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Author Topic: What to do when your files aren't where MC thinks they are.  (Read 1887 times)

6233638

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So I tried using Drive Bender to pool my drives together, and it didn't work out for me. The thing is that when using it, I simply assigned all files in my library the letter for the drive pool. (instead of C:\ D:\ E:\ etc they are now X:\ )
Drive Bender moves your files around on all disks in the pool to balance the amount of free space on them though, so after disabling Drive Bender (which wasn't easy because things did not go well) none of the files are in the same location Media Center thinks they are - that includes the XML sidecar files and covers.

What is the best way to deal with this? I don't care about the sidecar file or film covers if they are unnecessary - far easier to delete them.

I have all of my music sorted out, which was easy enough because it all fits on one drive anyway, but that's not the case for films, which are a combination of ISOs and ones I've ripped to MKV.


They are all in the same folder structure they were previously in but on different drives from where Media Center thinks they are. Auto-import is currently disabled.

Previously I ran into issues where DFF files lost all information when I moved them in Explorer rather than via Media Center (though I now realize this is probably something I could have fixed) and I would like to preserve my "Date Imported" information for these if possible, so I am a bit concerned about losing data.

Do I have to sort this out manually, or will MC take care of it itself if I add the files again? (or run auto-import?)
Can I just backup my Library, see what happens, and restore it if the results aren't good?
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6233638

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Re: What to do when your files aren't where MC thinks they are.
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2013, 06:23:32 pm »

Well it may not be the right way to do this, but sorting it out was a lot easier than I thought.
I disabled sidecar creation and trashed the existing files (I want rid of them anyway) along with the cover art.

I then created a new calculated Library field for missing files using ismissing(), and grouped the files by [Missing]
Next step: Library Tools > Rename, Move, & Copy Files... > Update database to point to new location.

I did a simple replace with X:\Video and D:\Video
Files which were found are grouped together under "0" (because they are not missing, and ismissing() returns 0 for that) and files which are still missing are grouped under "1"

Now select all files which are still missing, and move on to the next drive letter, so replace D:\Video with E:\Video
Refresh the view, replace E:\Video with F:\Video and so on.

Only took a couple of minutes to fix the links on all drives.


Before that I did try backing up my library first, and letting auto-import have a go at it, but I just ended up with a ton of duplicate files that had a new import date, no ratings etc.
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glynor

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Re: What to do when your files aren't where MC thinks they are.
« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2013, 07:29:44 pm »

Yep.  Exactly right.

The Find And Replace tool in the Rename, Move, and Copy fields is quite handy.  Also note, you can do the same thing in the actual Filename field if you want.
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