Transfer All Song Files To external Drive

[Joe Nieves]

Hi

1) I want to remove all song file folders from internal drv. c:\ to external Drv. E:\.

2) How will this effect all my (30) playlist and singers database files?

3) Can I use access to help speedup the tranfer?

Hoster 4.6a Xp pro

Thx for You're Help

Joe

[ddouglass]

I am not sure about the playlists, but the singer's database does not store the location of the song and I don't think the playlist does either.
When you move the files to external drive you will have to rebuild the songs database to set it to the new locations. I don't think Access will speed this up.

[Joe Nieves]

Hi ddouglass

Thanks for you're reply

Can you please find out from MTU programers

1) How this change will effect my (30) playlist listings.

2) Can I edit my (30) playlist to make file location changes if needed.

3) What tool do I use to make changes in the playlist if needed.

Thanks Again,

Joe....

[Skybird74]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

I am not sure about the playlists, but the singer's database does not store the location of the song and I don't think the playlist does either.
Since I use playlists constantly, I do know that they find songs according to their location/file path. Re-building does not affect the Playlists. But if you move kma's to any other location and try to play them from a saved Playlist, the song "will not be found", but can be re-entered through Search. If you move them to another drive, the driver letter must also be the same (i.e. the file path must be the same as where the playlist remembers the songs to be located).
When you move the files to external drive you will have to rebuild the songs database to set it to the new locations. I don't think Access will speed this up.

Windows Explorer is the easiest way to move the files.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by Joe Nieves

Hi ddouglass

Thanks for you're reply

Can you please find out from MTU programers

1) How this change will effect my (30) playlist listings.

2) Can I edit my (30) playlist to make file location changes if needed.

3) What tool do I use to make changes in the playlist if needed.

Thanks Again,

Joe....

Joe, I don't work for MTU. I am just a user like you with a computer background.
1. I don't know as I have never saved playlists.
2. No there is no tool to be able to make changes to them.
3. Answered in 2.
Looks like Skybird has answered your question though.

[OneEskalera]

You have to manually enter each song (re-create your playlist with new Hard disk location) to your playlist because holster playlist will look for each entry on C drive since that was the location when you made the enrty on your playlist.

[Joe Nieves]

Originally Posted by Skybird74

Windows Explorer is the easiest way to move the files.

Yes I know this, my problem is

Why can't the playlist be changed too, it's part of the operation for running the shows?

This is very important and I can't see the reason why the playlist was left out and not part of the plan when the ability to change the location of the song files was implemented.

This is a very important part of that operation.

I also remember some talk about updating the playlist on file format extension automatically when converting to new file format in Hoster 4.0

This was driving people crazy.

Why can't this be done when changing the location of a file allready on the playlist?

Is the playlist a database?

Thx Joe....

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by Joe Nieves

Why can't the playlist be changed too, it's part of the operation for running the shows?

This is very important and I can't see the reason why the playlist was left out and not part of the plan when the ability to change the location of the song files was implemented.

This is a very important part of that operation.

I don't think playlists were originally designed to be re-usable. The only reason to save them was to keep from losing it if Hoster crashed. Since most people still don't save them and no one has requested this, then why would they add more code and slow down the rebuild process more?
The funny thing is no one has ever requested this in all the years Hoster has been in existence and Hoster has always had the ability to locate your song files where ever you want them.

Originally Posted by Joe Nieves

I also remember some talk about updating the playlist on file format extension automatically when converting to new file format in Hoster 4.0

This was driving people crazy.

Why can't this be done when changing the location of a file allready on the playlist?

At the time there was a problem brought up about it and when all ZIP files were being converted MP3+G, then the playlists still listed all those files as ZIP and Hoster would not play them.

Originally Posted by Joe Nieves

Is the playlist a database?

Thx Joe....

No it is not a database file, so no you cannot open it with Access. The file is a proprietary format that was created by MTU and there are no programs you can read/edit it with except for Hoster.

[Skybird74]

[quote=ddouglass;85925]The funny thing is no one has ever requested this in all the years Hoster has been in existence and Hoster has always had the ability to locate your song files where ever you want them.

I have had many conversations with users on this forum about saved playlists and how to still make them useable when moving songs from one drive to another. That's how I learned what to do. The "file path" is a common function in ALL computer programs. If you move any file, you need to tell the computer where to find it. What other programs do you know of that automatically know when & where you move files from one place to another without your having to tell it where you put them???

[Joe Nieves]

Hi Skybird74

Thanks for you're input.

Quote:
I have had many conversations with users on this forum about saved playlists and how to still make them useable when moving songs from one drive to another. That's how I learned what to do.


What do you do to make the playlist useable without entering every song again in each playlist X 30 in my case? (That's a lot of work)

Quote:
The "file path" is a common function in ALL computer programs. If you move any file, you need to tell the computer where to find it.


This is the main point I was trying to convey in my post.

The playlist is an intrical part of the song database relationship which is use to hold the requested songs for cue.

This absolutely needs the ability to be able to edit or have some kind of fuction to tell it where the songs are located.

Do you have to reimport all you're songs if you change the drive location?


Quote:
What other programs do you know of that automatically know when & where you move files from one place to another without your having to tell it where you put them???


Yes You're Right, they give you the option of "DO YOU WANT ME TO SEARCH" or gives you a dropdown explorer type list and you pick the drive and directory where the files are located.

Thank You
Joe...

[Skybird74]

[quote=Joe Nieves;85939]Hi Skybird74

What do you do to make the playlist useable without entering every song again in each playlist X 30 in my case? (That's a lot of work)
I know what you mean, but the only way to avoid having to re-Add a song to the playlist is to preserve the file path. When I copied all my hst files to a new portable (smaller) external drive, I had to change it to the same letter I had been using on the older drive & set it so that the Drive letter never changes no matter what machine I hook it up to. When I bought my new Vista machine with a large HD, I had planned to put all my files on it and keep the ext. drive at home (to save carrying it around), but that wouldn't work because Hoster can only find my Playlist files on my "K" drive where I originally created them. (BTW, the Manual explains how to do this.)
Do you have to reimport all you're songs if you change the drive location?
The only way you can get Hoster to know where you moved the files to is to search & re-ADD them to the Playlist from their new location.

Yes You're Right, they give you the option of "DO YOU WANT ME TO SEARCH" or gives you a dropdown explorer type list and you pick the drive and directory where the files are located.
Yep, that pretty much explains it. There is no way around it.

[laddie]

When you expose the contents of the 4.06 list files, there are no obvious links to a file location. The file references the BookID. I don't think the list files care where the files are located, it simply calls the bookID from the DB, the DB knows where the file is. I have changed file locations in 4.06 and did not reload the list, list still worked. If you you want to see the contents of these file change it to an .HTML file. You can then display the contents. The list used in the 4.xx version is different than the list used in the 3.xx version.

[marklwood]

I have never used playlists, but I have been reading up on them. Could someone clarify for me what they actually look like when you load a list. Does it look like a normal singers songlist in the player screen? If so, does the book id show up in the right hand column like any normal show?

What I was thinking was, since while entering a book id from the main screen the name stays persistent, wouldn't it be better to utilize the singer's database for keeping these lists? Load your playlist, then it would be a matter of going down the list, entering the book id, and hitting S+. It would only take 1 second per entry to type the number. 1000 songs would take about 15 minutes. You would have a LOT more flexibility with the data that way.

Again, I don't use playlists so I may be WAY off base here. If I am off base, hit me with your best shot. I have thick skin

[laddie]

Originally Posted by marklwood

I have never used playlists, but I have been reading up on them. Could someone clarify for me what they actually look like when you load a list. Does it look like a normal singers songlist in the player screen? If so, does the book id show up in the right hand column like any normal show?

What I was thinking was, since while entering a book id from the main screen the name stays persistent, wouldn't it be better to utilize the singer's database for keeping these lists? Load your playlist, then it would be a matter of going down the list, entering the book id, and hitting S+. It would only take 1 second per entry to type the number. 1000 songs would take about 15 minutes. You would have a LOT more flexibility with the data that way.

Again, I don't use playlists so I may be WAY off base here. If I am off base, hit me with your best shot. I have thick skin

I don't save them either, but they are *.hst (history files) and yes, it is the normal playlist you see in hoster.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by laddie

I don't save them either, but they are *.hst (history files) and yes, it is the normal playlist you see in hoster.

When you click on open then dbl click a saved playlist, all those names with the songs they sung that evening, will appear as ready, as if to sing them again. I have saved mine over the years, now I can go back and get a good look at who sang what in order to build a singers' data base. Once in a great while, at a bar, I'll get nearly identical singers as the previous week, singing nearly identical songs as they always have in the past, I'll bring up last weeks playlist, edit it a bit, and have most of the night's rotation already formed. And add in new singers as they arrive.

[Skybird74]

Originally Posted by laddie

When you expose the contents of the 4.06 list files, there are no obvious links to a file location. The file references the BookID. I don't think the list files care where the files are located, it simply calls the bookID from the DB, the DB knows where the file is. I have changed file locations in 4.06 and did not reload the list, list still worked. If you you want to see the contents of these file change it to an .HTML file. You can then display the contents. The list used in the 4.xx version is different than the list used in the 3.xx version.

Laddie, you mean you can read .hst playlist files by converting them to .HTML??? OMG, if this is true, you have answered all our prayers. So....... what do you change to get Hoster to know where you put the songs? I have Re-built the database on a different computer which DID change the Book ID & old Playlists could still find them.
I have searched & tried everything else for 3 years! Whenever I move a song to a different location & try to play it later from the old playlist, it always says "file not found" & I have had to re-add it and Save the Playlist.

[Joe Nieves]

Originally Posted by Skybird74

Laddie, you mean you can read .hst playlist files by converting them to .HTML??? OMG, if this is true, you have answered all our prayers. So....... what do you change to get Hoster to know where you put the songs? I have Re-built the database on a different computer which DID change the Book ID & old Playlists could still find them.
I have searched & tried everything else for 3 years! Whenever I move a song to a different location & try to play it later from the old playlist, it always says "file not found" & I have had to re-add it and Save the Playlist.

Me too & three, I would like to know if it's not some kind of secrete laddie that you will share it with us and spare us the headache.

I use the playlist as a venue history list because there is no easy way to organize singers by venue/club in the current singers database.

The playlist let's me start the show very fast with no or little setup time or looking, searching ect., open it up and you're armed and ready to preform and that's the beauty of having the ability to save by venue/club in the singers database where it belongs, not so much in the playlist like I'm using how, but that's the only option I have.

And as far as resources is concern to some of you, I think it would be a savings to have this feature, because sorting through a large singer database with 300 or 700 hundred names will use up more resources then 40 or 60 names in one venue/club database.

Thanks for listening

Joe...

[ddouglass]

If you change the extension to .HTM or .HTML then double click on the file it will open in IE. Now if you can read the data between the rest of stuff in it then more power to you.
Personally I think it would be easier to open it in Hoster and re-add the songs then delete the original ones.
When you make a major change such as moving all your files from one location to another you have to expect there to be some additional work. There is no way around it at this point.
Joe if you want to see your suggestion implemented, then you need to put it in New Features and hope MTU will do it. Even then I would not expect to see this for quite a while. They have a pretty full plate right now with Hoster and the other programs.

[laddie]

Originally Posted by Skybird74

Laddie, you mean you can read .hst playlist files by converting them to .HTML??? OMG, if this is true, you have answered all our prayers. So....... what do you change to get Hoster to know where you put the songs? I have Re-built the database on a different computer which DID change the Book ID & old Playlists could still find them.
I have searched & tried everything else for 3 years! Whenever I move a song to a different location & try to play it later from the old playlist, it always says "file not found" & I have had to re-add it and Save the Playlist.

I said you can view it, I would not recommend trying to change it. I don't have a 3.xx version playlist so I don't know what was in it. I have only looked at the 4.00 version playlist. Incidentally, you can change .hst to .txt and read the data without the script. Again I would not recommend trying to change the file.

[Joe Nieves]

Thank you all for you’re input.

This is a very important feature that was left out and would be a benefit to all users, including the people that don’t use It.?

Call it a quality of use issue, where you’re customers won’t have to go through wild thought contortion to work around something so rudimentary and intrical to the playlist song database functionality. (One is not so good without the other.)

Quote:
I know what you mean, but the only way to avoid having to re-Add a song to the playlist is to preserve the file path


Thanks for that suggestion Shybird74, but in my case my drive c:\ is my default internal drive and I'm running out of HD space how would I solve that?



Thank you,

Joe...