Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

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sunspot
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Joined: Fri Jun 16, 2006 11:45 pm

Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by sunspot »

Trying to move my library off an aging network drive and onto a local drive on a new PC. Was attempting to follow the instructions here:

https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/WebHel ... sign_Drive

But there doesn't seem to be any way to reassign a "drive" from a network path back to a local hard drive.

Any ideas?
Peke
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by Peke »

Hi,
If you used Windows Explorer to copy and yet not have scanned local drive again. Just select All tracks -> File -> Locate Moved Missing -> Point to local Drive -> BE PATIENT it can take long time depending on number of tracks to be checked.

Enjoy and Happy Monkeying!
Best regards,
Peke
MediaMonkey Team lead QA/Tech Support guru
Admin of Free MediaMonkey addon Site HappyMonkeying
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sunspot
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by sunspot »

I tried that yesterday and it didn't seem like it was finding anything. From what I've read, that doesn't actually work. But I could try it again.
Peke
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by Peke »

Hi,
In the end of scanning you should get dialog that shows what was found, what was not found and what doesn't changed place.

Make sure you have not scanned into library new path to copied files or MM will refuse to find them because they are in library already.
Best regards,
Peke
MediaMonkey Team lead QA/Tech Support guru
Admin of Free MediaMonkey addon Site HappyMonkeying
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sunspot
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by sunspot »

Definitely did not work. Left MM running for hours - it hung and no dialog ever appeared.

I'm thinking about deleting the files copied to the new drive, connecting the new machine to the old network drive, changing my auto-organize string to point to the new internal drive on the new computer, and then having MM on the new PC just auto-organize everything onto the new drive. That should work but be slow, right?
Rob_S
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by Rob_S »

Not a solution here, just a question relating:

Seems to me there should be an easier way to relocate an entire collection when it is moved or copied with the internal folder structure intact.

If the location before was say networkdrive\music which was my folder being scanned, and I want to move everything to C:\users\username\music, is there any way to just point the location of the folder to be scanned to that, and everything would just pick up the new location path??

I think a total relocation happens often enough there should be a simple way of doing it.

Of course this would not work when only parts of a collection are relocated.
Using 5.1 LATEST alpha or beta build on Windows 10, HP laptop, managing 13k tracks
sunspot
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by sunspot »

Rob_S wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 10:41 pm Seems to me there should be an easier way to relocate an entire collection when it is moved or copied with the internal folder structure intact.

If the location before was say networkdrive\music which was my folder being scanned, and I want to move everything to C:\users\username\music, is there any way to just point the location of the folder to be scanned to that, and everything would just pick up the new location path??
Apparently MM doesn't use the drive letter but the drive ID. Supposedly there's now a way to edit that ID, so you could do just as you suggested provided the directory structure on the other drive is the same. So if you had a C:\Music directory and you moved it to D:\Music, you could just change the drive ID and MM would pick up where it left off.

However, my library was located on a network path, and apparently you can't edit that to change it from a network path to a drive ID or drive letter.

Ideally, MM would have better functionality to just repoint the library to any new root, just by letting you browse for it, assuming the subdirectories are the same from there on down.
Lowlander
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by Lowlander »

You can use Locate Moved/Missing Files if Manually Re-assign drive can't be used.

Although if you're moving (instead of copying) files I recommend using MediaMonkey to move files.
Peke
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by Peke »

Hi,
This sound great on paper, but in real life it is not the same. Network Drives do not have Partition IDs, they are defined by UNC/IP path, so no actual partition Serial Number to change. Locate moved missing should do the job (I've done that 100 times over the years) without any issues.

Also Local tracks must not be in MM library as all tracks that are in librray will be ignored during locate to avoid exact duplicates.
Best regards,
Peke
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Admin of Free MediaMonkey addon Site HappyMonkeying
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Rob_S
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by Rob_S »

I've been following this, but Peke I dont understand your last paragraph.

If the track is not in the library, how will MM know it is "missing"? Does not "missing" mean listed in the library (database) but no longer found at its expected location, so go look for it in "New location"?

Your sentence would lead me to delete all existing tracks from my library, and then ask it to find "moved or missing", I'm sure that is not what you intended.

Can you please clarify?
Using 5.1 LATEST alpha or beta build on Windows 10, HP laptop, managing 13k tracks
Lowlander
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by Lowlander »

The files that you copied to the local drive must not already have been scanned into the Library to be able to locate the networked files on the local drive.
Barry4679
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by Barry4679 »

Lowlander wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 1:46 am The files that you copied to the local drive must not already have been scanned into the Library to be able to locate the networked files on the local drive.
Hi, I am trying hard, but the above does not clarify matters at all (for me).

I can't equate what is being said in this thread, with what is in your help text.
If Media Files have been moved by another application to a new location, MediaMonkey will automatically find the Media File when Folder Monitoring is configured to monitor the directory to which the media file has been moved.
Isn't adding a track to an auto-scanned folder, exactly the same as adding a track, and then scanning it?
So why are you (also) saying that the moved files should not be scanned?
And if not scanning these files is important, why is there no advice to turn auto-scanning off before starting?
Or if the Monitoring facility helps the moving process, why is there no advice to turn it on?

I agree the comments posted here and elsewhere.
I can see that MM's disk ID scheme is generally helpful, because it auto-removes problems caused when Windows re-assigns the drive letter of a usb drive.

But as a Media Manager, MediaMonkey should have a Wizard function to help people relocate their collection without all this complication and angst. It seems to be a common enough occurrence. And the Wizard should handle the technical issues mentioned by Peke, as if they were valid excuses for not providing this function.

And if you won't make a Wizard to handle the complexity, you need to improve the Help Text

I have read what is there, but I am still confused.
And it is hard to understand what is Best Practice when needing to move a media collection. The topic is not even mentioned on that page, and there is not even a link to the Auto Organise facility.
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Lowlander
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by Lowlander »

That's for Folder Monitoring, not scanning.

If you've moved the files, make sure you didn't scan the files in the location they were moved to and use Locate Moved/Missing Files to locate them in the new location instead.
Rob_S
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by Rob_S »

So, we are still trying to understand this.

Lets say I use Windows to move a track file.

- Folder monitoring (or attempt to play the track) now shows it as missing from original location.

- Add the new location to the list of folders to scan, so MM can find it. (or possibly, do not add it yet??)

- When it scans, it adds the track as a "New" track, with the original copy still missing???

- If I then use "locate moved missing" and even if I select the missing track, it wont find the track, because it has already been scanned?

So, how to avoid scanning until "locate used/missing" has been completed??

It seems a detailed procedure for this would be helpful, until it can be more automated.
Using 5.1 LATEST alpha or beta build on Windows 10, HP laptop, managing 13k tracks
Barry4679
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Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Post by Barry4679 »

Lowlander wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 11:50 am That's for Folder Monitoring, not scanning.

If you've moved the files, make sure you didn't scan the files in the location they were moved to and use Locate Moved/Missing Files to locate them in the new location instead.
OK, but that didn't add any light at all.
What's that first sentence even mean? .. "That's for ..." ?
What is the "that"?

I don't need an answer. As you are aware I am not trying to move any files.
I am just responding to repetitive instances where people run into difficulty when trying to relocate their files en masse.
Isn't the confusion here a red light?

MediaMonkey sees itself as the "Media Manager for serious collections" ... whose featured capabilities include "Organisation".

As such the UI, or the Online Manual, should make it clear how to relocate the Collection.


I don't think that this is the case and you didn't respond to this issue.

The information is scattered through the online manual, or your 53,000+ posts to this forum, and is not adequately indexed.
The Online Help for this topic, in your index is here, and as you can see it is just a dead end.

Suggestion: Online Manual:
  • top level section "Moving your media Collection
    • Best practice when moving just a small number of files is to use the xxxx facility
    • Best practice when moving a large number of files is to use the xxxx facility
    • If you move the files using an external tool, such as the Windows File Explorer you will cause the following issue:
      • xxxxxx
      • to resolve this issue, you need to xxxxx
    • FAQs:
      • Moving from one USB drive to another: xxxx
      • Moving media files on your PC to somewhere else on your LAN, or vice versa
      • Moving files to an Internet location, such as Google Drive ....
      • Implications if the new file location is being monitored by MM5 either at "Startup" or "continuously" is xxxx
    And if it is difficult to document all this clearly, that would be a sure sign that the UI needs some change.

    Let us know if you need assistance beta testing the documentation.
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