INTERACT FORUM

What's the best way to copy a library from one computer to another that uses a different drive ID?

I tried copying all files on my desktop PC to a portable SSD drive used with my work laptop.  The music files on my desktop PC are kept on drive C and the portable SSD drive on my laptop is drive E.

After the files were copied to the portable SSD, I restored the library that was on my desktop to my PC.  At first, the PC had trouble playing any files because it was trying to find them on device C and all files were on device E.  I then did a file import operation and the files were successfully imported.

The problem is, the albums are now showing double files with half shown as on C and half shown on device E.  How do I tell it to disregard the original C drive filenames?

Will this correct itself in time or is there something else I need to do or re-do?

In general, what is the best approach for copying/backing up a library from one PC to another where the files are kept on a different device ID?

Thank you.

I personally do this manually using Beyond Compare every time I make changes to my main music library.

I have hardware (Silex DS600 ethernet LAN to USB) that allows use anywhere on my LAN of a USB audio interface (or almost any other type of USB device) almost as if it were plugged in to the computer. The "almost" is because whenever the DS600 sits idle for a few seconds it then takes 2-10 seconds to re-synchronize when it again is asked to pass audio data, while in the meantime producing hash. The DS600 is potentially great but needs silence to be played every time the play button is pushed, even if the sample rate does not change. This behavior is not caused by the USB audio interface which does not do this when plugged into the computer, and the behavior is consistent across other USB audio interfaces. I realize that this is something that should be fixed by Silex, but I think they don't know how. Does anyone else have equipment that would be happier with a short segment of silence every time "play" is pushed? Could it be an option?

Now that I have cleaned up my classical CD rip collection (which took quite a while), looking to back up the library in future to avoid any possibility of losing it. 

Thinking will back up the library kept on my desktop's 2TB SSD hard drive to a portable 2TB SSD hard drive used with my work laptop.  I am also considering buying an additional 2TB SSD hard drive and keeping it in a separate location as a fail-safe for any possibility (house theft, fire, etc).

Any recommendations for good back-up software?  Would like something that records changes that occur from the date of the most recent backup on the original source and then just makes those changes to the destination when doing a back-up, so that you don't have to copy the entire collection of files every time.

Thanks.

Woops - meant to post this on the main board.  Is there an option to move?

With the subject option selected, a Standard View skin incorrectly draws the expanded Scrollbar VerticalHandle (same for horizontal handle).  It appears the handle's endpoint sub-images are stretched in one direction, but not the other, resulting in a distorted handle image during enlarged mouseover and during an enlarged scrollbar drag.  Many enlarged scrollbars have always looked goofy to me, and I think this is partly to blame.

Example:  I define the handle to be a simple rounded rectangle with (corner radius) = (rectangle narrow dimension) / 2, thereby giving smooth "half round" ends to the handle (see attachment, but I've seen the same issue with other handle images and other Standard View skins).  With the subject option deselected everything looks good, nicely rounded as expected.  With the option selected, the ends appear squashed, as if stretched in one direction but not the other.

I use the following code in the <SCROLLBARS> section of the skin's main.xml file:
<Entry Name="VerticalHandle"  Bitmap="Scrollbar_VerticalHandle.png"  NumberImages="3" Margins="0,5,0,5" Scale="1" DrawMode="REGION_E_VSTRETCH"/>
<Entry Name="VerticalBackground" Bitmap="Scrollbar_VerticalBackground.png"  NumberImages="1" Margins="0,5,0,5" Scale="1" />
<Entry Name="VerticalUpArrow" Bitmap="Scrollbar_VerticalUpArrow.png"  NumberImages="3" Margins="0,0,0,0" Scale="1" />
<Entry Name="VerticalDownArrow" Bitmap="Scrollbar_VerticalDownArrow.png" NumberImages="3" Margins="0,0,0,0" Scale="1" />

Seems like a bug to me.  I messed around with several other DrawMode values and did not find anything that changed the described behavior.  In any case, it cost me several frustrating hours to unravel this story while modifying a skin with the option selected.

General Comments re subject option:  It's 100% an optical illusion, and I've decided never to use it (at least as currently implemented).  This option in no way affects the actual operation of selecting the scrollbar and scrolling it: (1) It does not make it easier to initially "hit" the scrollbar (initial target area is not enlarged) (2) During scrolling, the LMB down mouse can be dragged anywhere on the screen while continuing to scroll (a good thing), irrespective of this option. (3) It has the annoying side affect of temporarily pushing all the Control Panel thumbnails to the left.

Note:  For a change in this option to take affect, MC must be re-launched after selecting/deselecting it.

Win11 Pro (64-bit) | Win10 Pro/Home (64-bit) | MC 32.0.49 (in beta)

Just using on a single desktop computer.  I was able to get it working again by changing some settings, but not sure how got it working again.  There are a lot of features and options in MC that have no idea of what they do.  Is there a setting to change all settings back to default settings somewhere?  Thanks.

Are you using MC as a client to play from a server?

If so, look for Authentication on the wiki.

There's no general agreement on how to tag music, especially classical music.

When you look up a CD, there are often several choices.

I've spent close to a month and a lot more hours that I hoped to changing and improving Metadata tags for my CD files, renaming composers, artists (which I define as performers), album names, genres, and standardizing language and naming conventions used in my classical library so that everything is comparable.  I notice that Metadata usually comes up short and there seems to be no consistency with naming conventions and how tags are used.

There is probably no answer to this but just wondering why there can't be common conventions for Metadata that would help reduce the need for this?

I'm about to pull the trigger on some new studio monitors to go with my new iFi ZEN DAC 3. These are currently my three final contenders (though not set in stone)...

- KRK RP5G5 ROKIT 5 Generation Five
- JBL 306P MKII
- Yamaha HS5

I forgot to mention above, but the types of music I listen to are more on the rock and metal spectrum (rock, hard rock, heavy metal, extreme metal/dijent, progressive rock and metal, a little death metal, etc.) with some rap/R&B and pop music. Ideally the monitors I'm looking for should sound "clear", especially when the volume is turned up. I'm generally not really a fan of bass - I like a little bass, but most speakers I've used overdo the bass which, to my ears, distorts the clarity of the music. If I had to think about it, I am more of a fan of treble, only because it makes things sound more "clear" though I also quite like flat.

So... any final thoughts?