2019-07-08, 08:20
OK, I've read all the replies which I appreciate. Before I clarify my problems I'd like to make a comment.
I've been using KODI since EDEN. The export has always worked in a specific way, through all the upgrades, so I structured my file system around that. All was good.
The fact that a change was made in the newest release is not the real issue. The fact that a change was made and no effort was made to accommodate longtime users who had used the previous procedure is the real problem. At the risk of offending you all, you are trying to convince me that "the new way is better." I can see the advantages you point out. However, in the end it comes down to taking away a method that has worked for me. And not just me -- all the users who use the Separate folders export. I'm all for providing improvements, but it seems no one asked the question "what about the users who do it the current way?". The new procedure isn't a simple tweak -- it obsoletes the previous procedure in one stroke. Surely there was a way to maintain that option?
OK, on to my issue. I maintain a set of "master" disks for all my media. So I always have a complete backup of the actual media. These do not contain any metadata or image files, just media. It contains duplicates of all the media files on the KODI "working disks. They are synced promptly when a new file is added or (horrors!) deleted.
I use a Windows backup program called Macrium Reflect to backup all of my computers once a month. Before I backup the KODI system, I first perform an export to a single file (to a separate backup disk) and then export to separate folders. I do this for video and music. I NEVER, EVER, EVER overwrite files. Not once.
When the exports are finished, I run the Reflect backup everything on the system and data drives of my KODI computer, also to a separate disk. This gets me everything on my system.
Every so often (about 3 months) I make a copy of all of the files on my media drives but without the media files. This gives me have separate backups of the image and nfo files of everything. It's nearly an automatic process and only takes a few minutes to run on all of my drives (four 8TB drives).
Now to address some questions about my use of NFO files. First, it would be great if I never needed them. But scraping, as you well know, is not 100% accurate and sometimes the scraped information needs to be edited. Unless someone advises me otherwise, it seems the only way to do this is with an NFO file. And unless I have been led astray, the NFO file needs to reside alongside the media file.
On the most recent backup, I chose Separate files for each item, since that's what I had been doing, to generate NFO files. I will take your word that KODI can't delete files, but for many (over 50) of my artists, the artist.nfo file residing in the Artist folder on my media drives was now missing. The artist.nfo files that the export had created had a different date -- the current date -- and a different size from the one on my backup disk. Just an example:
For Art Blakey, the artist.nfo file in the Art Blakey folder (on the media drive) is missing. The version from the export is dated 1-July when I ran the backups. It has a size of .41 KB, and it's really just a stub. My backup from April is 18KB and is filled with a long (way too long) biography, tons of album listings, etc.
Now, I don't know why this happened, but clearly the Export, at the very least, ignored the existing NFO files and created its own. I don't want to spend hours and hours going over why. What I would like to know are three things:
1. Is it possible to add an option for exporting the way it was in previous versions? In other words, generate artist.nfo, album.nfo, folder.jpg and fanart.jpg to the Artist/Album folder on the media drive?
2. Will KODI continue to look into my Artist/Album folder for the NFO, or will it be ignored?
3. Is there a way to export NFO and JPG for a single artist or album without doing the entire library?
As you can tell, I'm pretty bummed out by the change, and I appreciate all the responses.
I've been using KODI since EDEN. The export has always worked in a specific way, through all the upgrades, so I structured my file system around that. All was good.
The fact that a change was made in the newest release is not the real issue. The fact that a change was made and no effort was made to accommodate longtime users who had used the previous procedure is the real problem. At the risk of offending you all, you are trying to convince me that "the new way is better." I can see the advantages you point out. However, in the end it comes down to taking away a method that has worked for me. And not just me -- all the users who use the Separate folders export. I'm all for providing improvements, but it seems no one asked the question "what about the users who do it the current way?". The new procedure isn't a simple tweak -- it obsoletes the previous procedure in one stroke. Surely there was a way to maintain that option?
OK, on to my issue. I maintain a set of "master" disks for all my media. So I always have a complete backup of the actual media. These do not contain any metadata or image files, just media. It contains duplicates of all the media files on the KODI "working disks. They are synced promptly when a new file is added or (horrors!) deleted.
I use a Windows backup program called Macrium Reflect to backup all of my computers once a month. Before I backup the KODI system, I first perform an export to a single file (to a separate backup disk) and then export to separate folders. I do this for video and music. I NEVER, EVER, EVER overwrite files. Not once.
When the exports are finished, I run the Reflect backup everything on the system and data drives of my KODI computer, also to a separate disk. This gets me everything on my system.
Every so often (about 3 months) I make a copy of all of the files on my media drives but without the media files. This gives me have separate backups of the image and nfo files of everything. It's nearly an automatic process and only takes a few minutes to run on all of my drives (four 8TB drives).
Now to address some questions about my use of NFO files. First, it would be great if I never needed them. But scraping, as you well know, is not 100% accurate and sometimes the scraped information needs to be edited. Unless someone advises me otherwise, it seems the only way to do this is with an NFO file. And unless I have been led astray, the NFO file needs to reside alongside the media file.
On the most recent backup, I chose Separate files for each item, since that's what I had been doing, to generate NFO files. I will take your word that KODI can't delete files, but for many (over 50) of my artists, the artist.nfo file residing in the Artist folder on my media drives was now missing. The artist.nfo files that the export had created had a different date -- the current date -- and a different size from the one on my backup disk. Just an example:
For Art Blakey, the artist.nfo file in the Art Blakey folder (on the media drive) is missing. The version from the export is dated 1-July when I ran the backups. It has a size of .41 KB, and it's really just a stub. My backup from April is 18KB and is filled with a long (way too long) biography, tons of album listings, etc.
Now, I don't know why this happened, but clearly the Export, at the very least, ignored the existing NFO files and created its own. I don't want to spend hours and hours going over why. What I would like to know are three things:
1. Is it possible to add an option for exporting the way it was in previous versions? In other words, generate artist.nfo, album.nfo, folder.jpg and fanart.jpg to the Artist/Album folder on the media drive?
2. Will KODI continue to look into my Artist/Album folder for the NFO, or will it be ignored?
3. Is there a way to export NFO and JPG for a single artist or album without doing the entire library?
As you can tell, I'm pretty bummed out by the change, and I appreciate all the responses.
