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Author Topic: Windows and Mac path difference.  (Read 2883 times)

iamimdoc

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Windows and Mac path difference.
« on: May 15, 2017, 08:05:52 pm »

I imported my Windows JRiver library into a Mac using JRiver on my network

The library imported ok but the Mac version reports " something went wrong with playback". I presume it can't interpret the Windows path

As an example, the Windows path might be "R:\Music\44k\Myfile.flac" but the Mac version of JRiver is expecting "Volume/Music/44k/Myfile.flac" (based on my actually importing this file as a test)

So is there anyway to get the Mac version to understand the Pc path?
Is there anyway to due a global find and replace of the \ with / using one of the library tools?
Or must I reimport all of the files?

Thanks
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blgentry

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Re: Windows and Mac path difference.
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2017, 08:14:49 pm »

The file path separators are one issue for sure.  The other, of course, is the drive letter, versus the mount path.

You can fix both at the same time with the Rename, Move, and Copy files tool.  If you're not familiar, you'll want to read up on it and do some experiments to understand how it works.  In this case, you'll want to use the Update Database Only mode.  There's a check box near the bottom for converting the path separators.

You'll also want to use the "find and replace" template" at the very bottom so you can replace that drive letter with the leading mount path on your mac.  EG, replace R:\ with /Volumes/ .

This answer isn't super duper complete.  Feel free to ask questions.

Good luck.

Brian.
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imugli

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Re: Windows and Mac path difference.
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2017, 06:20:24 am »

Yep. MC doesn't handle cross OS path translation at all right now. Don't know if it's coming, but it sure would be nice. In the meantime, you need to create a separate library on the Mac.

blgentry

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Re: Windows and Mac path difference.
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2017, 06:27:37 am »

I'm pretty sure the convert path separators works.  I haven't tried it in a LONG time, but the function is there.  See my included screen shot.

Brian.
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Awesome Donkey

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Re: Windows and Mac path difference.
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2017, 06:32:07 am »

Cross platform paths are a nightmare. It's for this reason I don't import MC libraries from one OS to another - it's much easier to manage having to redo all settings from scratch on another OS.

For macOS and Linux (Arch Linux and Ubuntu) I have the main music library drive mounted to a specific locations, then point auto-import to those locations so it'll import everything correctly. Other than that, I setup my views and other settings that I use on Windows, and it works out pretty well. I can boot between Windows, macOS and both Linux distros and MC on all of them works great with the same library (I also import new files if there's any, and there's no issues there). It's worth noting that with Arch Linux and Ubuntu, I can import MC libraries from one to the other (and vice versa) since I have the music library drive mounted at the same place on both, so that works out good. Otherwise, I keep them separate with all MC settings automatically backed up in two different locations (4 different backup locations in all for all four OSes installed).

The trick here is to avoid folders and filenames beginning with a period (since macOS/Linux treats these as hidden files and MC on those platforms won't import them). Fortunately thanks to the Rename, Move, & Copy Names... function while maintaining my library on Windows (e.g. adding/removing files) I've worked around it - I use an expression to remove periods from the front of folders/filenames and it works perfectly. No issues on any platform, and it doesn't affect the file's metadata if there's any (which there always with all my files in my library).

This is the expression rule I use to compensate for directories beginning with periods in Rename, Move, & Copy Files...

Code: [Select]
[Album Artist]\regex([Album], /#^(\.*)(.*?)(\.*)$#/, -1)replace([R1],.,_)[R2]replace([R3],.,_)
And for the filename rule this is what I use (which avoids filenames beginning with periods)...

Code: [Select]
[Disc #]-[Track #] [Name]
End result is, it works great between Windows, macOS, Arch Linux and Ubuntu.
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