Broadsided: Tracks accidentally transferred to another directory, GREY

[telstar]

Hello & thanks for looking.

Subject: Can I undue the problem of Grey?

In a moment of distraction I inadvertently performed an incorrect key sequence and created a sequence of events that altered my database & playlists (GREY). Here's what happened.

My intent was to create a report of the playlist ("NEW") (not titled yet) that I was in process of creating.

Instead of hitting the File > Reports > File List, I believe, I clicked the File > Export > Export all playlists. My PC is pretty fast and before I realized it, I had transferred close to 2,000 song tracks onto a different drive (from D:\ to E:\ ). I normally save my MM files on D:\. This includes the music files.

I stopped the exporting as fast as I could, but then made another mistake. After the Export stopped, I "cut," CTRL-C (outside MM) the moved music files which were on the wrong drive E:\ and pasted those back into the directory where I keep my music tracks (D:\).

Note: What I did was copy & paste the moved music files on E:\ back to D:\. Not realizing that moving files outside of MM was a improper move.

Next, I scanned the database file File > Add/Rescan files to the Library

The result of the scan showed all songs that were on the "NEW", in-process, playlist AND, many other of my playlists, which had the same songs, were GREYED OUT.

Digging deeper, I noticed the pasted files have been re-scanned into MM as I mentioned above; their pathing is correct D:\. However, looking closer, the pathing on the greyed out tracks showed the pathing of the drive (E:\) & directory/folder where the tracks had accidently been copied to. The greyed out files show the incorrect pathing to E:\.

Example GOOD File: D:\MediaMonkey mp3library\Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf.mp3
Example BAD File: E:\MediaMonkey\Playlist Worksheets\Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf.mp3

I did attempt to Restore the database from an earlier date, prior to my disaster, but saw no change to my playlists and greyed-out music files. This had me head-scratching, because I thought I could restore the database. My knowledge of these things is limited.

Through my fact finding mission, Google Search, I noticed that MM encodes a field unique to the the song track??? I believe this could be the problem and why I can not recover my music files; thus the greyed out playlist. Again, my knowledge of these things is limited.

That's it! I think I documented my problem pretty well. Sorry for the length of this topic, but I did not want to leave anything out.

I hope a support expert can help fix my problem. I can send MM my database. Assuming the experts could access the data in the file to correct the pathing and whatever needs to be done. Wishful thinking?? My knowledge of these things is limited.

Actually, any help from the MM community would be appreciated.

Thanks for your help and attention. Best....

[Lowlander]

File > Export > Export all playlists doesn't move/copy media files, it just creates external Playlist files of Playlists in the MediaMonkey.

If files are not in the place MediaMonkey thinks they are it's generally due to files being moved outside of MediaMonkey.

You can use Locate Moved/Missing Files to fix greyed out files that have been moved.

[telstar]

Thanks Lowrider for your response.

I apologize I have misstated the commands. Brain Fog hit me at the time of recollection and writing this topic.

Locate moved/missing files does not work. There are no files on the E\: drive because I had manually moved the music files back to the D:\ drive right after the mistake occurred. No commands were given between the time the MM started moving the files, and my manually copying the files back. In frustration and panic, I may have tried to cancel, or, started to mash keys to have the MM process to stop.

The greyed out (red here) file, shown in the example below, is showing the incorrect pathing in the database. There are no files in the E:\ drive to move.

Example GOOD File: D:\MediaMonkey mp3library\Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf.mp3
Example BAD File: E:\MediaMonkey\Playlist Worksheets\Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf.mp3

So here we are:

1. I initiated a Command. It was not the one I should have used to make a printable copy of the current playlist which I was constructing.
2. With my bad commands initiated, music files started Exporting the music library files in "NEW" from D:\to E:\ drive.
3. I was able to stop/cancel the transfer. Fortunately, not all files in the music folder were transferred to E:\ ; only about 2000.
4. I cut the music files from E: drive and pasted them back into my E:\....My music folder/directory. Bad move on my part???
5. I clicked MM "Music" and I saw ~2000 files greyed out which showed their path to be on E\: . These were files that I earlier manually cut out of the E:\ drive and pasted into D:\MediaMonkey mp3library\. At this point, there are no music files on drive E:\
6. I then rescanned the database using File > Add/Rescan files to the Library and MM located all the files that I had cut out of :E\. FYI, the E:\ files were still greyed out.
7. Following Lowrider's recommendation I executed Locate moved/missing files. It did not work.

Summary:

1. I have no music files in E:\
2. The ~2000 music files from E:\ to D:\ , cut & pasted, are showing up in MM database in D:\
3. Greyed out files in MM database are showing a path to the E:\ drive.

• Example GOOD File: D:\MediaMonkey mp3library\Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf.mp3
  Example BAD File: E:\MediaMonkey\Playlist Worksheets\Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf.mp3

MM can not reconcile the music files which were pasted back (from E:\ to D:\ into MM. Thus damaged (grey) playlists[/list]

How can I change the pathing of the greyed out files on (E:\) to be good music files configured to show up in the PLAYLISTS (D:\?

I hope support can help fix my problem. I can send MM my database. Assuming the experts could access the data in the file to correct the pathing and whatever needs to be done. Wishful thinking?? My knowledge of these things is limited.

Thanks for your support.

[Lowlander]

Locate moved/missing files can find the files on a different drive, so it should work.

[telstar]

I will repeat myself. Locate moved/missing files does not work under the conditions I previously laid out.
You fail to understand that there are no files in drive E:\ to run Locate moved/missing files. Outside of MM, I had manually moved the files back to folder where all my other music files exist (D:\).

I have included a print screen pic below showing the database differences some are greyed, others not.

Example GOOD File: D:\MediaMonkey mp3library\Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf.mp3
Example BAD File: E:\MediaMonkey\Playlist Worksheets\Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf.mp3



My most recent comments, below, go into detail of the workflow mistakenly taken.

All the music files accidentally transferred to E:\ were cut and pasted back into the MM music folder, D:\ .
Then Add/Rescan was used to reveal the files recently cut from E:\ (the bad folder/directory, E:\Playlist Worksheets/.....) The picture shows the newly rescanned files in D:\ which were in E:\, as well as the Greyed out files which shows E:\ , but remember there are no music files in E:\. Grey is showing only the files in the database.

The rescanned music files in MM must have some differentiating factor such that the playlists don't recognize the music file(s).

Bottom Line:

I'm not sure how I can restate my problem any better than I have done.

How can I recover my playlists from music files which apparently have changed, from D:\ to E:\ in my MM database?

Thanks...

[Lowlander]

How does that fail?

Do note that you need to remove the new entries, so you fix the old greyed out entries.

[telstar]

Locate moved/missing files does not come up with results, because there is nothing in E:\.

Do note that you need to remove the new entries, so you fix the old greyed out entries.

What does your comment mean? Can you be more specific? What makes you think this will work? If I remove the new entries then where is MM supposed look to find the files to correct the greyed out files? You don't explain '....

so you fix the old greyed out entries.

What does that mean?

Thanks for your help.

[Lowlander]

Did you select the location on the D drive when using Locate Moved/Missing Files? You can select a location on a different drive to locate the moved files.

[telstar]

Thanks for getting back to me. I will try your procedure. First I will need to identified "the good music files" and get them to another drive such that I can run Locate/Moved Missing Files. This may take me a little while to do.

NOTE: I do not want the moved files pathing to the E:\ drive because I keep only one Music Directory on D:\. Is this possible?

Best......

[Lowlander]

Yes, if the files or on D, then point Locate Moved/Missing Files to the D drive.

[telstar]

I've finally had a chance to get back to my MM problem and apply your latest suggestion, but it did not work. I am apparently missing something in the translation.

If you refer to my screen image recently posted (above) you can see MM database (songs) pointing to the E:\ drive which are greyed out. These songs, shown listed in E:\, are not in the E:\ drive, but are now in D:\, per "Locate Move/Missing Files" Command.

So far.......... I cannot link these newly moved D:\files to the D:\ drive to show them (not GREYED) in my existing PLAYLISTS.

I think the "Screen image" picture, above, shows much of the story I am trying to tell.

I've spent a lot of time trying to fix the problem, but getting no where. Possibly, you could provide more detail in a corrective action.

Please HELP!

Thanks for your insights.

[Lowlander]

How does Locate Moved/Missing Files fail? Did you already scan the files on D before you fixed the files on E? If so, remove the D files from the MediaMonkey Library, and then fix the E files in the MediaMonkey Library.

[Rob_S]

Your explanation is a bit confusing to me as well.

He has no files on E anymore, and does not want any files there. He pasted the files back into d and rescanned them. So now he's got duplicates, and the non-greyed ones are not attached to playlists.

So, if I understand correctly, he must delete from database only the newly scanned copies, keep the greyed ones. Do not delete the files from the d drive.

Then with the greyed out ones still showing, use locate moved or missing on those, and point it to the pasted D drive location.

[telstar]

Thanks for everyone's help. Rob_S got me over the hill.

Yes, with your help, I'm up and running again.

Best.......