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[AVTechMan]

Finally sprung the $50 for MC. Figured it was worth it to be the core of my media needs. With that said:

I have an unRAID server I recently built which is pretty small right now (2TB but plan to add more soon). All of my current media is housed on it so I don't need the DLNA function in MC. Is the best way to keep the files in sync between the server and MC clients (one on HTPC and the other on the laptop) is to set the import watch folders to the server locations? Plus I am using MyMovies to keep track of all the movies and TV shows and I have MM pointed to the specific server shares as well.

I've also read about mapping the shares on the server as drive letters in Windows..how is this done?

Though I have transferred files by simply copying and pasting to/from the server I read about a program called Midnight Commander that could automate this...it may come in handy if I wanted to transfer my TV recordings (non-protected) from WMC to the server. Any thoughts on this?

Basically what I want to do is to simply keep the media synced on the MC clients with the server. Since unRAID and MC seem to work well together I wanted to get the most out of this. Pardon me for all the questions as I am still learning alot of this as I go. Gives my brain a good workout!

[CountryBumkin]

You should be able to setup the client-server relationship like this:

Server side setup


You do not need to check the DLNA boxes. You're using Win7 so you you could set up a "Home Group" and then just share your media folders amoung your computers (then u can set up MC to import those folders). After setting up the Server side (getting access code, etc.) go to the client computer(s), go to the Library and use the "add Library" the "Server" (it won't have name "Server" - you call it want you want) library will be listed - then you select it and provide the access code you have for it.

Client side setup

                                                       On the client machines do Not check the share this library box. You are sharing the Server library, not the client.

[CountryBumkin]

I also wanted to add this photo - of how Import looks (i think a picture is easier than a long explaination).
In my case, my movies, music, and photos are on my "server computer" which is \\HTPC-Z68.  My two client machines (ASROCK and 9400-V32) have the TV tuners and therefore are recording to their respective local hard drives. So I import everything into the server library (set the tags) and I'm good to go. I hope this helps you.

[fitbrit]

Have you created User shares?
In Windows Explorer, find and open your server. The user share folders should be visible. Right click on one and choose "Map Network Location to Drive letter", or something like that.
Then you can choose which letter it will show up as. Repeat the process from all your PCs and everything will be consistent and appear as a local drive. As far as MC is concerned, try to think of your unraid server as a bunch of disks that show up on each computer, and not as a separate linux-driven machine. Then you can carry on using MC as normal, and unRAID takes care of the rest.
More advanced:
In fact some things are very cool with the unRAID-MC combo, such as moving files between user shares, but not between disks; they can be done instantly using midnight commander via telnet, whereas doing the moves via windows take a lot longer. This is where MC's update location to reflect changes command is very handy.

[AVTechMan]

I also wanted to add this photo - of how Import looks (i think a picture is easier than a long explaination).
In my case, my movies, music, and photos are on my "server computer" which is \\HTPC-Z68.  My two client machines (ASROCK and 9400-V32) have the TV tuners and therefore are recording to their respective local hard drives. So I import everything into the server library (set the tags) and I'm good to go. I hope this helps you.

Yes that helped a great deal thanks! I was able to sync the Library from the laptop to the 'server' being the HTPC. The library imported nicely. That will save me alot of time having to import everything manually on the client side, and whether I add more clients in the future. Now its the matter of making sure the TV Shows and episodes goes in the proper order under the Series.

Have you created User shares?
In Windows Explorer, find and open your server. The user share folders should be visible. Right click on one and choose "Map Network Location to Drive letter", or something like that.
Then you can choose which letter it will show up as. Repeat the process from all your PCs and everything will be consistent and appear as a local drive. As far as MC is concerned, try to think of your unraid server as a bunch of disks that show up on each computer, and not as a separate linux-driven machine. Then you can carry on using MC as normal, and unRAID takes care of the rest.
More advanced:
In fact some things are very cool with the unRAID-MC combo, such as moving files between user shares, but not between disks; they can be done instantly using midnight commander via telnet, whereas doing the moves via windows take a lot longer. This is where MC's update location to reflect changes command is very handy.

Yes I created the user shares on the server before any files were transferred. I eventually figured out how to map the network drives to the shares so I will work on that when I get home from work in the morning. I guess based on that perspective can just transfer files to the mapped drives and as you said unRAID deals with the rest. The update location in MC would be important if I make changes like deleting or adding more files I want to ensure that it is updated on the client ends too. I will have a read up on the midnight commander.

[fitbrit]

Ensuring updates on the client end for file location changes are generally easy. You can always move files within MC and that's the end of that. Your library will be updated, and if you're sharing your library with other MC clients that will work automatically. I go a faster, but more convoluted route. I use file rename move copy to change filenames to the actual files, but when it comes to moving them from, say, my Import share (I:\) to my movies share (M:\) I make the changes in file rename move copy, but tell MC to only update the location, and not move the files. I then use MidnightCommander to move the files directly on the server. Often it's straight from one location on the disk e.g. (\\mediaserver\disk12\Import) to another on the same disk (\\mediaserver\disk12\Movies) and is instantaneous. Using MC or Windows to do that with 100 GB would take a fair amount of time, because each mapped folder is treated as a different hard drive, even if parts of the different user shares are on the same drive.