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Topic: HELP! Can't undo a 'direct rename files' operation< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
C Man
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Posted: Sep. 24 2005,17:17
Geez, I really did it this time, HELP!  I wanted to temporarily move all my MP3s to the same directory, so I used the 'direct rename files' tool and did just that.  I've done this several times before with no problems.  Tried it last night (using beta 16).  I always have the progress meter showing, I guess I just like looking at it during operations.  Well, when it got to 100%, the status screen at the bottom didn't stop, it just kept 'spinning' for what seemed like twice as long as it should have.  It moved all the MP3s to one directory, but I wasn't able to undo the move and put them back in their original folders (the error message said something like 'couldn't find xxxx.mp3', where xxxx = the filename).

I now have over 4000 MP3s in the same folder, and don't like the idea of trying to move them back individually.  All the files have tags, so is there some filtered search template I can use with the 'search' or 'create custom lists' tool that could at least group related files together so I can move them back more quickly?
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Magnus Brading
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Posted: Sep. 25 2005,13:06
First of all, have you attempted any other Direct Rename operation otherwise?

If not, your undo data should be stored in a file called "d_rename.und.bak" (and possibly also "d_rename.und") in the Mp3/Tag Studio installation folder. Please save these files in a safe place to begin with, and then come back here and we can continue.

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C Man
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Posted: Sep. 25 2005,18:13
The file I have is 'd_rename.bak', not 'd_rename.und.bak' nor 'd_rename.und'.  I looked at it and it appears to show the history of the direct renaming I did (I moved files from a variety of folders to just one, G:\Music\temp).

However, when I scroll exactly halfway through the file, it shows what looks like a second renaming.  Each file in G:\Music\temp is shown right below an identical file with a '#2' added to the file name (a few #3's, #4's, and #5's too, but mostly #2's).  But if I browse all my files in Windows Explorer, most of these '#' files aren't there, just the originals. (The exceptions are songs with the same name that are on more than one album, so I suspect MP3TS adds the '#' to the file name so there isn't a conflict?)

I don't know what to make of it, but as I said in my first post, when the progress meter stopped at '100%' during the renaming the status screen at the bottom kept 'spinning' like it was still performing an operation.  I'll e-mail you the file and let you have a look at it.
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Magnus Brading
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Posted: Sep. 25 2005,18:46
Ok, great to hear you still have the file, then it should not be very hard to fix this for you.

Now, this is how that file works: Except for the first line of the file (the one containing "1") all the following lines come in pairs, where the first line is the path that the file in question was moved/renamed to, and the second line is the path that it originally had, i.e. the path that it will be moved/renamed back to during an undo operation.

Knowing this, you can manipulate the file to revert the renaming operation, by looking at the lines in it and then looking at what the files are currently actually located and named named. For example, if you say that they don't have the #2 suffix, you might want to try to just remove that second half of the file containing these entries (always keep a safe backup of your d_rename.bak file during these experiments though!;).

To load the undo file into Mp3/Tag Studio and see if your modifications were successful, do the following:

1.
Shut down Mp3/Tag Studio.

2.
Copy the d_rename.bak file to the name "d_rename.und", in the Mp3/Tag Studio folder.

3.
Start Mp3/Tag Studio again. The "Undo" button in the Direct Rename tool will now be enabled, and when you click it it will process your new undo file.

You can repeat this operation any number of times.


Please try this, or ask more if there is something you don't understand.

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C Man
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Posted: Sep. 26 2005,00:19
The undo worked almost perfectly.  I still have to move about 20 files manually -- files that actually had a '#' in the file name and files with the exact same name but on different albums -- but other than that it worked fine.  Once I gave it some thought I kind of had a feeling I was going to be able to edit the .bak file and get it to work, but when I initially couldn't get the renaming reversed at 4 in the morning I panicked!

Anyway, thanks for the input.  I didn't want to mess around with the .bak file until you said so first.
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Magnus Brading
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Posted: Sep. 26 2005,10:27
I'm glad to hear it worked out for you. :)

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