INTERACT FORUM

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Is it safe to delete the sidecar files?  (Read 4515 times)

6233638

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 5353
Is it safe to delete the sidecar files?
« on: May 08, 2013, 05:21:51 pm »

By default Media Center will save sidecar files for videos.

Are these necessary, or are they only if you want to access the files outside of your normal library?
Can I disable sidecar creation and just delete them all? I assume the information is all stored inside MC's library anyway.
Logged

Matt

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 42373
  • Shoes gone again!
Re: Is it safe to delete the sidecar files?
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2013, 06:45:36 pm »

They're safe to delete.

Search in the Options search box for 'sidecar' to configure.
Logged
Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

6233638

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 5353
Re: Is it safe to delete the sidecar files?
« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2013, 07:14:03 pm »

Great, thanks.

I wonder if this should maybe be disabled by default. If only Media Center is using that metadata, maybe it should just be kept inside the library?

I'm also wondering if being able to write sidecar files should be an option for DFF files, as they don't allow metadata to be written inside them at all.
Logged

glynor

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 19608
Re: Is it safe to delete the sidecar files?
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2013, 07:26:59 pm »

I would love to have the ability to write sidecar files for other file types (documents, for example).
Logged
"Some cultures are defined by their relationship to cheese."

Visit me on the Interweb Thingie: http://glynor.com/

InflatableMouse

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3978
Re: Is it safe to delete the sidecar files?
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2013, 02:18:02 am »

Yes!
Logged

yannis

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 229
Re: Is it safe to delete the sidecar files?
« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2013, 06:47:55 am »

Hi. May I jump in with a relative qustion? What happens when a second MC installation loads the same vids folder? Will it read the sidecars? More importantly, will it overwrite them? Please elaborate.
Logged

6233638

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 5353
Re: Is it safe to delete the sidecar files?
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2013, 07:20:19 am »

Hi. May I jump in with a relative qustion? What happens when a second MC installation loads the same vids folder? Will it read the sidecars? More importantly, will it overwrite them? Please elaborate.
I assume that the main reason for the sidecar files is so that another installation of MC can read the metadata within them. (the other reason is for a backup of that metadata outside MC's library)
Logged

glynor

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 19608
Re: Is it safe to delete the sidecar files?
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2013, 09:33:26 am »

I assume that the main reason for the sidecar files is so that another installation of MC can read the metadata within them. (the other reason is for a backup of that metadata outside MC's library)

Correct.

Because they're XML, they can be used to interchange metadata with other applications as well.
Logged
"Some cultures are defined by their relationship to cheese."

Visit me on the Interweb Thingie: http://glynor.com/

fitbrit

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 4887
Re: Is it safe to delete the sidecar files?
« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2013, 10:55:50 pm »

Correct.

Because they're XML, they can be used to interchange metadata with other applications as well.

Not to mention that they ensure that your tags are easily replaced should you lose your library for example. Just reimport the media and the tags are read from the sidecar file. They have saved me from losing lots of tagging on more than one occasion.
Logged

Fabricio

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 685
  • No one has patience with me.
Re: Is it safe to delete the sidecar files?
« Reply #9 on: May 10, 2013, 06:14:27 am »

I would love to have the ability to write sidecar files for other file types (documents, for example).

+ 1, for ISO also ...

jmone

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 14463
  • I won! I won!
Re: Is it safe to delete the sidecar files?
« Reply #10 on: May 10, 2013, 06:26:59 am »

I love the sidecar files.  It is like writing tags to content that don't support tags.  If my library is trashed the meta data is still available and is portable to other installs.
Logged
JRiver CEO Elect
Pages: [1]   Go Up