INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => Media Center 12 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: Uwe on May 19, 2007, 04:05:57 pm
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How can i move all my music files to another disk? Is it possible within MC? I want to keep the file structure with dirs etc. and also want to keep the statistics in the MC Library.
Thanks Uwe
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Yes you can and this has been answered many times. However, let's try once again.
Assuming that your files are on C:\My files\Music\ and you want to move them to D:\Music\.
Option A
- Back up the media files and the library
- Disable the Auto-Importer
- Select all files > right-click > Library Tools > Find and Replace > Tick only: Filename (path), Find what: C:\My files\Music\, Replace: D:\Music\
This will move the files and keep the library up-to-date. This may be unsafe if the OS or MC crashes. You may end up with partially unsynchronized library.
Option B
- Back up the media files and the library
- Disable the Auto-Importer and close MC
- Move the files with Windows Explorer. If you want to only copy and keep the old files too you must rename the old base folder after copying. (Rename all base folders if you have more than one.)
- Open MC, select all files > right-click > Library Tools > Find and Replace > Tick only: Filename (path), Find what: C:\My files\Music\, Replace: D:\Music\ (Since the old files are not available MC will make the changes only in the database. This is very fast.)
This is safer because Windows Epxlorer does only one thing. It moves the files. It does not alter the database at the same time.
Option C
Assuming that the source is for example D:\Music\ and the target is E:\Music\ and you don't have other files that you can't move on these drives.
After copying or moving the files outside MC change the drive letters with the Windows Disk Manager. For example: change D: to F: and E: to D:. No library changes are needed.
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Alex' last method is the fastest if you're moving everything from one drive to another.
One can also "drag and drop" within the MC tree; Drives and Devices>My Computer, but this method is probably better for individual folders, (MC "remembers" the moves).
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Thanks to you. Yes i`ve seen the answers too, but i was a little bit uncertain because there were a lot of changes in the database of MC. And something that worked yesterday must not work today...
But now, the changes were made, and everything works well.
That's what i did:
Moved the dir from C: to D: (exactly i've copied it and renamed the dir in C: to /Backup/
then find and replace "C:\" to "D:\" with all files in MC.
Thanks again
Uwe
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One can also "drag and drop" within the MC tree; Drives and Devices>My Computer, but this method is probably better for individual folders...
Exactly. In my experience "drag and drop" in Drives & Devices can sometimes be unstable and it is easy to make mistakes. I wouldn't use this method for moving a complete folder structure with thousands of files.
Thanks to you. Yes i`ve seen the answers too, but i was a little bit uncertain because there were a lot of changes in the database of MC...
You are right. The new Auto-Importer is one of the changes that must be taken into account. It is better to disable it before doing big file operations that have several separate steps.
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I guess Uwe must keep images either
- in a central location or
- inside files.
and that all files in each folder are imported into MC, regardless of type.
Otherwise, Option B would be the most flexible i think, C is certainly the fastest if you can do it.
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He didn't mention anything about the images.
However, if the cover art images are linked from the audio file folders then the Image File field values do not contain paths and the links will remain correct. (In case the folders and all files inside them are moved outside MC with Windows Explorer or some other file utility - i.e. the option B is used.)
If the images are in a single folder on the C: drive the links will also remain correct.
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I've stored the images (covers) in the same dirs, and i handled them in the same way.
The database is now running for a few hours without any instabilities, so all seems to be ok.
Now i've switched the Auto-Import on again!
Uwe