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[greynolds]

Thanks to a pretty good sale at Western Digital, I recently upgraded a bunch of older 6 and 8TB hard drives to 16TB drives, giving me room for future expansion.  In the process, I had to transfer my library files to the new drives and then make sure the network shares / top level folder names all matched before starting JRiver back up.  Unfortunately, I screwed up a couple of the shares and didn't notice my screw up for a few days.  For the most part, it's no big deal because the sidecar files were alongside the files and repopulated my metadata once JRiver found everything again.  So ripped movies and individual TV show files are all fine.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for particles, so all the work I had put in to breaking some TV series Bluray rips up into particles for each season/episode was lost.  I can't revert to a library backup prior to my screw up because I'm pretty sure that all of my TV recordings that happened since won't be brought in as JRiver TV recordings.

I can get past having to split these up into particles again, despite it being a non-trivial amount of work.  Fortunately, I didn't do this with my entire collection, so it's only a few seasons of a few shows.

Is there any provision for saving copies of particles to prevent this sort of screw up from having the same end result again?  I'm thinking a way to save each particle as a sidecar file as one possibility; I don't recall seeing an option for that anywhere.

[zybex]

You should use the Rename/Copy/Move tool in MC to just change the paths of the existing files/particles to point to the new locations. That would keep your entire library in place, including particles, without having to re-import the files and recreate everything.

As it is now, it's not easy to merge the old particles but also not impossible. The best would perhaps be for you to import an old backup into a new library, use the F6 tool to fix all paths, then import your new recordings.

Alternatively, load an old backup into a new library, remove everything except the particles, and then try to merge that library with your current library - there are some threads about doing so (search for "merge libraries"), like this one:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,47811.msg327737.html#msg327737

Make a backup of your current library before you start playing, just in case.

[greynolds]

You should use the Rename/Copy/Move tool in MC to just change the paths of the existing files/particles to point to the new locations. That would keep your entire library in place, including particles, without having to re-import the files and recreate everything.

As I said, the paths have NOT changed, I just screwed up and forgot to redo a couple of the shares to point to the new location after I moved the files, so when I opened JRiver, it (reasonably) concluded that those library files were no longer present and removed them from the library.

As it is now, it's not easy to merge the old particles but also not impossible. The best would perhaps be for you to import an old backup into a new library, use the F6 tool to fix all paths, then import your new recordings.

Importing the new recordings would put them into a different view.  For example, in the standard view, they would no longer show up under Television > Recordings as they would no longer be flagged as having been recorded by JRiver.

Alternatively, load an old backup into a new library, remove everything except the particles, and then try to merge that library with your current library - there are some threads about doing so (search for "merge libraries"), like this one:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,47811.msg327737.html#msg327737

Make a backup of your current library before you start playing, just in case.

I honestly feel that it will be easier (and safer) to just re-create the particles by hand.  Fortunately, I didn't lose a ton of work.

My post was more a request for JRiver to change particles to use the sidecar file concept so they can be easily restored in a situation like I ran into.  If someone is doing server maintenance and takes a few drives offline for 30 minutes and forgets to shut JRiver down before doing so, they could lose a TON of effort that was put into the particles.  The ability to restore a library backup is great if you catch the mistake quickly, but not so much if you don't notice the problem for a while.

[zybex]

As I said, the paths have NOT changed, I just screwed up and forgot to redo a couple of the shares to point to the new location after I moved the files, so when I opened JRiver, it (reasonably) concluded that those library files were no longer present and removed them from the library.

You can tell MC not to do this, for the future. Shares can go temporarily offline and usually we don't want MC to just decide to remove files from the library by itself.

Importing the new recordings would put them into a different view.  For example, in the standard view, they would no longer show up under Television > Recordings as they would no longer be flagged as having been recorded by JRiver.

It's likely possible to put them there, but I can't help as I don't use the TV recording feature.

I honestly feel that it will be easier (and safer) to just re-create the particles by hand.  Fortunately, I didn't lose a ton of work.

Whatever works for you

My post was more a request for JRiver to change particles to use the sidecar file concept so they can be easily restored in a situation like I ran into.  If someone is doing server maintenance and takes a few drives offline for 30 minutes and forgets to shut JRiver down before doing so, they could lose a TON of effort that was put into the particles.  The ability to restore a library backup is great if you catch the mistake quickly, but not so much if you don't notice the problem for a while.

This is why I always disable that feature. On the Auto-Import settings, set "Fix broken links" to "no" or to "yes (protect files on missing drives)". Frankly I prefer it set to "no", that way a file is only removed if I delete it myself.

[greynolds]

You can tell MC not to do this, for the future. Shares can go temporarily offline and usually we don't want MC to just decide to remove files from the library by itself.

Yes, I'm aware of the option.  There are pros and cons to both approaches.

It's likely possible to put them there, but I can't help as I don't use the TV recording feature.

I've tried in the past and never found a way to do it.  TV recordings made by JRiver are not located in an auto import folder, so they would need to be manually imported (that part isn't a deal breaker, but not being able to put them into the JRiver TV Recordings bucket is).

Whatever works for you

Given the number of lost particle files, I figure the option that requires the least amount of work makes the most sense.  Again, my hope is to encourage the folks at JRiver to use the sidecar file concept.

This is why I always disable that feature. On the Auto-Import settings, set "Fix broken links" to "no" or to "yes (protect files on missing drives)". Frankly I prefer it set to "no", that way a file is only removed if I delete it myself.

Again, there are pros and cons to setting these options the various ways, which is why the options exist.

Anyway, thanks for your feedback.  Hopefully someone from JRiver will see this thread and consider the request to write particles out to sidecar files (or something similar).

[blgentry]

My experience with particles was similar.  I spent hours creating particles and enjoyed using them.  Then I restored a library backup. ...and all my particles were gone.  I never figured out how to restore them.

Particles are useless if they don't follow the library like any other media file.  I don't mean to be harsh.  I'm trying to explain that as a customer using a feature to create virtual media (particles); that if those virtual media pieces are not retained between restores, file moves, etc, then the feature is not useable long term.

If particles were handled automatically between restores and file moves, I would use them again.  For now they are a "non-feature" for me.

Brian.

[greynolds]

My experience with particles was similar.  I spent hours creating particles and enjoyed using them.  Then I restored a library backup. ...and all my particles were gone.  I never figured out how to restore them.

Particles are useless if they don't follow the library like any other media file.  I don't mean to be harsh.  I'm trying to explain that as a customer using a feature to create virtual media (particles); that if those virtual media pieces are not retained between restores, file moves, etc, then the feature is not useable long term.

If particles were handled automatically between restores and file moves, I would use them again.  For now they are a "non-feature" for me.

Brian.

Yeah, it's super frustrating to put a ton of work into something and then lose it due to one little mistake.