Restoring MM data after reinstall, playlist data missing

[MagGyver]

Hi all,

I recently needed to reformat & reinstall Windows XP so I made an image of my entire hard drive and did the reinstall. After I installed MM 3.0.7, I followed the guidelines about restoring my database and located the files MM.DB, MediaMonkey.ini and mediamonkey.m3u from the image backup and restored them to the User\Local Settings\Application Data\MediaMonkey folder. (I later learned that I did not need to restore the .M3u file - perhaps this was the problem?)

Upon opening MM, all my files are showing up normally (not greyed out, as they were restored to the same location as before) and all of my playlists are listed, but when I click on any of the playlists the data is not there - they are blank! I am desperate to recover these as I use playlists professionally when I DJ. Am I missing a step, or is there another file I need to restore from my image backup?

Many thanks for a reply. My fingers are crossed...

[MagGyver]

I've also discovered that the "Date Added" field has been reset to today's date - any way to recover that from the original database?

[Lowlander]

Do you have the File Monitor configured? It seems you restored an empty database (maybe you backed up or restored the wrong copy of the database) and then the File Monitor auto-added the songs back in.

The database contains the playlists and as long as the songs are in the database the playlists will work. This is why it seems the database you restored was empty and the File Monitor added the tracks or that the database did have the tracks and the File Monitor removed them (as they were unavailable due to DriveID change) and scanned in the tracks again. Either event would result in the loss of the playlists.

[MagGyver]

This makes sense as I copied over the .ini file which did, indeed, have the File Monitor configured.

So in order to properly import the database, I should simply turn OFF File Monitor BEFORE I copy the DB file to the proper directory, and not turn it back on until I've successfully opened it? I'll give that a try just now and report back...thanks for the quick reply.

[Lowlander]

The File Monitor is most likely deleting the existing tracks in the DB and add's them again from their "new" location. This is due to the fact that MediaMonkey uses driveID instead of drive letter. The drive ID script can solve this issue.

So you're correct that you should turn off the File Monitor before you copy over the backup DB.

[MagGyver]

Thanks, the script did it, after turning off File Monitor. Now my database has been restored, including all my playlists and the "Date Added" data. One last question now - since I'd like to turn File Monitor back on again for the folders that contain my music, is there any danger in doing so now that I've properly restored the database?

Many thanks for the consistent support I've received over the years from MM users and developers!

[Lowlander]

Once the tracks are accessible (they're playable) you should be able to turn the File Monitor back on. For safety you might want to backup the database before doing so.