Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[tangolovers]

I am running MC 26 on Windows 10 PC.  My audio/video files are all stored on an external USB hard drive, which is  occasionally shared between computers. 

Everything working perfectly for several months, then I started to notice several files with the Red-Minus “Do Not Enter” sign, yet they all play fine!  And...  they do not show up when I search for non-playing files “[=IsMissing()]=1”.   The only thing I can think of is I often disconnect my computer and forget to properly eject the external HD. 

In searching the forum, I found a post for a slightly similar issue – which suggested doing a “library update from tags” 
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,122327.msg846533.html#msg846533

So, I ran Library Tools > update library from tags on one file and it fixed the issue!  BUT, I have no experience or knowledge of how tags work and I’m concerned that I could be creating yet another issue that I’m unaware of. 

QUESTIONS: 
1)   What the heck caused this to happen in the first place?  And, why these files have a minus sign yet they still play.

2)   Is it safe to do “update library from tags” this on all files?  Should I just do it on my entire library or only the ones
        with the minus sign?

3)   I read that using the external HD between computers could cause permission issues.  If that’s the case, what is my
        best course of action to avoid/remedy this?

Help!!     P.s. Trying to attach, but nothing happens when I click Choose File.  Never had this problem before.

[wer]

I wonder if the cover art is broken. Do an update library from tags on one file and see if that fixes it. If not, try replacing the cover art for that one file.

[tangolovers]

Hello Wer -- thank you for your fast response.   I did run Library Tools > update library from tags (as mentioned above) on one file and it looks normal now.  Since I know nothing about tags, I am wondering if it safe to do perform this on my entire library since I have no way to isolate the affected ones?  Otherwise I would have to manually sift through over 9000 audio files?  Could there be other unexpected side affects from doing this update library from tags?  I don't want to create yet another unexpected problem.

Also, any idea what would cause something like this?  Could it be the accidental removal of my HD's w/o ejecting first?
 

[wer]

It's good that worked. Did you try just fixing the cover art to see if that fixes it by itself?  It's worth knowing.

As to your safety question, make a library backup first, then you can update library from tags on all the files. If you don't like the result you can restore your library backup.

I can think of several reasons why this might happen, some of them user error, some of them accidental.  But without records and data it would just be speculation.

I'd suggest you learn more about tags and maintaining this sort of system, since you say you know nothing.  Having a library of a certain size, but not knowing about tags or how to prevent mishaps or correct them after the fact, is imprudent.  Someday you might get yourself into something that is not such an easy fix. 

Good luck...

[tangolovers]

Much appreciated!  I'll give that all a try.

Is JRiver Wiki the only place to learn about Tags or do you have any other suggestions?  The only thing I found on JRiver Wiki:  https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Library_Fields.  So any other advice would be welcome!

I've struggled to find answers before on Wiki but I often find it hard to follow or not as helpful as I'd like.

Thank you again!   

[millst]

I think I've seen similar behavior before. My media files are kept on a NAS so they aren't always available when the computer resumes from sleep. It's not consistent so probably a race condition between MC checking for the files and Windows bringing up the network. Refreshing with F5 clears up the issue.

[tangolovers]

Ok... this is weird.... this morning when I got up all the minus signs were gone.  It looks like they mysteriously resolved themselves, but I don't know how.  I only did the "Update Library From Tags" on one file, which removed the minus sign, but the others were still there. 

I think I've seen similar behavior before. My media files are kept on a NAS so they aren't always available when the computer resumes from sleep. It's not consistent so probably a race condition between MC checking for the files and Windows bringing up the network. Refreshing with F5 clears up the issue.

Thank you millst for your input!  I tried F5 but nothing appeared to happen - at least nothing visibly noticeable.  Any idea if there's a list of function key functionality for MC?  I've never seen this one before.  But many thanks for the input!

[millst]

F5 is pretty standard for "refresh" in Windows. Here is a MC list:

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Keyboard_Hot-keys

[tangolovers]

That explains it!  I was searching Function keys instead of Hot-Keys... Thank you!!