why won't my laptop read the files from an external hardrive?
 

The laptop computer I have has a reader that doesn't read CDG discs. So, I used another computer with a CDG reader and the hoster program to download all of my music into an external hard drive. Now, when I attach the external hard drive to the laptop, for some reason it doesn't recognize the music. It does recognize the drive, just not the music. Was I wrong in thinking that once the music is in the external hard drive that it wouldn't matter what kind of cd reader the laptop had? Do I need a reader for CDG even if the music is already on an external hard drive?

You have to rebuild the database. Untill you do that the computer does not know where they are. Make sure you have the correct path for the directory where the songs are located.

rebuilding the database?
 

hmmmmmmm....maybe I neglected to tell everyone in here that I am pretty much computer illiterate here....how do I go about rebuilding the data base?...how do I know what the correct path is?...

Krash,

Let's assume your external hard drive has been assign a drive letter of "E" by the operating system when you fire things up.

Let's assume that you have saved your dot kma files (xxxxx.kma) in a folder called "Hoster Songs" on your external hard drive.

Your song library is now located at E:\Hoster Songs. (This is only an example. Your situation may differ).

Open Hoster.

Click on the "Tools" menu option at the top of the Hoster screen.

From the options list that appears, select "Build Songs Database..." located at the bottom of the list.

If the drive letter and path that appears in the white dialog window doesn't say E:\Hoster Songs, highlight the entry that is displayed and click on the "Delete Folder" button, above and to the right in the dialog window.

Click the "Select Folder" button above and to the left in the dialog window.

From the "Choose Folder" window that appears, find and select your external hard drive ("E" in this example) AND the folder where you have saved your songs ("Hoster Songs" in this example).

The white dialog window should now show E:\Hoster Songs.

Now click the "Build Songs Database" button located at the bottom-left portion in the dialog window.

Answer "Yes" when prompted "Do you want to continue...".

Answer "OK" when told that a backup database has been created.

When informed that the database has been completed click "OK"

You are now set to go.


Gary

Here is a screen shot of the build songs database. Where it says e:\Hoster Gospel songs, that is where you need to tell it the drive letter and path of your external hard drive and the folder where your kma files are stored. Click on select folder under song source folders and point to your external drive. Once that is selected, click on build songs database. Click on the attached picture to make it bigger. :)

As stated above, this is the only thing that can cause this to happen. You must have the Source folder set to the location of your .kma files, or it will not show them.