Software Will Not Read Files

[Bi-Polar Bear]

I had all my filles on a 250gig hard drive labeled G, and my regular dj files on a 250 gig hard drive labeled F. I ran out of space. I bought a 500 gig hard drive to hold both sets of files. Hoster refuses to read it, and also refused to read the original G drive. I rebuilt the data bases in the software for both drives.

Now the software will occasionally read the F drive, then it defaults to the G drive which it cannot read because it's not plugged in.There is no rhyme or reason to it's behavior.

What I need is for my 500 gig hard drive, which contains my karaoke files and my regular music files to be read by my Hoster software and my dj software simultaneously, and my G drive to be a backup to be used only if the F drive crashes for some reason.

The biggest problem is that the software will for no apparent reason read off the F drive but them default to the G drive and tell me it can't find anythng. This is because the G drive is not plugged in and in fact nothing is plugged into that USB port.

Please help, the software has already done this on the gig three times and cost me several hundreds of dollars in lost revenue.

[Beavis]

do you know how to use computer managment ? it sounds like its set up to be a dynamic disk not a basic.

[Bi-Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by Beavis

do you know how to use computer managment ? it sounds like its set up to be a dynamic disk not a basic.

no i do not... i have no idea what you're saying....

[Beavis]

what version of windows are you running ?

[Bi-Polar Bear]

XP Home

[Beavis]

right mouse click over my computer on the desktop, select manage.

then in the left column select disk managment.

in the window to the right (maxamize the window) see if your external says dynamic.


do not do anything else in this window.

[Bi-Polar Bear]

both the F and the G external say basic under type but under file system the G folder says NTFS and the F folder says FAT32. both of them are listed as healthy.

the G folder is the one it keeps defaulting to, even when it's not connected.

[mindonstrike]

rebuild your database

[Bi-Polar Bear]

I have rebuilt it over and over.... no help. also, it takes an hour to rebuild... this is not practical when it craps out on the gig....

[ddouglass]

What do you have in the rebuild folder list up top of that screen? Do you list both F: and G Or just F:

Does the G: drive show in My Computer even if it isn't plugged in?

[Bi-Polar Bear]

in the rebuild folder I list all the f and g ...the g folder does not show up on my computer if it is not plugged in however the software still attempts to default to it...

[admin]

In the Build Songs Database window, remove all references to G. You can ONLY have drives that are connected. To reference drives that are not present is probably causing your problems.

This has never been reported before to my knowledge. You're doing a great job working with all of us to help diagnose what is causing this.

[George]

When you click on IMPORTTRACKS, then IMPORT CD TRACKS, what does the SAVE TO FOLDER say ? If it reads G:\xxxxxx, try changing that to F:\xxxxx and see if that has any effect...dunno, just fishing.

[Bi-Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by admin

In the Build Songs Database window, remove all references to G. You can ONLY have drives that are connected. To reference drives that are not present is probably causing your problems.

This has never been reported before to my knowledge. You're doing a great job working with all of us to help diagnose what is causing this.

If I can only reference a connected drive, and if it takes an hour to build the database, then what's the use of having a spare drive? If one drive craps out for any reason in the middle of a show and I then have to connect the spare and go through the process of waiting an hour for the database to rebuild, I've lost the show. (and the money which, like all of us, is the main reason I do this)

Here's a new problem that just arose. Before going to my show last night, I rebuilt the database. Now it's reading the F drive perfectly. I then open my dj software and have it read in my regular songs,that are also on the F drive. After doing that, Hoster then stops reading the F drive and attempts to default to the g drive, which is not connected. Now I have to disconnect everything, turn off and restart the computer, and then rebuild the Hoster songs database yet again, and not dare to try and read in my regular songs to my dj software. What could that be? Will I have to run two separate external hard drives all the time? I wouldn't think that would be necessary but is it?

[Bi-Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by admin

In the Build Songs Database window, remove all references to G. You can ONLY have drives that are connected. To reference drives that are not present is probably causing your problems.

This has never been reported before to my knowledge. You're doing a great job working with all of us to help diagnose what is causing this.

I hope that is a genuine comment.... I'm giving all the info I can.... I'm not very computer savvy.... but I can follow directions....and I know that a program this sophisticated has to be able to read a spare disc on the fly if necessary... I'm also sure I'm probably doing some little thing wrong....

[mindonstrike]

Originally Posted by Bi-Polar Bear

If I can only reference a connected drive, and if it takes an hour to build the database, then what's the use of having a spare drive? If one drive craps out for any reason in the middle of a show and I then have to connect the spare and go through the process of waiting an hour for the database to rebuild, I've lost the show. (and the money which, like all of us, is the main reason I do this)

No. If F drives dies, you remove it. Now plug in the spare drive and it will become F. As long as the path is the same on both drives such as F\Songs, it will utilize the same database, no rebuild will be necessary.

This has never been reported before to my knowledge....... I hope that is a genuine comment....

I've been on these forums about 4 years and this is the first time I've seen this. I've also seen a lot of peculiar problems arise that either had a simple solution or ended up being peculiar to that particular machine. Very rare that it is endemic to Hoster.

Sam

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by Bi-Polar Bear

If I can only reference a connected drive, and if it takes an hour to build the database, then what's the use of having a spare drive? If one drive craps out for any reason in the middle of a show and I then have to connect the spare and go through the process of waiting an hour for the database to rebuild, I've lost the show. (and the money which, like all of us, is the main reason I do this)

As Sam said all you have to do is remove the bad drive, plug in the spare making sure it becomes F: and you are back in business with no rebuild. If the drive letter isn't F: then you can change it using Beavis's procedure he listed to manage the drive. much shorter than rebuilding.
The use of a spare is so you can recover from a crash without having to re-import. It isn't an instant recovery. If you want that you would have to have both drives available, identical and in a mirror RAID set up so if one died the other takes over. Hoster does not build duplicate database files.

Originally Posted by Bi-Polar Bear

Here's a new problem that just arose. Before going to my show last night, I rebuilt the database. Now it's reading the F drive perfectly. I then open my dj software and have it read in my regular songs,that are also on the F drive. After doing that, Hoster then stops reading the F drive and attempts to default to the g drive, which is not connected. Now I have to disconnect everything, turn off and restart the computer, and then rebuild the Hoster songs database yet again, and not dare to try and read in my regular songs to my dj software. What could that be? Will I have to run two separate external hard drives all the time? I wouldn't think that would be necessary but is it?

Are all of your song files in the same folder? The DJ program may be locking that folder for exclusive use. If so then you may need to seperate them into two different folders.
Are you still setting the rebuild folder to both drives? Hoster should not even know a G: drive exists unless this is still in the rebuild list.

[Bi-Polar Bear]

Thanks to all for your helpful replies. The Hoster software is now reading he KMA files just fine and I don't really know why. I rebuilt the database yet again, and now it works.

My dj software WAS reserving the KMA folder even though it was separate, but that's been corrected.

The only problem I have now is that the Hoster and my regular dj software do not like to run side by side....both run fine alone, but when side by side are glitchy and slooooooow..... any suggestions there?

Thanks again.

[bryant]

Are you referring to VDj which is very very RAM intensive.

[Bi-Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by bryant

Are you referring to VDj which is very very RAM intensive.

No, mixvibes