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Author Topic: Move library to new hard drive?  (Read 2100 times)

gpvillamil

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Move library to new hard drive?
« on: October 28, 2004, 06:35:05 pm »
Right, I've done this before, and it should work, but it doesn't.

I'm migrating all my music to a new hard drive, with a different path.

I have already copied all the files to the new drive. Then in Media Center, I use Library Tools/Find & Replace on the Filename(path) field to search for the old path and replace it with the new path.

It goes ahead and makes the replacement.

However, when I then move to another view, I get a dialog asking me if I want to replace the existing file (on the old path) with the file on the new path.

Since we're talking several thousand files, this is not a good thing. In addition, there is no way of cancelling out of the process other than by stopping MC from the Task Manager. (The dialog only has a Yes/No option, no Yes to all or Cancel)

So what's up? How do I get MC to point to a new path?
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Charlemagne 8

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Re:Move library to new hard drive?
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2004, 06:47:55 pm »
It may be too late for this but what I do is "RENAME files from Properties"  using a different drive/directory as the target. It's under "Library Tools". It's important that your properties are up to date before you do this as the files will have whatever mistakes are in your properties as file names. As it renames the files, it moves them to the new drive.
I've just completed moving over 25,000 files this way.

CVIII

BTW, It can take quite a while --- days in my case. I did about 1800 or so at a time. That's about an hour's worth. I start it and go watch CSI. Or Nova. Or NCIS. Or Nature.
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gpvillamil

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Re:Move library to new hard drive?
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2004, 06:58:52 pm »
Well, I can't do this, because Media Center only moves the files it has in the library (ie MP3 files).

All my music directories contain additional info - log files, checksums, etc which need to move.

So I usually move all the files using a file sync program, then do a Find & Replace in MC to change the path. It has worked, perfectly, before. I don't know why MC is now actually trying to do the file replacement.
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JustinChase

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Re:Move library to new hard drive?
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2004, 07:49:51 pm »
The trouble I've had with that is (I think) MC is trying to update the files as the tags have changed (I assume you have that option selected)

I tried a very similar thing and it actually moved all of the files to the location I tried to change the find/replace to.

I had to disconnect the network drive to make MC not do this.  Someone suggested later that the 'update files when tag changes' option was causing this.

Hopefully that'll help.
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GHammer

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Re:Move library to new hard drive?
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2004, 07:50:15 pm »
Why not import media and check the fix or remove broken links box?
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JustinChase

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Re:Move library to new hard drive?
« Reply #5 on: October 28, 2004, 07:54:17 pm »
If he imports, much of his customization (playlists, last played, etc) won't be correct any more.
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gpvillamil

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Re:Move library to new hard drive?
« Reply #6 on: October 28, 2004, 08:37:52 pm »
Well, I've turned off the option to update tags when file info changes, and I'm still getting the same behaviour.

It kind of sucks, because I know I have done this before and it has worked.

In a nutshell - get MC to point to music files in the new location, without having it actually try to move or update the files. And the confirmation dialog for each individual file (more than 6,000) with no cancellation option is just LAME.
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gpvillamil

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Re:Move library to new hard drive?
« Reply #7 on: October 28, 2004, 08:44:11 pm »
Well, this is what ended up working:

1) Turned off update tags when file info changes
2) Did the search & replace operation (replace old path in the filename field with the new path)
3) As soon as I moved to another view, it started the "replace files" rigamarole - at this point, kill MC with Task Manager.

Everything seems to be fine - MC is pointing to the files at their new location.

Now, the next challenge: cover art!
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Marty3d

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Re:Move library to new hard drive?
« Reply #8 on: October 29, 2004, 02:57:37 am »
Seems like JRiver should think about some easy and foolproof migration process within MC...? I'm one of those who also had some trouble migrating to a new hard drive. It creates some anguish not knowing exactly what happens....
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Alex B

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Re:Move library to new hard drive?
« Reply #9 on: October 29, 2004, 04:59:07 am »
I think this a big problem for many of the users. A tool for that would be nice. It could just ask for the new paths and make all necessary changes.

I have managed to do my library moves by this way:

I copy my folders outside MC to a new location. I import a backup of the old library to the new MC installation. I do a find and replace for the drive letter and the base path (if changed). I don't think MC gives any error messages at this stage (?). If I have several new locations I do that in parts. Because I have my cover art files in the album folders MC doesn't include any path information in the cover art links. They are automatically correct.

Edit

The procedure takes: 2 hours for copying 180 GB of files (directly from HD to HD) + 15 minutes for attaching the HD to the new PC and making the library restore + about 10 seconds for the Find and Replace (I guess, anyway it's fast.)

Edit 2

Quote from: gpvillamil on October 28, 2004, 06:58:52 pm
... So I usually move all the files using a file sync program, then do a Find & Replace in MC to change the path. It has worked, perfectly, before. I don't know why MC is now actually trying to do the file replacement.

I read the thread again. So it has changed! Are you using the latest MC11 build? It worked with 11.0.98 when I synchronized my laptop last time (using a Maxtor One Touch ext. HD).
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hsc

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Re:Move library to new hard drive?
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2004, 08:56:21 am »
I often had the same problem (e.g. needed to add disk space) and came up with a solution external to MC: NTFS junctions (using a tool from sysinternals).
I have my main directory structure somewhere on my C drive. Inside this structure I create NTFS junctions to point to the actual music directories which can be somewhere on other drives. From an application point of view this looks like everything is still on the C drive. When I now need to add a disk and shuffle the data around I just need to update the junctions to point the right area on the new drive. If the basic directory structure stays the same, the application will not see any change with regards to the path for a given file.

I use this extensively on W2k and did also some test on XP Pro. Interestingly it didn't work on a German XP home version.
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