Transferring EMC 7 files

[REDWAGON]

O.K. Here's what I have got:

 

 

 

On one computer running EMC 7.1.1.189, I have almost 40 production files that I have made using Videowave and DVD builder. I have made folders on a slave drive (D:\) where I have saved the productions. The Folders are as follows:

D:\DMSM files

D:\DMSD files

D:\MPEG files

D:\ISO files

And for each of the separate productions I have save them in other approriate folders specifically named for all of the data files that were used to make each productions. Each of those folders include all of the photos, audio and video that were used for each separate production.

 

Now I also have a new computer running EMC 7.5 (updated) and would like to transfer all of the productions and associated files on the older computer to this new computer. Here's my question:

Will I have to make folders on the new computer that are identical as the old ones and then just transfer all of the data to these new folders ? Also, can all of the Media Manager files be transferred to the new Media Manager folder as well ? So when all of this is completed I would like to be able to bring up any of the original productions on the new computer so they can be found and edited if needed, just like on the older computer.

 

So far I have kept all of the EMC productions for each computer separate. The new computer has more than twice the storage capacity as the old one, so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

Thanks for the suggestion for the best way to accomplish this.

 

Frank.....

[Beerman]

I'll add my 2 cents about partitioning the drive.....I wholeheartedly agree. And the best, safest and easiest way IMO is with Norton Partition Magic. Not the cheapest way but worth it.

[REDWAGON]

Thanks ml for all your suggestions and help. So far so good on opening up the productions I had transferred. Funny how one cannot think of some of the simpler tasks to make a certain thing run correctly. I thought I was pretty familiar with how to change drive letters but was always thinking that if a letter was already being used you had to pick something else. Well, dumb me, I just never thought of changing the drives to letters that WERE available, then going back and re-assing them back to ones that I really wanted and in a differentn order. SO SIMPLE . I still have one production that doesn't come up do to lost files but I will do a search for the lost files like I did for another one and I'm sure it will be O.K. once I do that search.

 

And yes, the letters do "stick". I guess I'm a "doubting Thomas" however, as everytime I boot the computer

I still keep going back to make sure the letters for my drives have stayed the same

 

Frank....

[Guest mlpasley]

And to check ml, if it stayed the same even after I shut down the computer (hard shut down a couple of times) it still stays or "sticks" as you eluded to.

As far as trying to change the Media Manager, I haven't done anythjng with that yet and will wait.

And I did have that beer ml

 

Thanks for testing that to see if the drive letter stays the same. It's great that it 'sticks' (obviously not a technical term).

 

If you're using the folders, you should be able to just let Media Manager scan for media files and bring them into the program. Media Manager will probably ask when you open up the program or you can do a Tools\ Scan for Media Files. It won't set up your collections but since everything is in separate folders, you probably won't need to use that feature.

 

Glad you're up and running again.

[REDWAGON]

Well guys, I followed the steps that the HP tech had suggested and everything worked out perfect. I now have my external USB drive as my "D" drive and my default DVD drive as the "E" drive. And to check ml, if it stayed the same even after I shut down the computer (hard shut down a couple of times) it still stays or "sticks" as you eluded to. As far as trying to change the Media Manager, I haven't done anythjng with that yet and will wait. However I took the suggestion of just transferring a few of my productions to the newly assigned "D" drive and then checked to see if 7.5 would pick them up. so far so good. However, after I transferred a few more and made the same check I found that I had to browse to find some of the lost files as ml had suggested. On those that it didn't work on were those that I had edited and changed several files on (i.e. edited jpeg's, changing audio files etc.).

 

After all this work and having you guys sticking with me on this particular post, I am really satisfied and want to thank you for all of your suggestions. BTW ml, I printed all your comments and suggestions just for later when my feable brain forgets how to do some of the steps you suggested. And I'm glad I didn't have to use my Norton Partition Magic, Paul. Boy, did I end up with a lot more room left on the C drive after transferring.

 

Oh, one other thing, for anyone else that might be wanting to transfer their productions to another drive, computer or whatever, make sure that you transfer ALL of the associated files that were used to make the productions. I had forgot to transfer a couple of my audio files that were saved in a whole different folder and that caused a little trouble finding them. I was extremely lucky I guess in most of my productions, that I had saved all of the backup and associated files used to make each production in the exact same folder. That helped a whole lot.

 

And I did have that beer ml

Many thanks all

Frank....

[Guest mlpasley]

Now if this works, I'm home free !! What do you think guys ?? Yes, No, have a beer or back to the drawing board ?

 

I think that's what I said, except for the part about changing an existing drive letter to a new unused letter.

 

What I want to know is if it 'sticks' when you turn your computer off and on.

 

If it doesn't 'stick', you'll have to open each of those productions and do a Browse for missing files to link up to the external drive with the drive letter that Windows automatically assigns.

 

I think I'll have that beer, no matter what the outcome.

[Beerman]

I had the same problem with my thumb drive not being seen in Windows. When I plugged it in, I heard the 'accepted' sound but it didn't show up anywhere. Seems like my USB Hard drive caused confusion in the lineup and the thumb drive wanted the same letter. I did exactly what Frank was told and it works fine. I listed mine as 'Z" just in case I had more USB junk to the system.

[REDWAGON]

ml, you are the greatest If I didn't know better I would think you programmed the entire EMC program. I won't drop another shoe ml but I did get an answer back from HP technical support and I just think they might have a very tricky way of doing what I wanted to do in the first place. (i.e. changing or reversing drive letters between my CD/DVD drive and my new external HD). I like you are familiar with going through Admin tools etc. and changing drive letters but the very narrow way I was trying to do it wasn't working because it will only let you change to a drive letter that hasn't already been used.---HOWEVER, these HP tech's are pretty tricky I must say----Here's how they say it can be done---

 

1- Open Control Panel

2- Double click on Administration Tools

3- Double click on Computer management

4- Click on Disk Management (Left side of window)

 

Now, right click on the "E" drive (USB hard drive) and select the option "Change drive letters and paths..." and then change "E" drive to "F".

 

Now, click on the "D" drive (CD/DVD drive) and assign the drive as "E"

After changing these options, click on the USB drive (F) and assign a drive letter as "D".

 

Now if this works, I'm home free !! What do you think guys ?? Yes, No, have a beer or back to the drawing board ?

 

Frank....

[Guest mlpasley]

OK. Let's see if you can find an objection to this......

 

The suggestions will work with an external drive too. At least it does with mine. Once the program has found where you've stored the files, as long as the drive letter stays the same each time you restart the computer, the program will locate the files on that drive.

 

Just set up your folders on the external drive and do the Browse for missing files.

 

You can change the drive letter manually, but I don't think it will 'stick' when you restart the computer. Just go with whatever default drive letter the computer gives the external drive.

 

(For those who want to manually change a drive letter.... You can change the drive letter by going to the Windows Control Panel\ Administrative Tools\ Computer Management\ then right click on the drive and choose Change Drive letter and paths. This works best with more than one INTERNAL drive. )

 

Waiting for the next shoe to drop......

[REDWAGON]

Dadgum ml, you come up with some of the greatest suggestions. Now why didn't I think of that. BUT---the problem I have ml is that the default system boot drive that came with the new laptop is only 100GB. And with all of the other programming I have already installed on that same "C" drive (and btw, I cleaned up a whole mess of stuff that HP had on there that ceratinly wasn't needed) I wouldn't have as much room left on the newly partitioned area for all my EMC productions and associated files. I even contacted HP to see if there was a larger HD I could install on the computer to take the place of the old one. The answer was "That's the largest HD available for that particular notebook model". Shot down again.

 

That's exactly why I purchased a large external HD (running via a USB 2.0 cable). That drive works great, but it's still designated as my "E" drive, which promped me to see if I could reverse the drive letters some how. I have initiated a support question to HP to see if this can be done and I was told "Yes" and they are supposed to be sending me all the steps to accomplish that. We will see BTW Bruce I do have Norton's latest Partition Magic program, so that would be no problem partitioning the C drive. Thanks guys for your support. It is appreciated.

 

Frank.....

[Guest mlpasley]

Congratulations on the new notebook computer. That fact changes my advice a little.

 

You might want to consider partitioning that hard drive before you load it full of data. My laptop is partitioned into c: and d: with the cd/dvd writer as e:

 

You don't have to go to a lot of trouble. I think the easiest and fastest way to do the transfer is the following.

 

---Put those files in folders similar to your old drive since that's the way you like to organize your files.

---Open up each production in VideoWave and do a File\ Browse for missing files. It should give you the option to select where it looks, so just locate those folders and presto, you're linked. Or you could just let it search the entire drive. That would take a little longer, but still accomplish the task.

[REDWAGON]

I'm familiar Steve with how to change drive letters in XP using Admin tools and computer management but once you choose a drive to change the letter of, you only can change it to those drive letters that haven't been used yet, as far as I know. It's possible however that I just haven't been using that action to everything it is capable of. The easiest way I have found was to just unhook the power supply to the drive you want to be changed and then go through that action. After that go back and re-hook up the drive once you have used it for another drive. That way the one you changed from gets re-assigned anothet different letter.

 

BTW ml, the suggestion you gave regarding just adding the D drive that has all the old information on it would be great. However, the second new computer I have that has 7.5 on it where I want to transfer all the files, is a notebook computer that has drive D already in use as the optical drive. And removing anything temporarly on a notebook as far as hardware is concerned is taboo for me. I know how to remove the default HD that came with the notebook but I won't even try that. Now desktops are a whole different story. I build customs ones all the time and have no problems with playing around with them, but not note books.

 

The other suggestions that you gave were very good ml, as I hadn't thought about those photos that I might have edited or changed in some way which makes them png files. So thanks for the reminder on that issue, especially if they get hidden somewhere. About moving the Media Manager, I'll look into that and se what happens. Even if on the new computer the media manager doesn't get transferred, I can re-establish that by opening up the transferred productions and then re-save them---I think

 

I'm not worried about loosing any of the old productions but I just don't want to go to a lot of trouble doing all this transferring and then find out nothing works. Please let me know if I am not thinking straight on some of my suggestions or statements. Sometimes I just fly by the seat of my pants and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't Sure never hurts to ask before you leap

 

Frank....

[Guest mlpasley]

There is a way to move the Media Manager data base. I think the file is in a hidden application folder. You can find it by making a change to collection in Media Manager, then do a Windows Search by date and make certain you select the advanced option to search in hidden files and folders. On my computer it's in C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Application Data\Roxio\MediaManager.

 

One thing that might not move as easily are changes that you've made to photos in a production. For example, if you've rotated a photo in VideoWave, it's stored as a .png file in a separate ( maybe hidden )folder. You can see if you've got any of those files by doing a Windows search for .png files and look in hidden folders.

 

When you move those EMC7 files, it's always a good idea to open each production and do a Browse for missing files just to make certain that the productions have linked up to the files you'll need. Having a thumbnail in each scene is no guarantee that the files are linked and you can be surprised later when the file comes up missing. Usually you'll get question marks if it's not linked, but not always.

 

The easiest way to use the files on that d drive would be if you could install that slave drive in the new computer and assign it the drive letter d:.

[grandpabruce]

Thanks Bruce for the suggestions. I, like you have never paid much attention to the Media Manager. Although I have seen several posts where that came into play. The older computer has an interior slave drive (120GB) and is the D:\ drive where I have been saving all of the files. On the new computer I have an exterior 200GB drive that is NOT labeled "D:". I think I might be in trouble there, unless I can just re-direct all the D drive files from the old computer to an E drive. Either that or I will have to switch the drive letters on the new computer so all the files can still be associated with a D drive rather than an E drive. That might mean removing one of the drives temporarly so it can be re-named by the syatem as D. Then add the other drive.

 

I will definitely move just a couple of productions first as a try before doing all of them.

 

Frank....

 

In addition to what Steve says, if you have all of the data etc., copied to the new computer, then you may/should be able to have the program browse to those folders, when you get the question marks in VideoWave.

 

Of course, the ISO files will not have to be found again. If you change your production in any way, you will be burning to a new ISO file, anyway.

[sknis]

With XP, you do not have to remove drives to rename them. You may have to juggle names but read these instructions.

Thanks Bruce for the suggestions. I, like you have never paid much attention to the Media Manager. Although I have seen several posts where that came into play. The older computer has an interior slave drive (120GB) and is the D:\ drive where I have been saving all of the files. On the new computer I have an exterior 200GB drive that is NOT labeled "D:". I think I might be in trouble there, unless I can just re-direct all the D drive files from the old computer to an E drive. Either that or I will have to switch the drive letters on the new computer so all the files can still be associated with a D drive rather than an E drive. That might mean removing one of the drives temporarly so it can be re-named by the syatem as D. Then add the other drive.

 

I will definitely move just a couple of productions first as a try before doing all of them.

 

Frank....

[REDWAGON]

Thanks Bruce for the suggestions. I, like you have never paid much attention to the Media Manager. Although I have seen several posts where that came into play. The older computer has an interior slave drive (120GB) and is the D:\ drive where I have been saving all of the files. On the new computer I have an exterior 200GB drive that is NOT labeled "D:". I think I might be in trouble there, unless I can just re-direct all the D drive files from the old computer to an E drive. Either that or I will have to switch the drive letters on the new computer so all the files can still be associated with a D drive rather than an E drive. That might mean removing one of the drives temporarly so it can be re-named by the syatem as D. Then add the other drive.

 

I will definitely move just a couple of productions first as a try before doing all of them.

 

Frank....

[grandpabruce]

O.K. Here's what I have got:

 

 

 

On one computer running EMC 7.1.1.189, I have almost 40 production files that I have made using Videowave and DVD builder. I have made folders on a slave drive (D:\) where I have saved the productions. The Folders are as follows:

D:\DMSM files

D:\DMSD files

D:\MPEG files

D:\ISO files

And for each of the separate productions I have save them in other approriate folders specifically named for all of the data files that were used to make each productions. Each of those folders include all of the photos, audio and video that were used for each separate production.

 

Now I also have a new computer running EMC 7.5 (updated) and would like to transfer all of the productions and associated files on the older computer to this new computer. Here's my question:

Will I have to make folders on the new computer that are identical as the old ones and then just transfer all of the data to these new folders ? Also, can all of the Media Manager files be transferred to the new Media Manager folder as well ? So when all of this is completed I would like to be able to bring up any of the original productions on the new computer so they can be found and edited if needed, just like on the older computer.

 

So far I have kept all of the EMC productions for each computer separate. The new computer has more than twice the storage capacity as the old one, so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

Thanks for the suggestion for the best way to accomplish this.

 

Frank.....

 

Yes to the first question about the folders being the same on the new computer as the folders on the old computer. I don't use Media Manager, so I don't know if you need to transfer anything there.

 

Getting back to the first question, try making folders for one or two of your productions as a test.