JimmyL-DJ
Greetings,
I would love to see a utility that can mirror my two workstations. I have my Office/Studio PC for importing music and editing, and my Laptop for gigs. It is difficult to keep these two synchronized.
It is quite a project to get the drives and folders identical... and copying the drive's databases to a flash for transfer, or directly to the laptop and then reverse that process. I want to keep the latest changes on both devices. Right now it is a lot of work.
I still haven't figured out how to truely duplicate. The sampler section does not load the samples from the source machine. The "lastplay" does not move either.
The process is lengthy and I would think some kind of program can be made to do an intelligent job of synchronizing two machines with multiple drives. I'd love to have a utility that can save me more time. Then I can concentrate more on improving my DJ skills.
Perhaps I can program a MACRO. But it sure would be nice to have a push button that works well... built into VDJ as a "new" feature.
Thoughts?
Jimmy
I would love to see a utility that can mirror my two workstations. I have my Office/Studio PC for importing music and editing, and my Laptop for gigs. It is difficult to keep these two synchronized.
It is quite a project to get the drives and folders identical... and copying the drive's databases to a flash for transfer, or directly to the laptop and then reverse that process. I want to keep the latest changes on both devices. Right now it is a lot of work.
I still haven't figured out how to truely duplicate. The sampler section does not load the samples from the source machine. The "lastplay" does not move either.
The process is lengthy and I would think some kind of program can be made to do an intelligent job of synchronizing two machines with multiple drives. I'd love to have a utility that can save me more time. Then I can concentrate more on improving my DJ skills.
Perhaps I can program a MACRO. But it sure would be nice to have a push button that works well... built into VDJ as a "new" feature.
Thoughts?
Jimmy
Posté Thu 01 Aug 13 @ 4:12 am
PachN
The most important thing is, that you have the same username on both machines and identical drive letters.
If that's the case there are plenty sync tools out in the web.
You can even write a little batch file that copys your files.
If that's the case there are plenty sync tools out in the web.
You can even write a little batch file that copys your files.
Posté Thu 01 Aug 13 @ 4:45 am
GadgetMan
There are three aspects to this:
The first is your Virtual DJ settings.
Second are your mappings, skins, plugins, tracklistings, playlists etc.
Third is your scanned music info including BPM's, cue points and so on.
Let's deal with each in turn (these are Windows related answers - I don't have a Mac to compare):
1. Your VDJ settings are held in the registry. These will be local and specific to each user on each machine.
2. All other settings are in your Virtual DJ folder inside your documents folder in your user account. Here you can be a bit clever.
Follow the instructions here: How to: Back up your VirtualDJ folder to the cloud and synchronize between multiple computers.
Kieth and I have been doing this for several years and it works without fail. Plus you get the option to go back to previous versions should you make a mistake.
This solution uses Dropbox but other software can do the same thing.
3. You music information is stored in the root folder of each drive, or in the Virtual DJ folder if all your music is on your boot drive.
If you are using external hard drives, you don't need to do anything, all these settings will get used each time you plug the drive in to another machine.
For internal drives, the drive letter is not important. Virtual DJ will deal with that when the program starts. As long as the folder structure and files are in the same place, VDJ will take care of the rest.
One additional step that I do - but this is purely for backup.
On my external/other drives, I right clock on the Virtual DJ database XML file and select Send to then Compressed (zipped) folder. I then simply move the .zip file to my Virtual DJ folder in Dropbox and I have my database files backed up too.
As I have more than one external drive, I simply rename the .zip file and add (<drive letter>) to the file name so that the files do not overwrite each other.
You can also use these .zip files to pull down the latest version of your database to your other PC using dropbox as the transport mechanism.
Hope this helps,
If too hard to follow, just holla and we can deal with any issues you have.
Cheers,
Roy
The first is your Virtual DJ settings.
Second are your mappings, skins, plugins, tracklistings, playlists etc.
Third is your scanned music info including BPM's, cue points and so on.
Let's deal with each in turn (these are Windows related answers - I don't have a Mac to compare):
1. Your VDJ settings are held in the registry. These will be local and specific to each user on each machine.
2. All other settings are in your Virtual DJ folder inside your documents folder in your user account. Here you can be a bit clever.
Follow the instructions here: How to: Back up your VirtualDJ folder to the cloud and synchronize between multiple computers.
Kieth and I have been doing this for several years and it works without fail. Plus you get the option to go back to previous versions should you make a mistake.
This solution uses Dropbox but other software can do the same thing.
3. You music information is stored in the root folder of each drive, or in the Virtual DJ folder if all your music is on your boot drive.
If you are using external hard drives, you don't need to do anything, all these settings will get used each time you plug the drive in to another machine.
For internal drives, the drive letter is not important. Virtual DJ will deal with that when the program starts. As long as the folder structure and files are in the same place, VDJ will take care of the rest.
One additional step that I do - but this is purely for backup.
On my external/other drives, I right clock on the Virtual DJ database XML file and select Send to then Compressed (zipped) folder. I then simply move the .zip file to my Virtual DJ folder in Dropbox and I have my database files backed up too.
As I have more than one external drive, I simply rename the .zip file and add (<drive letter>) to the file name so that the files do not overwrite each other.
You can also use these .zip files to pull down the latest version of your database to your other PC using dropbox as the transport mechanism.
Hope this helps,
If too hard to follow, just holla and we can deal with any issues you have.
Cheers,
Roy
Posté Thu 01 Aug 13 @ 7:56 am
JimmyL-DJ
Thanks Roy.
I have the mirror process working ok. Instead of going up to the "cloud" I use a Flash, or just connect the second workstation to the network.
One annoying problem is that the samples don't duplicate. And "lastplay" doesn't push over either. I suppose these are controlled by registry items. That's the only thing left to blame.
This last cloning I copied the databases from the two identically named hard drives, copied the entire Virtual DJ folder from MY DOCUMENTS, and the entire folder from PROGRAM FILES, and mirrored the hard drive folders on each of the two drives. That all works pretty good.
It's a huge amount of work. And it sucks. I have to find a way to make this a one button process.
Else write a procedure with a check-list so I don't make a mistake if I'm in a hurry. Oops, I just lost all my recent changes.... damit !
Jimmy
I have the mirror process working ok. Instead of going up to the "cloud" I use a Flash, or just connect the second workstation to the network.
One annoying problem is that the samples don't duplicate. And "lastplay" doesn't push over either. I suppose these are controlled by registry items. That's the only thing left to blame.
This last cloning I copied the databases from the two identically named hard drives, copied the entire Virtual DJ folder from MY DOCUMENTS, and the entire folder from PROGRAM FILES, and mirrored the hard drive folders on each of the two drives. That all works pretty good.
It's a huge amount of work. And it sucks. I have to find a way to make this a one button process.
Else write a procedure with a check-list so I don't make a mistake if I'm in a hurry. Oops, I just lost all my recent changes.... damit !
Jimmy
Posté Fri 02 Aug 13 @ 2:57 pm
GadgetMan
It could possibly be scripted...
Been thinking about this for a while. Just finding the time.
Cheers,
Roy
Been thinking about this for a while. Just finding the time.
Cheers,
Roy
Posté Sat 03 Aug 13 @ 6:03 am
djmagicmoments
sugarsync
thats what i use to keep everything the same
thats what i use to keep everything the same
Posté Sat 03 Aug 13 @ 12:20 pm
Blulite
personally i keep my music on an external drive, make sure its been scanned on both laptops, and then just copy and paste my entire vdj folder whenever i install new effects etc....
i know this may not be the best and most efficient way, but it works for me and its what im used to lol
i know this may not be the best and most efficient way, but it works for me and its what im used to lol
Posté Sat 03 Aug 13 @ 12:36 pm
blckjck
I use windows powershell's command line program robocopy. I do it with the mirror switch over the network and to external drives. When I gather music and such on my PC, I then robocopy them to my laptop.
After a gig, I robocopy it back. This way any requests that were downloaded and play histories are transferred.
The mirror switch removes files also. So, if I didn't like a song, and removed it, it gets removed from the other PC.
I like this better then the cloud service because I determine when it is synced. It's not a service running in the background that could remove something I accidentally changed.
After a gig, I robocopy it back. This way any requests that were downloaded and play histories are transferred.
The mirror switch removes files also. So, if I didn't like a song, and removed it, it gets removed from the other PC.
I like this better then the cloud service because I determine when it is synced. It's not a service running in the background that could remove something I accidentally changed.
Posté Tue 06 Aug 13 @ 12:12 am
JimmyL-DJ
blckjck wrote :
I use windows powershell's command line program robocopy. I do it with the mirror switch over the network and to external drives. When I gather music and such on my PC, I then robocopy them to my laptop.
After a gig, I robocopy it back. This way any requests that were downloaded and play histories are transferred.
The mirror switch removes files also. So, if I didn't like a song, and removed it, it gets removed from the other PC.
I like this better then the cloud service because I determine when it is synced. It's not a service running in the background that could remove something I accidentally changed.
After a gig, I robocopy it back. This way any requests that were downloaded and play histories are transferred.
The mirror switch removes files also. So, if I didn't like a song, and removed it, it gets removed from the other PC.
I like this better then the cloud service because I determine when it is synced. It's not a service running in the background that could remove something I accidentally changed.
Thanks blckjck it's' a very good suggestion. Looks like it would work for me except for one thing. I found this in the WIKI:
Robocopy versions on systems older than Windows Vista do not mirror properly. They ignore changed security attributes of previously mirrored files
I'm running XP on one of my workstations. So ignoring changed security attributes might be a problem. I'll have to look into this more.
Looks like I'm limited to XCOPY for any scripting. I'll have to go shopping for a decent MACRO program. That might be the only option here.
Years ago I used OTSJUKE (still own 2 licenses) which prompts you to save your recently changed database to any location. Hopefully Atomix will recognize mirroring would be an excellent add-on product for Virtual DJ. That would help us DJ/VJs save a lot of time.
Posté Tue 06 Aug 13 @ 3:45 am
Djratedxxx919
i use a joint called synctoy for windows. it doesnt matter the drive name, it does it by folder. ie: on both my main pc and gig pc all my music files are in a folder named TrueLife so i direct synctoy to both folders so those are in sync. Then my virtual dj folder is also in sync as another folder pair, then my virtual dj database is synced with my gig machine as master so it only sync from gig lappy to main desktop. after i add to my collection i run sync and it adds it to my gig pc. and any changes i make to eith sync folders is done on the other side also...even the tagging info and mp3gain processing...Perfect solution.
Posté Tue 06 Aug 13 @ 8:02 pm