It is a far far better thing I do now......................

[Excalibur]

Yeah, you know the rest.

I'm currently attempting to create a clean, error free, workable, organised hard drive for theNumark and Cortex to work from. If I'd known then what I know now, I probably wouldn't have done it any different, cos I'm an impatient git. :o :o

I've backed up the spare hard drive onto the master home one, and I'm currently putting it all back in a tidy fashion.


If anyone ever contemplates going digital, the best bit of advice anyone will ever give you is: Build the HD first, tag everything perfectly, and only when you've got all that done, look for a playout system.

[NKR]

I still haven't ripped half my stuff as it takes me about an hour to do a double album due to retagging and filing on the hard drive so I only get a couple a week done really.

However, I can find everything on the system with very little issues.

Not being smug, just took some good advice from ....... errrrr you!

[Excalibur]

I still haven't ripped half my stuff as it takes me about an hour to do a double album due to retagging and filing on the hard drive so I only get a couple a week done really.

However, I can find everything on the system with very little issues.

Not being smug, just took some good advice from ....... errrrr you!

I know. ;) :D :D I had to find out the hard way. :( :( :D :D :D

[Vectis]

Build the HD first, tag everything perfectly, and only when you've got all that done, look for a playout system.

Step 1 requires knowledge of said playout system's propensity for type of hard drive, file system, directory tree depth, theoretical and actual maximum files in folders, and so on.

I would therefore suggest

1. Choose the playout. If you need to audition, use a memory stick with an album on it.

2. Build the HD. Don't be impatient.

3. Put the two together.
:beer1:

[CRAZY K]

Yeah, you know the rest.

I'm currently attempting to create a clean, error free, workable, organised hard drive for theNumark and Cortex to work from. If I'd known then what I know now, I probably wouldn't have done it any different, cos I'm an impatient git. :o :o

I've backed up the spare hard drive onto the master home one, and I'm currently putting it all back in a tidy fashion.


If anyone ever contemplates going digital, the best bit of advice anyone will ever give you is: Build the HD first, tag everything perfectly, and only when you've got all that done, look for a playout system.

Are you talking Genres and 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s all in folders and tagged appropriately allowing you to dispense with brain and memory and have them all neatly in a viewable folder?

That would make sense unless you work off play lists like me or of course Country Music where no brain and memory are necessary---just instinct;)

[welby]

If anyone ever contemplates going digital, the best bit of advice anyone will ever give you is: Build the HD first, tag everything perfectly, and only when you've got all that done, look for a playout system.

Tagging - is vital to a successful library.

I use Audiograbber because you can access the CCDB and tag automatically.

http://www.audiograbber.org/

I'm sure there are others.

[Megamix]

I use Genres, Playlists, Decades, BPM, - whatever I feel the urge to follow - I think they all help

For my DDS I'm following Numark's advice - folders on the root, max 99 files per folder. FAT 32

[Ecstatic Events]

Couldn't agree with you any more. I find it such a ball ache. I don't think I will ever get my entire collection ripped/tagged etc :(

[Excalibur]

Step 1 requires knowledge of said playout system's propensity for type of hard drive, file system, directory tree depth, theoretical and actual maximum files in folders, and so on.I would therefore suggest

1. Choose the playout. If you need to audition, use a memory stick with an album on it.

2. Build the HD. Don't be impatient.

3. Put the two together.
:beer1:
That's me stuffed then. :( :o


Are you talking Genres and 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s all in folders and tagged appropriately allowing you to dispense with brain and memory and have them all neatly in a viewable folder?That would make sense unless you work off play lists like me or of course Country Music where no brain and memory are necessary---just instinct;)
Pretty much. I use the laptop as an aide memoire, and ordering the HD thus ought to improve that part of it tremendously.


I use Genres, Playlists, Decades, BPM, - whatever I feel the urge to follow - I think they all help

For my DDS I'm following Numark's advice - folders on the root, max 99 files per folder. FAT 32

For my D2, I'm not. ;) Both it and the legendary Cortex have both worked fine with the " Shove 'em in as fast as you can, and let 'em find their own homes " HD. Hopefully, this one should be better, so we'll see.

[TONYTIGER]

I use Genres, Playlists, Decades, BPM, - whatever I feel the urge to follow - I think they all help

For my DDS I'm following Numark's advice - folders on the root, max 99 files per folder. FAT 32

That,s what i thought but not according to Jiggles and Vectis in another thread formating hard drives so who is right ?

[Megamix]

For full functionality I'm using FAT32 but NTFS they reckon is steadier

[Excalibur]

That,s what i thought but not according to Jiggles and Vectis in another thread formating hard drives so who is right ?

The D2 works fine with an NTFS drive. It moans, cos it can't write to it. I regard that fact as a bonus, not a drawback. If it can't write to it, it struggles to corrupt it. I'm getting very cynical in my old age, and I'm starting to envisage every worst case scenario as highly likely, and putting measures in place to minimise the possible problems.

[Excalibur]

Interim progress report. In an effort to advise a fellow member about driving a Cortex, I plugged the part built HD into the Cortex which is sat on the desk, awaiting new play buttons.
I was amazed!|:eek: :eek: It's never been slow, but blimey! It flew!!:eek: :D :D

Definitely a good reason to order your drives, and not pile the folders too deep.

[Excalibur]

John, 19 v30.


For vinegar read Snecklifter, and change the name of the main protagonist. ( I may have delusions of grandeur, but I've not recently been deified ).

[djmarc]

iv been sorting out my portable freecom hard drive and ripping my cds to the said drive now iv labled the file artist albums ( for albums like maddonna , micheal jackson ) ect ect
2nd file is named compliation ie greatest hits ect ect

and 3rd file for singles
i take it iv not done this right any help please

[Vectis]

iiv labled the file artist albums ( for albums like maddonna , micheal jackson ) ect ect
2nd file is named compliation ie greatest hits ect ect




i take it iv not done this right any help please

I'll say.

It's Madonna (one d), Michael Jackson (ae not ea) and Compilation (il not li) :o

[djmarc]

thanks for the spell check

[Excalibur]

I'll say.

It's Madonna (one d), Michael Jackson (ae not ea) and Compilation (il not li) :o

Not necessarily. ;) :p :p :p :p :p I've got a song called " Wheels on the bus", by Mad Donna. :D :D :D :D :D

[Excalibur]

Bumpity bumpity bump: Very important.

Following a conversation with another member, may I please stress, reiterate, and twice reiterate some points.

Hard drives: Apart from the Cortex 3000, and the Denon HD2500, which require FAT32 only, the other media controllers will work with NTFS or FAT32. Don't stress which you've got, NTFS is apparently more stable, FAT32 allows storing of cue points. You pays your money.............

File Structure: Shallow is good. Don't have a folder called "Rock", which then has a subfolder "Led Zeppelin", which then has all the albums as further subfolders. Instead, have a folder called "Rock", and just put all the tracks from the albums straight in there. When you get near a thousand tracks per folder, start a new one. "Rock2, Driving Rock, Prog Rock, Heavy Rock " doesn't matter at all. Just make a new/second/extra folder.

Extra folders are good. "Country, Country ballads, Country, Country Rock, New Country, Classic Country, Female Country, Male Country" rather than just "Country". Don't put folders in folders, only tracks. Correctly tagged tracks.

Tagging:Vital. Absolutely vital. Paramount. Compulsory. Get it right. I've checked mine more than once, and I know I've still got tracks from Petrula Clark, and similar typos. Make sure that all artists appear as the same name. Hall and Oates-Hall & Oates, Hall&Oates-Darryl Hall and John Oates-Darryl Hall & John Oates. Can you see where I'm coming from? That one's a particular bugbear. :( :o :o :o

Media Monkey and similar programmes are your friend here.

Storage: Backup. Backup. Backup. Backup. Can you see what I'm getting at yet? You must, repeat must, repeat must, have a master library at home. Keep it at home, Produb is not applicable.
Get a 1Tb. That way, you can create a rebuilt, one folder deep, corectly tagged, library on one drive at your leisure, and then roll it out to your travelling drives.

Drive characteristics: High speed of rotation is good, large cache is good. Laptops don't mind portable drives, Numark units tolerate them as well. If you've got a Cortex 1000, please take note of Excalibur's three Golden Rules:

1) Power everything, drives, hubs, everything possible.

2) Power everything.

3)Power everything.



Right, that's enough being serious, I'm off to annoy somebody now with facile comments about rules 16 and 23. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Peter, I do all of the above. I have to say, to me the music is the most important thing of all. Equipment can be replaced quite easily but your music is a bit harder and very time consuming.

I have 5 HD's that are copies of eachother. That may sound really anal and it is a pain (er...that doesn't sound too good does it :eek: ), but I think it's necessary. One HD always stays at home. 2 are in my Denon HD2500 and 2 are portables that run off VDJ as backup. The internal HD on the Denon hardly gets used or updated (which it should do) but it has on it the core party tunes incase everything else goes down.

Good post and I am sure a lot of people will appreciate the tips.

[Excalibur]

Good post and I am sure a lot of people will appreciate the tips.

I flaming well hope so! :D

[Excalibur]

Slight update on this. Some of you may have realised that there's a Thre Way Family Favourites going on between myself, Deltic (Andy) and Steve (Hanley ), as we try to:
1) Cure his sleepy IDJ
2) Get the Cortex which Andy has loaned to Steve to talk to Steve's unpowered hard drive.

I've run out of useful input on 1), but my views on 2) are being confirmed.

I have an almost identical drive to Steve sat here, and as it's unpowered, it won't work with the Cortex. However: Unusually for such a drive, it has the facility to accept a power supply. Genuine ones can be paid for at silly money, free ones may be available from customer support UK, or you can try what I did. Andy suggested that the power supply from a Belkin hub would suffice. It's 5.5v, so correct voltage. It also happens to be the correct size connector, and guess what? It works superbly, thus illustrating once again the validity of Excalibur's three Golden Rules.

Power everything.


Cortex units in particular seem to dislike unpowered drives, so while I know that they're bulkier, and have an extra wire, if you want your best chance of your chosen drive being compatible with your controller, get a desktop, as opposed to portable.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I can definitely vouch for the powered drives statement.
In the short time that I used the Cortex, I noticed that it kind of worked with a simple WD Passport HD but it wasn't happy. It worked better with a powered one.
I would also say that powered USB hubs are a must too.

It is weird though because whenever I use the WD Passport HD's with my laptop with VDJ as backup, I never have any problems at all.

[Excalibur]

I can definitely vouch for the powered drives statement.
In the short time that I used the Cortex, I noticed that it kind of worked with a simple WD Passport HD but it wasn't happy. It worked better with a powered one.
I would also say that powered USB hubs are a must too.

It is weird though because whenever I use the WD Passport HD's with my laptop with VDJ as backup, I never have any problems at all.

Agreed totally Gary. My findings exactly. It appears that the Cortex may have insufficient power to spare for power hungry devices. Even plugging in an illuminated keyboard sent mine crackers, though it works fine when plugged into the powered hub.


Just a further clarification, instigated by the admirable Deltic, ( who doesn't get enough acknowledgement for his work on here. )

Hard drives and powered hubs all tend to operate at the same voltage, so the power supply from a hub is more than likely to be a suitable replacement for a damaged/absent one from a hard drive. Thus it may be easier to buy a cheap powered hub in ordeer to get a power supply for a hard drive. May, not will.

Please be aware that you must check the voltages, as I've found a few that operate at different voltages, so in no way am I saying that they're all universal.

Thanks again, Andy.

[ppentertainments]

I thought the 'power everything' saga was done and dusted, and indeed adhered to, long ago ??

[Excalibur]

I thought the 'power everything' saga was done and dusted, and indeed adhered to, long ago ??

Errr, no. :( At least, not in Tyne and Wear. ;) :( :( :D :D :D :D :D :D

We're working on it though. ;) Diligently.