How to create a separate MM library? (or how best to accomplish what I need to do)

[saila7124]

So...the thing every computer person dreads happened to me. My hard drive, containing all of my audio files, died. Can't resurrect it, had the funeral, 21-gun salute, Amazing Grace on bagpipes, the whole shebang. I'm able to retrieve about 10% of my collection from what was synced to my phone, but the rest is gone. Including some irreplaceable stuff, but I'm trying not to dwell...

Fortunately, MM still has everything listed, so I'll be able to rebuild the bulk of my collection and replace what's missing. I don't want to lose this database -- I want to keep it as it is so I can refer to it as I replace the music, podcasts, etc. How best can I accomplish this? I figured if I could create a separate MM library for the "new" stuff, I could use the old as a sort of checklist to keep track of what's left. Is there a way to do this? Or is there a better way to accomplish the same goal?

Thanks in advance.

[Lowlander]

You can use Collections (Gold feature) to create separate libraries within MediaMonkey: https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/WebHel ... _Rules/5.0

[Barry4679]

I would ignore LowLander's answer, as it it doesn't seem (to me) to be related to your question.

All you need to do is backup your database. The file is MM5.db.

One of the improvements to MM5 is that this is now baked into the standard install.

Go to File|ManageDatabase. Configure a location for your backup, and set a backup frequency, and housekeeping limit.

Then you should run a "Backup Database Now" ... and then also place a copy of that file in offsite location ... ie. Dropbox or GoogleDrive, or a friends house.

And apologies to you and LowLander, if it is me that has misunderstood your question.

[IanRTaylorUK]

Let's first make the distinction between:

1). the Database containing the "information" about the "lost" audio files,

AND

2). the library of those MP3 files - both lost and recovered.

I think I would do something like the following:
1). Make a backup copy of the old MM5 database as per Barry's suggestion
2). Create CSV file listing of this old MMW5 database using File / Reports / File List and use Excel or Access
3). Use previous to mark the 10% retrieved and 90% lost and thus make a plan to recover by new download etc.

Now take a moment to decide how to avoid this problem in the future. Consider what the folder structure(s) might be for a "new" media library. For example, I have my master music folder under a OneDrive cloud backup but I am sure other Cloud services can be used. Prior to Cloud services, I would use "Folder Match" to make a copy on an external hard disk. Personally, I do not backup Audio Books or Pod Casts, just Music and Playlists. I also keep Music and Playlists quite separate i.e. D:\...\Music and d:\...\Playlists. I also keep MMW4 (D:\...) and MMW5 (E:\...) libraries separate but only back up the "master" MMW4 files to the cloud.

I would then leave the old MMW5 install alone and create a new installation of MMW5 in a distinct folder and point that new installation to the backed up files folder. Then copy any recovered MP3 files to that folder and use Auto-Tag and Auto-Organise. This would allow access to the old and new backed up version of MMW5.

If replacement files for the lost 90% can be found online then download to the new "backed up" location.

For the 10% recovered from the phone, I would check to see whether they are at the original quality / bit rate etc.

Collections would be useful to show contents in the new "backup up" version of MMW5 requiring work e.g. low bit rate, missing lyrics etc.

The downside of this is that some information will be lost e.g. Play Counts, Rating, Last Played Date in the new backed up version.

[Rob_S]

With apologies to the OP, but if anyone still does not have at least two full backups of all of their files, then do it TODAY.

Computers are very reliable, but as per above, they DO fail, and usually just that way - one day the stuff is there, and the next day its GONE, completely.

Buy some flashdrives, or camera cards, or portable hard drives, and don't bother with fancy backup programs. Size needed can be determined by checking properties of the needed folders you want to back up.

Just copy the folders where you keep your actual pictures, audio files, and documents on there, and get at least one of them someplace outside of your dwelling, in case of fire or theft, or otherwise.

After you have done this a few times, bring back the first one, and copy over it for an update. If your collection is huge, you can use a program like "total Commander" to sync the files instead of copying over to save some time.

I usually keep one of these backups handy by the computer, and add any new stuff onto it every few days. Then I swap it out with one of the off-site copies.

[saila7124]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Going to work on this Thursday so I'll report back on what worked for me.

[Barry4679]

Buy some flashdrives, or camera cards, or portable hard drives, and don't bother with fancy backup programs. Size needed can be determined by checking properties of the needed folders you want to back up.

Or backup to the Internet.
My Google Drive accounts costs me roughly as much as 5 new full price CDs pa, and can store more than 7,000 ccs losslessly, or 40,000+ cds in .mp3 format.

[Peke]

Or backup to the Internet.
My Google Drive accounts costs me roughly as much as 5 new full price CDs pa, and can store more than 7,000 ccs losslessly, or 40,000+ cds in .mp3 format.

My current collection would take around 10 Years 365 days 24/7 to upload on Google drive, ~100€/Mounth for Optical Internet to cut that to a year of upload. I am with Rob_S on this.

[Barry4679]

My current collection would take around 10 Years 365 days 24/7 to upload on Google drive, ~100€/Mounth for Optical Internet to cut that to a year of upload. I am with Rob_S on this.

Maybe there is something wrong with your Maths, or we are more fortunate with our Internet speeds, or you have a truly humungous collection.

I have roughly 50,000 tracks, which is 1122gb.
I uploaded all tracks, in full flac version, to Dropbox about a year ago. It took about 30 days, just running at night, IIRC. Our upload speeds have increased since then.

Prior to Google Play music closing, I let their Music Manager transcode and upload mp3 versions of all my tracks to their server, so that I could stream from my collection from anywhere.

I am now in the process of using MM5 to do the same thing to Google Drive, to replace what I lost when Google Play Music unfortunately closed their free service.

Then I will probably relocate the FLAC versions to Google Drive also, because it is cheaper than Dropbox.

It is 2012 Peke

[saila7124]

I'm back and I have an update.

First, regarding backups - as it turns out, the ONLY folder of the dead drive that I didn't have backed up somewhere else was the folder containing my audio files. Thought I had it on an old drive with backups of the other stuff that I lost, but I didn't. Pure accident. (on the plus side, I was able to retrieve my 80,000+ digital comics collection.

Second, I ran a scan of my working drives and was able to retrieve a great many files that were stored away in forgotten places. My MM library is now bursting. It's not a huge success -- I'm still missing a lot of irreplaceable podcasts, but I've got some stuff back too.

Third, with my MM library now a mixture of missing files and found files, the Collections suggestion really doesn't seem to be the answer. I almost want a fresh, clean, brand-new and empty MM Library that I can build bit-by-bit from what I do have and what I'll be acquiring to replace what I don't.

Fourth. In the meantime, I would like to create two playlists - one for the items in the MM Library that can't be found, and one for the items that can. How do I do this?

[saila7124]

Fourth. In the meantime, I would like to create two playlists - one for the items in the MM Library that can't be found, and one for the items that can. How do I do this?

NM. Figured it out.

[Lowlander]

Collections can filter on available files as well as Paths. This will allow you to create Collections of existing files while still being able to consult the missing files.

You can also start fresh by removing the database file: https://www.mediamonkey.com/support/kno ... ini-files/ and rescanning files.

[Peke]

I have roughly 50,000 tracks, which is 1122gb.

I have 200k of tracks and 1/3 are FLAC 24/96, 1/3 FLAC 16/44.1 rest are various formats Including Many Many VHS Backups of old Music Videos, LPs Ripped in 32/192 WAVs, Personal Videos from 10+ Devices over the years, Daughters Concerts, ... Totaling around 9.3TB.

all my tracks to their server, so that I could stream from my collection from anywhere.

I can stream from anywhere also.

It is 2012 Peke

I guess you meant 2021, which I guess it is correct for you but not for me as I have <2Mb/s download and <100Kb/s Upload after I use up my monthly plan so usually 3 minute MP3 upload takes around 5 to upload. FLAC takes up to 30 and then I remember I forgot to set correct genre. But you are right Internet on My mobile phone is 10x faster for DL and 100x Times faster for UL for the price of 1.30 EURO cents per MB so 1GB of upload is 13.33€ and I have 9523.20 GB to UL which translates to 126,944.25€ just to upload and it takes 15s+ do download single FLAC file. So my only option is either make 100€ monthly ISP contract and have decent internet speed and/or wait few more years till Optical cable is cheap enough for them to pass my house and I get cheaper solution. So for now I would stick to having 24TB NAS, own WiFi and full access to files with lag of <0.5s and wait.

[Barry4679]

That's a lot of data.
No surprise that backup to Cloud is uneconomic.

I can stream from anywhere also.

Yes, but I can do it without opening up my home network to the outside.

I guess you meant 2021

Yes,
That's what happens when you stop having to write cheque I suppose, ie. you lose track of the date.
Come to think of it I haven't even had to touch money for at least 6 months now.
Covid accelerated migration of everything into my phone.

Sorry to hear about your Internet speeds.
There is plenty of complaint here about ours, since conversion to fibre became a political football, and the Government botched our rollout. No current possibility of fibre to my home either, but coax gets the job done.

ps. Sorry about messing up your thread saila7124
Commiserations re your data loss.

[Peke]

Yes, but I can do it without opening up my home network to the outside.

You do not need too. You just open ports that are needed and you can limit to for example Phone IMEI, MAC address,... For all the cost I can invest in hardware Firewall+Routers and have no such issue.