Update Location of Files in Database 1.3 (2012-06-12) [MM2+]

[jaderson]

by Lowlander » Wed Apr 13, 2022 11:06 am

You may have Folder Monitoring enabled which will auto-scan the new drive before you change the driveID of the old drive:

Hello!
I am having a similar issue after moving my files onto a new hard drive.
I managed to get my files recognized again after many tries using the "Update Location of Files in Database" extension to update drive ID and paths of where the files are. Now I went to turn Folder Monitoring back on and it started to duplicate all the files. Is there a way to have it (folder monitoring) work again without re-adding all of my music and losing all of my playlists and play counts??

[Lowlander]

It sounds like the driveID wasn't successfully updated. Do both copies have a drive letter in the Path and both copies play?

[ZvezdanD]

It did not seem to work

The add-on works as it should, but it seems you are doing something wrong. Please read carefully its web page, especially the Usage section. There is no need to apply it 4 times. You already got modified paths in every step, the Old path should be changed accordingly after each step if you messed them somehow.

Maybe you could try to update D:\Jades Music/Jades Music/Jades Music\Jades Music to D:\Jades Music (I am just curious how you got mixed slashes and backslashes). Maybe it could help if you restart the program after applying the add-on.

However, if you have a backup of your initial database files, I think it would be best if you replace the current db version with the backup and start all over again, of course with the closed program first.

You could upload the screenshots to a public picture sharing service to be able to use its links of bitmap files to post them here.

[jaderson]

It sounds like the driveID wasn't successfully updated. Do both copies have a drive letter in the Path and both copies play?

I think i typed the wrong / instead of \ on the original post . sorry for the confusion. I was definitely doing something wrong, i re-read and solved it by putting the long misallocated location as the old path.

Yes they do. Both have(had) the same Path & Drive letter (D:) I have deleted all the duplicates , so now i just have the original files and when I turn on folder monitoring it starts duplicating them again. All the music plays, but a few songs are gone from the album i was testing (the files are still in the actual location) and i cant re-add them without turning on folder monitoring it seems. (or add anything else for that matter)

Would updating the driveID fix this? How do I manually update the driveID & where do I find it? Is it the serial number on the actual drive? Should I open up the computer and check on the actual drive or is that info readable somewhere else?

I have windows 10 & mediamonkey 4.1.14.1813

sorry if this is convoluted, thanks for the help

[jaderson]

It did not seem to work

The add-on works as it should, but it seems you are doing something wrong. Please read carefully its web page, especially the Usage section. There is no need to apply it 4 times. You already got modified paths in every step, the Old path should be changed accordingly after each step if you messed them somehow.

Maybe you could try to update D:\Jades Music/Jades Music/Jades Music\Jades Music to D:\Jades Music (I am just curious how you got mixed slashes and backslashes). Maybe it could help if you restart the program after applying the add-on.

However, if you have a backup of your initial database files, I think it would be best if you replace the current db version with the backup and start all over again, of course with the closed program first.

You could upload the screenshots to a public picture sharing service to be able to use its links of bitmap files to post them here.

I think i typed the wrong / instead of \ on the original post . sorry for the confusion. I was definitely doing something wrong, I re-read and solved it by putting the long misallocated location as the old path. It now reads D:\Jade's MUSIC\ and all the songs play!

I'm having a problem now with the Folder Monitoring and having that recognize the files that are there and not duplicating them when I have it turned on. Both have(had) the same Path & Drive letter (D:) I have deleted all the duplicates , so now i just have the original files and when I turn on folder monitoring it starts duplicating them again. All the music plays, but a few songs are gone from the album i was testing (the files are still in the actual location) and i cant re-add them without turning on folder monitoring it seems. (or add anything else for that matter)

Would updating the driveID fix this? How do I manually update the driveID & where do I find it? Is it the serial number on the actual drive? Should I open up the computer and check on the actual drive or is that info readable somewhere else?

I have windows 10 & mediamonkey 4.1.14.1813
I don't know
sorry if this is convoluted, thanks for the help

[ZvezdanD]

Would updating the driveID fix this? How do I manually update the driveID & where do I find it?

There exists the third-party software that allows changing of the drive ID manually, but there is no need for you to do that. This add-on already updated the database with the new drive ID since you specified the drive in the New path when you applied the add-on.

If everything was done correctly with the add-on, the program wouldn't add duplicates. Something is definitely different between paths of those "duplicates", otherwise the program wouldn't add them again when you turn on Folder monitoring.

As I said, if you have a backup of your database file that was made immediately before you upgraded the drive, it would be best if you:
- start the program (if it is not running already);
- turn off Folder monitoring;
- close the program;
- replace the current database file with the backup file;
- start the program, open the add-on's dialog box, set carefully its options and apply it;
- test if the files are playable and, if they are not or still grayed out, then restart the program;
- when you are sure that everything is fine, turn on folder monitoring.

The location of the current database file depending of the version of MediaMonkey and Windows could be found at:
https://www.mediamonkey.com/support/kno ... ini-files/

If you have just several files still grayed out or if they are "gone" after applying the add-on, then those files have paths that don't match with paths in the database, most likely because you changed their filenames and/or folders outside the program. You should compare paths carefully to see where is a difference.

[jaderson]

Would updating the driveID fix this? How do I manually update the driveID & where do I find it?

There exists the third-party software that allows changing of the drive ID manually, but there is no need for you to do that. This add-on already updated the database with the new drive ID since you specified the drive in the New path when you applied the add-on.

If everything was done correctly with the add-on, the program wouldn't add duplicates. Something is definitely different between paths of those "duplicates", otherwise the program wouldn't add them again when you turn on Folder monitoring.

As I said, if you have a backup of your database file that was made immediately before you upgraded the drive, it would be best if you:
- start the program (if it is not running already);
- turn off Folder monitoring;
- close the program;
- replace the current database file with the backup file;
- start the program, open the add-on's dialog box, set carefully its options and apply it;
- test if the files are playable and, if they are not or still grayed out, then restart the program;
- when you are sure that everything is fine, turn on folder monitoring.

The location of the current database file depending of the version of MediaMonkey and Windows could be found at:
https://www.mediamonkey.com/support/kno ... ini-files/

If you have just several files still grayed out or if they are "gone" after applying the add-on, then those files have paths that don't match with paths in the database, most likely because you changed their filenames and/or folders outside the program. You should compare paths carefully to see where is a difference.

OK I think I figured out what is different here. When I turn on Folder Monitoring and it begins duplicating my library it makes a separate folder under "location" where my D drive is named [DATA] instead of DATA .
So when I was originally trying to figure this issue out before I even looked at any forum posts and found the Update Location plugin , I thought that my original D drive that I replaced may have had brackets around it [ ]. I thought this because that is how it shows up in the mediamonkey "my computer" section in the bottom for the C drive and when it was not yet reading the new D drive I changed the file name from "my name" back to DATA which was the original name but with the brackets , once it showed up in mediamonkey I realized that it did not need brackets and I was mistaken, so I went back and renamed it again finally just to DATA.
So that is where I messed up I think , and now it recognizes both sets of files. They are the same files. The actual folder and drive path is D:\Jade's Music for both but for some reason Mediamonkey remembers that change that I made to the drive name, even though I changed it back, I cant seem to find a way to change it in mediamonkey. When I open Add/Scan it shows the D drive name as [DATA] (or rather [[DATA]] because it already adds brackets when it is showing the file tree. The actual Drive does not have the brackets any more the only place that shows the brackets is in MediaMonkey's "My Computer" at the botom of the file tree and when I attempt to use the Add/Scan Folder Monitoring.
I will attempt to upload a picture to show you. I tried to get as many different folders in the same screenshot

I don't think I have the OG database file because it is located on the C drive with the program files and I only backed up what was on the D drive (all the music files etc...)

https://flic.kr/p/2paHy6i

https://flic.kr/p/2paGXLA

[ZvezdanD]

I don't think that change of the drive label would cause duplicating of files. Did you change the drive label while the program was open? If that was the case, maybe you could try to do that again while the program is closed. Of course, before you do that, you should turn off folder monitoring and remove duplicates from the Library (the newly added files without playing stats). Are both set of files playable, those from Data and [Data]? Did you restart the program after applying the add-on and before turning on folder monitoring?

However, before you do anything, I strongly suggest that you make a backup of the database file. And by the way, if the partition with your old program and its database file was on the old drive and if you still have it intact, maybe you could attach it somehow to the computer, e.g. with the HDD enclosure, and copy its database file to the new drive.

[jaderson]

Ok I managed to get rid of the [DATA] with brackets issue after searching and finding someone else with a similar issue. Changed the file name in location and restarted and it changed in the other locations.
So now everything reads correctly and its reading from the correct drive. I deleted the extra location and tried Folder Monitoring again... No luck... still when it runs it makes duplicates. I don't get it. I ran the add on again to see if that would do anything. Nope. The add on works great and it reads the files just fine and everything plays but when folder monitoring is on it makes a new location with the exact same info as the original.

I will attempt to change out the database file with the old one, I'll let you know if it works

I really don't want to lose the plays and playlists but if it is this much of a headache then

[jaderson]

IT WORKED!! Plugged in the old C drive and found the database files and replaced them in the the new folder on the new C drive.
Used the Add on again and it worked!
Thank you for your knowledge patience and responses and the add on itself!