Saving album files

[Mr. Mustard]

Hi everyone! I need to format my hard drive and reinstall all my apps, including Music Bee which I use to organize my albums collection (see screenshot below). Is there a way to save my library file links so that when I reinstall MB I don't have to add all my 588 albums individually one by one again which would take days?

[frankz]

As long as you have your current *.mbl file AND all of your music files stay at the same location they are now, you won't lose your library information.

See this link for basics about backing up and restoring your layouts and settings and other ancillary data.  Some of the info may be outdated, but it'll point you in the right direction.

[Mr. Mustard]

Thanks for the fast response. My music files are stored on a separate hard drive (my D:\ drive) which won't be formatted so that should be ok. But this .mbl file you are talking about, isn't that located on the music bee program files (on my C:\ drive) that I will be formatting?

[phred]

But this .mbl file you are talking about, isn't that located on the music bee program files (on my C:\ drive) that I will be formatting?

Yes it is. Specifically in the library's name under your MB directory. And that's why frankz is pointing it out to you. You need to copy it somewhere where you can get at it after the reinstall. Perhaps in the other hard drive or on a flash drive.

[Mr. Mustard]

Thanks for this. Was looking on the MusicBee program files directory and wasn't finding this *.mbl file frankz was talking about but now did a windows search and found it on the Users/MyName/Musics/MusicBee directory (see below). So this it. I just need to copy this 7mb file to a pendrive and paste it again later on this same directory on the newly installed MusicBee program and all will be ok? As a plan B is there a way to generate a text list or spreadsheet list of all my artists/albums/musics so that if this doesn't work out and I have to add all albums one by one again at least I would have a list of what exactly I have to add to start with. I would feel safer doing this.

[frankz]

I'm not sure what you're asking.  You want to export the data in that file to another file so that you can use this second file to...recreate the data that's already in the first file?  Why not just copy the first file?


If you open this MBL in MusicBee and your music files haven't changed locations, your music library will be in tact.  This is exactly what you do when you open MB each time right now.

[psychoadept]

As a plan B is there a way to generate a text list or spreadsheet list of all my artists/albums/musics so that if this doesn't work out and I have to add all albums one by one again at least I would have a list of what exactly I have to add to start with. I would feel safer doing this.

Even if you do start from scratch, you can scan your whole collection in at once. Except for things like date added and playcount, all the info should be stored in the music files. I'm not sure why you think you'd have to add them one by one.

[Mr. Mustard]

Thanks for the replies. I just want to install MusicBee again on my newly formatted empty hard drive and not have to click 588 times on the Music Bee>File>Add Files to Library menu to add all the albums of my collection (audio/artwork/album info/lyrics etc...) all over again which would take days or even weeks. I guess I'm misunderstanding something in all this.

[psychoadept]

Thanks for the replies. I just want to install MusicBee again on my newly formatted empty hard drive and not have to click 588 times on the Music Bee>File>Add Files to Library menu to add all the albums of my collection (audio/artwork/album info/lyrics etc...) all over again which would take days or even weeks. I guess I'm misunderstanding something in all this.

You can use Scan Folders for New Files to add everything at once. Or even drag & drop your music folders to MusicBee. See: https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/Importing

[Mr. Mustard]

I don't think importing would solve my problem. because of all the metadata (album's year, lyrics, etc...) I would have to add manually myself. I believe there's an easy way to do all this maybe I'm not explaining myself correctly. I believe I'l try this:

1) I'll copy the MusicBeeLibrary.mbl file to an empty usb drive
2) I'll fomat my hard drive deleting everything that's on it
3) I'll install Windows 10
4) I'll install MusicBee
5) I'll copy the MusicBeeLibrary.mbl file from the usbdrive and paste on the new MusicBee directory just created
6) I'll open MusicBee and hope for the best

[psychoadept]

Are your lyrics and artwork in external files?  Things like the year are saved in the audio file.

If you're going to go the route of exporting files to restore later, you need to get all your files, not just the .mbl. You can backup your settings by going to Edit > Save Settings Snap Shot. And see the link frankz gave you.

[Mr. Mustard]

Ok. I 'don't want to bother you guys anymore. Without a step by step set of instructions I don't think I can do this. i"ll just try the mbl thing and the save settings you just mentioned and hope for the best.