[SOLVED] Transferring star ratings to files on new drive

[allbenatt]

The external drive housing my mp3 files has gone bad / dead. Let's call that Drive X. I will be buying a new one (let's call it Drive Z) and transferring files from a backup drive (Drive Y) to the new Drive Z. However, the mp3s on the backup drive (Y) do not have the star ratings I had designated for most of the 20,000 mp3s on the now dead Drive X.

Does MediaMonkey preserve in the MM.DB database file the star ratings of files that were in Drive X and can they somehow be available when I connect Drive Z with all the backed-up (but not rated) MP3s? If so:

• What are best practices to accomplish this? What are some tips to avoid problems?
  Will the ratings be associated with the MP3s based on file name, location within the drive's directory structure, or some other criteria?

Thanks very much for your help.

[Lowlander]

Ratings are always saved in the database and by default saved in the files too. If you use a different drive with the same database you'll need to update the driveID: https://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewt ... n+database


More detail: https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index. ... w_computer

[allbenatt]

Ratings are always saved in the database and by default saved in the files too. If you use a different drive with the same database you'll need to update the driveID: https://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewt ... n+database


More detail: https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index. ... w_computer

Thanks, Lowlander. Item #2 at the second link you provided states that, since I have MediaMonkey Gold, I can use the instructions to "Manually Locate Moved / Missing Files" found here https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index. ... sing_Files

Can you confirm that is your understanding? Remember, I'm not changing PCs; only the external drive that now contains the MP3 files. They will not be located in the same folder (directory) structure as they had been originally but I assume that the steps indicated should find the files and associate the tags found in the MM.DB with the MP3s.

[Peke]

Hi,
Yes, they should be found using those steps.

NOTE that if it is external drive it is possible that it can be listed and enabled in Portable devices (Tools -> Options -> Portable devices) and if yes disable it so that MM is using it as a regular library HDD not as Sync device.

[Lowlander]

Yes, you can use Locate Moved/Missing Files, but verify the matches it makes.

[allbenatt]

Thanks, Lowlander. That's a lot of verifying. :/

Thanks for the tip, Peke. I would not have thought of the question of sync drive vs regular library drive.

New drive should arrive in 7-10 days. This time I'm using a SSD. Crossing my fingers most if not all files will adopt the ratings in the database. I put a lot of work into that.

[Peke]

Hi,
Use any third party apps to move/clone drive to new HDD (MM closed) -> UNPLUG OLD DRIVE -> Plug New -> Start MM -> Disable new HDD in portable devices -> in Options enable "Entire Library" collection -> Using location tree node locate old drive (it should not have Drive letter) -> Select all tracks -> File -> Locate moved -> Select new drive -> Be patient -> Check which are not found if any press Ok. That would preserve all the statistic/rating/playlist in MM library assigned with old hdd.

[allbenatt]

Hi,
Use any third party apps to move/clone drive to new HDD (MM closed) -> UNPLUG OLD DRIVE -> Plug New -> Start MM -> Disable new HDD in portable devices -> in Options enable "Entire Library" collection -> Using location tree node locate old drive (it should not have Drive letter) -> Select all tracks -> File -> Locate moved -> Select new drive -> Be patient -> Check which are not found if any press Ok. That would preserve all the statistic/rating/playlist in MM library assigned with old hdd.

Trouble is that I can't move nor clone the old drive to the new HDD as the old one is dead, expired, kaput...now a paperweight. I plug it in and it is not recognized by either of my laptops. It just sits there, blinks at me, and clicks softly as if to say "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You didn't shut me down correctly too many times."

[Peke]

Hi,
If it is not "Tok, tok, tok" that "Tsk, tsk, tsk." sound either means that hdd heads dropped (usually followed by "Tok, tok, tok"), cable is too long (I know stupid but have seen it too many times, so I bought 10-15cm cable in it worked several times), Controller died (if you can carefully open, even to break case to get to HDD. you should at least 50/50 chance to get your data back by connecting it to PC directly).

Finally if your HDD died when your will get backups of tracks for new HDD? As if you ar egetting new files then Locate Moved/missing will not work

[Erwin Hanzl]

Last chance: https://www.remosoftware.com/unreadable ... e-recovery

[Peke]

Hi,
He doesn't have software issues but hardware issue.

[Erwin Hanzl]

"He doesn't have software issues but hardware issue."

That's what it's all about. Unreadable Hard Drive:
The music files are on the dead drive "X"
You may be able to copy these music files to drive "Z".

"Steps For Recovering Data From Unreadable Hard Drive"
Connect the external hard drive to your system and download Remo Recover install it and follow the steps explained below to perform unreadable hard drive recovery.

[allbenatt]

Finally if your HDD died when your will get backups of tracks for new HDD? As if you ar egetting new files then Locate Moved/missing will not work

Sorry, Peke. I did not fully understand your question.

But let me clarify something regarding the backups of my music files. For 90% of them, I did the following, in this order:

• Put them in folders by Artist Name-Album Name
  Tagged them and added cover art where possible using MP3 Tag
  Normalized volume level using MP3 Gain
  Transferred them to External Drive X (the one that no longer works) - this was my music server
  Also backed them up to External Drive Y (which still functions)

Now that External Drive X is dead, I want to:

• Transfer all the folders containing the tagged and normalized files from the External Drive Y backup to a NEW External Drive Z.
  Connect External Drive Z to the laptop that has MM and the MM.DB on it
  Have the ratings that are in MM.DB apply to the music files that are on the new External Drive Z

Note that, when I proceed to transfer the backup files to the new External Drive Z, the folders will still be organized by Artist Name-Album Name as they had been previously but I can't remember the exact name of the 5 top-level directories the Artist Name-Album Name folders were placed in on the dead External Drive X.

Peke, are you now stating that there is no way for MediaMonkey to associate the star ratings with the music files based on what I described above?

[Peke]

Peke, are you now stating that there is no way for MediaMonkey to associate the star ratings with the music files based on what I described above?

I am Stating quite opposite, If you Copied files from X -> Y with exact same filenames and you have not changed them in anyway afterwards once you copy them to Z drive and select grayed tracks from X drive then do Locate moved missing it should pair them with files on Z drive.

It will not work if you changed filenames or edited tags or in any way changed the files so that MM can't see them as same files only on different drive (eg Z).

Also it will not work if you scanned Z drive into MM, in which case you need to delete Z drive files from MM library (not physically from drive Z) and do Locate Moved/missing on grayed files from X drive and you should get them back.

Sorry, Peke. I did not fully understand your question.

My question was related to fact that you need Backup of original files on second drive (If I got you correctly it is your Y drive). So you have backup that you copied back onto new drive eg. Y -> Z.

That's what it's all about. Unreadable Hard Drive:
The music files are on the dead drive "X"
You may be able to copy these music files to drive "Z".

"Steps For Recovering Data From Unreadable Hard Drive"
Connect the external hard drive to your system and download Remo Recover install it and follow the steps explained below to perform unreadable hard drive recovery.

That is not possible if your PC do not recognize drive connected at all eg. that "Tsk, tsk, tsk." sound which means in 99.99% that hardware didn't initialize HDD (spinup and done plater+HDD head test) to make it in working state. To be clear Every HDD have these steps to perform before it is usable when it gets power: Part Heads to zero position -> Spin Up plates -> Move head form 0 to last sector on drive in order to align them -> Read Parameters of plates and report to Controller chip -> HDD Controller chip inits electronics and read Firmware info and HDD parameter -> Send that to USB controller -> Data on HDD info is parsed to PC. For allbenatt I guess HDD is in loop on first three steps and no hdd is reported to system. That is why I suggested to pull it out of enclosure and try to connect it directly to PC which will eliminate Enclosure USB controller failure and hive clear note if HDD need Plater/heads replacement to get to data (unless plates are physically damaged), but as allbenatt have backup it is not valid option because it is expensive (500+USD depending on drive size) + price for a new HDD where to save recovered data.

[allbenatt]

After all the great advice I have received, I am pleased to report that the original drive (Drive A) is still functional. I purchased a HDD enclosure and transferred the drive to the new enclosure. Finding that it works within the new enclosure, I now have backed up all the files in their original directory and folder structure just in case the survival of Drive A is only temporary.

I assume that I can plug Drive A (within the new enclosure) into my PC where MediaMonkey resides without having to point the MediaMonkey database to a different drive ID. The fact that the drive's enclosure is different would not change the ID of the drive, right?

Anything else I should be careful about?

Thanks for your continued assistance.