Merge & Combine Folders Solution Found

[Redfuture]

I know this problem has plagued a lot of MP users including myself, that like the ease of use of "shares" vs databases when viewing their movies and music. The problem is having to view collections of media in separate folders vs all in one folder.

This solution does work, but there is a catch, all drives need to be NTFS and on the same computer. The solution is creating junctions across the system, this is very easy to do and almost as simple as making a shortcut.

Junctions can even be seen across a network, like if the folders were really there, they just can't be combined across one. Make sure to read all the cautionary things regarding junction points before you begin.


This is a very user friendly GUI and great info on using it:

Link Shell Extension
http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinks...kshellext.html

[therock9]

that's nice but there is just one problem

how do you set it up?

i have:
C:\FTP\movies\<movie name>
D:\FTP\movies\<movie name>
E:\FTP\movies\<movie name>

i tryed with hardlink, did't work

and i also tryed with junction, but it just makes a "copy of <name" in the folder

[bermag]

What I would like to see is some user defined grouping in for example the movie database so we can create our own categories (ie folders) and then use the database view to list movies.

The only reason I see to use share view is to divide your multimedia files into your own categories. If we could have our own categories (other than those defined already) and group by them then we could split our media files into "Logical" folders.

Shouldn't be that hard to implement IMO

[Redfuture]

Point MP to this directory only:

C:\FTP\movies\

Not these

D:\FTP\movies\<movie a>
E:\FTP\movies\<movie b>


Inside C:\FTP\movies\ create junction points for movie folders a & b

It will now appear movie a & b are in that folder


It does not make a copy of the folder, it simply points to it

If you right click on C:\FTP\movies\, you will see that the 2 movies added no additional size to that folder.

[zxcvbnm2]

I've been using spanned dynamic disks to get around this problem. I have three 320gig discs spanned as one.
Only problem is I think the discs you add have to be empty and i dont know what will happen if one crashes.

Run>compmgmt.msc and click disk management.

You can change drive letters here, handy if you have reinstalled windows and they dont match up to your movie database.

[jojjal]

Originally Posted by zxcvbnm2

be empty and i dont know what will happen if one crashes.

all data is bye bye.
Striping disk ie Raid 0 is not redundant. But it is kinda fast though...


//Jojja

[infinityloop]

Originally Posted by jojjal

all data is bye bye.
Striping disk ie Raid 0 is not redundant. But it is kinda fast though...

raid 0 offers ~2times the read and write speed of a single HDD.
but it should only be used for temp storage (i.e. videoediting ect.) or if you want to increase the loading speed of PC games and store savegames "somewhere else".

if one drive dies -> all data is gone.


ontopic:

!!!!! THIS SOLUTION IS GREAT !!!!!

[joostzilla]

Can someone who really understands this topic make somekind of tutorial for this solution.
I think alot of MP users will be very gratefull.

Joostzilla

[infinityloop]

Originally Posted by joostzilla

Can someone who really understands this topic make somekind of tutorial for this solution.
I think alot of MP users will be very gratefull.

let me describe the situation on my system

HDD e: Store

i have one raid 5 array which is visible as a ~1TB HDD in Windows.
on that HDD i have the following folders:

• Videos
  • TV-Series
  • Trailers
  • Movies
  • ect.
• Music
• Pictures

HDD h: TVE3

Then i have a 400GB drive which is used by TV-Server to store the recorded files and the timeshiftbuffer files
on that HDD i have the following folders:

1. Recordings
2. Timeshiftbuffer

MediaPortal Configuration:

so i now have the following shares in "Movies"

• e:/Movies (default share)
• h:/recordings

now this means that when i enter MyVideos in MediaPortal, i automatically see the files and folders from e:/Movies.
thats fine, but what if i now want to watch a show i recorded?
then i have to:

1. go "one level up" in MyMovies
2. select h:/recordings
3. look for the recording and play it.

thats not so cool.....

how to make it easier

with that NTFS feature shared here we can do something cool.

1. install the application linked in first post
2. go to h:
3. right click the "recordings" folder and select the "select link source" option
4. then go to e:/Movies
5. right click in anywhere in that folder and select "Insert as -> Junction"
6. now you can see the "recordings" folder in e:/Movies

the data is still located on h:/recordings, but if you enter e:/Movies you see that "shortcut" which appears just as if the folder would be there.

so you could create one folder and place the "junctions" to all the locations where you store your media.
and then you add this as share to MediaPortal instead of adding many shares and make browsing painful.

i hope i cleared it up

[joostzilla]

Thanks Infinityloop for your info.
this will do fine.

regards,

joost