Author Topic: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)  (Read 9622 times)

netfreak

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adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« on: January 11, 2009, 09:57:54 am »
I have installed LMCE 0710 and could succesfully net boot a diskless MD

I have an external usb hard-drive(ntfs) with music and video(avi & mpg) files I use on my windows hosts

when I plug the drive in LMCE core/hybrid I get a message saying the drive has been recognized and i click to say make it public,after a while I get a message saying the drive has been configured,but I cannot access the media on the drive.

what has to be done?

help appreciated.

colinjones

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2009, 10:21:06 am »
It also asks you if you want to use the LMCE folder structure. You should say yes to this. It will create some folders that you can redistribute your media into (they will still be perfectly accessible on your Windows machines, but doing this vastly improves the LMCE experience). Then UpdateMedia will start scanning in your media - this will take a while if there is a lot of it.

Then you will be able to browse that drive when you switch to "Filename" sort mode.

If you do not use the LMCE folder structure, then you will have to tag all your media first before you can see it (although you can probably find it using the search function)

netfreak

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2009, 10:34:28 am »
will the files on the drive be deleted if I say yes to use the LMCE folder structure?

I did not understand the following

If you do not use the LMCE folder structure, then you will have to tag all your media first before you can see it (although you can probably find it using the search function)

how do I tag the media?

sorry I am a complete noob to LMCE

and thanx for the quick reply

freymann

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2009, 02:55:01 pm »
will the files on the drive be deleted if I say yes to use the LMCE folder structure?

No, LMCE simply creates some directories.

You'll then want to move your audio files into /public/data/audio/

Move your video files to /public/data/video

Quote
If you do not use the LMCE folder structure, then you will have to tag all your media first before you can see it (although you can probably find it using the search function)

how do I tag the media?

In the web-based pluto-admin area...

Files and Media Sync.. Search the wiki or forums. There's ton of information on how this works.

netfreak

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2009, 10:47:16 am »
It also asks you if you want to use the LMCE folder structure. You should say yes to this.

I did this but I still cannot browse the files.I tried search and it only displays the name of the hardrive(

This is exactly what happens when i connect the usb drive

1) I detected a new plug and play device: Drive OA[sdb5] should i use it?


I click on Yes, use it .It is a (Choose from list) : Internal HDD

2) Regarding your new storage device,can it be used automatically for storing media,such as tv shows and music?

I click Yes

3) use LinuxMCE's Dir structure ......

I click Yes,use LinuxMCE's directory structure

the whole process is repeated 4 times as I have 4 partitions on the drive

Then after a while I get the message

Done with new device added OA (sdb5)-CORE

and after all the devices are configured I get the message

I finished installing the software for your new devices.You will need to restart the router before you can use them.

I click on the Quick reload router

after the router reloads I am not able to browse or search for the media files

also

The drives appear in the manage Drives menu but I am not able to click on manage

please assist

what am I doing wrong?

elspic

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #5 on: January 12, 2009, 11:54:12 am »
You need to move your media into the appropriate folders once it creates the directory structure:

http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=5017.0

-elspic

netfreak

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #6 on: January 12, 2009, 12:50:24 pm »
You need to move your media into the appropriate folders once it creates the directory structure:

http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=5017.0

-elspic

I understand now,but how do I move all the files to the appropriate folders.

Can I do this in LMCE?

or

should I connect the drive to a windows host?

colinjones

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #7 on: January 12, 2009, 01:06:36 pm »
whichever way you like, just move them. And be aware that it takes some time to scan all the media into the database. If you have lots of media (000's of files) then expect it to take a long time (hours not minutes.) You can see stuff added in the admin console under Media file sync. And you can monitor the process at the command line with

tail -f /var/log/UpdateMedia.log

Zaerc

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #8 on: January 12, 2009, 08:33:04 pm »
...
The drives appear in the manage Drives menu but I am not able to click on manage
...

The manage drives menu has never been fully functional as far as I know.  What you probably are looking for is "Files & Media Sync" in the web-admin.  But you will have to move your files into the directory structure first as stated earlier, if that is done they should just (eventually) show up under video/audio/etc in the media menu.
"Change is inevitable. Progress is optional."
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netfreak

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #9 on: January 13, 2009, 06:29:06 am »
How can I move the files to the appropriate folder in LMCE

and also

when I try to use KDE desktop and I click on the drive I get this error

hal-storage-fixed-mount-all-options refused uid 1000

netfreak

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #10 on: January 13, 2009, 09:43:01 am »
I connected the external hard drive to a windows machine and moved the files to the audio and video folders respectively

and plugged it back into LMCE

but I still cannot see the files

they are only displayed when i use the search function

colinjones

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #11 on: January 13, 2009, 10:43:45 am »
as per my first post. Files will only be visible when:

1) You use the LMCE folder structure, and you set the Orbiter media grid to Filename sort mode (it defaults to performer), or

2) You tag all your media using the admin web site, then you can see the media in any of the sort modes

Note that many mp3's already have embedded id3 tags including the metadata from the original source they were ripped from - if that is the case, then LMCE will detect those tags and import them so you don't have to tag.

netfreak

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #12 on: January 15, 2009, 07:02:23 am »
1) You use the LMCE folder structure, and you set the Orbiter media grid to Filename sort mode (it defaults to performer)

I have used the LMCE folder structure and moved the files to the appropriate folders and set the media grid to filename sort but still I cannot see the files,I can only see them when i use the search function

whichever way you like, just move them. And be aware that it takes some time to scan all the media into the database. If you have lots of media (000's of files) then expect it to take a long time (hours not minutes.) You can see stuff added in the admin console under Media file sync. And you can monitor the process at the command line with

tail -f /var/log/UpdateMedia.log

the /var/log/UpdateMedia.log file does not exist

Crawtech

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #13 on: January 15, 2009, 07:40:16 am »
try
tail -f /var/log/pluto/UpdateMedia.log

colinjones

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Re: adding media files from external usb drive(ntfs)
« Reply #14 on: January 15, 2009, 08:16:28 am »
Sorry forgot the pluto bit.

Check the devices tree in the web admin. Go down to the server device, expand that, then you will see the share device under that. Look at its properties at the bottom - is the online box checked or not? If it is unchecked then that is the issue, you need to troubleshoot why it isn't checked (checking it manually will not work). Could be cifs vs smbfs, username/password issue, readonly issue or a range of other issues. Essentially, Linux can see the files through the file protocol used which is why you can search for them, but LMCE's media management (like StorageRadar, etc) believes the share is offline for some reason so it doesn't present the files in the normal view.

If it is checked, then it should be scanning in media, and you will see what it is doing in the log file indicated above. Again, note if you have thousands of media files/pics, then it will take hours to complete the scan - and it only addes files/folders to the database as it completes each folder. So if you have many files in the first folder it encounters, then it will have to complete scanning that folder before they will appear in the media grid....

The check box and the log file are the key...