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[jamesecox50]

My HTPC drives are full and I want to move all my music floders to a net drive while maintaining ratings and playlists. I searched the forums and wiki and never found a clear solution. Anyone have a minute to explain this to me?
Ed

[Vincent Kars]

Move the files inside JRiver
Tools > Library Tools > Rename, Move and Copy files

[JimH]

The wiki has a topic on "Moving Files".

[jamesecox50]

Move the files inside JRiver
Tools > Library Tools > Rename, Move and Copy files

I saw that but cant figure how to select the whole library so my structure remains in tact. Otherwise wont it just be a pile of files, my test indicated this.
Ed

[csimon]

Go into a view that displays all your media (e.g. a top-level album view) then Select All. Then go into the Rename tool and search/replace the old path with the new path (assuming that you are keeping the same folder structure)   You may find, however, that it will leave behind files that are not part of the library, e.g. external cover art. I intend to be doing exactly the same thing in the not too distant future and I think the way I will approach the left-over files is just to copy the root media directory over the new destination, after JRiver has finished moving its library files.

You will also need to alter the path in any folder settings, e.g. cover art, rip to etc.

[jamesecox50]

Thanks, I appreciate it

[jamesecox50]

Go into a view that displays all your media (e.g. a top-level album view) then Select All. Then go into the Rename tool and search/replace the old path with the new path (assuming that you are keeping the same folder structure)   You may find, however, that it will leave behind files that are not part of the library, e.g. external cover art. I intend to be doing exactly the same thing in the not too distant future and I think the way I will approach the left-over files is just to copy the root media directory over the new destination, after JRiver has finished moving its library files.

You will also need to alter the path in any folder settings, e.g. cover art, rip to etc.

Didnt work! With my source files in split directories it could only do 1 or the other. So I let JRiver copy the dirs to the new location then create a library at this location! Nope JRiver says it cant create a lirary at this location.

MC does alot well but Library managment not so much, plain sucks actually.

[csimon]

The library itself is best left at the local PC. It may be that MC is smart enough not to allow you to create one at a network location!

You'll need to provide specific examples of your paths I think and what you have been trying to do and what tools you have used to do it.  If your media is at

C:\Media\...

...with subdirectories for music, video etc, then you can just select all files (using a top level view as I indicated) and use the Move/Rename utility to change the C:\Media to \\NAS\Media, or wherever your new location is.  That's simple, it works, it's tried and tested.  what do you mean by split directories? If your base path varies for some reason then just do it in multiple stages - select all with C:\Media and change them, then select all with D:\Media and change them, etc.

Are you saying that you don't know how to "merge" several directories of say C:\Media, D:\Media, E:\Media etc into one destination of, say, \\NAS\Media?

[fitbrit]

MC does alot well but Library managment not so much, plain sucks actually.

Hilarious! It's one of the things it does best. As requested above, tell us the directory structure you have and the path you wish to migrate to.
Let's say you have everything in C:\Users\XYZ\Music\ (For now ignore the subfolders of artists or albums you will have under the Music\ directory)

And you wish to move it all to D:\Music\

I'll use these locations as examples, and you should be able to substitute in the actual paths you have to make the general process outlined below work for you:

Select all the files you wish to move in Standard view
In Tools > Library Tools > Rename, Move and Copy files, select the option starting with "Update..."

Uncheck the first two options, but check the Find and Replace option.
Then simply:

Find C:\Users\XYZ\

Replace with: D:\

When you do this, MC will look for all your music in D:\Music directory, but preserving the subfolders structure you had before.
However, since we used the "Update" option, it won't find anything there because the files haven't been moved yet.

Now simply go to Windows Explorer, and COPY the C:\Users\XYZ\Music\ directory to the D:\ drive.
MC should now find all your files, and any that were not part of the library will have been moved with the music too, exactly as before.

Once you've verified all worked, you can delete your original Music folder.

[csimon]

Yeah, there's more than one way to skin a cat. My approach would have been to allow MC to actually move the files rather than just updating the file path and using Windows to move the files, and then copy over the external image files it may have left behind that are not part of the library, using Windows. That approach will preserve all the links between the library and the physical files at all times so nothing gets "lost" in case of errors or typos, but your approach will be less messy in tidying up the external files.

[glynor]

Yeah, there's more than one way to skin a cat. My approach would have been to allow MC to actually move the files rather than just updating the file path and using Windows to move the files, and then copy over the external image files it may have left behind that are not part of the library, using Windows. That approach will preserve all the links between the library and the physical files at all times so nothing gets "lost" in case of errors or typos, but your approach will be less messy in tidying up the external files.

It is easy to deal with external files if you import them into MC and make a view where you can see them all at once.

MC's ability to handle complex Filesystem manipulation is the thing that first attracted me to it so many years ago.  It is certainly one of the biggest strengths of the application.  I'm with fitbrit... I'm not sure what the OP was trying to accomplish, but it certainly could have been done much more cleanly (given more detail).

[fitbrit]

Yeah, there's more than one way to skin a cat. My approach would have been to allow MC to actually move the files rather than just updating the file path and using Windows to move the files, and then copy over the external image files it may have left behind that are not part of the library, using Windows. That approach will preserve all the links between the library and the physical files at all times so nothing gets "lost" in case of errors or typos, but your approach will be less messy in tidying up the external files.

I'm afraid I didn't read your instructions, so sorrry if I duplicatted some stuff you posted. My initial temptation was to just stop my post at "Hilarious!", but then I decided to take a few minutes and be helpful - and to do things the way I normally do them.

[csimon]

No, that's fine!  It just highlights that there is usually more than one way of doing things and I hadn't thought about making the external files bit easier. And as glynor points out, there's a way to make it easier still!

[jamesecox50]

Are you saying that you don't know how to "merge" several directories of say C:\Media, D:\Media, E:\Media etc into one destination of, say, \\NAS\Media?
 

I have C:\Music  and E:\WMA that need moved to F:\Music.

I tried doing it in 2 steps (replace checked only) and it would not do E:\wma. I tried comma delimiting them...nope. You know what the funny thing about me ignorance is? Im a DBA by profesion on Ebay scale DBs.  I just dont want to lose my ratings. Anyhow I did the update to point to thr copied location and it looked like it worked becuase in the details of the music in the interface it showed F:\music\bla bla but would not play the music.  Thank goodness for restore!

[jamesecox50]

Almost got it......The Options/File location had to be reset to the new path in order for the entries to actually play? We all knew that though!  New problem, it scrambled my Recent order...Boooo  Any hope for this or is the date restamped by the replace? Who said this is a MC strength?

[fitbrit]

Almost got it......The Options/File location had to be reset to the new path in order for the entries to actually play? We all knew that though!  New problem, it scrambled my Recent order...Boooo  Any hope for this or is the date restamped by the replace? Who said this is a MC strength?

We've helped dozens of people achieve exactly what you want to do in the past. The instructions posted above, when followed carefully should work. Perhaps, you're right and there's a weakness here. If it's in the program itself, I've never heard of anyone in the past 5 years fall afoul of it.