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Author Topic: Move from Windows to Mac?  (Read 681 times)

mikolajek

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Move from Windows to Mac?
« on: September 03, 2019, 08:41:51 am »

I've got myself a new Macbook and I've been using Windows so far. I have to questions and I hope you guys can help me:

1. Is there a way to move my library and settings to Mac? I suspect creating a backup in Windows will save Windows paths and they will be useless for Mac installation.

2. My MC license is a master one, but am I allowed to use MC on both computers (privately) or shall I purchase another license?
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JimH

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Re: Move from Windows to Mac?
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2019, 08:53:08 am »

Your Master License is good for both Mac and Windows. 

You may be able to use MC's Find and Replace tool to change your file locations.  Change \ to / (at least).
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Awesome Donkey

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Re: Move from Windows to Mac?
« Reply #2 on: September 03, 2019, 08:54:32 am »

Yep, you can do a library backup in Windows and restore that library backup in macOS. However... the differences in Windows and macOS paths are going to cause you issues, but you may be able to use the Rename, Move, and Copy Files tool after restoring a library backup on macOS. One thing to keep in mind, don't have folders or files that begin with periods, or else macOS (and Linux) treat those as hidden folders, and MC won't import those files, because they're "hidden".

I'd try experimenting with a few at first before attempting the full library. However, if you don't have things like ratings and stuff like that saved in the library, you *could* remove all the files in your library and re-import them from the new path(s) in macOS.

Paths are much different on Windows versus Mac (and Linux for that matter).
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mikolajek

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Re: Move from Windows to Mac?
« Reply #3 on: September 03, 2019, 08:56:31 am »

Many thanks! I'll probably establish a test library at Mac, then make its backup and check the paths.
Then I'll know what should I change in the restored Windows backup, I hope :)
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blgentry

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Re: Move from Windows to Mac?
« Reply #4 on: September 04, 2019, 08:37:04 am »

There's a check box in RM&C for "convert Windows file path syntax to Mac/Linux".  You should probably use that when moving your Library from Windows to Mac so it transforms the paths correctly.

You might need/want to do 2 passes with RM&C:  One to get the path separators correct, and a second to change drive letters/prefixes into the location on the Mac (like /Users/mycoolusername/Music for example).

Brian.
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mikolajek

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Re: Move from Windows to Mac?
« Reply #5 on: September 12, 2019, 08:46:06 am »

Ufff... Tried it and failed. There's too much data to change manually, apart from the library paths. The Win/Mac conversion option actually created a mess, as not everything has been changed and now paths contain both "/" and "\".

It's gonna be much faster to set the whole config from the scratch by mirroring my Windows installation settings.
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