the only person using my computer. I have just an account.
Is there any place in MC from where I can erase my entire Library or parts of it that, during my exploration to learn more about, I could have pressed without knowing what I was doing?
My main concern is that I had already played lots of albums before, of the same that I can't find anymore. It is not a question IMO of another program keeping erasing the albums when I am ripping them, since I already have seen them in MC.
And the only Music program that I have is Windows Media Player that is not anymore my predefined program It is, of course, MC. I don't use it anymore.
The other programs I have and use intensively are Photoshop with a some plug ins programs, and a bit of Picasa.
I use Internet Explorer with BING and Google toolbar as a browser.
So, I don't know what to do anymore, unless I rip again the CDs what, in any case I will not do, until I get advice in contrary.
I am very sorry to give you so much trouble and work, but I love MC and music.
Kind regards

[Urbanito]

Hi again:

I just remembered that I use Tags to classify the albums by types of genres: Classical, Opera Areas, Baroque Music, etc.
Sometimes I edit what is in the Album, like having a more understable title.
Can this have any effect?

[MrC]

I just remembered that I use Tags to classify the albums by types of genres: Classical, Opera Areas, Baroque Music, etc.
Sometimes I edit what is in the Album, like having a more understable title.
Can this have any effect?

No, this would not cause the ripped album tracks to physically be deleted from the file system, or removed from MC's database.

Do you want some remote control help?

[JimH]

Did you try this?

You could also use Windows Explorer to watch the folder where the music should be going at the same time as you are ripping.

While you are ripping, you can also choose the "details" button and see the files as they are being ripped.  Hover your mouse over one to see its location.  Use Explorer to see if it's there.

In the same view, you can also right click on a file and use "Locate (external)" to find the file.

In other words, watch in detail what is happening as you do it.  You may learn something.

[Urbanito]

Thanks, MrC, but I am completely exhausted.
Tomorrow, and depending of what Bil tels me, I will consider that.
Thanks again. You are very nice persons and I deeply appreciate your support.
Kind regards.

[Listener]

Urbanito,

Thanks for taking the time to respond with detailed messages.  That helped me understand what you were doing.

> I just remembered that I use Tags to classify the albums by types of genres: Classical, Opera Areas, Baroque Music, etc.
> Sometimes I edit what is in the Album, like having a more understable title.
> Can this have any effect?

Probably not.  In my first post, I pointed out the possibility that the view you were using in MC was filtered out the missing files.Form you replies, it appears that this is not the case.


> I looked in “C:”, and I didn’t find any.

Did you just look in c:\ or did you use the search feature in the top right corner of the Explorer window to look in all of drive C:?

(If you have additional drives connected to this PC, you may want to search for the missing files on those drives as well.)

If you used the search feature and did not locate the missing files on your drive C:, you will have to get the missing files from somewhere else.  You mentioned using a backup drive to move files to another computer.  That backup drive or the files on the other computer can be used to replace the missing files.

If the backup drive contains all of your music files, you can simply restore those files to a different location on the PC with the missing files. Placing these files in a base folder you control (and whose name you can remember), will make it easier for you to avoid future problems.

I am going to concentrate on a process you can follow to restore the missing files:

----
Step 1. In Windows Explorer, create a base folder on your hard drive (on the PC where you want to play music) with a name that is meaningful to you.  For example, "c:\JMusic".

Step 2. Set the top setting under "Audio" (the base folder) in Tools/Options/File location to  "c:\JMusic".
From now on, when you rip a CD, the resulting files will be stored under this base folder.
If you leave the other two settings for audio files unchanged, then files will be stored by

the example I used earlier with  Artist="Sinatra", Album="Come fly with me" and Name="Brazil", MC would store this file in the location

   "C:\JMusic\Sinatra\Come fly with me\Brazil".

Step 3. Copy the music files from the backup drive to "c:\JMusic" using Windows Explorer.  (If you used backup software to copy files to the backup drive, those files may be stored on the backup drive in a special format.  In that case, you should use the backup software to restore the files to "c:\JMusic".)

Step 4. Make a backup of your current MC database.  (Click on "File" in the main menu, slide the mouse pointer over "Library" in the drop-down menu and click on "Backup library" in the next drop-down menu that appears to the right of first drop-down menu.

Step 5. Clear the list of auto-import locations in MC.  Click on "Tools" and then on "Import".  In the dialog that appears, click on the second button labeled "Configure auto-import" and then click on the "Next" button.  In the dialog window that appears, under "Add folder that you would like the program to watch", click on each folder listed and then click on "Remove".

Step 6. Remove all the music files from your MC library.  Click on "Audio" in the tree of views on the left side of the MC window.  Click on the first file.  Then click on "Edit" in the main menu and then click on "Select All".  Now press the delete key and click on the first choice "Remove from Media Library" and click on the "Delete" button. Click on "Finish" to exit from this dialog window.

Step 7. Import your files manually.  Click on "Tools" and then on "Import".  In the dialog that appears, click on the first button labeled "Import a single folder".  Then click on the button at the bottom of the window labeled "Next".  Below the text reading "Please select the folder to search", click on the button labeled "Browse" and select the base folder you created earlier. ("C:\JMusic" in my example.)  Under "Import these file types", click on the arrow head beside "audio".  In the list that appears, make sure that Flac and any other file type that is present in your collection is checked.  Make sure that "ignore files previously removed..." is not checked.  Make sure thta "ignore special files" is checked.  Now click on the "Finish" button at the bottom of the window.

You should see MC finding files and then importing them.  When MC finishes, it will display the dialog summarizing the result.  When you click on the "OK" button to exit this dialog, the recently imported view will be displayed.

---

This process should put all your music files in the new location and import them into MC.  If anything goes wrong, the files that were not missing are still in the original location and there is a backup of your library database.

Report back on your progress.

Bill

[Urbanito]

Bill:
Thanks a lot for keeping supporting me in the careful manner you do it.
I think I understood well the meaning and the process of your recommendations.
However I have a question before keep going.
After creating the new base folder in Windows Explorer, like "C:\JMusic", to where I will restore all the files that I have on the external hard drive as backups. if my musics are all there (unfortunately I kept ripping more CDs after the backup and they were not backed up to the same hard drive, just inside MC: Yesterday I did backup, anticipating your suggestion), I am all set.
But if they are not all there, what happens if I remove all my files from the MC library? Am I not going to loose all files I already have there, including the ones that I have ripped since I did the backup to the external drive?
Unless I can restore the MC library that I backed up yesterday to the new folder "C\JMusic", and I would like to know how do do it.
Then, I will wait for your answer to feel at easy.

Yestarday, looking to my MC library, I found more albums with one track in one, another track in another track and another containing the remaining tracks. They were presented as three albums, eatch one with the same cover and were imported from HDTracks. Just to check if someting wrong wwas in the album, I removed it from the disc and baught another one. I imported it to MC with the same result. Besides this one, I have several more with the same problem How can I correct the situation and moove the tracks to thw main album? And how can I avoid future situations of the same type?

With all this I forgot to ask you for your hand. Is it a kind of tendinites?
I hope you get cured soon.

Warm regards.

[Urbanito]

Hi again Bill:

I just found that two albums imported from HDTracks that were already in MC, also disappeared. This tells me that the problem is not with ripped ones. I import them again from the special folder that HDTracks creates in my desktop, but I fear that they may go away again.
I listened to one of them in MC, three days ago.
So, I still don't know where the problem is and I am afraid of loosing more, after I restore my library, as you told me.

Another issue, at least as I understand it, may be to run out of space on my Laptop, when I import (transfer) the files in my hard drive to the new folder you asked me to create.
Best regards

[JimH]

Hi again Bill:

I just found that two albums imported from HDTracks that were already in MC, also disappeared. This tells me that the problem is not with ripped ones. I import them again from the special folder that HDTracks creates in my desktop, but I fear that they may go away again.

Now you know that the files aren't disappearing.  The library (also called database) is losing track of them.

In English, it would be more accurate to say "also disappeared from the library".  When you say "also disappeared", it implies that the files are gone, which is not true.

Possibilities now:
1.  Your database is corrupt.  You could test that by setting up a new library and importing to it.  That's under File/Library/Library Manager.  Do NOT "clone" your current database".

2.  You are using two different copies of MC.  Make sure you always start the same way (from the same desktop icon).

3.  Something causes a problem when writing the database.  A virus checker sort of problem.  A registry cleaner.   Bad disk.   Etc.

4.  Or something else ...

[Urbanito]

Jim:
Of course you are correct and I should know more English to use the
appropriate words. Otherwise, I risk to say what I don't want to say. I will try has hard as I can, but indulge me, please, if I do more mistakes.
Coming back to the subject and to your suggestions, I need to know, correctly how should I create a new Library.
I see one simple possibility: To copy all the files I have on "My Music" to an external hard file, to look carefully to the copied files on my other PC (I have 1 TB). For this I could uninstall MC before transferring the data to do a clean operation. After that, I would download again MC to that PC , the transfer files on the hard drive and import the files to MC. Then, I will look carefully to all the files, to see if everything was OK. If yes, I could than delete all my library from my laptop, uninstall MC and download a new version and then transfer the data to the Laptop and import all the library to new and virgin MC.
What do you think about? Does it make any sense, or I may be dealing with a copy of a potentially corrupted library.
Anyway, I would like to propose that any action that I might take, would be submitted to Bill, since he is helping me since the beginning with an outstanding support and understanding that I can say that I have learned more in these few days than ever before. Outside of this, he is following a method that should not me interrupted.
Yoy have an outstanding team (if I can call them so) and you should be congratulated for that. The reason why I feel alone sometimes is because I don't know how to explain my problems.

Thanks again.
kind regards

[Listener]

After creating the new base folder in Windows Explorer, like "C:\JMusic", to where I will restore all the files that I have on the external hard drive as backups. if my musics are all there (unfortunately I kept ripping more CDs after the backup and they were not backed up to the same hard drive, just inside MC: Yesterday I did backup, anticipating your suggestion), I am all set.

See Step 3 in my previous post.

> But if they are not all there, what happens if I remove all my files from the MC library?
> Am I not going to loose all files I already have there, including the ones that I have ripped
> since I did the backup to the external drive?

See Step 4 in my previous post.  If you want to restore the MC database to use the files in the "C:\users\Joao Urbano\Music” folder, you can us that backup of the MC database..

I specified that you click on the first option "remove from library".  This option does not erase the music files themselves.

> Unless I can restore the MC library that I backed up yesterday to the new folder "C\JMusic",
> and I would like to know how do do it.

The step by step process I gave you will import your flac files from c:\Music" in the MC database.

Remember that there are several ways to get music files listed in the MC database.  You can rip CDs and the files that are created will be in the database.  You can import existing music files.

> Yestarday, looking to my MC library, I found more albums with one track in one, another track in another track and another
> containing the remaining tracks.

This sentence seems rather scrambled.  Do you mean that tracks from the same CD or downloaded equivalent to a CD have different album values?

A basic idea: If you don't like the tag values that MC has stored in its database for a track, you can change those values.

> They were presented as three albums, eatch one with the same cover and were imported from HDTracks.

As Jim explained, each Flac file has a set of tag values for Artist, Album and other tags stored in the MC database.  If the files for the tracks from one CD or one downloaded album have different values for the Artist tag or the Album tag, MC will, display the tracks as though they came from different sources.

> Just to check if someting wrong wwas in the album, I removed it from the disc and baught another one.
>  I imported it to MC with the same result.

You are jumping to conclusions and causing yourself extra work and expense.

> Besides this one, I have several more with the same problem How can I correct the situation and moove the tracks to thw main album?

You can edit tag values in MC.  If you don't know how, you should first look at the MC help (a WiKi) and then ask questions on the forum.

>  And how can I avoid future situations of the same type?

When you rip a CD, examine the tag values that MC retrieves from its online tag database before you start ripping the CD.  Change any values you don't like before you start ripping the CD.  You can change tag values later but it avoids confusion if you get the tags right before they are added to the library database.

When you manually  import files, look at the tags values MC took from those files (in the recently imported view.)  Change any values you don't want at that time. (I do not recommend using auto-import until you understand how MC works better than you do now.)

> With all this I forgot to ask you for your hand. Is it a kind of tendinites?

I've had tendinitis for over 20 years.  Now nerves in my neck are causing my muscles in my hands, arms and legs to contract.

> I hope you get cured soon.

I've been through physical therapy with some improvement in the level of pain when I am not using my hands.  I am still not able to use my hands without pain.

> Another issue, at least as I understand it, may be to run out of space on my Laptop

You can resolve this issue yourself.  You can use Windows Explorer to see how much disk space is used by the  "C:\users\Joao Urbano\Music” folder.  You can use Windows Explorer to see how much free disk space you have on your laptop.

I have tried to keep my comments as simple and focused as I could.  I have not addressed every possible complication because I felt it would make it more difficult for you to understand what I was suggesting.

----
I believe that your problems are at least in part a result of your limited understanding of how MC or any other music player software works.  I believe that your skills in using Windows may also be somewhat limited.  That makes your descriptions of your problem an unreliable basis for me or Jim to offer help in solving your problem.  You will have a much more successful experience using a PC to play music if you understand the concepts on which such software is based.

I'm going to leave this thread to Jim and others.  

Bill

[JimH]

Thanks again for all your help, Bill.  We're amazed at your patience and generosity here.

[Urbanito]

I am too. Bill has been outstanding and I undertand very well his decision to leave this subject.
I am going to try to learn more about MC and keep improving my skiils on Windows.
Thanks a lot.

[bidders]

I also lost most of my tracks. And I thought I'd uninstall version 17.1.4 and reload the latest hoping it would rescan my PC and pick up all my music this time. It was worse. I now have only one album, the last I ripped. I've checked in Tools/options and it is pointing to the right location. However when I check with manage the main library that is pointing to the jriver media 17 location. How can I get media centre v 17 to rescan at the correct location?

[JimH]

Please see the "Getting Started" link in my signature.