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Topic: Organising files using Windows Sub-folders or Virtual Folders? Pros and Cons.

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MiloszDJControlleristMember since 2016
I could not find identical post so I am asking for advice.
In my case when you are not such regular DJ it helps to stress less when you have limited set of tracks, for example 200 for the night depending on the type of party.
Now I feel the need to better organise my library.

When you have your physical top Music folder with everything, Virtual Folders can nicely filter the big list but still seeing all the files in the top folder for ideas or when going with the same BPM.
However, on the other hand physical sub-folders can remove the obscure tracks from main folder view and make your main folder clearer, and when you accidently have just 3 seconds left to load the track even random choice will save your life.

For example I played ones for Italian community so downloaded approx 30 typical Italian tracks which I may not use in future at all so they 'pollute' my view!
But on the other hand I play often for Polish community so although it makes total sense to make a separate folder for a different language I like to have those tracks somewhere between English records because when browsing it often inspires my next choice (that it's maybe time to change the style etc.)

Is mixing both Virtual and Physical sub-folders OK or are there any helpful arguments and features that would strongly recommend using one or another?
 

Posted Thu 24 Oct 19 @ 12:57 am
I put most of these informations in the comment tag. For example Dance-Style (DF, CCC etc) and rate my songs. I use some symbols for playtime and the decade:
<!> Moderation
<<< Starters&Intros
>>> Closing/Cool down
-<= build up (BPM Changer)
->= build down
--- Warm Up
=== Main-Time
### Peak
So comments for each song looks like this:
=== 90s DF
These symbols are only used, if the songs BPM is accurate etc. And only used once for the same songs (I don't delete songs, because I want to save complete albums)

So what about your example? I would tag the Language in the comment. So it's easy to search something like
### 80s german. OR German DF 80s... Italian 90s ===

I don't use Sub-Folders to sort, because my library is sort by artists/Album. For different gigs I create virtual folders with VDJ.
That's my way.
 

Posted Thu 24 Oct 19 @ 6:44 am
My original database was built 20 years ago and was divided into Windows folders by decade. The beauty of that was that whatever DJ software was used the tunes were in the same place.

Recently, I've been re-organising the database in VirtualDJ into Virtual Folders as you can have the same tune in several folders, yet, only one copy in your database.
Here is a screenshot of part of it.



I also create a Virtual Folder for the weddings I do with the date and the Bride & Grooms name as the title then subfolders within for the first dance, father daughter dance, playlist, etc.
 

Posted Thu 24 Oct 19 @ 10:08 am
I have everything organize on Windows folders on a external hard drive, then I fine tune with VirtualDj, virtual folders and filters. While I'm playing out 99.9% of the time all I use is virtual folders, very rarely I go on the the physical folders.

Virtual Folder + Filter are the way to go.

Love the power of those tools.
 

Posted Thu 24 Oct 19 @ 5:08 pm
MiloszDJControlleristMember since 2016
Thank you very much guys for your great answers. I can see it's leaning towards virtual folders...

Wow, but how do you actually find time guys to sort and edit all the information or assign tracks into categories... looks like really high maintenance time consuming!
Great!
 

Posted Thu 24 Oct 19 @ 9:22 pm
I swear by organizing my library into windows folders by genre. This way we're not dependent on some third party music app which does it by artist and makes thousands of folders.

80s
90s
EDM
00s
Hip Hop
Electronic
Etc...

This is my failsafe backup, in that even in the event of database failure, or needing to switch computers, I can still easily navigate my library in the middle of a gig.

I then use VDJ Playlists to do more specific lists.

Virtual folders a great for shorter lists :
First dance
Mother son dance
Garter toss
Etc
 

Posted Fri 25 Oct 19 @ 2:17 am
This is my external drive Windows Folder Structure. Then I fine tune with VDJ Virtual Folders and Filters.

 

Posted Fri 25 Oct 19 @ 7:11 pm
I would also recommend looking into filter folders. These allow you to set up rules using for example tags. In the case with temporary files you could use a custom tag fields and set it to "temp". Then add a filter folder with this definition:

User 1 = 'temp'

you can now simply click the filter folder and have all files with "temp" listed, for then to either delete, move them etc.

 

Posted Sat 26 Oct 19 @ 1:55 pm
lincol2PRO InfinityMember since 2011
@ PeteVanPolaris cool
 

Posted Sat 26 Oct 19 @ 5:33 pm
I just started looking into virtual folders. I tried physical folders, but the amount of space wasted was out of control for duplicate music. I've just started building out virtual folders and haven't looked back. That being said, I have a real time synchronization program constantly monitoring my VDJ library (including my virtual folders) and keeping backups of all my music so I don't feel that I need to have multiple copies of the same song in different folders.

I'm not sure if you're using SSD or HDD for storage depending on your library, but if you are using a HDD, every duplicate you have with another folder is a slight performance hit to the drive if you don't perform regular maintenance i.e. defragmenting. Just something to keep in mind.

That's just my 2 cents.
 

Posted Mon 28 Oct 19 @ 3:46 am
Yep, Virtual Folders are great for organisation. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, my original database was built 20 years ago in Windows. It was divided into subfolders by decade then each decade was further subdivided.

With Virtual Folders, I have created the same structure, except, now I don't need multiple copies of the same song. I have thousands of duplicates to get rid of, it's going to take a lot of time. I am now starting to get creative by adding new Virtual Folders e.g. Films subdivided with the name of the film and all the tunes in the soundtrack of that film. Albums, Halloween, Party, Classic Dance, similar to the Library plugin.
Makes it easier to find stuff.
 

Posted Mon 28 Oct 19 @ 12:27 pm


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