Migrate files to another HDD without rescraping?
#1
Question 
My HDD is full, and currently has both movies & TV shows.

If i buy a 2nd HDD, and move the movies to it, can i change the source of the movies folder in xbmc from C:\Movies to D:\Movies, and it will know where the movies are & continue to work? (currently have the movies & tv folders as 2 separate sources that i scan for new content in)

Or will i need to remove those movies from my library, then scrape them in again?
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#2
There are several options, though all a bit nerdy. After you've copied all the files to D:\Movies you can replace the directory C:\Movies by a symlink. Then any reference to C:\Movies is seamlessly redirected to D:\Movies instead. Google mklink for more info or see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/libra...S.10).aspx.

Another option is if you can temporarily copy the files somewhere else, you can mount the new disk as the directory C:\Movies. If you do this then anything copied into C:\Movies goes onto the hard disk. See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/libra...38934.aspx for details, but note that this will only work if you empty the C:\Movies directory first.

Finally, and probably simplest, Copy all the files to D:\Movies then export your library to a single file. Now you can edit the exported XML file in Notepad and search and replace C:\Movies by D:\Movies, then import the library again.

JR
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#3
An even faster solution will be; Just use the second hard disk as usual, place new movies / series on to it. (Use separate folders with subfolders of course)
So like this:

New HDD:
<New Folder named movies>
<movie files>

<New Folder named TV Series>
<New Folder named TV Serie name, eg: Heroes or Lost>
<Season 1>
<eg: Lost S01e01.mkv>

So that's how you fill in your new hard disk. When you did that, you can just save all the files on your 'old' hard disk drive and through XBMC you can define that new hard disk, (let's say it's drive <H:/>), so you can add H:/Movies for movies, with the current movie scraper and you can add H:/TV Series for new TV series with the current scraper you're using.

That way you don't have to copy all the data and you can leave everything intact. Just add the new HDD with the newly added folders to your current shares and you're done! Nod

*edit*
I still can't figure out wether you want to keep the current "full" HDD or not. Since your topic title says 'Migrate files'.
Maybe this solution can help, maybe not. I hope you can fix it! Smile
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#4
Yes i want to keep the tv shows on the old drive, and put the movies on the new one.

So if i simply go into xbmc, and change the "Source" from C:\movies to D:\movies, then it wont be able to simple update the Movies in the Library so it knows where they are now, and can continue to play them without rescraping everything?

I dont really want a 3rd party app, was hoping xbmc was capable, guess i just leave them where they are then.
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#5
jhsrennie Wrote:Finally, and probably simplest, Copy all the files to D:\Movies then export your library to a single file. Now you can edit the exported XML file in Notepad and search and replace C:\Movies by D:\Movies, then import the library again.

JR

What's wrong with this method? It should work for you. But I guess you count Notepad as a 3rd party app, but it should do what you want with minimal fuss.

I know you're against 3rd party apps, but I asked this question earlier this month, and Dobyken suggestetd an app he created: link. I have not gotten around to testing it yet, but the video provided in his link looks very promising.
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#6
Notepad is fine lol.

That method sounds fine, except i imagine between the exporting & importing of the libraby, im going to need to go into my library & manually remove all the movies 1 at a time before i rescan them in, no?
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#7
inv3ntor Wrote:Notepad is fine lol.

That method sounds fine, except i imagine between the exporting & importing of the libraby, im going to need to go into my library & manually remove all the movies 1 at a time before i rescan them in, no?

I would export the library then just delete (or perhaps better to rename) the old Database folder. When you run XBMC it will create a new empty database for you to import the data.

Quick way to get at the database folder is to press Windows-R and in the Run dialog type:

%appdata%\xbmc\userdata

and click OK. This should open an Explorer window showing your XBMC config files, including a folder called "Database".

JR
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Migrate files to another HDD without rescraping?0