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[kensn]

I have updated a bunch of tags on all my movies and I would like to copy all the sidecar files to my backup drive. I just want to overwrite the sidecar files on my backup drive, not recopy all the movie files.

My backups are manual to my backup drive, I just copy over the directories when I get a few new movies.

My directory structure is Drive:\Movie Name\Movie file & Sidecar file. Both directories are the same on both drives. The files on the backup drive are not in the library.

Any way to do in bulk instead of individually?

Thanks,

Ken

[Fabricio]

+ 1 ..

[MrC]

This is best solved with a good syncing tool where you can just have it mirror one directory to another.  if your media files never change, the syncing tool would just copy over the changed files (sidecars) and nothing more.  But when a media file is changed, it will also be copied.  These are not the types of tasks you should bother doing manually.

There are pay tools and there are free tools; which one you use depends on your budget and skill level.

Ask if you want more some suggestions.

I'm a command line guy, so I just run rsync supplying a couple of options, a source directory and a target directory, and it does all the work.  I like it because it is free, reliable, fast, cross-platform, can run over ssh, etc.

[glynor]

I have updated a bunch of tags on all my movies and I would like to copy all the sidecar files to my backup drive. I just want to overwrite the sidecar files on my backup drive, not recopy all the movie files.

If you do the backup via MC itself (via Rename, Move, and Copy) and have it import the files into a MC Library, then MC itself can update the Sidecar files easily via the normal mechanism.  But, I'm a bit confused over what exactly you're looking to accomplish, and I think that MrC's suggestion is actually a better fit for your needs.

If the goal is to have a backup copy of media files, along with their associated sidecar files, kept up to date as you make tagging changes (especially things like [Last Played] which might change at any time), then your best bet is to implement a real Sync solution for backup.  If you aren't as wizardly as MrC with the command line, there are a ton of great tools for things like this.  Here are a few:

GoodSync: Cross platform, powerful, and flexible, but the UI is a little clunky.
SyncBack: Very simple to use and powerful, but Windows only.
SyncToy: Free and somewhat limited, from Microsoft.  But free, and might solve your issue.

Or, perhaps just good imaging/backup software.  In this space, the answer is easy, as There Is Only One that I'd even consider recommending anymore:

Macrium Reflect

If you need to make images and backups, automatically, and be able to schedule them recover using a Preboot environment (recovery disk) type of setup?  Just Get Macrium.  Like Acronis before they made it crappy, but honestly better than Acronis (or Norton Ghost) ever was in the real world.  A fantastic product.

NOTE:  I use all of the products listed above for my personal needs, except for SyncToy (which I used to use, but outgrew quickly).  I use, and LOVE, many things about Goodsync.  I just wish the UI wasn't so clunky.  It works great if you need to create something like "your own Dropbox" where files automatically sync back and forth between machines, including different platforms, as the files change (not on a schedule).  It works pretty darn well, and has a lot of power.  However, for ease-of-use and reliability, I love SyncBack for my automated (scheduled) backups.

For System Imaging (compressed, restore a partition style) backups, then I use Macrium Reflect, and it simply cannot be beat.  And, it has lots of File Sync capabilities too, so it might serve all of your needs.

[MrC]

I was hoping glynor would provide his input.  Good stuff.

Also, if you have a need / use for Directory Opus, its sync tool isn't to shabby.

[kensn]

Thanks Guys... Will look at the options.

Glynor, I had just redid my NAS stations and copied over a backup of my Movies. This is a "spare" backup for HD failure of the main Movies drive. I then did a bunch of tag changes to my movies and just want to rewrite the sidecars over to the spare drive instead of copying over all the movie files too.

I tied robocopy but it didn't like my UNC paths or just the mapped drive letter.

I see how a real sync program would have more use for me too.

I have used Acronis for years, and really like it. I have not gotten the last 2 versions though.. I will look into Marcrium.

Thanks again for the replies....

[javidan]

If you do the backup via MC itself (via Rename, Move, and Copy) and have it import the files into a MC Library, then MC itself can update the Sidecar files easily via the normal mechanism.  But, I'm a bit confused over what exactly you're looking to accomplish, and I think that MrC's suggestion is actually a better fit for your needs.

If the goal is to have a backup copy of media files, along with their associated sidecar files, kept up to date as you make tagging changes (especially things like [Last Played] which might change at any time), then your best bet is to implement a real Sync solution for backup.  If you aren't as wizardly as MrC with the command line, there are a ton of great tools for things like this.  Here are a few:

GoodSync: Cross platform, powerful, and flexible, but the UI is a little clunky.
SyncBack: Very simple to use and powerful, but Windows only.
SyncToy: Free and somewhat limited, from Microsoft.  But free, and might solve your issue.


NOTE:  I use all of the products listed above for my personal needs, except for SyncToy (which I used to use, but outgrew quickly).  I use, and LOVE, many things about Goodsync.  I just wish the UI wasn't so clunky.  It works great if you need to create something like "your own Dropbox" where files automatically sync back and forth between machines, including different platforms, as the files change (not on a schedule).  It works pretty darn well, and has a lot of power.  However, for ease-of-use and reliability, I love SyncBack for my automated (scheduled) backups.

For System Imaging (compressed, restore a partition style) backups, then I use Macrium Reflect, and it simply cannot be beat.  And, it has lots of File Sync capabilities too, so it might serve all of your needs.

I second Glynor's choices.
Both Goodsync and Syncback are what I use as well. In fact I would hazard to even say that Syncback is one of the other paid software I rate on the same level as JRiver MC for what I do in backup. (i.e. My quest for looking for an even better software came to a satisfied stop when I found MC for Media as it did for Windows backup for Syncback.)

It was frustrating that both of them were not software which came up at the top of the list when you do web searches and the tonnes of software you'd have to go through before settling on them but yeah both of these are a few of the ones I would install first on a new laptop because I cannot live without them for what they do.

If you were not interested in just sync software and wanted a ultra powerful explorer replacement instead I would ask you to try Directory Opus out. You could basically achieve what you wanted simply by asking for a flat directory structure and filter for only the sidecar files easily. DOpus also has the ability to look for updated files if you wanted to sync and look for duplicate files.

Oh and thanks for the heads up on Macrium Glynor. Gonna try it right now.