alexandre
Hi,
I'm asking for something similar to a Favorite Folder, except that in a Portable Folder there would be a file at the root called vdj.db in which VirtualDJ would store the track's metadata for the entire hierarchy.
The benefit is that if that folder is shared across multiple computers, then the track metadata and preparation steps (cue, bpm, beat grid, ...) will be shared as well with no extra efforts.
I use myself syncthing to synchronize my DJ Library across a few computers.
What do you think?
I'm asking for something similar to a Favorite Folder, except that in a Portable Folder there would be a file at the root called vdj.db in which VirtualDJ would store the track's metadata for the entire hierarchy.
The benefit is that if that folder is shared across multiple computers, then the track metadata and preparation steps (cue, bpm, beat grid, ...) will be shared as well with no extra efforts.
I use myself syncthing to synchronize my DJ Library across a few computers.
What do you think?
Posted Fri 01 Sep 23 @ 6:39 pm
wickedmix
this already works with portable drives
Posted Sat 09 Sep 23 @ 6:32 pm
alexandre
Ah, I didn't know about this one.
Thanks, I'll take a look.
Thanks, I'll take a look.
Posted Sat 09 Sep 23 @ 7:10 pm
alexandre
Is it what you are referring to? https://www.virtualdj.com/wiki/External%20HD%20on%20Windows%20and%20Mac.html
If so does it also work on just folders or it has to be at the drive's root?
If so does it also work on just folders or it has to be at the drive's root?
Posted Sat 09 Sep 23 @ 7:14 pm
alexandre
Can you have multiple portable drives?
Posted Sun 10 Sep 23 @ 6:57 am
Adion
Each drive will have its own database, so yes.
You could map a folder to a drive letter to mimic this, but you'd have to make sure to only access the music in vdj through this drive letter, and not through the original file path to make sure the database is correctly updated.
You could map a folder to a drive letter to mimic this, but you'd have to make sure to only access the music in vdj through this drive letter, and not through the original file path to make sure the database is correctly updated.
Posted Sun 10 Sep 23 @ 7:21 am
alexandre
How does that work on macOS to map a folder to a drive letter?
Why not generalize this feature to a portable folder instead of a portable drive? The portable drive seems to be a subset of the portable folders. I believe the underlying technology would be the same, just for a drive the "portability" would be turned on automatically, while for a portable folder this would require a user activation + a migration of the previous data which was in the "main" metadata db.
Sharing an external hard drive between computers will become less and less of a common use case in the future, while I expect that a folder shared over the network will become more and more common.
Your help is very much appreciated!
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this.
Why not generalize this feature to a portable folder instead of a portable drive? The portable drive seems to be a subset of the portable folders. I believe the underlying technology would be the same, just for a drive the "portability" would be turned on automatically, while for a portable folder this would require a user activation + a migration of the previous data which was in the "main" metadata db.
Sharing an external hard drive between computers will become less and less of a common use case in the future, while I expect that a folder shared over the network will become more and more common.
Your help is very much appreciated!
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this.
Posted Sun 10 Sep 23 @ 7:58 pm
wickedmix
Posted Sun 10 Sep 23 @ 8:53 pm
alexandre
I know how to make a symbolic link, but that is not a mounted drive.
Or there is more to the portable drive feature, that I didn't understand?
Or there is more to the portable drive feature, that I didn't understand?
Posted Mon 11 Sep 23 @ 8:02 am
Adion
On mac, VirtualDJ considers anything in /Volumes a drive.
As for why it wouldn't work for any folder, it's because it would be unfeasible to know where there might be such folders.
So any file that VirtualDJ wants to show, it should check if the folder the file is in, or any of the parent folders contains a database file.
As for why it wouldn't work for any folder, it's because it would be unfeasible to know where there might be such folders.
So any file that VirtualDJ wants to show, it should check if the folder the file is in, or any of the parent folders contains a database file.
Posted Mon 11 Sep 23 @ 9:33 am
alexandre
This could be the workflow:
1. From the library tree (bottom left), users adds a favorite
2. Right click on the favorite, then "Mark as portable folder"
This leads to the creation of the metadata db in that folder.
Then if you see that folder from another computer, you'll see the vdj metadata db, and immediately understands that it is a portable folder. A bit like how git can figure out if a file belongs to a git repository.
1. From the library tree (bottom left), users adds a favorite
2. Right click on the favorite, then "Mark as portable folder"
This leads to the creation of the metadata db in that folder.
Then if you see that folder from another computer, you'll see the vdj metadata db, and immediately understands that it is a portable folder. A bit like how git can figure out if a file belongs to a git repository.
Posted Mon 11 Sep 23 @ 2:48 pm
alexandre
I've tried on mac to use /Volumes but it didn't work:
23-09-18 17:53:05 abique@Alexandres-MacBook-Pro.local:/Volumes> l
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 96B May 17 2022 Data/
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1B Sep 8 12:26 Macintosh HD@ -> /
23-09-18 17:53:06 abique@Alexandres-MacBook-Pro.local:/Volumes> sudo ln -s /Users/abique/DJ\ Library
23-09-18 17:53:10 abique@Alexandres-MacBook-Pro.local:/Volumes> l
total 0
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24B Sep 18 17:53 DJ Library@ -> /Users/abique/DJ Library
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 96B May 17 2022 Data/
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1B Sep 8 12:26 Macintosh HD@ -> /
23-09-18 17:53:11 abique@Alexandres-MacBook-Pro.local:/Volumes>
Yet Virtual DJ didn't show anything in the Volumes folder except "Machintosh HD".
Also I don't see any issue in checking if there is a parent folder which contains a virtual dj metadata db, because the cpu time it'd cost would be irrelevant, especially compared to the time some users like me would save.
23-09-18 17:53:05 abique@Alexandres-MacBook-Pro.local:/Volumes> l
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 96B May 17 2022 Data/
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1B Sep 8 12:26 Macintosh HD@ -> /
23-09-18 17:53:06 abique@Alexandres-MacBook-Pro.local:/Volumes> sudo ln -s /Users/abique/DJ\ Library
23-09-18 17:53:10 abique@Alexandres-MacBook-Pro.local:/Volumes> l
total 0
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24B Sep 18 17:53 DJ Library@ -> /Users/abique/DJ Library
drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 96B May 17 2022 Data/
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1B Sep 8 12:26 Macintosh HD@ -> /
23-09-18 17:53:11 abique@Alexandres-MacBook-Pro.local:/Volumes>
Yet Virtual DJ didn't show anything in the Volumes folder except "Machintosh HD".
Also I don't see any issue in checking if there is a parent folder which contains a virtual dj metadata db, because the cpu time it'd cost would be irrelevant, especially compared to the time some users like me would save.
Posted Mon 18 Sep 23 @ 4:00 pm
alexandre
I've gone through hours of trial and error, to not get anything decent working on mac. And none of the options felt right.
The most trivial one: a symlink in /Volumes wasn't working. It wasn't even listed in VDJ.
The most trivial one: a symlink in /Volumes wasn't working. It wasn't even listed in VDJ.
Posted Fri 22 Sep 23 @ 9:51 am
alexandre
OK, I've just found the right way to do it:
1. use disk utility app
2. add a volume (it will add it and share space with you main disk), I've named it DJ Library
3. in syncthing, synchronize to the folder /Volumes/DJ Library
Then VirtualDJ creates VirtualDJ folder at the root and puts the database.xml there.
1. use disk utility app
2. add a volume (it will add it and share space with you main disk), I've named it DJ Library
3. in syncthing, synchronize to the folder /Volumes/DJ Library
Then VirtualDJ creates VirtualDJ folder at the root and puts the database.xml there.
Posted Fri 22 Sep 23 @ 10:18 am
alexandre
I've written a post on reddit with all the steps to get it to work: https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualdj/comments/16pbi5e/how_ive_made_virtualdj_seamlessly_work_over_a/
Posted Fri 22 Sep 23 @ 2:17 pm
Niels (cph)
Nice work Alexandre! 👍🏻
Great idea using MacOS volumes, and mapping folders to drive letters on Windows.
I use only Macs for DJing and store my Documents folder and DJ music collection folder on iCloud Drive. This way VDJ metadata and audio files are in the same location on all machines. Everything is nicely integrated with MacOS, and it just works. The drawback, of course, is that iCloud Drive comes with a small monthly fee.
Great idea using MacOS volumes, and mapping folders to drive letters on Windows.
I use only Macs for DJing and store my Documents folder and DJ music collection folder on iCloud Drive. This way VDJ metadata and audio files are in the same location on all machines. Everything is nicely integrated with MacOS, and it just works. The drawback, of course, is that iCloud Drive comes with a small monthly fee.
Posted Sat 21 Oct 23 @ 5:56 am