relinking files

[JBD779]

I'm a newbie, cleaning up all my albums/files one at a time in my Music folder and then scanning them into MusicBee. This is a large undertaking (about 11,000 songs) and basically a move from I-tunes as my music app to MusicBee which I'm very impressed with. I'm about 3/4 of the way through this and I decided to make a minor change to an album name in one of my music folders. This of course meant I had to relink the album file to MusicBee, but I messed that up and now all of the music files that I've scanned into MusicBee show "source file for track cannot be found" message when you try to play. Don't know what I did. The playlists, date last played, playcount, etc data is all still there but the album covers are not showing and nothing will play. Sure don't want to lose all the work I've put in over the last 6 months. Can anybody help me with this?

[Steven]

You need to be more clear about some things. What steps did you take to relink the album file for example?

[JBD779]

You need to be more clear about some things. What steps did you take to relink the album file for example?

Hi Steven, thanks for replying. I wish I could be more specific about what I did but I didn't make any notes and I've tried so many different "things" I can't remember which or in what order I did them, I think it's called panic leading to self destruction. For the most part I've been trying to relink using the "relink music file paths" under File/Library. I've tried numerous different "paths" in both the from and to boxes but as I don't understand how exactly this works and I think I'm just making a worse mess every time I try something. Does this box control the whole library at once or do you have to "relink" on song at a time or one album at a time. It would probably help if I knew what it was supposed to look like before I started messing around. Also, I added a couple of files that were not in MusicBee prior to the screwup and they work fine so it's not the program I don't think. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help in trying to resolve this. JE

[frankz]

Relinking changes all of the paths in your database from the value on the left to the value on the right.  If your music is in C:\Music and you move it to D:\Music you can change all of the references to the files this way.  It is not for locating individual albums as you have learned. 

Without knowing what you did - what values you entered - it's going to be really hard for anyone here to tell you how to undo it.

Best practice for keeping your library functional is to make all changes and moves inside of MusicBee so that the program knows where your files are at all times.

There is a backup of your library in the same folder as the library resides. It's named the same as your library with a bak extension. If you haven't closed MB since making the destructive relinking you may be able to rescue most of your library by restoring it.

If you have more details about what you did we can try to help

[JBD779]

Relinking changes all of the paths in your database from the value on the left to the value on the right.  If your music is in C:\Music and you move it to D:\Music you can change all of the references to the files this way.  It is not for locating individual albums as you have learned. 

Without knowing what you did - what values you entered - it's going to be really hard for anyone here to tell you how to undo it.

Best practice for keeping your library functional is to make all changes and moves inside of MusicBee so that the program knows where your files are at all times.

There is a backup of your library in the same folder as the library resides. It's named the same as your library with a bak extension. If you haven't closed MB since making the destructive relinking you may be able to rescue most of your library by restoring it.

If you have more details about what you did we can try to help

Hi frankz, sorry I find this site really difficult to navigate. What you've indicated is very discouraging. I have backed up to an external hard drive within the last few days. Could I uninstall then reinstall  MusicBee and use the backup file to at least put everything back in place to the back up point? If so, how do I get the MusicBee files off the backup hard drive onto my computer in a way that MusicBee will recognize them and use them? Rgds and thanks again. JE

[JBD779]

Also should mention that in the backup process I used the File/Library/backup library in MB and also synchronized MB to the back up hard drive. Thanks again. JE

[Steven]

Switch to the Tracks view, and then display the folder field.
Once you know what path MB has for the files, compare that to the real location in windows explorer
Then run the remap links function again using the correct path

[frankz]

Steven's advice should be followed first. If you can discern from the urls where MB thinks the files are you can relink back to where they actually are. They would be the easiest and cleanest way.

If not, then your backup will come in handy. You don't even need to uninstall and all that. You just need to put the old mbl back (probably rename the broken one you have now first so you don't lose that one just in case) and open it in MB.  That will get you back to where you were then and the only files that won't be found will be the ones you moved since then.

The mbl file is your database.  That's where all the information is stored. 

[JBD779]

Switch to the Tracks view, and then display the folder field.
Once you know what path MB has for the files, compare that to the real location in windows explorer
Then run the remap links function again using the correct path

Hi Steven, tried the above but no luck. what are your thoughts on the above uninstall/reinstall from the backup hard drive. If that could work then I'd at least only have a few days worth of work to redo. Thanks again, Rgds JE

[JBD779]

Steven's advice should be followed first. If you can discern from the urls where MB thinks the files are you can relink back to where they actually are. They would be the easiest and cleanest way.

If not, then your backup will come in handy. You don't even need to uninstall and all that. You just need to put the old mbl back (probably rename the broken one you have now first so you don't lose that one just in case) and open it in MB.  That will get you back to where you were then and the only files that won't be found will be the ones you moved since then.

The mbl file is your database.  That's where all the information is stored. 

Hi frankz, this is encouraging but I'm not really following you on how to do it. I'm older and self taught on using computers and so there's a lot I don't know and I find MB works quite a bit differently from i-tunes. Anyway, if I uninstall and reinstall MB, that will clean out everything I did to screw things up and also trying to fix it, but I also lose all the playlists and their information, right? Then if I can "copy" the backup file into MB, I should be back to where I was at the time I did the last backup a few days ago, right? I don't really know. If this is correct, and you could tell me step by step how to "copy" the backup into MB so that it recognizes everything to that point I'd really appreciate it. Does mbl stand for MusicBee library? Is that the same as the My Music windows file? Also, when I back up to the external hard drive I copy the whole My Music file in windows. Sorry I'm so unknowledgeable. Thanks again. JE

[frankz]

There's no need to uninstall and reinstall.  That won't do anything besides get rid of any layout customizations etc you've done.

Go into your backup and find the MBL file.  Put the mbl file that you find in your backup somewhere on your computer in a new folder. 

Open MB

File->Library->(and this is going to seem counterintuitive)Create New Library

Click the button next to "or choose an existing library that no longer appears in the selection list" and locate the backed up library where you've put it.  Open it.

You are now in your old library before the changes were made

[JBD779]

There's no need to uninstall and reinstall.  That won't do anything besides get rid of any layout customizations etc you've done.

Go into your backup and find the MBL file.  Put the mbl file that you find in your backup somewhere on your computer in a new folder. 

Open MB

File->Library->(and this is going to seem counterintuitive)Create New Library

Click the button next to "or choose an existing library that no longer appears in the selection list" and locate the backed up library where you've put it.  Open it.

You are now in your old library before the changes were made

Hi again, well I think I tried this fix but no luck. However, not sure I did what you suggested. First when you say MBL is that just the music bee file located in the windows music library or the whole library including the music? On the backup I have the Music Bee folder in the Windows Music Folder which, as far as I know, is the only file on the backup adjusted when you do the "backup library" function in MB and it doesn't appear to have much info in it. Also on the backup hard drive is the Music Bee Settings Folder which appears to have much more info and I believe this was created when I did the synchronize with MB and the hard drive and is updated every time I resynchronize but not sure on any of this, not knowledgeable enough. What about synchronizing again, would that move all the info back from the backup hard drive to music bee on the computer? Totally lost on this. Think I'll have to start over, really disappointed. Oh well! Rgds JE

[Steven]

There is no reason for what I said to not work unless you rearranged all folders into a different structure

[frankz]

There's no need to uninstall and reinstall.  That won't do anything besides get rid of any layout customizations etc you've done.

Go into your backup and find the MBL file.  Put the mbl file that you find in your backup somewhere on your computer in a new folder. 

Open MB

File->Library->(and this is going to seem counterintuitive)Create New Library

Click the button next to "or choose an existing library that no longer appears in the selection list" and locate the backed up library where you've put it.  Open it.

You are now in your old library before the changes were made

Hi again, well I think I tried this fix but no luck. However, not sure I did what you suggested. First when you say MBL is that just the music bee file located in the windows music library or the whole library including the music? On the backup I have the Music Bee folder in the Windows Music Folder which, as far as I know, is the only file on the backup adjusted when you do the "backup library" function in MB and it doesn't appear to have much info in it. Also on the backup hard drive is the Music Bee Settings Folder which appears to have much more info and I believe this was created when I did the synchronize with MB and the hard drive and is updated every time I resynchronize but not sure on any of this, not knowledgeable enough. What about synchronizing again, would that move all the info back from the backup hard drive to music bee on the computer? Totally lost on this. Think I'll have to start over, really disappointed. Oh well! Rgds JE

Honestly, you asked for a step by step, and I gave you 4 clear steps.  I don't think I can offer any more help than I have already offered.

[JBD779]

There's no need to uninstall and reinstall.  That won't do anything besides get rid of any layout customizations etc you've done.

Go into your backup and find the MBL file.  Put the mbl file that you find in your backup somewhere on your computer in a new folder. 

Open MB

File->Library->(and this is going to seem counterintuitive)Create New Library

Click the button next to "or choose an existing library that no longer appears in the selection list" and locate the backed up library where you've put it.  Open it.

You are now in your old library before the changes were made

Hi again, well I think I tried this fix but no luck. However, not sure I did what you suggested. First when you say MBL is that just the music bee file located in the windows music library or the whole library including the music? On the backup I have the Music Bee folder in the Windows Music Folder which, as far as I know, is the only file on the backup adjusted when you do the "backup library" function in MB and it doesn't appear to have much info in it. Also on the backup hard drive is the Music Bee Settings Folder which appears to have much more info and I believe this was created when I did the synchronize with MB and the hard drive and is updated every time I resynchronize but not sure on any of this, not knowledgeable enough. What about synchronizing again, would that move all the info back from the backup hard drive to music bee on the computer? Totally lost on this. Think I'll have to start over, really disappointed. Oh well! Rgds JE

Honestly, you asked for a step by step, and I gave you 4 clear steps.  I don't think I can offer any more help than I have already offered.

Okay, "4 clear steps" may be clear to someone like yourself who is extremely knowledgeable but to me its just not that clear as I try to muddle my way through. I'm sorry to have troubled you and many thanks for taking the time and trying to help. Rgds JE