2013-09-24, 12:05
I'm totally new to xbmc (Windows 7) and would like some (possibly obvious) assistance with moving xbmc files from one PC to another (nearly identical) machine. Note that I'm >not< talking about moving media files, e.g. movie, music, tv videos, etc. Only xmbc's configuration, databases, scraped files, metadata, images, etc. need to be moved.
Background:
I've been evaluating xbmc on my dev/test laptop and have spent the last 3 days allowing it to scan/scrape/update my collection. This is a totally new installation (of the current 12.x version) of xbmc on Windows 7. I have a production htpc in the living room that is currently running Media Portal and is used by other people. I do not test or introduce changes to that machine - it is the "production" machine - apart from major, tested updates such as this.
My standard workflow is to do development and testing on one machine, then when it is ready to go live, I copy all necessary files across to the production machine (after performing a backup). If there are any problems, I roll back the change and address the problem on the dev/test machine. Downtime on the production machine (the family htpc) is therefore minimised.
All my media files (movie, tv, music files) are on a Windows 7 'server' machine on the same home network and subnet, accessible to all machines in the house. I have close to 35,000 tv shows and 4- or 5,000 movies. And since I am in a country where downloads are capped per month, I cannot and will not perform a total re-scrape of xbmc (or media portal) unless absolutely necessary (It amounts to several gigabytes of data and takes several days due to the size of my collection). So that means that I cannot install xbmc on the htpc from scratch and then allow it to download all the wallpapers, fanart, metadata, dvd covers, etc. etc. all over again. This has already been done completely on the test environment (the laptop).
Once I have finished testing out xbmc, I will want to move the complete installation from the dev/test machine (laptop) to the production (htpc) machine. By this I mean to:
- install the same 12.x version of xbmc on the htpc using the standard xbmc installation program
- copy across all folders and files created on the dev/test machine to the htpc
- perform any final configuring required.
Both machines are essentially identical:
- same os
- same MS patches
- same login, username, credentials, passwords
- same network access and security. smb and unc references to the media server work on both test and production systems
- same file paths on both machines so no paths need to be changed in any databases, link files, etc.
- same hard drive and optical drive names and quantity (C:, D: etc.)
I'm very familiar with doing this with Media Portal as I know where all the databases, configurations, and downloaded files are kept, but I'm totally new to xbmc.
I've checked the xbmc forums but all the threads I've found on the subject relate to moving media collections (tv /movie files). I don't need to do this.
Finally, one last complication: I have created a shared mySQL database for xbmc on the server. I have used smb:// references for all my media folders. I don't expect this to be a problem but it may factor into things.
Any tips, pointers, would be appreciated on what folders, files, and/or process I need to follow.
Background:
I've been evaluating xbmc on my dev/test laptop and have spent the last 3 days allowing it to scan/scrape/update my collection. This is a totally new installation (of the current 12.x version) of xbmc on Windows 7. I have a production htpc in the living room that is currently running Media Portal and is used by other people. I do not test or introduce changes to that machine - it is the "production" machine - apart from major, tested updates such as this.
My standard workflow is to do development and testing on one machine, then when it is ready to go live, I copy all necessary files across to the production machine (after performing a backup). If there are any problems, I roll back the change and address the problem on the dev/test machine. Downtime on the production machine (the family htpc) is therefore minimised.
All my media files (movie, tv, music files) are on a Windows 7 'server' machine on the same home network and subnet, accessible to all machines in the house. I have close to 35,000 tv shows and 4- or 5,000 movies. And since I am in a country where downloads are capped per month, I cannot and will not perform a total re-scrape of xbmc (or media portal) unless absolutely necessary (It amounts to several gigabytes of data and takes several days due to the size of my collection). So that means that I cannot install xbmc on the htpc from scratch and then allow it to download all the wallpapers, fanart, metadata, dvd covers, etc. etc. all over again. This has already been done completely on the test environment (the laptop).
Once I have finished testing out xbmc, I will want to move the complete installation from the dev/test machine (laptop) to the production (htpc) machine. By this I mean to:
- install the same 12.x version of xbmc on the htpc using the standard xbmc installation program
- copy across all folders and files created on the dev/test machine to the htpc
- perform any final configuring required.
Both machines are essentially identical:
- same os
- same MS patches
- same login, username, credentials, passwords
- same network access and security. smb and unc references to the media server work on both test and production systems
- same file paths on both machines so no paths need to be changed in any databases, link files, etc.
- same hard drive and optical drive names and quantity (C:, D: etc.)
I'm very familiar with doing this with Media Portal as I know where all the databases, configurations, and downloaded files are kept, but I'm totally new to xbmc.
I've checked the xbmc forums but all the threads I've found on the subject relate to moving media collections (tv /movie files). I don't need to do this.
Finally, one last complication: I have created a shared mySQL database for xbmc on the server. I have used smb:// references for all my media folders. I don't expect this to be a problem but it may factor into things.
Any tips, pointers, would be appreciated on what folders, files, and/or process I need to follow.
