Multiple hard drive configuration (1 Viewer)

[imfallen_angel]

Hi, first, I'm new here, I've done searches and can't find any simple information to what I would believe is a common question. I apologize if this has already been covered but I couldn't find it, nor are the instruction clear enough for me to see how it's done (if possible)

I've been Using Media Center for a long while, with the Media Browser plug-in, and wanted to see what alternatives are, and MediaPortal is the highest rated one.

My problem.

I've got 2 boxes of 4x hard drives via e-sata, I have a total of 8 hard drives (2TB each) for my videos for a total of 16TB,
(so these show up in explorer as individual drives: e:\, f:\, g:\, h:\, i:\, j:\, etc.), in which I have separated my content by what they are... movies, cartoons, documentaries, TV shows, etc.

With MediaBrowser's utilities, I can set up categories and then assign the drives/folders.

So that I have (example)

Movies
e:\movies
f:\movies
g:\movies
h:\movies

TV shows
e:\TV shows
f:\TV shows
g:\TV shows
h:\TV shows

Documentaries
e:\Documentaries
f:\Documentaries
g:\Documentaries
h:\Documentaries

etc...

So which result with when I go in Media Center/Browser, I have the categories which pulls in ALL the drives' content in... so that the Movies (for example) contain all the movies from all the 8 drives.

I'd like to know if there is a possible similar approach with MediaPortal.




Thanks,

 

[hafblade]

If you use the video section you only have the possibility to have separate folders.
It may be possible to use the standard Windows 7 library functions of the explorer to pack them together but I'm not sure.

Another possibility would be to use the following plugins which use a database similar to "Media Browser" in Windows Media Center.

There a 3 different plugins. 2 for movies and 1 for series.

For series there is the MEDIAPORTAL - MP-TVSeries Plugin.
This one finds series data on the internet and gives you a cool looking graphical interface in your MediaPortal.

For movies you have to make a decision because there are 2 different approaches. I suggest you should try both solutions and decide which one better suits your needs.

1) MEDIAPORTAL - My Films

MyFilms uses a xml file to safe all of your movie data. This xml file can be used as global storage for all of your movies and all clients in the network are able to use this xml data file and its linked fanart/cover content. So its really good if you want to have your data on more than one client. It has the largest configuration possibilities of all times. You can really configure almost everything. It also includes Trailer download and use of already saved trailers, adding of DVD/BR/HDDVD mediums, it supports the configuration of logos (small pictures which show which type of movie you are watching in the database), it has configurable filters, views and sorting lists (not only movies but also genres, actors ... ) and and and... The only disadvantage (in my opionion) is a relatively hard configuration time due to its large amount of possibilities.

2) MEDIAPORTAL - Moving Pictures

Moving Pictures is easier to use but doesn't have so many configuration possibilities. It has really easy to use scraper information updating and like MyFilms a really good graphical user interface. It's much easier to install but the scraping has to be done on every client. Therefore scraping is almost running on its own.


But at the end you have to descide on your.

All of these plugins give you a great user interface and database functionalities like sorting and managing your movie data. They support genres, actors and so on and you have everything in one place in your gui. You don't have multiple folder or something like that.