Where are my music files? What happened to my music collection and folders?

[JB Gooch]

I have a serious problem.  MusicBee has apparently deleted my original music collection and added them to a massive audio database.  Perhaps it's my fault, I don't know.  That's why I'm here.  I had my collection sorted by artist/album in a typical directory structure.  After I installed MusicBee they all disappeared and now appear to be stored in a massive database with no directory structure I can access.  This is unacceptable.  I want my original files restored.   We're talking about >5000 flac files.  I don't care if the the software creates a separate audio database, but deleting my original files is not acceptable.  Does anyone know if I can restore my files and directories intact?

[Freddy Barker]

I have a serious problem.  MusicBee has apparently deleted my original music collection and added them to a massive audio database.  Perhaps it's my fault, I don't know.  That's why I'm here.  I had my collection sorted by artist/album in a typical directory structure.  After I installed MusicBee they all disappeared and now appear to be stored in a massive database with no directory structure I can access.  This is unacceptable.  I want my original files restored.   We're talking about >5000 flac files.  I don't care if the the software creates a separate audio database, but deleting my original files is not acceptable.  Does anyone know if I can restore my files and directories intact?

Take a little time to read the MusicBee Wiki instructions if you're totally new , here:-

https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/File_Organization

Doubt if your music files are actually deleted, as MB never been known to do that, but maybe moved or relocated.
A pity you didn't make a backup of all your tracks before you started.. Hope you get sorted. Maybe prudent to provide the forum with more detailed information...

File and folder organisation management can be found in Preferences / Libray / Organisation menu.
For example, this would be 'D:\MusicBee\Library\Music' <Album Artist>\<Album>\<Track#> <Title>

Regards: Freddy

[psychoadept]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

Freddy is correct, MusicBee is not configured to move anything "out of the box", you would have to apply one of the file organization commands for that to happen. And MusicBee does not do any deletion without your input.

If you can still play the files from MusicBee, then they are somewhere. MusicBee's database only stores metadata (tags, etc), not the audio files themselves. Take a look at the Properties tab of the tag editor, and it will tell you where the file is located. Or just right click and go to search, locate in Windows Explorer.

If you can't play the files from MusicBee, then whatever moved or removed them was outside of MusicBee anyway. I would investigate other audio programs or overzealous antivirus software.

[captain_paranoia]

MusicBee doesn't move or delete files unless you tell it to.

If you have used one of the auto-organise tools, you can, provided your media is correctly tagged, reorganise it back to a conventional <AlbumArtist>/<Album>/<Track> structure.