Transfer all music files to external drive

[Alvin Asby]

I've looked through the forum but didn't find exactly what I need. Can someone answer the following questions for me.

Can I move MM and all music files to an external hard drive and work with MM there? I would really like to clean up my internal hard drive and I'm running out of room with all the music I have stored. I would like to be able to carry the external hard drive with me when on vacation to play music. External hard drive is 1TB. If so, what is the best way to do it and not lose anything?

Which brings me to another question. Is there any problem with leaving the external hard drive connected all the time and are there any issues with disconnecting it from time to time (as long as it's done correctly)?

[dtsig]

I would suggest just moving all tracks (with MM) to external drive (that is where mine is) and running mmw from your c drive. If you really want to move it .. create a portable install on your external. Then you can copy over your original db items to the new portable install.

[popsmike]

I would suggest just moving all tracks (with MM) to external drive (that is where mine is) and running mmw from your c drive. If you really want to move it .. create a portable install on your external. Then you can copy over your original db items to the new portable install.

I use this method on an external drive without any problems, I suggest using Update Location of Files Addon when moving music to a new drive.

[yarguy]

If you use Tools -> Auto-organize in MM to move the files then you won't need to Update locations as MM will have done it automatically when moving the files. Personally, I wouldn't use any approach to moving files other than auto-organize.

[dtsig]

Yep .. auto-organize is the best and most complete way to do it ..

[MMFrLife]

Yes, auto-org, provided your folder structure is fairly simple. Something like, all your music is in D:\Music\<artist>\<album>\..........flac
Otherwise, it could take forever/be a nightmare.

[Lowlander]

Alternatively you can Cut & Paste folders using the Location subnode or the My Computer node. This keeps the structure intact and will move all files in the selected folders.

[Alvin Asby]

Lot of good information so far. I will thoughtfully consider each suggestion and see what works best for me. I'm thinking leaving MM on the internal drive may be best.
Thanks to everyone who has responded so far.

[sallenmd87]

Resurrecting this thread to get a little clarification so I do not make a devastating mistake. I have a normal install on my desktop and have spent years collating a collection closing on a quarter million tracks. I now have a small 4TB external hard drive and want to change my MM to a portable installation on that drive so that I can access/play any track on my travel laptop while away from home about 1/3 of each year. I do not want to lose the many tag changes I've made to get my very broad variety of music organized the way I want it in many playlists. How is this best accomplished? By the process above? It was not clear to me that this resulted in MM being on the external drive and accessible on multiple computers. Thanks!

[Lowlander]

The same still works, either Tools > Auto-Organize Files the files or Cut & Paste the folder(s) in the My Computer node.

[rdelarie]

This is exactly what I would like to do too: move all files to an external drive and switch to a portable installation. I understand how to move the files. But can someone explain to me how I switch from a main drive installation of Mediamonkey to a portable one? Many thanks in advance for your help.

[Lowlander]

I don't know if this works, I did it like this, but I don't move my MediaMonkey around nor am I using a drive letter for my files (this no portability issues there).

1) Move your media files with MediaMonkey.
2) Create a copy of the database: http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... -ini-files
3) Uninstall MediaMonkey (not really needed, but best if you won't use it: http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... ediamonkey)
4) Install MediaMonkey as Portable Install on external drive.
5) Copy the database to the Portable folder of the MediaMonkey install folder on the drive.

[rdelarie]

Thanks for the detailed instructions. I'll give that a try.
One more question: are there any drawbacks to a portable installation as compared to a main drive installation?

[Lowlander]

Some features (like Taskbar player) won't work as they require OS integration, something a Portable Install shouldn't do. I've been running it like this for a long time.

[rdelarie]

Thanks again.