Need fix: Cloned drive MediaMonkey database songs greyed out

[vpiercy]

Hi,

I cloned my main drive to a bigger drive using Acronis. Everything works fine on the new drive so far except...MediaMonkey. All the files are greyed out.

I've searched the forum for aid on cloning drives. The best thing I've found so far is a post about updating the location of my files and the SERIAL number of my new drive: http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... =2&t=63823. There are also posts on a work-around (http://solair.eunet.rs/~zvezdand/Update ... fFiles.htm) and a script, but both sound dangerous. The script is over three years old. I'm not confident it will work. http://www.plasticsun.com/GiantInternat ... wDrive.htm.

Can anyone explain to me why a clone of a drive with MediaMonkey and its database doesn't behave like the original drive? The serial number of the drive is different. Okay, that's quite the fly in the ointment. What is the best practice for remedying my situation? It sounds like it should be simple, but from what I've read it's not.

Any advice or expertise on this problem would be appreciated!

TIA.

[nohitter151]

Hi,

I cloned my main drive to a bigger drive using Acronis. Everything works fine on the new drive so far except...MediaMonkey. All the files are greyed out.

I've searched the forum for aid on cloning drives. The best thing I've found so far is a post about updating the location of my files and the SERIAL number of my new drive: http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... =2&t=63823. There are also posts on a work-around (http://solair.eunet.rs/~zvezdand/Update ... fFiles.htm) and a script, but both sound dangerous. The script is over three years old. I'm not confident it will work. http://www.plasticsun.com/GiantInternat ... wDrive.htm.

Can anyone explain to me why a clone of a drive with MediaMonkey and its database doesn't behave like the original drive? The serial number of the drive is different. Okay, that's quite the fly in the ointment. What is the best practice for remedying my situation? It sounds like it should be simple, but from what I've read it's not.

Any advice or expertise on this problem would be appreciated!

TIA.

Seems like you're already aware of the problem. MM identifies the hard drive by it's serial number, and your new drive has a different number than the old one. So you need to update the database with the new number, or change your hard drive's serial number.

Both solutions that you posted will work. It's not dangerous if you follow the steps carefully.

[vpiercy]

Thanks for the speedy reply!

I downloaded sqlitebrowser, but can't locate the MediaMonkey database as the original site instructs. No file "MM.db" located on my cloned drive. This seems the most direct approach to fixing the problem of the cloned drive database. The instructions listed here: http://www.plasticsun.com/GiantInternat ... wDrive.htm --refer to Vista OS. Has MM changed the database name since then? Maybe I'm looking for the wrong thing.

Thanks!

P.S.
The script described at http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... =2&t=63823_ installed fine, but my songs are on multiple paths, not just one. The operation seems to require copying all the files to a new location. I am not eager to do that at all. Why not just re-install MediaMonkey? Wouldn't that be faster?

[nohitter151]

http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... ticleid=17

[Lowlander]

File > Locate Moved/Missing is something you can try to reconnect MediaMonkey with the files.

[vpiercy]

Thanks nohitter for the Support page link http://www.plasticsun.com/GiantInternat ... wDrive.htm on "Modifying the MediaMonkey db and ini files." That helped me locate the MM.db file in Win7. Once I associated the sqlitebrowser with the MM.db file in the C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\MediaMonkey, I opened MM.db and performed the steps described (Convert Serial Number to Decimal, Backup the MediaMonkey Database, Open MediaMonkey Database, Change the Disk Serial Number in the Database, Change the Drive Letter in the Database, Done!). Closed SQlite and opened Mediamonkey.

MediaMonkey still had the songs greyed out. So I had MediaMonkey rescan the files in the library (File / Add/Rescan files to the library [ins]). Currently MediaMonkey is scanning my library and SOME songs are no longer greyed out. It will take some time to be confident that each song on my harddrive has been integrated and made playable.

I think following the instructions completely, of changing the the Label and Show Label fields was (is) a mistake. I now have an additional line, greyed, for each song (ungreyed out) that includes the new Label. All it did was introduce redundancy into an already large database.

EDIT:
P.S. Performed the File / Add/Rescan files to the library [ins] before seeing nohitter's post about trying the File / Locate Moved/Missing Files.

P.S.S. I'm not even sure I needed to go through the SQLite exercise. Maybe I could have just rescanned my libraries. *sigh*

P.S.S.S. Okay, I probably needed the SQLite bit, b/c of the different harddrive serial number. But changing the Label, Show Label should have been avoided in SQLite.

[vpiercy]

MediaMonkey is done scanning and all the songs in all the playlists are greyed out.

EDIT:

So I shut down MediaMonkey. Deleted the modified MM.db. Pasted back into the MediaMonkey directory where it had originally resided, a copy of the original MM.db (thank you for the advice to backup that file).

Then I opened SQlite, changed the harddrive serial number, but not the Label and Show Label (the drive number didn't need to be changed).

Opened MediaMonkey and all the songs were greyed out. Went to File / Locate Moved/Missing Files. Had to watch out for the "Update" moved/missing files request as it was hidden behind MediaMonkey. Once I said, Yes, update, everything was fine with my music files.

SOLVED. Thanks for the help on this!

[Lowlander]

Are you referring to Add/Rescan Files? That shouldn't be run and will only add a copy of the files from their new location to the Library.

[nohitter151]

MediaMonkey is done scanning and all the songs in all the playlists are greyed out.

You never completed the steps. Most probably you didn't update the drive letter in addition to changing the serial number.

[vpiercy]

No, the drive letter was fine as I'd unplugged the old drive.

My problem was, as Lowlander pointed out, going for Add/Rescan instead of Locate Moved/Missing. So to correct that I started again, deleting the edited MM.db and pasting back in the backup copy. Then using SQlite I edited the copy of the original MM.db changing just the serial number (Label and Show Label didn't need editing). Then opening MediaMonkey I went to File / Locate Moved/Missing, waited for that to finish and actively looked for the "Update?" window request (which popped up behind MediaMonkey both times I ran Locate Moved/Missing). Once the update was done all was well.

Thanks!

[Lowlander]

For Locate Moved/Missing Files you don't need to do the serial edit in the database, but as things worked out that doesn't matter.

[Flashman]

I ran into this problem a while ago when expanding the partition that contained the mediamonkey database. This changes the disk's serial number so I had to use one of the workarounds to eventually get my greyed-out tracks back. But, a couple of months later I realised that I hadn't provisioned enough space on the partition and wanted to avoid the nerve-wracking experience of reviving my tracks from the dead.

With the help of a free utility, the solution turned out to be simple and easy:

* Download Hard Disk Serial Number Changer from http://www.xboxharddrive.com/freeware.html (no installation required)
* Open the prog and write down your drive/partition's current serial number
* Repartition as required
* Open the prog again. You'll notice the serial number's different. Just change it back to the one you jotted down. Presto, open mediamonkey and all tracks are there! Moving the database to a new drive, I'd imagine you'd just change that drive's serial number to that of the original drive before opening MM.