Two Movies One ISO (1 Viewer)

[SharkValley]

Grandpa was coming to visit over Christmas and I bought a Bing Crosby DVD set for him to watch.
I successfully added the .iso files to my Windows Vista based MediaPortal PC, but I ran into a problem.

Some of the discs contained two movies in a single .iso

I searched the forum and couldn't find a way to have two Moving Pictures listing entries for a single .iso file.

I considered just duplicating the .iso file with two different file names, but that would be a waste of hard drive space.

The solution I found was to create a hard-link!!!!!

Hard-links work on NTFS formatted hard drives and allow you to "fool" the system into thinking you have two (or more) files with different names that are in fact all the same file and therefore don't take up extra space.

For example, one DVD had both "Waikiki Wedding" and "Double or Nothing".

I first ripped my DVD to "Waikiki Wedding (1937).iso", then created a hard-link using the mklink command in the cmd tool (Note: You must run the cmd tool as an administrator to create a hard-link).

mklink /H "Double Or Nothing (1937).iso" "Waikiki Wedding (1937).iso"

I now have two entries in Moving Pictures that launch the same DVD iso image.

Just thought I'd share my solution in case others have the same problem (or if others have another solution).

Thanks,
SharkValley

 

[RoChess]

For those on XP, use the fsutil.exe util that is included by default.

Usage : fsutil hardlink create <new filename> <existing filename>
Eg : fsutil hardlink create c:\foo.txt c:\bar.txt​

PS: You can also use the SysInternal tool Junction to make symbolic links (softlinks) in XP: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx

 

[BADBUG101]

Im very new at this, i have a up an running mediaportal on a windows vista computer, an have used dvdfab to make the iso. File on the hd, in my movies folder. But mediaportal does not see the iso. File as a movie, what part or parts im i missing here....
Any help would be very welcome, have been at this for weeks an no luck...

Thanks badbug101

 

[Lehmden]

AW: Two Movies One ISO

Hello.
To create Hardlinks is really easy using this Freeware HardLink ShellExtension. A "must have" for everyone i think. I'm using Hardlinks (Junctions) to have my movies, tv- shows,... spread over lots of Hds in a single shared folder on my server. So there's only a single import path in MovPic or TVSeries or Music or pictures,...

@ badbug.
You need a Tool like DaemonTools Lite to mount ISO files to a virtual Drive. In MePo configuration you have to activate "Automount Iso Files" under "General -> Virtual Drive". Then MePo should recognize your .iso file the same way as "real" DVD/BD disks.