Author Topic: SERIOUS HELP NEEDED FAST  (Read 2263 times)

snyder24

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I need help fast, please.  New user here so I don't know a whole lot about this program yet so I'm not sure what just happened or how to fix it. 

I had over 200 .mp3 songs saved on my desktop in a folder.  In that folder I had 5 other folders where the songs were organized.  When I downloaded MB the other night, I dragged those 5 folders into the playlist side of MB.  Everything was working awesome with no problems.

Now tonight I downloaded some new songs and placed them into those folders on my desktop.  Here's where the problem started.  When I opened MB, those new songs were not showing in my playlist folders.  So I thought I could update the playlist in the "Preferences" under "Library" and then "Playlist" location.  I updated the drive path to my 5  folders.  Well all this did was add another set of those 5 folders to my playlist.  So I had 2 sets of my 5 folders, 1 set was all my files, the other new set didn't do anything when I clicked on them.  So... I right clicked on each of those 5 folders that didn't do anything and deleted them.  My 5 other folders containing my files were still there.  Then I went back to "Preferences" and then "Library" and deleted the drive path that told the MB where my playlist was.  I saved everything and after the "Preferences" box closed, all my 5 folders in my playlist were gone.  AND TO ADD TO IT.... IT DELETED ALL MY FILES ON MY DESKTOP!!!  GONE.... everything is GONE.  The folder on my desktop was called RODEO SONGS.  I still have that folder, but within it I had my 5 folders and they are GONE!!  I checked the recycle bin... not there.  I searched c: drive for .mp3 files and NONE OF MY FILES WERE FOUND!!  What the heck happened???  Over 200 .mp3 files just disappeared.  PLEASE HELP!!

Thank you.

Zak

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I dragged those 5 folders into the playlist side of MB.
...
Now tonight I downloaded some new songs and placed them into those folders on my desktop.  Here's where the problem started.  When I opened MB, those new songs were not showing in my playlist folders. 
This is  a bit hard to follow. Changing Playlist preferences like you've described wouldn't do anything useful, but shouldn't have any other side effects either.
It might help if you further describe or include screenshots of what you're referring to as "the playlist side" and "playlist folders", because I don't think you're actually talking about playlists.
Bee excellent to each other...

psychoadept

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Definitely follow Zak's advice and provide some screenshots. The only thing here that sounds like it could have deleted anything is when you say you deleted the duplicate folders. MusicBee doesn't have any automated way of deleting files, and files that are deleted go to the recycle bin so without more info it's hard to say what's going on.
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snyder24

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Ok after much stressing I was able to restore my missing / deleted files last night by going into my computers backup and restore settings.  So all my .mp3 files are back and I've made copies of all five of my folders. Im at work now so I can't screenshot anything but I was able to duplicate the problem again after I got my files back last night.

This is what I did.  

So on my desktop I have a folder called Rodeo songs. In that rodeo songs folder I have 5 other folders with all my .mp3 files.  So I opened MB and clicked on edit preferences,  then the Library tab along the side.  Then at the bottom if the page under the playlist section,  there is a drive path where I can specify the location of my rodeo folder.  When I save that the preferences box closes and takes my back to the main screen in MB. Now on the left side of the screen I am able to see my 5 folders which are in the main rodeo folder on my desktop.  The problem is,  when I click on one of those 5 folders,  nothing happens... meaning it doesn't show any of my ..mp3 files in the center or right side of MB. So... on the left side I'll right click on one if those 5 folders and choose to delete it.  But what I does is it deletes that folder and everything in it on my desktop also. It does not put them in my recycle bin... it totally deletes the folder and everything in it.

The only way I can add my 5 folders and actually see all the ..mp3 files in them is to manually drag each of my 5 folders into the playlist section on the left side of the main screen in MB. It will load all my files at that time but if I add files to one of those folders on my desktop later.... it will not update the playlist in MB.

I will try to get screenshots tonight but I can't right now.

psychoadept

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So on my desktop I have a folder called Rodeo songs. In that rodeo songs folder I have 5 other folders with all my .mp3 files.  So I opened MB and clicked on edit preferences,  then the Library tab along the side.  Then at the bottom if the page under the playlist section,  there is a drive path where I can specify the location of my rodeo folder.  When I save that the preferences box closes and takes my back to the main screen in MB. Now on the left side of the screen I am able to see my 5 folders which are in the main rodeo folder on my desktop.  The problem is, when I click on one of those 5 folders,  nothing happens... meaning it doesn't show any of my ..mp3 files in the center or right side of MB. So... on the left side I'll right click on one if those 5 folders and choose to delete it.  But what I does is it deletes that folder and everything in it on my desktop also. It does not put them in my recycle bin... it totally deletes the folder and everything in it.

That's helpful, thanks.  I'm glad you had a backup!

The source of the problem is that you're misunderstanding what a playlist is/does. See this page: https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/Playlists

So unless your music folders contain actual playlist files (.m3u, etc), you're not going to see anything under playlists. Your playlists folder should be separate from your music files. Deleting the folder and all its contents is a problem, and we should see if Steven can address that (done, here: https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=29610.0).

What you actually want to do is drag & drop your folders to the Music tab in the left sidebar: https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/Navigator

Alternately, you can use "scan folders for new files" in the File menu. If you want new files to be added automatically when you put them in the folders, add them to your monitored folders in preferences.
Last Edit: September 16, 2019, 06:26:08 PM by psychoadept
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Steven

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To be honest I am finding your posts very confusing as to what you are trying to do. However I just tested this bit:
But what I does is it deletes that folder and everything in it on my desktop also. It does not put them in my recycle bin... it totally deletes the folder and everything in it.
None of those things are true as stated in your description and I see no reason why it would be. I deleted a folder from the desktop in the MB computer node, MB deleted the files in that folder and the folder itself as you should have expected. The music files were sent to the recycle bin as expected. None of the other folders or files on the desktop were deleted as expected.
If you are able to reproduce what you claim and provide clear step by step instructions I will look into it further. A screenshot might help clarify what you are saying.

edit:
I see you might be deleting a playlist folder in the playlists section of the left navigator, not a computer node folder?
That command does delete all files within that folder without sending them to the recycle bin. That much I agree. However it doesnt delete other files or other folders from the desktop
Last Edit: September 16, 2019, 07:06:57 PM by Steven

snyder24

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Thank you for your explanations, psychoadept. I will try those steps tonight.

Steven, as I haven't explained with screenshots for you to understand me, likewise im not sure what your telling me either.   But trust.... I know whatever I did in the preferences section DID in fact delete my 5 folders and all the files contained within them, which were saved on my desktop! Further... they were not put in the recycle bin.  I think I did explain,  step by step,  what i did in my post above. I'll try to get those screenshots for you to understand.

Steven

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You already stated you right click/ deleted the folders and I agree if the folders where under the Playlists section of the left navigator (as opposed to under the Computer section of the left navigator) then I agree the folders you selected for deletion and the files within those folders will not be sent to the recycle bin. Its just the way you worded your description makes it sound like the entire desktop is deleted which should not be the case ie. only the selected folders.

In any case for the next v3.3 update, it now will delete playlist folders to the recycle bin and also check for the existance of music files in those playlist folders - if any are detected then the deletion is cancelled.

snyder24

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Steven.... forgive me as I said im new to all this so my understanding of the program is limited and I admit I don't know how to properly set it up for what I want to do.... but there may be others like me that download MB and actually delete hundreds of files. I was lucky that I was able to restore them with my computers backup and restore section. 

But yes... the 5 folders and files were in the playlist section... not the folders section.  Once I figure out how to add a screenshot to this post I'll explain things better.


Steven

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There is no further screenshot needed. I know what you did now and the program behavior has been amended for the next update as I described

JZStudios

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Okay, so just as a starting off point, unless you have MB set to automatically scan for files at startup, you have to manually do it in some fashion or another. You can do this in one of two ways;
1. Click on the Musicbee menu dropdown, File, Scan Folders for New Files.
2. Use the Hotkey, assignable in the preferences (ctrl+o). I don't remember what it is by default, but I made mine "Insert" for simplicity. I'm inserting new files, so it makes sense.

Another useful hotkey to remember is a rescan for when/if you're updating metadata tags and it doesn't automatically refresh, or if you've changed it outside the program. Again, it's assignable in preferences (ctrl+o) under Hotkeys, File: Rescan Monitored Folders (Will do your entire library) and File: Rescan Selected Files. These options are just above the one for File: Scan folders for new files.

It doesn't appear that the rescan really shows up anywhere else though, so it might be hotkey only.

ma_t14

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Another user that is using the latest windows store version just had this happen. They chose Desktop as the destination path and it ended up deleting everything they had on desktop while bypassing the recycle bin. I get that the description explains that any files that are not in the source folder will be deleted from the backup folder, essentially working like a mirroring function, but this is extremely easy for a new user to miss/misinterpret and mess up their files.

Ideally it should use the recycle bin and additionally maybe a more clear warning should also be put in place. Another idea is to not allow the user to choose a folder that is not already empty.

Not sure if this was fixed in subsequent versions but this is not something that should exist on the latest stable version
Last Edit: July 10, 2022, 05:00:02 PM by ma_t14

frankz

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Another user that is using the latest windows store version just had this happen.
Can you link to that - I don't see it.

ma_t14

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Another user that is using the latest windows store version just had this happen.
Can you link to that - I don't see it.

It wasn't on this forum but on a (fan-run) MusicBee discord server