Sync WPM files between Desktop and Laptop!

Current situation:
I am a part time DJ, it is my hobbie and I volunteer my services to
different non profit groups in my town.

My Equipment:

IBM T-30 Laptop, Intel P-4, 2.0Ghz, 256K Ram… running Windows XP.
40 GM hard drive with 250 GB External Hard drive (connected via USB-1)

External Hard Drive holds 17,000+ songs for my DJ hobby (about 79GB of music
files)

I expect this to grow to about 25,000 before I will start deleting the non
“Dance” music.

I have a Desktop with a dedicated 160MB hard drive that holds the master
music file.

Current Problems:

Periodically I update the external hard drive with a new copy of the master
music file..
It usually takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes to copy the files from the
Desktop to the External Hard Drive.

Then I connect the external hard drive to the IBM T-30, and it takes about
40 hours for windows media player to search the drive and re-build the
library!!!

Often there are problems with the rebuild, and it stops.

When I am DJing, I have to incorporate the external hard drive into the mix.
This setup requires extra table space, extra cables and power outlets. And
there is always the opportunity for the external drive to be bumped, or
dropped in transport and set up!

I am in the process of buying a new HP laptop, with Vista, 160MB drive, 2 GB
ram, and will want a "really easy and foolproof" way to keep the laptop in
sync with the desktop!

I do a lot of customization (to make on the fly changes to the playlist
easier) to the Genre, Release Year, and Ratings (about 400 hours to date), so
i need to ensure that these customizatiions port over...

What would be the best way to keep the two machines in sync??

Can I use the WMP Sync option?
Can I use a USb-2 File transfer cable?
or is here something else that I should be looking at?

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:53:02 -0800, Dusty One <Dusty
One@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>I have a Desktop with a dedicated 160MB hard drive that holds the master
>music file.
>Periodically I update the external hard drive with a new copy of the master
>music file..
>It usually takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes to copy the files from the
>Desktop to the External Hard Drive.


You just want new and changed files, both for the copy and WMP.
Use SyncToy to recognise changed files and only copy the new ones :

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...o/synctoy.mspx


>Then I connect the external hard drive to the IBM T-30, and it takes about
>40 hours for windows media player to search the drive and re-build the
>library!!!


It should do that in the background, especially if you leave the PC on
overnight with no keyboard or mouse activity (but with WMP running)


>I am in the process of buying a new HP laptop, with Vista, 160MB drive, 2 GB
>ram, and will want a "really easy and foolproof" way to keep the laptop in
>sync with the desktop!


Synctoy can replicate Shared drives between machines on the network,
as long as the machines can see each other and it's a public shared
folder (no password required). XP and Vista have folders like that
available without requiring password.

Windows 2000 it's a lot more hassle to set up and involves Guest
accounts and bits of string and sticky tape to do.



HTH
Cheers - Neil
------------------------------------------------
Digital Media MVP : 2004-2008
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs

"Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" wrote:

> On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:53:02 -0800, Dusty One <Dusty
> One@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >I have a Desktop with a dedicated 160MB hard drive that holds the master
> >music file.
> >Periodically I update the external hard drive with a new copy of the master
> >music file..
> >It usually takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes to copy the files from the
> >Desktop to the External Hard Drive.
>
>
> You just want new and changed files, both for the copy and WMP.
> Use SyncToy to recognise changed files and only copy the new ones :
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...o/synctoy.mspx
>
>
> >Then I connect the external hard drive to the IBM T-30, and it takes about
> >40 hours for windows media player to search the drive and re-build the
> >library!!!
>
>
> It should do that in the background, especially if you leave the PC on
> overnight with no keyboard or mouse activity (but with WMP running)
>
>
> >I am in the process of buying a new HP laptop, with Vista, 160MB drive, 2 GB
> >ram, and will want a "really easy and foolproof" way to keep the laptop in
> >sync with the desktop!
>
>
> Synctoy can replicate Shared drives between machines on the network,
> as long as the machines can see each other and it's a public shared
> folder (no password required). XP and Vista have folders like that
> available without requiring password.
>
> Windows 2000 it's a lot more hassle to set up and involves Guest
> accounts and bits of string and sticky tape to do.
>
>
>
> HTH
> Cheers - Neil
> ------------------------------------------------
> Digital Media MVP : 2004-2008
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs
>

Hi Neil thanks for the help...


Just to clarify, I am replacing the IBM (6 years old) with an HP dual core,
160 GB drive and 2meg ram, so I willl not have to connect the external drive
to the laptop to get the files over, I will go Desktop to Laptop, possible
using a USB file transfer cable... (cheap and really simple I hear)

So now lets see if I have this straight...
1- Use Synctoy on BOTH machines to facilitate keeping the desktop (Win XP)
and new laptop (Vista) with mirror images of the library (using the USB file
transfer cable?)

2- to get the initial copy of the full library onto the new laptop, can I
use a USB File transfer cable ??
or are you suggesting that I set up a network between the two machines using
my router??? ( and where can i get instructions for doing this? is it
something simple??)

3- I can keep the External Hard drive updated (in case I corrupt both the
the laptop and desktop computer file or get a glitch so I have a fallback
positon and not lose all 17000 songs and the(400 hours of customization)!!!
Using the existing USB-2 cable???

Now do I have this right??

Thanks

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:37:00 -0800, Dusty One
<DustyOne@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>> >I have a Desktop with a dedicated 160MB hard drive that holds the master
>> >music file.
>> >Periodically I update the external hard drive with a new copy of the master
>> >music file..
>> >It usually takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes to copy the files from the
>> >Desktop to the External Hard Drive.
>>
>>
>> You just want new and changed files, both for the copy and WMP.
>> Use SyncToy to recognise changed files and only copy the new ones :
>>
>> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...o/synctoy.mspx

>Just to clarify, I am replacing the IBM (6 years old) with an HP dual core,
>160 GB drive and 2meg ram, so I willl not have to connect the external drive
>to the laptop to get the files over, I will go Desktop to Laptop, possible
>using a USB file transfer cable... (cheap and really simple I hear)
>
>So now lets see if I have this straight...
>1- Use Synctoy on BOTH machines to facilitate keeping the desktop (Win XP)
>and new laptop (Vista) with mirror images of the library (using the USB file
>transfer cable?)


I'm not sure if Synctoy works over USB between PCs (it may but you'd
have to check, I don't have one of those cables here).

But really, you're syncing the external drive to the Desktop - the
external drive will appear as another hard drive, so you can select
the folders in SyncToy as you would if you were doing Copy+Paste in
windows explorer - the only difference is it manages and merges
duplicates and new files much better.

I'd do :

Desktop + Synctoy to external drive
Plug external drive into Laptop.
Use Laptop + SyncToy *from* USB drive

The file transfer cable will only work at USB1 speeds (though
otherwise it will connect fine AFAIK) so you could move the files that
way between PCs -

But then you've still got to get the complete copy onto the external
drive anyway, so you may as well do that in one step - the external
drive holds a master copy which you then merge onto the Laptop (which
then *also* has a master copy)


Finally, after changes, sync either or both machine to/from the
external drive to keep them up to date (as you say, for backup)

>2- to get the initial copy of the full library onto the new laptop, can I
>use a USB File transfer cable ??
>or are you suggesting that I set up a network between the two machines using
>my router??? ( and where can i get instructions for doing this? is it
>something simple??)


Networks are pretty easy cos the Router manages the local network
connections - plugging both PCs into the local set of ports on the
back of the router is one way to connect them.


>3- I can keep the External Hard drive updated (in case I corrupt both the
>the laptop and desktop computer file or get a glitch so I have a fallback
>positon and not lose all 17000 songs and the(400 hours of customization)!!!
>Using the existing USB-2 cable???
>
>Now do I have this right??
>
>Thanks
------------------------------------------------
Digital Media MVP : 2004-2008
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs