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Author Topic: Renaming lots of files  (Read 2743 times)

oldnewbie

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Renaming lots of files
« on: May 25, 2015, 10:12:02 am »

Hello,
I am thinking about renaming many thousand files with a more uniform naming scheme. Right now I noticed that some (very few) files exist but are not recognized in a standard windows file count (drives me nuts to find them). I assume that is because of the length of their current titles (happens especially with classical titles or long/multiple artists). Again this is just about 20 or so files in 10.000…

My first naming idea (I used for more than a rather long time but now only have a few hundred files arranged like this) was simply in one large folder: /Artist - Album - Title (Track#)

I changed it a bit to: /Artist/Album [if applicable CD#]/Artist - Album - Title (Track#)
and in order not to overwrite identical (remaster/reissue) Albums, sometimes the Year of release after Album, or often a new main folder (say Music 1/Artist/Album/… and Music 2/Artist/Album/…)

Now I am thinking to changing it to: /Artist/Album [if applicable Reissue/Remaster Year]/CD#-Track# - Title

Mainly because to avoid too long filenames that result in some errors with some programs (and apperently Windows itself). Some older players etc. still use the filenames to sort the files so that would be a drawback but I suppose it could be worth it just to avoid aforementioned problems...

I am still a bit worried I'll wind up overwriting some files (reissues/remasters) with identical names that we all have of our favorite artists; and as always that the folder with compilations or various artists will be large. So I was wondering if there are some better ideas in regards to naming (maybe a unique number for each file).
Also when you start to rename thousands of files could that result in corruption of the files or glitches as the process probably takes a while and there always being a chance of other programs/services needing processing/writing power?

The more I think about it the more I wonder if it is a good idea to change the file names at all. Not only due to the hassle/length but also the possibility of overwriting/erasing or corrupting files.

Any thoughts?
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~OHM~

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Re: Renaming lots of files
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2015, 10:58:33 am »

Wow what a job for you, wish i had some ideas. I'm glad all these years ago I followed WMP idea of keeping each CD in its artist folder then a folder with the name of the CD all I had to do was add the release year to the beginning of the CD folder then it keeps the CD's in chronological order. This has proved the way to go for me all these years. Good Luck .......
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JimH

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Re: Renaming lots of files
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2015, 11:13:55 am »

MC can rename your files by using the tags, if you wish.  Check the Library Tools and try a few before you do very many.

The file count difference may be "special" files that Microsoft counts but MC doesn't, or vice versa.
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rudyrednose

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Re: Renaming lots of files
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2015, 12:30:25 pm »

Before doing anything, start by taking a backup of both the MC library (File/Library/Backup Library...) and the media files themselves !!!
Whether using MC or JR Media Server / client setup, shut it down before copying the media files.  
Use a short root name for your backup (for example D:\Music\... to D:\M\... or E:\M\...) to mitigate possible long filename problems.

Fortunately, you're talking about audio, not 2000 movies on a NAS ;-)
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ferday

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Re: Renaming lots of files
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2015, 01:07:40 pm »

its all about good tagging...use a tag to reflect the remaster info you want, then other tags to put in whatever info you like, then use the RMC tool to mass rename based on the tags.  I've never had any issues with overwriting or anything if careful with the tags (I've done tens of thousands at once)

Its actually pretty fast, as mentioned have backups of library and files.  If you plan (and tag) before moving/renaming, you'll very quickly have the file structure on disk that you want

Make judicious use of the custom library fields (tags)!  It's an amazing feature
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blgentry

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Re: Renaming lots of files
« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2015, 02:46:58 pm »

Some thoughts:

1.  Regarding losing files because of overwriting files with the same name:  I just tried to make this happen on purpose.  I renamed a file to the name of a file that was already in the directory.  I was hoping for a warning message, or a failure.  Instead it just silently did the rename.  HOWEVER, it added a "1" to the new file name.  So the old file that I was going to overwrite remained intact.  The file that I changed attempting to cause a problem, was renamed with the "1" in it.  So both files were preserved.  This is good.  It's bad that it might be hard to locate these in the future, but you can be pretty confident that the Rename, Move, and Copy tool won't lose any files due to over writing them.

2.  As another poster said, having your metadata filled out will really help make your file structure organized.  As long as each song has unique information that you *use* in the file and directory names, you should end up with pretty much exactly what you want.

3.  You can test some of this yourself without doing any moves.  You mention a lot of reissued or remastered albums.  Go find a few of them in your library.  Do the albums have unique names?  For example, Dark Side Of The Moon, versus Dark Side Of The Moon (Mobile Fidelity).  If you find any albums with the *exact* same name and exact same artist, you'd have to figure out some way to distinguish them.  Frankly, I wouldn't want to have that condition in my library to start with.  It would make figuring out which album I wanted much more difficult.

As long as you have a unique combination of Artist and Album for each album in question, I think you're good to go.

4.  You might try moving a small portion of your library to start.  Maybe one album.  Then if that works, try several albums.  Maybe intentionally pick two different versions of the same album, in order to test the uniqueness of the file names it will come up with.  The good news here is that the Rename, Move, and Copy tool has a preview pane over on the right.  So before you ever press OK, you can see exactly how it is going to rename your files.  You will probably need to hover over entries in that pane, as they tend to be so big that they won't display in the window.  But hovering over them will bring up a pop up box to show you the full file name and path before and after.  Give it a try!

5.  If it was me doing this, I think I'd pick a new root folder to put all of my music in.  Something that makes sense as the *one* place where it will all be.  Then I'd start doing these renames and moves into that parent folder.  Of course with child folders underneath with Artist, Album, etc directories.  As you go along, the original folders will get emptied out.  Eventually, the original folders will all be empty and all of your music will be in one folder structure.  It might be easier than you think, as long as your early experiments go well.  If you are confident after the first 4, 5, 6 trial runs that it's going to work, you can select everything and just let it run until it's done.

6.  Be careful and certainly have backups, as has already been WISELY mentioned.

Good luck!

Brian.
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oldnewbie

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Re: Renaming lots of files
« Reply #6 on: May 25, 2015, 07:18:38 pm »

Thank you very much for all the helpful information and the good luck wishes.

I would just like to state to all that may be reading this before (or in the early stages) of ripping the CD collection: think very carefully about the naming convention and expect the unexpected, sounds a bit strange, well you may think that you know your collection inside out and won't mix up albums but there will be a time when you buy a remaster or reissue etc. sure you can then tag on the year of release to that album but then all your other albums won't have this info and thus you may wind up either confused or with an unhealthy urge to make all the filenames this new way and thus come up with all kinds of new troubles (like too long filenames etc.)... so think the naming through beforehand... when you start to rip hundreds of CD's it takes a long while and since you likely add to it later, over the years you may also change things and preferences...

For most part: "/Artist/Album [if applicable Reissue/Remaster Year]/CD##-Track## - Title"  should do it (or with year before the album for all albums not just remaster if you want a semi-chronological order (be prepared to have remasters right in the middle of some new albums though)); for some (old players for ex.) this might result in strange sorting and some file names might still be too long, and (most) CD's with only 1 CD have the CD## which may annoy.

But what about compilations? "/Various Artists/Album [if applicable Reissue/Remaster Year]/CD##-Track## Artist - Title" can MC discern and apply this??

The worst thing in my collection would be the immensely long filenames with some (especially classical) tracks... and I think that is the only (big) reason to change my naming (since most programs work fine with tags anyhow).

Jim: I think you could be right... I am still not sure if it is just name length or if they are in some way special.

Brian: Very good info but is the non overwriting just because one of the versions was already named properly? If I would say rename two identical files that right now have both incorrect names in one batch would MC merge them or keep both copies with the now corrected file name? For example "/ABand/AnAlbum/ASong (23)" and "/ABand/AnAlbum/23" will that now become "/ABand/AnAlbum/01-23 - ASong"
and will the other be preserved? I could think of this not being the case since MC does not have a previous (correct name version) when the renaming started (like in the cache).


It just seems a bit frustrating that some solutions seem to work great but they then are really lacking in some other area, this really applies to
filenames (have them short, you have too little info or run a risk of overwriting files, too long and the files won't register at all - and, as I have seen, the length is also OS dependent)...
The big issues for me seem to be:
filename length
remasters/duplicates (sometimes I have CD versions from the 80s 90s and 00s)
compilations (different naming scheme)
classical works (length)
oh, and special characters (which I think MC can handle with no problem by automatically changing them)
and least a decent sort order for older players that rely on filenames (that probably won't work with the other more important prerequisites in place)

Backups are important and in place, but if I know myself, I will want to later also have the backups in the same better renamed form; but I am sure I won't be able to check each single file before changing the back up.


So right now I am thinking of running a rename of the files and also, later, the audio analyze option.
But I am beginning to wonder if it is all worth it, useful, and if I don't do more harm than good (I hope neither a simple audio analyze nor a rename will in any way mess up the tags or worse, corrupt or change the underlying audio/files).
It does bug me greatly to not get a proper reading of all tracks with something as simple as Windows on the drive though; and it seems other OS again have differing methods regarding files and names so even if I make it proper for one it does not necessarily mean that it is good for another.


It just seems there is so much time and effort invested in this (and getting it perfect) while actually very little time used to finally enjoy the result. It should be the other way around.
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blgentry

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Re: Renaming lots of files
« Reply #7 on: May 25, 2015, 08:05:24 pm »

You're making it too hard.

1.  If you have 20 or less overly long file names, fix them and be done with those. Then that's not a consideration any more.
2.  You seem to be concerned about organization via file name.  Organization is good for sure.  But you also talk about sorting and searching via the files.  That's the wrong approach with a modern player like JRiver.  JRiver and every other good program use the tags as their primary method of sorting and searching.  JRiver could care less what the file name is, as long as it's unique per song.
3.  The over writing thing isn't a concern in terms of losing anything.  I'm pretty sure I've proven that.  You could try to rename 5 files to the same name, and it would give each a unique name ending with a number.  In fact I just tried it.  I told JRiver to name all 13 tracks in an album to "Song".  It did so and added a number to every one after the last one.  So you're not going to lose anything by renaming, even if you have file name collisions.  Note that JRiver retained all of the metadata for every song I renamed.  So it still knows the titles, etc, even though I changed them to a stupid file name.
4.  If you're going to do a mass rename, you really should check out your metadata like I suggested.  Again, if you have unique album and artist names for each album, you won't have a collision.  Try to find some in your library that you think might be an issue and CHECK.
5.  Backups should be made regularly if at all possible.  I don't have any great suggestions for windows machines, but perhaps someone else here does.

Brian.
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JimH

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Re: Renaming lots of files
« Reply #8 on: May 25, 2015, 08:40:22 pm »

It just seems there is so much time and effort invested in this (and getting it perfect) while actually very little time used to finally enjoy the result.
So why bother?  Brian's advice is good.  MC makes the file organization irrelevant.
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oldnewbie

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Re: Renaming lots of files
« Reply #9 on: May 25, 2015, 09:04:14 pm »

Thanks again for the info.

As I stated, sadly, some players (like for ex. in car systems) still use file names for sorting that is why I did mention that in those cases the naming does matter. Not a huge concern but a small one (and a bigger one for anyone with more use of those devices)...

Good to know that even with collisions it won't loose files... (I thought that there is still a warning in MC when you start renaming that files could be lost - I guess that could be taken out now then...)

I did search for long filenames and I did think I found them all but sometimes in file counts (strangely) a new file goes missing and has to be found... (I am talking in 10 000s files).

When does a Backup need to be re-backed up (overwritten) - my thoughts, when significant info has been changed like say after a successful rename...

With classical there can be just so many year info's: recording year, release year, composition year, and even remaster year... (I don't use em all but just saying)...

But I guess you are right - I should not worry too much; but I am still trying to figure out a good way at least for classical tracks to wind up with succinct yet non double-overwrite prone (not in MC but for any normal OS or piece of software) filenames...

Thanks
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