[notinmyname]

Hello
I'm currently on version 17.6 (libreelec), I want to upgrade to 18.2 but I need a fresh install.

I have a huge music library and I don't want to scan again. I know there is the export/import functionality but I've read that there has been major update to the music library structure.

Can I use the export/import feature (or something similar)? I'm afraid to mess things up.

thanks
Andrea

[DaveBlake]

The most recent release in 18.3 so you may as well install that (not sure if the Libreelec build is out yet, but should be soon).

Music import/export only applies to the additional album and artist information not to the fundamental music data entries (artists, albums, songs, genres etc.) that are created by scanning the taga embedded in your music files. With a huge library that you want to avoid re-scanning all the music files then export/import is of limited usefulness.

Libreelec installation can upgrade from 17.6 to 18, but perhaps you want to switch to new hardware? Assuming that the msuic files are located in the same place (IP address and folders) reletive to the new installation as it was to the  old one then what you can do is install v18 but not run it, copy over the contents of the userdata folder from the 17.6 installation (or at least the music database mymusic60.db) to the v18 one ensuring that no mymusic70.db exists. Then when you start the new version it will migrate the music database from mymusic60.db to mymusic70.db

Of course take backups of the v17.6 userdata before trying this just incase you make a mistake. It all depends on where your music files are located, and that the new install has the same route to the media as the old one.

[notinmyname]

what you can do is install v18 but not run it, copy over the contents of the userdata folder from the 17.6 installation (or at least the music database mymusic60.db) to the v18 one ensuring that no mymusic70.db exists. Then when you start the new version it will migrate the music database from mymusic60.db to mymusic70.db

Thank you, that’s the type of response I was looking for :-)

Should I copy also the Texture database. Are images there?
Anything else?

[DaveBlake]

The all encompassing approach is to copy all the userdata folder, that includes things like sources.xml (the music lib will work without but it is nice for consitency of installation) and the texture db and cached images. 

What artist and album art (the original source) is held in the music db, but the actual cached image location  is held in the textures db and then in folders in  userdata/thumbnails. If missing then Kodi will recreate the image cache the first time the images are displayed (so you initially may see lists without images while this happens in the background). Some people remove both textures db and empty the thumbnails folders as an extreme way of cleaning up the textures (they can get cluttered with unnecessary images and bloat), but unless you have a bloated cache because you have switched/browsed lots of art there is not need.

If I were you I would copy all the userdata folder unless you have reasons not to do so.

[notinmyname]

If I were you I would copy all the userdata folder unless you have reasons not to do so.

Thank you for your detailed explanation. I want to go with a fresh install because it's a very old installation (coming from openelec) and I noticed an high CPU usage.

So, for what I've understood, in my case its preferable to copy:
- mymusicdb
- sources.xml
- mediasources.xml

I prefer not to copy the textures db because I want to keep only the strictly necessary things when migrating to the new version

thank you again for your time and for suggesting to examine the content of userdata directory

Andrea

[DaveBlake]

Thank you for your detailed explanation. I want to go with a fresh install because it's a very old installation (coming from openelec) and I noticed an high CPU usage.

In that case it could be better to rescan the tags and populate the library from fresh too, tag processing has improved over the last few installations - more tags are used and more a robust process. If you want to keep selected art and avoid rescraping online then export to nfo and images from the old installation (that will create album nfo, and artist nfo for album artists), but unless you did a lot of manual adjustments rescraping that online should produce better results too (the remote sites gain images and data every day).

I prefer not to copy the textures db because I want to keep only the strictly necessary things when migrating to the new version

Only the music files are "strictly necessary", rebuilding the library from that should not rake too long unless you are one of the users with a huge library (or very slow network access, slow processor).
 
But choice is yours, you can always try copying the files and then remove the userdata and start afresh if it does not work out.