getmusicbee.com
Support => Questions => Topic started by: musimath on April 19, 2016, 11:07:19 PM
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Hello. I use two notebooks. After installing MusicBee in one of them to manage my collection, which is included in several external drives, I noticed the existence of portable MusicBee, with the ability of being ran from an external drive. Then I installed it in an external drive and use it from there with my second PC. Must I uninstall MB from the first PC to use the portable version in this PC from the external drive? I am afraid of having some incompatibility. Thank you.
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From v3.0, portable MB no longer looks at user appdata folder where standard MB installation stores settings, etc. Hence as long as you're using v3, no issue will arise. If you're using v2.5 or prior versions, I'd recommend using only portable version for each machine as there's a slight chance settings could mix up between standard and portable installation.
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Is it possible to download and install portable MB version 3? The download page leads to version 2.5.5808, telling that "the beta version is under active development and is not the current stable version". And "Download is disabled for the beta version". Then?
I intend to use portable version in both machines, and asked for the convenience of uninstalling the already installed version 2.5. I ignore how to do this wiping off all traces of the former installation
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Look at the first forum where v3.0 portable RC is available.
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Thank you, redwing. Sorry, I don't understand: do you mean WAIT for the first forum where v3.0 portable RC is available? What is RC?
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Here:
http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=17326.0
After installation you could also apply latest patch:
http://musicbee.wikia.com/wiki/Latest_Update
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Hello redwing,
Let us see if I understand. I downloades and unzipped MusicBeePortable_3_0_RC1.zip, getting MusicBeePortable_3_0_RC1.exe. I also downloaded MusicBee3_Patched.zip, getting several additional files. I put all files in a folder in the external USB drive where I had MusicBee 2.5 portable. Should I simply run MusicBeePortable_3_0_RC1.exe from there? Must I do something with the MusicBee 2.5 already installed in this external drive?
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Remove 2.5 completely first. And then run RC2.exe (didn't you see RC2 is the latest?) from any folder (don't copy RC2.exe file itself to your external drive). After installation is done, unzip MusicBee3_Patched.zip and overwrite those included files to RC2 folder you just installed.
Sooner or later when RC3 and/or official v3.0 is released, they will only different in skins and localization files. So you only need to update those files. And keep updated with a new MusicBee3_Patched.zip (from the same link) on almost daily basis as it's sort of a nightly build.
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Thank you redwing. What about the Libraries? I had some hard work to put them in form...
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How I remove MB2.5 "completely"? With Windows uninstall programs?
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@Steven;
What's the recommended way of upgrading from v2.5 to v3 keeping settings and library files? Current instructions on the first post of the RC thread looks outdated and incomplete.
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it looks correct to me. As stated MB3 makes a copy of the 2.5 settings, so most settings will be carried across to v3 apart from the panel arrangement. The v2.5 remain untouched.
You wont lose any library files as part of the upgrade.
You can delete StartupSettings.ini and MusicBeeSettings.ini from the AppData folder if you have no intention of using v2.5 again but it wont hurt to leave them there
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Thanks for the clarification! But what's not clear (including prior upgrades) is when the user wants to do a clean installation. What settings/library files should be kept and overwritten to the new installation? Would be helpful if you list those file on that first post.
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still not really understanding what information you are looking for.
If the user want to do a clean install then install MB to a new folder
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When want to do a clean installation while keeping existing settings and library files (database, playlists, etc.)
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If you want to keep the existing settings and library files when just run the v3 portable installer, or if you prefer unzip the patch file zip and run MusicBee.exe which will upgrade the settings file.
But thats obvious, so i am still not sure what you are hoping i will say thats not already been said.
I really dont have time to read through this thread trying to figure out where you are coming from with this
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Hi redwing and Steven. What I intend to do is to install MB3 PORTABLE in the same external USB Drive where I have my library. Now I have MB2.5 portable in a MusicBee folder in this drive. I ignore where is the library.
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Hi redwing and Steven. What I intend to do is to install MB3 PORTABLE in the same external USB Drive where I have my library. Now I have MB2.5 portable in a MusicBee folder in this drive. I ignore where is the library.
Hi musimath, I don't know specifics about the portable version, but I did just recently update from MB2.5 to 3 and I sync across 2 different computers. Unless for some reason the updater for portable works differently (I would be amazed if it did) you should be able to just update MB using the updater and all your preferences will stay the same, except for panel arrangements like Steven already said. If you're worried about it just make a copy of your files, update, and see if your preferences are still there.
On another note, I don't know if this would work for you, but I just have my music files in a dropbox folder which automatically updates and have local installations of MusicBee on both computers. One is the "main" computer where I change any settings or playlist information and I then periodically backup and update the other computer. Tag changes can be done on either device that are saved to the music file itself.
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Hi Speaker4thaDead. Thank you. Many things remain obscure for me. Where are the files? Say, for instance, the Library and preferences files, in installed and in portable versions. Which are these files? To backup them just in case some goes wrong.
Which is the file you call "the updater"? MusicBeePortable_3_0_RC2.exe?
Regarding the use of DropBox, I not always have Internet access, and I have many large high resolution flac files in my USB drive. I intend to use this external drive to run MB in any computer without needing to install the program.
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Hi Speaker4thaDead. Thank you. Many things remain obscure for me. Where are the files? Say, for instance, the Library and preferences files, in installed and in portable versions. Which are these files? To backup them just in case some goes wrong.
This page may help you: http://musicbee.wikia.com/wiki/Backup_%26_Restore
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The portable version should have all files in the same directory (that's why it's portable). I don't know that much about it though, since I don't use it.
The normal version of MusicBee keeps files in 3 spots (I'm assuming windows here):
Settings in "C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee" (note that appdata is a hidden folder, an easy way to access it is to go to run and type "%appdata%")
Library in "C:\Users\<your username>\Music\MusicBeeLibrary"
Installation in "C:\Program Files\MusicBee" (it might be in Program Files (x86), I don't have mine installed in the default location so I'm not sure).
I'm guessing the portable version just keeps all 3 of these in the same spot, on your external drive.
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I also thought that the portable version should have ALL files in the same directory, but I worked on the library yesterday (April 20) and the ONLY files in the external HD with this date are:
MusicBeeSettings.ini 79KB
StartupSettings.ini 1KB
Downloads.dat 0KB
MusicBeeSettings.bak 79KB
DialogStateSettings.ini 1KB
ActivityLog.dat 8KB
I doubt all information is there.
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I opened with Notepad MusicBeeSettings.bak, one of the two "big" files in the list, and I found nothing related to the library.
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portable mb just stores all files from "C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee" in "MusicBee\AppData" folder. it doesn't concern library file. library file should be stored in the same path on both computers (or you can switch libraries on different computers).
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Thank you everybody. I will try to clarify the question.
Let me sumarize the situation: I have two PCs, say PC1 and PC2, both with Windows 8.1. In PC1 I installed MusicBee 2.5, and in an external USB drive MusicBee 2.5 Portable, to be used mainly with PC2.
In PC1, the program is installed in C:\MusicBee. There is a second MusicBee folder in:
C:\Users\GH\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\QuickLaunch\Music and Audio\Audio
There is not other MusicBee folder in PC1.
In the external USB drive MusicBee 2.5 is installed in F:\MusicBee, and there is no other MusicBee folder in F:
I have a quite large collection of albums in external USB drives, organized in folders and sub folders. After installing MusicBee in PC1 I realized that there exists a portable version, and I decided to install Portable MusicBee in the external drive(s), to use it mainly with PC2, but perhaps with both PCs. In both cases I begin to scan some (not all) of the folders in the external drive (there are many folders), and after that I have a considerable task puting in order many errors (duplicate albums, tracks which belong to album A that appear in album B, and so on). I think that many of these corrections are made in the individual file's tags, but some data must also be in some MusicBee file, because when I run MB only the Library containing the scanned folders appear. Say: when I run in PC1 the installed MB I find only the folders I scanned with this MB, but when I run (always in PC1) the portable MB I find only the folders I scanned with portable MB.
Which are these MB files and where are they?
THE PROBLEM: I want to install Portable MB3 in the external USB drive without losing the work done. Should I install it in the same MusicBee folder where I installed Portable MB2.5?
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Hi everybody. Sorry for my dummy questions. I am the kind of people who reads the manual before connecting the stuff.
Finally I installed MB3 in F:\MusicBee3 and study the question directly. I got the answers I needed.
Thank you everybody!