Looking for program
- StinkyImp
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Hi Space,
Thank you for recommending WinMerge! That suggestion has made this utility super useful and SUPER FAST!
I like to purge items out of my library every few years for whatever reason. Not because of space, but because I really have no desire to watch them ever again and they're just clutter. Based on what I found when looking around my system, I perform this about every 3 to 4 years. It was monotonous and time consuming to export my library (using Media Center Master) into Excel and then go to my previous spreadsheet and perform various tedious operations. It would take a day (or more) and that's why I didn't clean up my library very often.
This utility using WinMerge brings this process down to mere seconds!
I opened one of the spreadsheets that I created in June 2016 (my last purge) and concatenated the information in the format used by this utility, copied and pasted it into a text document, and then ran the compare. Amazing!
The list on the left is my library in June 2016 and the right is a current snapshot. The highlighted items on the left were purged and the highlighted ones on the right have been added.
Thanks again for your suggestion... You ROCK!
Thank you for recommending WinMerge! That suggestion has made this utility super useful and SUPER FAST!
I like to purge items out of my library every few years for whatever reason. Not because of space, but because I really have no desire to watch them ever again and they're just clutter. Based on what I found when looking around my system, I perform this about every 3 to 4 years. It was monotonous and time consuming to export my library (using Media Center Master) into Excel and then go to my previous spreadsheet and perform various tedious operations. It would take a day (or more) and that's why I didn't clean up my library very often.
This utility using WinMerge brings this process down to mere seconds!
I opened one of the spreadsheets that I created in June 2016 (my last purge) and concatenated the information in the format used by this utility, copied and pasted it into a text document, and then ran the compare. Amazing!
The list on the left is my library in June 2016 and the right is a current snapshot. The highlighted items on the left were purged and the highlighted ones on the right have been added.
Thanks again for your suggestion... You ROCK!
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You're welcome
One of the things I use it for is to periodically see if any channel deletions/additions were made to my FiOS lineup, it also tells me if the channel has transitioned from unsubscribed/subscribed and vice-versa (sometimes channels are added/deleted to my package, even though they are not "new" channels, such as BBC America being added at one point when it was originally only in a higher tier package). Verizon tends to not be very vocal about changes like this, so it's a good way to keep track of them.
One of the things I use it for is to periodically see if any channel deletions/additions were made to my FiOS lineup, it also tells me if the channel has transitioned from unsubscribed/subscribed and vice-versa (sometimes channels are added/deleted to my package, even though they are not "new" channels, such as BBC America being added at one point when it was originally only in a higher tier package). Verizon tends to not be very vocal about changes like this, so it's a good way to keep track of them.
- StinkyImp
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In retrospect I believe you're due the majority of the credit. The utility I built simply does everything you suggested in your first response to Rickt1962.
In short... You were the architect and I was the hammer.
- Create a snapshot (your idea)
- Create another snapshot at a later date (your idea)
- Compare those two with WinMerge (your idea)
In short... You were the architect and I was the hammer.
- StinkyImp
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This utility was originally thrown together to analyze movie libraries in the format:
The original also included other things that were just thrown in "for effect" (like videos and pictures) that I've never used so I removed them.
In conjunction I enhanced the "custom" function to keep track of previous custom snapshots. That way I wouldn't have to remember what I previously captured.
I find that I use the custom for things like my downloads, software, pictures, home videos, or anything else that's in the format:
"X:\Primary Folder\Unique Description"
[Example comparisons and color settings]
One of the down sides to a utility like this is that it might take a month, or months, to actually test it.
If anyone wants to give it a try, let me know.
PS - I extend my warmest and most sincere "Thank You" to Rickt1962 and Space for guiding me to this rabbit hole!
- X:\Movies\Movie name 1
- X:\Movies\Movie name 2
- X:\Movies\Movie name 3...
The original also included other things that were just thrown in "for effect" (like videos and pictures) that I've never used so I removed them.
In conjunction I enhanced the "custom" function to keep track of previous custom snapshots. That way I wouldn't have to remember what I previously captured.
I find that I use the custom for things like my downloads, software, pictures, home videos, or anything else that's in the format:
"X:\Primary Folder\Unique Description"
[Example comparisons and color settings]
One of the down sides to a utility like this is that it might take a month, or months, to actually test it.
If anyone wants to give it a try, let me know.
PS - I extend my warmest and most sincere "Thank You" to Rickt1962 and Space for guiding me to this rabbit hole!
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Was not able to down load it
HTPC W7 pro with HDhomerun with 6 tuners using Comcast scanned by MCEbuddy uploaded to network to be watched by KODI
- StinkyImp
- Posts: 675
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That's because I just sent you a private message with the link.
It expires in 24 hours so if you don't download it before then, it will disappear.
Since you're using the "old" version, you can overwrite your copy of "Directory Compare.exe" with the one that's in the zip file.
It expires in 24 hours so if you don't download it before then, it will disappear.
Since you're using the "old" version, you can overwrite your copy of "Directory Compare.exe" with the one that's in the zip file.
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Thank you I got it finally !!! Thank you so much !StinkyImp wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 12:34 am That's because I just sent you a private message with the link.
It expires in 24 hours so if you don't download it before then, it will disappear.
Since you're using the "old" version, you can overwrite your copy of "Directory Compare.exe" with the one that's in the zip file.
HTPC W7 pro with HDhomerun with 6 tuners using Comcast scanned by MCEbuddy uploaded to network to be watched by KODI
- StinkyImp
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I'm curious about what other people use for this? Are we the only ones that have ever been interested in seeing the changes over time in our audio and video libraries?
I know I've thought about this dilemma for years and appreciate you giving me the incentive to create this.
I know I've thought about this dilemma for years and appreciate you giving me the incentive to create this.
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Sorry for being slow to respond ! YES it worked ! End of the year I will bring my backup hard drives home from the vacation house to scan both systems to see any changes have happened. Can't wait to see whats going on. THANK YOU SO MUCH !StinkyImp wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2019 3:50 pmHi Rickt1962!
I haven't heard back from you. Were you able to download this utility?
It's actually custom built for my specific setup so I'm curious if it worked on yours. If you successfully downloaded it, what has been your experience? Can you provide any suggestions for improvements or enhancements? Did it even work?
Thank you for any feedback you can provide!
PS - I've been using it since May 13th (when I made my first snapshot) and it has worked for me without fail so far.
HTPC W7 pro with HDhomerun with 6 tuners using Comcast scanned by MCEbuddy uploaded to network to be watched by KODI
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Rickt1962 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 19, 2019 1:03 pmSorry for being slow to respond ! YES it worked ! End of the year I will bring my backup hard drives home from the vacation house to scan both systems to see any changes have happened. Can't wait to see whats going on. THANK YOU SO MUCH ! Up to 6500 movies and over 40,000 TV show episodesStinkyImp wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2019 3:50 pmHi Rickt1962!
I haven't heard back from you. Were you able to download this utility?
It's actually custom built for my specific setup so I'm curious if it worked on yours. If you successfully downloaded it, what has been your experience? Can you provide any suggestions for improvements or enhancements? Did it even work?
Thank you for any feedback you can provide!
PS - I've been using it since May 13th (when I made my first snapshot) and it has worked for me without fail so far.
HTPC W7 pro with HDhomerun with 6 tuners using Comcast scanned by MCEbuddy uploaded to network to be watched by KODI
- StinkyImp
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Wow! Now I'm really curious. In theory it should work fine for libraries of that size, it will just take a bit longer to process them. In my case I only have around 2,200 movies and less than 1,000 TV episodes. As I mentioned previously, this utility was designed around my specific library layout (which I believe follows the customary layout).
All my libraries are dedicated to physical HDDs connected directly to my HTPC...(Although I've mapped them on another computer on my network and the utility worked as intended).
E:\ Movies (8 TB)
F:\ TV Shows (4 TB)
G:\ Music (1 TB)
Based on the sizes of your libraries and some things you mentioned before, it sounds like you may have multiple "Movie" or "TV Show" drives or pointers. Is that correct?
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Yes each 8tb drive has Movies and TV show folder in the folders each has another folder labeled title and year of each movie 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
HTPC W7 pro with HDhomerun with 6 tuners using Comcast scanned by MCEbuddy uploaded to network to be watched by KODI
- StinkyImp
- Posts: 675
- Joined: Thu May 11, 2017 7:53 pm
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As long as you have a single "Movie" folder and a single "TV Show" folder, it should work fine. Please keep me updated on your results!
EDIT: Just ran it on my mapped drives for Movies, TV Shows, and Music and it worked great!
- StinkyImp
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Hi Rickt1962!
I've been running "LIbrary Time Machine" every Friday since October 2019 (well over a year). It's been working flawlessly for me... but I wrote it, so any shortfalls wouldn't really occur to me.
How's your experience been?
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Everything seems to be working GREAT ! Thank you !
HTPC W7 pro with HDhomerun with 6 tuners using Comcast scanned by MCEbuddy uploaded to network to be watched by KODI
- StinkyImp
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Hey Rickt1962!
Just an FYI for you and anyone else that might be using this. I've been running this every week for the past two years and just ran into my first bug.
It happened when I selected a custom category in the drop-down list and failed to select the "Custom" radio button. I still had the "TV Shows" radio button selected after creating a TV show snapshot. It ran for quite awhile but ran into a buffer overflow situation and shut down. Subsequent runs would shut down during the "Create Snapshot" phase with a buffer overflow error.
I'm not inclined to fix it since it's exceedingly rare. If this happens, here's the simple fix:
Just an FYI for you and anyone else that might be using this. I've been running this every week for the past two years and just ran into my first bug.
It happened when I selected a custom category in the drop-down list and failed to select the "Custom" radio button. I still had the "TV Shows" radio button selected after creating a TV show snapshot. It ran for quite awhile but ran into a buffer overflow situation and shut down. Subsequent runs would shut down during the "Create Snapshot" phase with a buffer overflow error.
I'm not inclined to fix it since it's exceedingly rare. If this happens, here's the simple fix:
- Open Library Time Machine.exe
- Click on the "Open Utility Dir" button
- Look for a file named "TempTV Shows.txt" or any file named "Temp[Radio button].txt
- Delete it (or them).
- Done!
- StinkyImp
- Posts: 675
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I couldn't let sleeping dogs lie.