Cannot rename directory [#20273]

[Jim Kelly]

Greetings All.

I'm just trying to get on top of the mess I got into earlier in the year with MM5.
Lots of weird things happening with the interface . .
Rather than go into details at this point, a quick query on just two:

At times, I cannot rename a folder ''Cannot rename directory'' comes the message, with no helpful appendage as to why.
If I tentatively (I know to only do such things in MM5) rename it outside, in File Explorer, it says another program has the file open (there is no file obviously open in that branch of the tree). A reboot fixes it so far, but that is a pain!
This annoyance can happen on folders with very little contents (less than 20 songs) too.
I try a long wait before trying again. No change. (It really would be appreciated if the status line was active at all such time as care should be taken).

Secondly, it seems impossible to manage multiple folders in one cut and paste.
Say I have 50 folders of mixed music to sort into appropriate existing folders. How do I click-pick 15 scattered folders (I am looking in the Folder tree) before a right mouse click > Cut? The Windows Ctrl click doesn't work? Is this by design or do I have a bug?

Cheers,

Jim Kelly

[Lowlander]

1. It sounds like your system has a lock on it. It could be anti-virus, another media program playing files or File Explorer. There isn't anything MediaMonkey can do if this is the case.

2. You can use List (folders) or Grid (folders) in the Location node to do multi-folder select by holding down the Ctrl key while selecting folders.

[Jim Kelly]

G'day Lowlander!
Thanks for being there.

1. It feels like MM5 to me as I have seen it happen after a fresh boot of w10 and MM5.
Perhaps whilst MM is doing it's continuous scan (which I do have on - perhaps not a great idea?).
It seems to follow a change of folder name. Perhaps if I then change the same (or another in that path) foldername again?
I would always look for status line activity before doing that sort of thing - shame it isn't always showing activity - even when it is clearly busy.

2. Great, I should have thought to look on that side.
However, much of the possible views seem file orientated; which feels so odd for moving a folder that I couldn't even bring myself to try picking from the 'Folder' column (because it shows rows of files and I want to move a set of folders). Actually the column contains 'Folder paths' . . .
SOLVED (I think): Open the 'Column filter' pane, select 'Folder' as a column and in that list, multiple 'Folder' (paths) can be picked by the familiar Ctrl method (and Shift method).

I'll try that tonight on some dummy data rather than risk my system setup.
Also if it works from the 'Folders' node is that shows empty folders and allows us to make a New folder . . .

So many "gotchas" in this game
Sorry, that is a slang abbreviation for GOT YOU in Oz!

Thanks for helping,
Jim

[Lowlander]

1a. If you can reproduce the folder lock problem, please capture it in a debug log (step 4b) and attach the log to a Support Ticket: viewtopic.php?t=86643

1b. If you can reproduce the status not showing activity, please capture it in a debug log (step 4b) and attach the log to a Support Ticket.

[Jim Kelly]

Hi Lowlander,

Re Issue 1, please feel free to start a new thread with your next reply to this issue so that the subject is more helpful to others looking for these answers . . EG "Ways of Moving whole Folders safely in MM5'.

I have explored both ways (via the 'Locations' and by the 'Folders' nodes) of copying folders from the 'Column filter' pane (where I have set a column to be 'Folder'). They both FAIL to Move after giving every indication that the disparate folders have been happily selected, and 'cut to the clip board'.

I then explored your first idea of selecting in the general pane on the lower right hand side in the 'Folder' column.
As feared, it just Moves the file(s) selected, and does not recreate the Folder (I was in 'Browser' view).
I want to pick up whole folders and move them to another part of the tree (and they may contain sub-folders and non-music files too).

OK, so I reread your reply carefully and followed it exactly (I had not selected 'List by Album'), tried again - same fail result.

SURELY it should not be so hard to do such a common and simple thing?

This must be confounding the heck out of any newbies trialing MM5 who are competent with using Window's File Explorer. That must be about ten different ways that I have tried without success and not a single prompt from the program explaining why nothing happens. IMO, all of them should have worked competently - even attempts from the tree itself. Or at least a helpful prompt offered at any such attempt.

I hope you can suggest what could be wrong at my end.
Thanks,
Best wishes,

Jim Kelly

[Lowlander]

There is a bug where it will only work on single folder when doing Cut & Paste: https://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=20273

However I personally prefer to use Auto-Organize Files and have folders created based on tags. This can be used on any file selection.

[Jim Kelly]

Thanks Lowlander, I look forward to hearing when it is working as expected.

Auto-Organise could work in some cases.

Meanwhile, is there a safe way to do a multifolder move using Windows File Explorer? What are the risks?

[Lowlander]

If you have Folder Monitoring set to Continuous on the source and destination folder and have MediaMonkey running the changes should be picked up as you make them (this may not work for network locations).

[Jim Kelly]

OK, that sounds like a really good option thanks Lowlander.
I have had one continuously monitored pointer on the whole of my active music folder structure - and any folder movements have been inside that tree of folders starting at M:\Music\ . Should that have been enough?

Is there a way to force the tags that I assume are kept in the database to be also stored in the .flac files?
A link to a current chart of managed metadata would be appreciated showing what fields are 'safely' stored in the .flac files if the MM5.DB collapses on me. And what fields can only be stored in the MM5.DB?

I have just found a couple of odd and ridiculous faults that look like they are a failed cut and paste (I use the right mouse click method). Hundreds of pairs of folders cascading away until any more itterations became impossible. I think in this case the files have been lost; and the weird tree is in my last file-system backup of a week ago.

Thanks.
Jim

[Lowlander]

1) Yes, if both source and destination are within a monitored folder it is enough.

2) By default tags are stored in both file tags and database: https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/WebHel ... erties/5.0

3) Any steps the cascading folder issue?

[Jim Kelly]

1. Great that has always been set correctly then

2. That's good as if we decide to start again the most valuable value-added will be in the files.

3. Yes, I spent many hours trying to resolve that! There were over 2,000 folders in a huge staircase! I found the music files scattered through the folders and pieced it all together without loss it seems.
I need to establish why I am having so many odd problems. Windows isn't behaving perfectly elsewhere, and so a rebuild is probably in order. Or a new computer . . .

Just now I decided the reconstruction of the .flac files was finally tidy enough to warrant backing the music system up. So:
Did the MM backup - finished OK.
Did the optimise database - finished OK.
Ticked the other two database management boxes - and it has stuck with a message "Problem with copying file {path}MM5.DB.new to {same path}MM5.DB.

Cancel/Retry/Ignore . . . none of them allow me to continue!

By moving the error message box I can see:
Rebuild database: copying content of database table(s): Radio


I had waited plenty of time for processes to be finished before I started any of this. And another hour - still no progress.

Curiously, the subject of this thread had recurred during the hour prior - several times, but in most cases if I waited for ten minutes and tried again I could rename a folder inside MM5. At least one folder wouldn't and I was wanting to reboot to try again . . .

I expect that I should use Task Manager to stop MM5, then shutdown and unpower for a few minutes - and bootup again . . .

Any ideas what causes this behaviour?

Thanks,

Jim Kelly

[Rob_S]

Just a note as I was reading the above

I trust you realize that backing up the MM database does nothing towards backing up your music itself.

This you must do separately, unless you have it all in a folder that backs up to cloud service. If you do cloud, it must be getting quite confused by now.

I keep a couple of portable hdd's myself, and use Total Commander to sync my PC music to a folder one of the portable HDD's alternating, and then store them in a separate building, or a fireproof safe might work as well. A copy of the matching backed up database should be on there too.

Hate for you to do all that work, and then lose any part of it.

[Jim Kelly]

Thanks for your concern Rob,

I use Vica Versa Pro to backup the files - I like it as it simply creates a copy of the files at the destination (and doesn't need to copy those that have the same date/time/size. I use the one-way method for the music files so that it always behaves as expected.

Not a cloud fan, so I'm all safe from cloud issues thankfully.

And, yes, the folder where all the MM5 backups accumulate is always updated too.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply,

Best wishes,

Jim Kelly

[Rob_S]

I had not heard of that one, it sounds pretty good.

How does it handle renamed or moved files and folders? Can it detect these automatically, and rename them similarly on the destination?

On mine, I have to review those manually and decide what to keep, or end up with lots of duplicates

[Lowlander]

One cause of cascading folders could be improper configuration of Auto-Organize (Files). If you use absolute Paths (ie. drive:\folder\file) this isn't an issue, but if you use relative paths (ie. .\folder\folder\file) it could potentially be creating sub-folders of the folder you're starting in each time it's run.