HDD to HDD Data Transfer

[audiophile65]

Just curious -- is it possible to click/drag/drop all music/metadata data from off of one external HDD directly into another external HDD if both HDDs were connected to one's main computer? No biggie if you can't.........

[jabbr]

Yes, just try it

[rando]

On 10/22/2018 at 7:32 PM, audiophile65 said:

Just curious -- is it possible to click/drag/drop all music/metadata data from off of one external HDD directly into another external HDD if both HDDs were connected to one's main computer? No biggie if you can't.........

 

The one caveat is name length.  Going root to root simplifies, sometimes just enough, the transfer.  It is always good practice to compare the size of files transferred to the original. 

 

The example fabrication below was just long enough it got truncated at some point.  Either it popped up a warning during transfer and I shortened the single file name so it would carry over the whole album or some program renamed it.  Album art/photos lifted from the internet are another example of items that can easily surpass the character limit if not renamed.  

 

C:\Users\Username\Music\Classical\FLAC\111 Years Of Deutsche Grammophon (1-55)\41 - Pinnock  Vivadi - The Four Seasons\08 - Concerto for Violin and Strings in F, Op.8, No.3, R.293 'L'autunno' - 2. Adagio molto (Ubria

[nbpf]

On 10/23/2018 at 2:32 AM, audiophile65 said:

Just curious -- is it possible to click/drag/drop all music/metadata data from off of one external HDD directly into another external HDD if both HDDs were connected to one's main computer? No biggie if you can't.........

It is possible but not meaningful. Instead, use rsync, see https://rsync.samba.org/.

[cjf]

From a typical music file format standpoint the metadata, if there is any, is usually baked into the file itself so it should be retained (ie..Flac File..etc).

 

As the poster before me said, and I agree, use a utility such as RSync or Robocopy to transfer large numbers of files. If for no other reason but for those times when a manual copy (Drag/Drop) would STOP when it encounters an issue. These utilities have features that let them carry-on past the problem file verses just stopping the whole process. This way you can kick off the Copy and walk away instead of babysitting the file transfer.

[yamamoto2002]

For Windows, I recommend Microsoft RichCopy to copy many files

[Miska]

On 10/24/2018 at 5:42 AM, nbpf said:

It is possible but not meaningful. Instead, use rsync, see https://rsync.samba.org/.

 

rsync is very good, I use it for backup purposes, because it doesn't unnecessarily copy unmodified files every time... Also works over the internet using ssh...

[Dan Gravell]

This assumes all your metadata is in the filesystem you are copying.

 

Some software like iTunes maintains a separate database. This can be a problem in two ways.

 

The first is if the intent of your copy is to use the HDD elsewhere; in that case, the database hasn't been moved.

 

The other is if the intent is to use the HDD on the same machine; in that case, with the file locations changed, the software loses track of your files. One workaround to this would be to make sure the logical paths for the target files are, following the copy, the same as the source files. For example, if you are on Windows and the drives are mapped, unmapping them following the copy and then re-mapping with the drive letters swapped. This way your software won't tell the difference.

[DavidL]

On 11/2/2018 at 9:26 AM, Dan Gravell said:

This assumes all your metadata is in the filesystem you are copying.

 

Some software like iTunes maintains a separate database. This can be a problem in two ways.

 

The first is if the intent of your copy is to use the HDD elsewhere; in that case, the database hasn't been moved.

 

The other is if the intent is to use the HDD on the same machine; in that case, with the file locations changed, the software loses track of your files. One workaround to this would be to make sure the logical paths for the target files are, following the copy, the same as the source files. For example, if you are on Windows and the drives are mapped, unmapping them following the copy and then re-mapping with the drive letters swapped. This way your software won't tell the difference.

 

The trick to using iTunes as your music library format is to copy ALL files in the folder 'iTunes' to any new location i.e. copy the iTunes folder to the required destination. When you start up iTunes just point it to this folder in the new location and everything will be in place.

I've used this approach for many years with the iTunes folder held on a NAS and never had any problems with metadata. Only minus is that because my library has now grown to a large size (97k tracks) in the near future I'm going to get a NAS with a more powerful processor to reduce the response time for editing etc.

I don't use iTunes as a music player - I use Minimserver running on the NAS.