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Author Topic: question about transfering libraries between computers  (Read 1142 times)

nspboarderdue

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question about transfering libraries between computers
« on: January 10, 2008, 03:39:56 am »

here is my situation. I have an MC library of video, music and images on machine A. The music and images are on machine A's internal HD, and videos on several external HDs. I am in the process of transferring all files and library to internal HD of machine B. All machine B files will be in a different filepath structure than those of machine A.

So far I have successfully copied music and images to machine B via library sync. I do not want to use library sync on the videos because it will take a very long time as it is over 1TB of info and is simply easier to copy manually from the external HDs to machine B.

For the past few weeks I have been using machine B for music and images only , and machine A for video only. I have tagged many images and audio files on machine B that have not been tagged on machine A, so right now, the machine A audio and image tags are more outdated than my library on machine B. 

I wish to import the videos into machine B's MC library without having to redo all the tags for them I already created that are in machine A library. So far I have imported the machine A library to machine B and used the find and replace function on filename, as everything is in a different filepath. The only problem is that when I do this I get the entire library backup from machine A, which means I get the up-to-date video tags, but outdated audio and image tags.

Is there someway to import a library backup but only get one portion (such as the video) of the library? Or is there an easier way to go about this? any ideas?
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zirum

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Re: question about transfering libraries between computers
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2008, 03:47:09 am »

MC should be able to discover broken links. I usally just move the files, and MC repairs the filepath afterwards. But you should probaly add the destination url to your import path before you move the files. In that way, MC will at next startup (after the file is move), discover that the file has move from destination A to B (or how you do it).

Try one file, and see how it goes :-)
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Alex B

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Re: question about transfering libraries between computers
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2008, 04:24:52 am »

MC can merge partial libraries with the Export Playlist and Import Playlist tools.

For updating the video tags in the library B you can do the following:

- Select the video category in the library A.
- Export the file data in MPL playlist format: File > Export Playlist > MPL...
- Switch to the library B
- Import the playlist: File > Import Playlist (select the "Common playlists types" option in the "File of type" drop-down menu.)

This will update all library data of existing files and import new files with correct data if the files are not already imported.

The filenames and paths must be correct in the MPL file. An MPL file is in XML format and it can be edited with a standard text editor (in text only mode). It is possible to do find and replace operations directly in the MPL file.
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Alex B

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Re: question about transfering libraries between computers
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2008, 04:47:47 am »

I forgot to mention that the Import MPL playlist operation is very powerful.

It doesn't display any warnings. It replaces old library data blindly and directly. So remember to back up before trying it.
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nspboarderdue

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Re: question about transfering libraries between computers
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2008, 05:55:26 pm »

thanks Alex B, that did the trick!
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