Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

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Expand view Topic review: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

by Lowlander » Mon Aug 29, 2022 11:03 am

Auto-Organize is a black box, but Auto-Organize Files isn't and is what I would use in this scenario. It shows what changes will be made prior to applying. Both will move a file, once moved, update the database with the new location, then move on to the next file. You can re-run Auto-Organize and it will only organize files not yet organized, if you stopped the process at any point

Note that Auto-Organize only is triggered on changes, so simply setting an Auto-Organize rule won't run it on your existing Library.

This is preferred over using Locate Moved/Missing Files as that relies on MediaMonkey finding matches of the files in the new location. This requires much more user oversight in verifying the matches, which can be tedious on a large move.

Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

by Barry4679 » Sun Aug 21, 2022 8:40 pm

sunspot wrote: ↑Sun Aug 21, 2022 3:59 pm Just FYI, I finally got the Locate Missing / Moved Files functionality to (mostly) work. MM kept trying to sign into the network share, and I kept cancelling, but I think so long as it saw the device out on the network it refused to acknowledge the files as actually "Missing".

I solved that by yanking the network cord out of the back of the new PC. Then MM was finally able to determine the files were in fact "missing" from the network location, and it could repoint most of them to the new local drive that I had MM look for the files in.
Hi sunspot,
is good that you found a workaround, and that you didn't have to re-scan, which would have lost your playcounts, and yanked those tracks out of any playlists. Thanks for reporting.

It is still not clear (to me) what the best approach to your moving task would have been.

I tend towards moving using File Explorer as you did, because it seems a bit hair raising to trust MM5 Auto-Organise, which is a black box process. Although you could test it with just a couple of track first I suppose, and check whether it handled the network -> local drive issue OK.

But there would still be some small concern, if it was a large collection, because it would hard to be 100% sure whether the process was robust enough to being interrupted somehow, without leaving you stranded in some way. ... ie. whether it handled each track move atomically, such that the track or folder which was being moved at the point of interruption, was safe and the database knew where the track was located.

Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

by sunspot » Sun Aug 21, 2022 3:59 pm

Just FYI, I finally got the Locate Missing / Moved Files functionality to (mostly) work. MM kept trying to sign into the network share, and I kept cancelling, but I think so long as it saw the device out on the network it refused to acknowledge the files as actually "Missing".

I solved that by yanking the network cord out of the back of the new PC. Then MM was finally able to determine the files were in fact "missing" from the network location, and it could repoint most of them to the new local drive that I had MM look for the files in.

Oddly, while it had no trouble getting to all but about a dozen of my music files, it didn't work for the video files for some unknown reason. However, I don't use MM to manage my video library - I mostly just use MM as a DLNA server for video files, I don't let MM auto-organize them or anything - so I just deleted all of the "missing" video files from the MM library on the new PC and, at some point, I'll get around to re-scanning them.

Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

by Barry4679 » Sun Aug 21, 2022 4:07 am

Rob_S wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 11:29 am Koodos, Barry, eloquently spoken (written) indeed. :)
Thanks. But our combined best efforts, with regard to the documentation, have harvested exactly zero.

The response on this topic is the same as it always is ... It is unwritten, but I read it as "", wrapped in an envelope of burnt out complacency. ... That's how you see it?

Keep up the good work Rob ... for my part I am totally tone deaf to the above message and its lack of responsiveness and apparent lack of give-a-crap.

I do however want to correct something that I wrote last time
Barry4679 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 3:29 am
The Online Help for this topic, in your index is here, and as you can see it is just a dead end.

My eyesight is not 100%, so I didn't detect that this was not actually a dead-end ... ie. the page contains a tiny link to this

Have you read that document? IMO, while it is not (yet) perfect, it is several things that the MM5 online manual is not:
  • it is task based, ie. it consolidates and connects information that otherwise requires reading the whole online manual to stumble across, and even then you have to join the dots and fill in the missing pieces yourself
  • it actually explains things ... rather than just pointing at them, leaving the reader not much wiser, and often with more questions than answers
  • it is the result of collaboration and review (see its View History tab), whereas the current Online Manual is in a silo, and any incoming opinion seems to go directly to trash
As far as I can see:
  • it has been updated for MM5, but is not part of the manual. .. ?
  • and the manual doesn't seem to contain any link to it ... ?
One final thing. The current MM5 Online Manual, is clearly the result of a lot of work.
  • it appears to be the work of just one person -- LowLander, so kudos to him
  • he seems ho have been working with MM for 20 years, and a lot of what he has written reflects, and expects, that level of assumed MM background information and knowledge
  • good documentation can only come from collaboration and beta testing (IMO)
  • and since none of this has occurred, the current MM5 online help is not good documentation
  • and BTW none of this is an ambush against LowLander .. I have made these comments directly and privately to him on a couple of occasions, but always with the same result.
Rob_S wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 11:29 am It might be added that well-written software should actually not require much documentation.
When you ask it to do something, it asks you the relevant questions, and then proceeds to do the job.

Performing sync might be another one of those where it should ask for the required settings, as opposed to us having to search out where to enter them first.

Admittedly moving your tracks might be one of the less frequent things one might need to do.
Yes, a Wizard function would be good addition.

But I think that a power user should have a good document to explain how to achieve normal, but potentially disruptive things like moving your collection, or moving to a different computer. .. I think that MM5 already acts too much as a AI, with limited visibility when things go wrong

A good example is Syncing, which you mentioned. I was going to sync .mp3 versions of my whole Collection to Dropbox, but it is not fit for use IMO ... not enough visibility, not enough control ... and when it breaks you just have start again, which is a show stopper when you have big collection.

Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

by Lowlander » Thu Aug 18, 2022 11:44 am

Folder Monitoring should only be used if you're going to move the files. Then you'd have it enabled on source and destination folder. As you already moved the files you shouldn't use Folder Monitoring nor Scanning.

You need to use Locate Moved/Missing Files.

Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

by Rob_S » Thu Aug 18, 2022 11:29 am

Koodos, Barry, eloquently spoken (written) indeed. :)

It might be added that well-written software should actually not require much documentation.

When you ask it to do something, it asks you the relevant questions, and then proceeds to do the job.

Performing sync might be another one of those where it should ask for the required settings, as opposed to us having to search out where to enter them first.

Admittedly moving your tracks might be one of the less frequent things one might need to do.

Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

by Barry4679 » Thu Aug 18, 2022 3:29 am

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.

    Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

    by Rob_S » Wed Aug 17, 2022 2:09 pm

    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.

    Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

    by Lowlander » 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.

    Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

    by Barry4679 » Wed Aug 17, 2022 2:55 am

    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.

    Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

    by Lowlander » 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.

    Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

    by Rob_S » Tue Aug 16, 2022 11:05 pm

    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?

    Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

    by Peke » Tue Aug 16, 2022 5:56 pm

    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.

    Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

    by Lowlander » Tue Aug 16, 2022 5:53 pm

    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.

    Re: Moving Files From Network Drive To Local Drive

    by sunspot » Tue Aug 16, 2022 12:44 am

    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.

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