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[akira54]

Hi,

We recently discussed user-friendliness but the built-in facility to copy/move files and folders together with the Wiki has me stumped. All I am trying to do is move a bunch of folders on my NAS. I go to Tools - Library tools and hat is where the trouble starts because at first I get no options at all (for some reason I now do). I select all the files in a folder and choose "Rename, Move & Copy Files". I activate "Find & Replace" and following the instructions I fill in the UNC path to the server as well as the new path.

Find What: \\Diskstation\Music\
Replace with: \\Diskstation\Music2\

All the files listed on the right indicate this is an <invalid change>. I then try it using the mapped drive names. I still get the <invalid change>. What am I missing here?

[Matt]

That's weird.  My files are on m:\ and when I find m:\ and replace with \\computer, it works fine.

[akira54]

Here is a screenshot.

PS. Would it matter that I am trying to do this from another machine than the one that has the library?

[mwillems]

Are you trying to do this operation from a library client?  If so, you need to do it from the library server instead.  Rename, Move, Copy is one of the handful of operations that can't always be done from a library client.

PS. Would it matter that I am trying to do this from another machine than the one that has the library?

Just saw your PS; it matters, you can't do that (without going into a separate local library and doing a workaround, easier to do it on the server) 

[akira54]

Ahhh. Thanks. It would have been helpful if the Wiki had stated this.

PS. Since the PC on which MC resides is a dedicated media server located in a home theatre it is not so comfortable to use in none-Theatre mode, hence the attempt to do it from behind a desk on another PC.

[mwillems]

Ahhh. Thanks. It would have been helpful if the Wiki had stated this.

PS. Since the PC on which MC resides is a dedicated media server located in a home theatre it is not so comfortable to use in none-Theatre mode, hence the attempt to do it from behind a desk on another PC.

Try using a remote desktop application like team viewer.  That's how I do admin on my headless server 

[akira54]

MWillems, of course, great suggestion!

I am still somewhat stuck though. As I noted earlier, I do not understand why I need to select files before I can even access the Library Tools. I do NOT want to move individual files, I want to move directories, as they are to a new location.

This gives a rough idea of how the folders are organised:
Music
    Classical
         Adams
         Albeniz
         Beethoven
             Chamber
             Choral
             Concertos
             Orchestral
             Piano solo
             Symphonies
                  5th
                       Vanska
                       Wand
         ....
    Country
    Folk
    Jazz
    Popular
    Reggae
    World

As you can see this can go quite deep and there must all in all be thousands of folders to move. Now how can I get MC to move all of this in one go without losing the present directory structure?

[ferday]

The RMC tool is quite powerful; but it requires a bit of patience to make it do exactly what you want.  I just moved over 250000 files with no issues, in almost no time at all.  Just be patient and set the move location exactly as you want to see it (tags!)

[mwillems]

MWillems, of course, great suggestion!

I am still somewhat stuck though. As I noted earlier, I do not understand why I need to select files before I can even access the Library Tools. I do NOT want to move individual files, I want to move directories, as they are to a new location.

This gives a rough idea of how the folders are organised:
Music
    Classical
         Adams
         Albeniz
         Beethoven
             Chamber
             Choral
             Concertos
             Orchestral
             Piano solo
             Symphonies
                  5th
                       Vanska
                       Wand
         ....
    Country
    Folk
    Jazz
    Popular
    Reggae
    World

As you can see this can go quite deep and there must all in all be thousands of folders to move. Now how can I get MC to move all of this in one go without losing the present directory structure?

Find and Replace will also do what you need.  Try a few files at first to see if it's working the way you want, and then when you're satisfied, open up a view with all your files, select them all (Ctrl-A) and find and replace them all.  It's really just that simple. 

Needless to say (not to repeat myself) make sure it's working right with a handful of files first, because once you pull the trigger on the whole list what's done is done 

Last time I did it, I did them in batches and that works fine too.  Just make sure to give MC time to finish saving all the tag changes before you shut things down.

[akira54]

But how do I select a folder/directory? All I have managed so far are individual files and there simply are too many of those. How do I ensure that the original directory structure is maintained?

[mwillems]

You "select a folder" by selecting all the files in it in MC, but that's really not an effective way to do it.  I think you might be making it harder than it needs to be.  The tag [Filename (path)] contains the path to each file including the folder structure for that file.  If you find and replace the driver letter or root directory in that tag, the rest of the directory structure will be unchanged.

So if I have a file "Money" with the [Filename (path)]  tag that reads: "W:\Audio\Pink Floyd\Dark Side of the Moon\"  If I use find and replace to find "W:\Audio" and replace it with "Z:\Audio2" then my file "Money" will now be located at "Z:\Audio2\Pink Floyd\Dark Side of the Moon\"  If I perform the same find and replace on all the files in the album they all move to the new directory together.  If I perform the same find and replace on my entire library, it's as though the entire directory structure were moved to "Z:\Audio2\"  All that changes is the part of the filepath you find and replace, the rest of the directory structure stays the exact same.  Does that make sense?  

The number of files is irrelevant because you can just select them all and do it all at once, by pressing "Ctrl-A" in a view that shows your whole library and then doing the find and replace exactly once (once you're happy with how it works on a few test files).  It's two or three mouse clicks and two keystrokes and all of the files will be done.

[akira54]

Yes that makes sense. I'll give it a shot tonight. Thanks for your help.