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More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 31 for Windows => Topic started by: Denti on August 11, 2023, 08:20:10 pm

Title: Lost settings and files in upgrade [Solved]
Post by: Denti on August 11, 2023, 08:20:10 pm
So my upgrade from MC29 has not gone smoothly. Where are my files and settings? Seemingly only there from March of 2022. The last year and a half is gone. Thankfully, MC29 is still on my PC. So I load it up and it's all there. So I create another library backup and try to restore this backup in the new MC31. Nope. Nothing after March of 2022. What's going on?!
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: JimH on August 11, 2023, 11:57:52 pm
You may be restoring the wrong backup.  Search for *.zip with Explorer.
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: Denti on August 12, 2023, 08:05:50 am
You may be restoring the wrong backup.  Search for *.zip with Explorer.
No, it's the right backup. Date created confirms this.
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: lepa on August 12, 2023, 08:12:35 am
Do you have fix broken links enabled by any chance?
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: Denti on August 12, 2023, 08:13:55 am
Do you have fix broken links enabled by any chance?
Where is that?

EDIT: found it. Yes, it's enabled. But I don't have auto-import on, so it doesn't matter, does it?
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: JimH on August 12, 2023, 08:14:26 am
Are you using the Main Library or another?
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: Denti on August 12, 2023, 08:16:48 am
Are you using the Main Library or another?
Main Library.
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: Denti on August 12, 2023, 08:33:42 am
Why doesn't the upgrade process automatically carry over files, libraries, settings, etc.?

If I can't get this fixed, there's no point in upgrading. My library is simply too big and the files are scattered across different drives. It would take me forever to manually bring it up to date.
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: JimH on August 12, 2023, 09:25:13 am
Why doesn't the upgrade process automatically carry over files, libraries, settings, etc.?
It does.  Just not for you.

Antivirus?
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: JimH on August 12, 2023, 09:26:40 am
Where is that?

EDIT: found it. Yes, it's enabled. But I don't have auto-import on, so it doesn't matter, does it?
Turn it off.
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: JimH on August 12, 2023, 09:30:09 am
Try the MC29 backup again and wait before you restore it.  Check it before you back up.
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: Denti on August 12, 2023, 09:33:47 am
It does.  Just not for you.

Antivirus?
Nope.
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: Denti on August 12, 2023, 09:34:09 am
Check it before you back up.
How?

Backup seems to overwrite the previous backup in the Library Backups folder. Also, there are two backups, one called "(August)" and one "(Before Restore)". What's the difference? I have been using the "August" one.
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: Awesome Donkey on August 12, 2023, 09:39:32 am
When you go to do the library backup in MC29, where do you save it? Maybe you should try saving it to the desktop and verify its size afterwards. The backup is a .zip file containing all the settings, library, playlists, etc. You should be able to open that .zip file and verify the contents.

As a last resort you can do it the manual way by having both MC29 and MC31 closed, then you can try going into the %APPDATA%\J River directory (which you can do by copying and pasting that line into the address bar of Windows' File Explorer) and first copying the Media Center 31 folder to the desktop (so it's a backup, just in case you need it, or you can delete if you don't need it) and right click on the Media Center 29 folder and select copy then right click again and select paste so it creates a Media Center 29 - Copy folder or whatever Windows may name it into the folder, then rename the folder to Media Center 31 then start Media Center 31 and all settings, library, etc. should be carried over from Media Center 29.

Good luck!
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: Denti on August 12, 2023, 09:52:07 am
That did it. As a default the backups were going to a different place from the User/JRiver/Library Backups folder, even though the backups in that folder reflected the new date of the backup (weird). Note also that in MC31 the backup defaults to the folder for MC28 (why?).

Thanks for the help. The reason this didn't happen automatically with the upgrade must have to do with the lack of the actual backup in that default folder.
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: markf2748 on August 12, 2023, 06:23:43 pm
Note also that in MC31 the backup defaults to the folder for MC28 (why?).
I can't quite tell from this thread, but did you check the path in Options > File Location > Program Files > Library backup?
If you restored an MC 28 backup in your new MC 31 install, then it likely transferred the MC 28 backup path to MC 31 Options.  Or MC 31 may have transferred the old MC 28 path during the upgrade on its own.  Probably just one of a few version-dependent custom settings that should be checked after a cross-version restore or an upgrade.
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: blgentry on August 13, 2023, 07:39:01 am
I can't quite tell from this thread, but did you check the path in Options > File Location > Program Files > Library backup?
If you restored an MC 28 backup in your new MC 31 install, then it likely transferred the MC 28 backup path to MC 31 Options.  Or MC 31 may have transferred the old MC 28 path during the upgrade on its own.  Probably just one of a few version-dependent custom settings that should be checked after a cross-version restore or an upgrade.

Yes.  This has happened to me for YEARS.  The new version of MC ends up making backups in the OLD directory.  Now that I've been doing this for 11 versions, I've gotten better about changing the backup location to use the version specific directory (like MC31/backups instead of MC30/backups).  I try to remember to do this immediately after restoring a backup into a brand new version.  But I sometimes forget and end up with new backups in the old place for months.

Brian.
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: BryanC on August 13, 2023, 09:36:23 am
The easy solution is to create a version-agnostic library backup folder, for instance I use the machine name: $HOME/documents/backups/jriver/workstation, $HOME/documents/backups/jriver/laptop, etc.

Haven't thought about it for years.
Title: Re: Lost settings and files in upgrade
Post by: HPBEME on August 13, 2023, 12:50:47 pm
The easy solution is to create a version-agnostic library backup folder, for instance I use the machine name: $HOME/documents/backups/jriver/workstation, $HOME/documents/backups/jriver/laptop, etc.

Haven't thought about it for years.

Bingo! That is exactly what I have been doing myself for probably a decade. I can't recall the last time I had issues when I upgraded.

For all my C: Drive located program files, I create a folder named "config data" on my D: data drive.  This is where I store all program settings (and program auto-backups if those are made) in corresponding sub-folders.  The only thing on my C drive are installed programs and corresponding program files that must be co-located on the same drive. Absolutely everything else is written to other drives.