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Forum: VirtualDJ Technical Support

Topic: Start from scratch with a new database
Even if I dont have a problem with my pc based solutions I am curious to try the Mac route.
I think a Macbook Air 15” M3 with 512Gb could be suitable.
I realize I have to decrease my database in order to have space on the macbook.
I guess since the folder structure and drive names will be totally different from pc, I guess I need to start fresh and simply copy the files over to the mac one by one (tremendous work)
But what about database files, how can I preserve my cues and loops?

Or would it be better to run external drive instead and try to keep the drivenames and paths the same?
 
geposted Mon 10 Mar 25 @ 8:49 pm
Personally speaking, external is the path I chose as I could plug it in only when I need it, backup/mirror/expand on storage when I need to, and pretty much don't have to make mods to the database (VirtualDJ ignores the drive letter and just considers the path relative to the drive root).

Using music on the internal requires more work, at the very least you'll have to choose a new location on your Mac root drive, copy your music folder relative to that path, copy the VirtualDJ folder to the relevant Mac location and then probably change the prefixes of all the songs in the database.xml to reference that new music folder path, and this probably doesn't take into account the Linked tracks database (extra.db) or other things that could potentially be referring to the old file structure.
 
You can use the built in backup and restore functionality in vdj to copy the database
 
@Adion I am curious as to what the restore would present for the folder structure on the MacBook with that thought, because isn't the prefix folder structure completely different then, or is VirtualDJ assuming some equivalence of folders in some sense (e.g. %USERPROFILE% = $HOME, so placing the music relative to that folder would be picked up properly)?
 
When path doesn't match, the database can match the files based on file name and file size, so that shouldn't be a problem.
 
Adion wrote :
You can use the built in backup and restore functionality in vdj to copy the database


So, play with the thought, I am doing a backup of my PC using Backup Restore feature within VDJ.
I have four drive letters in use today, C: E: K: M: (E,K and M are just partitions on the same physical drive)
I would rather change the drive C: to another letter so I can keep all the music on external and don't use the internal at all. If I need to change the drive letter, that requires me to edit the database file?

What do I need to prepare in advance on the Mac in order to be able to restore it?


 
Copy the music, use add to search db on mac for the music folders you want to use, restore the database
 
Thanks.
This is not meant to be a question how to use a Mac...
BUT, since I am new to MacOS and there are lots of experienced users here so why not.
My plan now is to copy the music to an external drive, and follow Adion's instructions above to restore the database.
So a direct question:
I might not care to copy the exact same content from my old database. I will probably omit some of the never used folders when I am doing a clean start.
So what will happen when the "backup'ed" database from my old computer will not find the tracks contained in the database file? I know missing files are marked with red crosses.
But is there any automated function to remove missing stuff from the database?
Sorry if it is obvious but I would rather be fully sure what I'm doing, prior starting.

A second question:
I will add a place on the Mac internal drive for emergency tracks if something happens with my external.
Should I just use the "music" folder for this purpose?
Or create a new folder on the desktop? I am a bit confused how mac's work in this regard compared to PC's.
 
I have 3 external drives that I use, 2 of them as backup, one at home and two with me at gigs.
As a third backup for emergency I have Dropbox.
Just sayin ;)
 
Mobile Zombie wrote :

But is there any automated function to remove missing stuff from the database?
Sorry if it is obvious but I would rather be fully sure what I'm doing, prior starting.


Hi! I think there is already a solution for deleting the missing files:
 
Ah yes, now remember. Thanks :)
 
So what about the waveforms which is stored in Cache, is this also included in backup and restore?