INTERACT FORUM

More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: Kush on November 13, 2004, 12:50:01 pm

Title: Finding deleted files.
Post by: Kush on November 13, 2004, 12:50:01 pm
Is there a way to create a smarlist that shows tracks for which the corresponding disk file is missing?  The files appear to be tagged in the UI, but I can't find the appropriate search command.

Thanks,
   Kush
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: glynor on November 16, 2004, 03:29:11 pm
I'd love to know how to do this too!  That way you wouldn't have to search manually to find all the pesky little things.
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: hsc on November 17, 2004, 01:50:20 am
As far as I know there is currently no tool available for only finding the broken links. But I have read in this forum that MC11 will fix broken links during an import operation.
If you just want to have the list without modifying your database the best option is to write a short plugin which walks through all files and checks their existence in the file system. Everything not found could be added to a specific playlist (e.g. “BrokenLinks”). If nobody else volunteers and if there is some general interest in such a tool I will try to create such a plugin in.
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: Kush on November 17, 2004, 04:30:57 pm
Thanks for the responses.  It's kind of sad since MC obviously recognizes missing files.  I may go ahead and look at wrinting such a plugin.  I have files spread out all over the network and things get katywumpus every once in a while - not to mention my disk crask last weekend.

Thx
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: MarSies on November 19, 2004, 05:09:29 am
I also would like something like this. Only I wonder if this should be done be a plugin.  ?

To me it seems that this should be a standard task of MC. Would like to be able to sort on missing files. that way I could reestablish links or rerip music.

Marsies .....
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: KingSparta on November 19, 2004, 05:50:43 am
what would you do with it once you found that the link to the file was broken?
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: zxsix on November 19, 2004, 08:39:56 am
Search the hard drives for the file and manually edit the path in MC that's wrong if the file exists.

Re-rip the file from CD if it's somehow been deleted from the hard drive.

Remove from the MC database if I no longer want that song.
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: hsc on November 19, 2004, 08:40:16 am
what would you do with it once you found that the link to the file was broken?


Once you have that list with broken links you can try to figure out which of the files were actually deleted and which were just moved somewhere else (accidentally) and then do some cleanup.
And it gives a very good feeling if the list turns out to be empty 8).

In the meantime I made a first prototype. Currently it is still an external program. Within MC you need to setup a new playlist with all files which should be examined. In the external program you select the previously created playlist from a pulldown and activate the filter function which will remove all but those entries with broken links. This seems to work fine but still needs some testing and also the integration to a real internal plugin.

Initially I wanted to copy the broken link entries from a source to a new target playlist. Unfortunately I got unexpected problems, because for items with broken links the “FileName” property of a “MediaJukebox.MJFileAutomation” Object was empty, even though it was shown when looking at the file properties within MC (MC 11.0.95, I have not tested other versions until now).
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: LonWar on November 19, 2004, 09:33:34 am
I believe in the next MC11 build, they will give you a list of changes made when importing files.

I would imagine that this also will include items removed in MC.
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: KingSparta on November 19, 2004, 05:42:56 pm
Search the hard drives for the file and manually edit the path in MC that's wrong if the file exists.

Re-rip the file from CD if it's somehow been deleted from the hard drive.

Remove from the MC database if I no longer want that song.


if you changed the name of the file it would not be the same

how would MC know it is the correct file if it found it?

I agree it would be nice to find a list of missing files that have broken links and this was talked about before. even if you could sort the files and have the broken link files listed at the end.

if MC were to auto find the file it would need to work from a fingerprint of somoe sort of the data.
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: Rondo1 on November 20, 2004, 01:44:41 am

Amazing.  As powerful as MC seems to be it can't do something as simple as fix a broken link.  Isn't that like a 1.0 feature?  This is 10.0!!  What gives?  To answer a previous question, I had to rename some folders.  So now the links are broken in MC10.  I should be able to tell MC10 to "recheck" or "reread" my default folder(s) for updated/new files.  It would find the files in the new folder, update my Library and move on.  
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: zxsix on November 20, 2004, 04:12:53 pm
Kingsparta....

All I'd expect MC to do is to tell me that the file referenced in the database cannot be found.  I'd deal with it from there manually.  I'd have to figure out if the files were moved or deleted through windows explorer while MC wasn't even running.
I'd then either move the files back where they're supposed to be, or manually edit the tags in MC to point to the new folder location.
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: Simple on November 20, 2004, 04:27:56 pm
I'd love to know how to do this too!  That way you wouldn't have to search manually to find all the pesky little things.

File>Library>Import.

That's it.
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: KingSparta on November 20, 2004, 04:31:57 pm
I'd love to know how to do this too!  That way you wouldn't have to search manually to find all the pesky little things.

File>Library>Import.

That's it.

yes, that works with MC11

in MC9 And MC10 it has a few extra steps

I am not quite sure what the point is of all this.
Title: Re:Finding deleted files.
Post by: Simple on November 20, 2004, 04:57:18 pm

Amazing.  As powerful as MC seems to be it can't do something as simple as fix a broken link....

File>Library>Import.

Listening to: 'Simple' from 'Collective Soul' by 'Collective Soul' on Media Center 11