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Author Topic: Dropbox or Google Drive  (Read 12400 times)

MarkCoutinho

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Dropbox or Google Drive
« on: May 08, 2012, 03:17:23 am »

I've been doing this for years and years now: syncing my home-library with my library at the office with a USB-stick. Backup and restore. Every day.
So now there are (amongst others) Dropbox and Google Drive (GD).
Can I use one of those so I don't have to do that daily routine anymore?
I guess the JRiver library-folder has to be in Dropbox or GD then? Do I have to adjust something in MC for that?

Anyone with experience in this who can help me?

Thanks!
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Mark Coutinho
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Alex B

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2012, 07:40:55 am »

I have never tried GD, but I have quite a bit of experience in using Dropbox. Before giving you tips on using Dropbox I would need to know what exactly you want to sync. What do you carry on your USB stick? Do you just create a library backup file and restore it on the other end or do you use some external backup program? How do you handle the changed or new media files?
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MarkCoutinho

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2012, 08:10:31 am »

No, I just make a MC backup on my USB stick at home and restore that at the office (and the other way around of course).
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Mark Coutinho
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Alex B

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2012, 08:48:00 am »

I see, but how do you sync the changed or new media files?

To sync just the library, you can easily use Dropbox for transferring a library backup file, but that would not be much different from using the USB stick.

A bit more complex system would directly sync the library files and the thumbnail cache (the latter is needed to prevent MC from creating the thumbnails from the scratch each time the new library files are introduced.) You would need to use a library folder that is inside the dropbox folder and also move the location of the thumbnail cache there by tweaking the Windows registry. To make this work correctly you would be able to run only one of the MC instances at a time.

Another option would be to run an external backup program to automatically backup and restore these files to/from the dropbox folder. This would allow running MC at home and work at the same time, but of course syncing would always happen only from one MC instance to the other MC instance depending on how the external backup program instances are configured.
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MarkCoutinho

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2012, 04:15:02 pm »

A bit more complex system would directly sync the library files and the thumbnail cache (the latter is needed to prevent MC from creating the thumbnails from the scratch each time the new library files are introduced.) You would need to use a library folder that is inside the dropbox folder and also move the location of the thumbnail cache there by tweaking the Windows registry. To make this work correctly you would be able to run only one of the MC instances at a time.


I think this option is the one I'm searching for. If I understand you correctly you say here that in a way you can change the location of the library files (and the thumbnail cache) to the Dropbox folder. I have to do that at home as well as at the office. From then on I won't need to backup/restore every time.

If I understood right: how do I change the location of these folders/files?
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Mark Coutinho
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Alex B

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #5 on: May 08, 2012, 07:16:08 pm »

You can create a cloned copy of the default library with Library Manager. Place the new library in a folder that is inside a Dropbox sync folder. Similarly you can alter the thumbnail path to point to a folder that is inside a sync folder. You will need to edit the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JRiver\Media Center 17\Properties\Thumbnails - Base Path" value in Windows Registry. Naturally you must make the same changes at home and at work.

Actually, I just remembered that I have explained this in detail two months ago:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=70691
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glynor

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2012, 11:29:35 pm »

Using Dropbox would almost certainly work for this (and probably Google Drive, but like Alex, I have much more experience and trust in Dropbox's sync).  Dropbox is awesome anyway and you should get it if you don't have it.  Fantastic for moving files between home and work and storing manuals and whatnot.  But, just a quick suggestion for consideration as a possible alternative for this particular problem.  It is more complex to set up, but much more powerful and flexible.

MC has a built-in Library Server.  It works just fine over the Internet if your machine at home is always on, and if you can get your Firewall to Port Forward the appropriate port.  Then, you wouldn't even need to worry about syncing changes or running both copies at once.  To do this, you would essentially do this:

1. Run MC on your computer at home with the Library where it is now.
2. Set MC to run the Library Server at boot the time under the Options -> General -> Startup settings.  As I said, this machine will need to be on and always running either "full MC" or the "Library Server" down in the Notification Area by the clock.
3. Enable the Library Server under Options -> Media Network.  Enable a username/password on the server, and the Automatically Sync Changes options.  Make a note of the Port that MC will be using for the server.  Generate yourself a key and email it to yourself (or whatever so that you have it at work).
4. Forward this port through your firewall/NAT device and/or software firewalls.  If you have a regular home router, you can probably look up instructions for this here.  Instructions for the Windows 7 Firewall are here (if you have both, you have to forward it through both).  You just need to forward that one TCP port.  Note: Depending on your hardware firewall/router, you may have to set the server machine up with a static IP address on your LAN so that you can forward the port to a particular address.  Routers vary, but...  This stuff is almost never very difficult to accomplish if you're reasonably competent and can follow instructions.
5. Connect the PC at work to the remote file server at home, using the key you generated at home.

Now, the PC at work will use the library being served by the PC at home.  The libraries will always stay in sync, and you can even make tagging changes (and track things like number of plays and whatnot) from your machine at work.

It will still help to keep a separate, local copy of your media files at work, though, like you must be doing now.  The MC Library Server will stream the files to you from your home internet connection.  This works pretty well for MP3s and whatnot, but it is more troublesome with videos and lossless audio files (which have to be converted before they can be streamed, which can be slow and, for video files, flaky).   You also might not have great upstream bandwidth (especially if you are on a DSL connection or something at home).  But, if MC can "see" the files where they are "supposed to be" (whether on a local/usb disk with the same drive letter as is used at home, or on a network disk) it will use the local copy of the file for playback, just like restoring your backup library works now (if the appropriate option is enabled on the client copy of MC, which it should be by default).  Only if the file isn't available on a local disk will it will stream it to you from your PC at home.  So this is another benefit, as it gives you access to "new stuff" that you haven't synced over to the "work drive" yet via streaming too, while using the higher-quality, faster local copies whenever available.

I do exactly this.  I have my server machine at home, when it isn't dead, running MC's Library Server.  My workstation at the office connects to it.  At home on the server, my stuff all lives on a big, fancy disk called drive M.  Then I have two external disks that are the same size(ish) as Drive M.  I keep one at home, connected to the server and called Drive P (for portable) and the other at the office and connected to the Workstation as drive M.  Then, at home, I have SyncBack SE set to sync all of the files from my drive M over to drive P (the external disk) once every day.  Since not much changes every day on my drive M disk, the sync doesn't take very long.  I just have it scheduled to run while I'm at work.

Then, every so often when my copy at work gets "stale" I swap the two external disks.  I bring the one from work home, plug it in and tell Windows to call IT drive P now, and lug the one from home back to the office and connect it to the workstation.  It's great because it gives me all of my stuff at work, and also provides a nice offsite backup.  I'm motivated to actually keep it updated (to do the swap) because it it pretty simple to do (I just bring it home and plug it in and swap them) and because I want my new stuff at the office.  Having two external disks like that gives you essentially "two layers" of backup, and makes the updating much easier to accomplish.  Before I tried it with just one disk, and I never kept the office one up to date very well, because it was a pain and took a while to update the drive when I did remember to bring it home.

PS.  I'm simplifying my setup somewhat, but that's the basic idea.
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MarkCoutinho

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2012, 02:30:29 am »

Thanks for this extensive explanation - I appreciate that. I do use this at home (the computer in the garage 'reads' the pc in the room). However, for environmental reasons I don't want to keep my computer on when nobody's at home - therefor I use the USB-stick solution.

I'm going to give Dropbox a try now.
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Mark Coutinho
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glynor

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2012, 07:18:16 pm »

Let us know how it works.  That's a neat idea.
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MarkCoutinho

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #9 on: May 10, 2012, 01:29:03 am »

First try didn't work:
- in Library Manager I chose Add Library
- then I pointed the local library location to c:\Users\Mark\Google Drive\
- MC didn't accept that.

Apparantly I have to clone my library but I can't figure out how to do that in MC.
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Mark Coutinho
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Alex B

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #10 on: May 10, 2012, 03:09:37 pm »

Actually, some of the options that were formerly available in the separate Library Manager window have moved.

You can now access the clone feature only by selecting the library under Playing Now in the tree. The feature will then be available on the right pane.

See the attached screenshot.


Log in to the forum if you can't see the attachment.
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MarkCoutinho

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #11 on: May 29, 2012, 03:50:08 pm »

IT WORKS!

I've been testing it for 2 weeks now and I can say: you can use MC with a Google Drive as the place to store your library. If you open MC at another place (in my case: at the office) MC reads that Google Drive and continues working as if you were at home. And vice versa of course.

No more USB-stick backups and restores for me anymore!

So to sum all things up, here's what you have to do to transform your MC to a program that uses Google Drive as the place to store your library (I guess DropBox or whatever other service will work the same) (before I forget: I copy/pasted most of this from Alex B's explanation):

- install Google Drive or DropBox on your computer. The most possible place where it is will be C:\Users\%username%\Google Drive.
- make a clone of your library. You can access the clone feature in MC 17 only by selecting the library under Playing Now in the tree. The feature will then be available on the right pane. Be sure to let MC point to C:\Users\%username%\Google Drive\JRiver as the place for storing the library
- start Regedit and make the following adjustment:
Edit the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JRiver\Media Center 16\Properties\Thumbnails - Base Path" value and change it to C:\Users\%username%\Google Drive\JRiver
- Load the clone-library and make it your default
- (if you want to use the library some place else too): do these four steps at the other place too
- Be careful to never run both MC instances at the same time.
- And... In daily use: When you start up your p.c. be sure that Google Drive has finished syncing BEFORE you start MC!

Thanks to Alex for all his suggestions.
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Mark Coutinho
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glynor

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #12 on: May 29, 2012, 06:17:27 pm »

IT WORKS!

I've been testing it for 2 weeks now and I can say: you can use MC with a Google Drive as the place to store your library.

Awesome.

Thanks for the update.
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Etsijä

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #13 on: January 22, 2015, 08:53:08 am »

I do realise this thread is old...just want to thank you guys for finally telling me how to do this.  I've been using the SW for several years now, always had my song directories on Dropbox but never could quite find out whether it is possible to also have two "identical" copies of MJ itself.  Today, I realised that MJ probably won't cut it, so finally switched over to using MC20.  I set my MC just as explained, made a clone of the library, put it in Dropbox, made it the main library.  Went home, installed MC20, set the main library to the Dropbox one.

BANG!  All of a sudden all of my playlists, views and whatnot are in perfect sync!
I am SO happy now!  Will gladly pay for the full license for this AMAZING software.
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MarkCoutinho

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #14 on: January 22, 2015, 12:21:58 pm »

Glad you like it, Etsijä! You're welcome.
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Mark Coutinho
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Etsijä

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Re: Dropbox or Google Drive
« Reply #15 on: January 22, 2015, 01:54:39 pm »

I am thinking someone must write an article to wiki about this feature.  I think it makes - among other things - this Music Organizer unique in the market.
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