Author Topic: How do I Change the location MB places my imported music?  (Read 3744 times)

Ben Walker

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How do I move the current library location in MusicBee?

I need to know how to set up MB so it always dumps the music and associated files to a different drive.

Currently when I scan the dreaded iTunes for new music, MusicBee copies the folder and places it on C.  

This created a lot of file storage on C.

I need to free up drive space on C

I have a large music data base in MB

When I first set up MB I had it default to the normal C...Music...etc when scanning and adding music to the MB library.

I want to permanently move the appropriate MB folders and change all settings inside of MB so it will store all future files on a different drive.  

I'm sure there is a right way and a wrong way to do what I want to do.

I looked in the forum and must have missed how to do this.



I'm looking for some expert assistance please on how to do this.



Thanks for your time

Ben Walker

phred

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How do I move the current library location in MusicBee?
Edit > Preferences > Library > Move Library
See this page on the Wiki for information on the Library and a brief description of the 'move library' function.
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

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The FAQ
The Wiki
Posting screenshots is here
Searching the forum with Google is  here

frankz

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The above will work to move your actual library files; the library data, artist pictures, etc.  If the question you wrote in your post is what you actually want to do, this is the right procedure.

To move your existing music files (the question you asked in your post title), use one of the Send To->Folder (Move)-> selections.

If you are auto-organizing (Edit->Edit Preferences->Library->auto-organize music files is checked), change the folders to the appropriate location there so new music files will go to a new location.

frankz

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Come to think of it, another (maybe easier than Send To->Folder (Move)) way to move all of your music files from an old drive to a new one would be to, outside of MusicBee (in Windows), copy the entire folder containing all of your music as is from the old drive to the new drive and then use MB's "Remap" feature to remap every reference to (for Example) C:\ to (also for example) D:\.  Then, when you're sure it's working in the new location, delete the old folder on C.

You'd still need to adjust your auto-organize afterwards if you're doing that for new files going forward.

sveakul

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Come to think of it, another (maybe easier than Send To->Folder (Move)) way to move all of your music files from an old drive to a new one would be to, outside of MusicBee (in Windows), copy the entire folder containing all of your music as is from the old drive to the new drive and then use MB's "Remap" feature to remap every reference to (for Example) C:\ to (also for example) D:\.  Then, when you're sure it's working in the new location, delete the old folder on C.

frankz:  thanks for this, I was contemplating just such a scenario myself--want to keep Library location as-is but move all music files to a larger partition--and this sounds like the way to go.

frankz

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No problem. Now I'm glad I remembered it!  It's not something that readily comes to mind because it's something you do, maybe, once and then don't usually have to do again. 

The Send To thing is always at the front of my mind because I do it nearly every day, but Remap is really much more appropriate for this situation.  Your old top-level music directory at the left, your new top-level music directory at the right, do it, and it's done.

Ben Walker

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