I got a new secondary laptop. Well it might be my primary once it's set up and my current one would be the back up. In the past when I've done this, I've backed up the VDJ folder from one computer to another so when you loaded VDJ it would recognize all the files, playlists, history etc., but I would still use the one main computer and rarely used the back up computer. Moving forward, I wanted to be able to interchange seamlessly, and for bigger events have that standby at the ready without missing a beat.
I'm just starting to copy the VDJ folder over to a thumb drive to load it on the new machine, and I'm realizing that the folder is almost 900 MB, and it's taking over an hour to copy to the thumb drive, so it will probably take as long to put on the new computer. How do other people deal with this that back up their VDJ folder from one computer to another on a regular basis?
In Windows, just using a basic file transfer it will go through that thing of trying to copy files that are already there etc., so I just want to know the most efficient way to move this stuff over and keep it mirroring the main machine's info for VDJ.
Is it normal for my main internal VDJ document folder to be that large? I've been using it weekly for several years and have an extensive audio and video library on an external drive that I play off every time, which is a 4tb drive and and it has about 3tb on it, and it's own VDJ folder for database info etc., but I think I'm mainly just concerned with the machine's drive and VDJ folder that I'm trying to replicate consistently onto two machines.
Thoughts? Thank you...
Karz
I'm just starting to copy the VDJ folder over to a thumb drive to load it on the new machine, and I'm realizing that the folder is almost 900 MB, and it's taking over an hour to copy to the thumb drive, so it will probably take as long to put on the new computer. How do other people deal with this that back up their VDJ folder from one computer to another on a regular basis?
In Windows, just using a basic file transfer it will go through that thing of trying to copy files that are already there etc., so I just want to know the most efficient way to move this stuff over and keep it mirroring the main machine's info for VDJ.
Is it normal for my main internal VDJ document folder to be that large? I've been using it weekly for several years and have an extensive audio and video library on an external drive that I play off every time, which is a 4tb drive and and it has about 3tb on it, and it's own VDJ folder for database info etc., but I think I'm mainly just concerned with the machine's drive and VDJ folder that I'm trying to replicate consistently onto two machines.
Thoughts? Thank you...
Karz
Posted Fri 02 Jun 17 @ 7:01 am
djdad
Perhaps its the Skins and Sampler folders that make the size that big ?
What is the size of the database.xml file and the /Folders folder together ?
Another solution could be Dropbox http://www.dropboxwiki.com/tips-and-tricks/sync-other-folders (or similar Cloud Service)
What is the size of the database.xml file and the /Folders folder together ?
Another solution could be Dropbox http://www.dropboxwiki.com/tips-and-tricks/sync-other-folders (or similar Cloud Service)
Posted Fri 02 Jun 17 @ 8:23 am
PhantomDeejay
Keep in mind that the main "Documents\VirtualDj" folder also holds the "cache" subfolder which contains tracks you may have downloaded from on-line sources through VirtualDj.
Other than that, as djdad said, other folders that may be big in size are the "Skins" and "Sampler" folders.
On the other hand:
900MB (0.9GB) is not that big these days. I mean that copying 900MB on an avarage modern thumb drive should take less than 2 minutes, unless your drive has REAAAAAALLY slow writing speeds.
PS: How old is your system ? Taking over an hour to copy 900MB of data means that either you're using a very old PC with USB 1.1 ports, or that your thumb drive is damaged
Other than that, as djdad said, other folders that may be big in size are the "Skins" and "Sampler" folders.
On the other hand:
900MB (0.9GB) is not that big these days. I mean that copying 900MB on an avarage modern thumb drive should take less than 2 minutes, unless your drive has REAAAAAALLY slow writing speeds.
PS: How old is your system ? Taking over an hour to copy 900MB of data means that either you're using a very old PC with USB 1.1 ports, or that your thumb drive is damaged
Posted Fri 02 Jun 17 @ 8:40 am
Adion
VirtualDJ/Cache/Covers is another one that might get big over time. If you don't need automatically downloaded covers, it's not strictly needed to copy this folder over every time.
It can also be a lot of small files which might explain the long copy times.
It can also be a lot of small files which might explain the long copy times.
Posted Fri 02 Jun 17 @ 10:37 am
Old system is a few years old, but is an i7, 16GB ram, 2GB dedicated video, 4 x USB 3.0 ports 2TB HD.
New System is latest gen i7, 16GB ram, 512 GB SSD + 2TB HD, 2 GB dedicated video, 3x USB 3.0 + TypeC/Thunderbolt etc
I don't know why it said it was gonna take awhile, I'm not sure the write speed of the 16GB USB flash drive I was using, it did speed up some after I wrote that, so maybe it's not that big of a deal, but I still wanted to know the best way to sync changes?
Like what if something is moved around on the primary machine, something is deleted / added / moved, and then I just copy to the secondary machine, it might mess up something if I just copy into the existing folder from last session, if I can't sync changes only, right? Or should I delete the VDJ folder or specific folders before copying over a fresh copy from the primary machine, if I want to keep updated renditions on the secondary machine?
Also, the new machines is windows 10 and somehow I enacted One Drive so by default when I downloaded VDJ it put the VDJ folder in the One Drive Documents folder instead of the My Documents folder.
I did get everything up and running, and my playlists and history and everything worked on the new machine, but I noticed some nuances like I had to download milk drop again, I had to change some settings in the options section of VDJ to make it like my old machine, I thought that would have been saved in some of the settings in the folders I copied over, no?
I need to figure out if I want to leave the VDJ folder where it's at or turn off the one drive thing and put it where I'm used to seeing it.
Any thoughts on any of that? The best way to sync changes only, or delete / paste as a best practice? Or the miscellaneous settings that didn't seem to carry over? Or if I should keep one drive and file locations on the Windows 10 Machine or make it like the 8.1 in My Documents?
Thanks.
Karz
New System is latest gen i7, 16GB ram, 512 GB SSD + 2TB HD, 2 GB dedicated video, 3x USB 3.0 + TypeC/Thunderbolt etc
I don't know why it said it was gonna take awhile, I'm not sure the write speed of the 16GB USB flash drive I was using, it did speed up some after I wrote that, so maybe it's not that big of a deal, but I still wanted to know the best way to sync changes?
Like what if something is moved around on the primary machine, something is deleted / added / moved, and then I just copy to the secondary machine, it might mess up something if I just copy into the existing folder from last session, if I can't sync changes only, right? Or should I delete the VDJ folder or specific folders before copying over a fresh copy from the primary machine, if I want to keep updated renditions on the secondary machine?
Also, the new machines is windows 10 and somehow I enacted One Drive so by default when I downloaded VDJ it put the VDJ folder in the One Drive Documents folder instead of the My Documents folder.
I did get everything up and running, and my playlists and history and everything worked on the new machine, but I noticed some nuances like I had to download milk drop again, I had to change some settings in the options section of VDJ to make it like my old machine, I thought that would have been saved in some of the settings in the folders I copied over, no?
I need to figure out if I want to leave the VDJ folder where it's at or turn off the one drive thing and put it where I'm used to seeing it.
Any thoughts on any of that? The best way to sync changes only, or delete / paste as a best practice? Or the miscellaneous settings that didn't seem to carry over? Or if I should keep one drive and file locations on the Windows 10 Machine or make it like the 8.1 in My Documents?
Thanks.
Karz
Posted Fri 02 Jun 17 @ 9:35 pm
AudioMaverick
Karz10... Wow, I have a few ideas for you! Let's see if I can keep my thoughts while I type...
First:
Installing into One Drive "might" be causing your slowness. It deeps on where the reads are initiating from when you copy. I would copy the files from the default install location up to One Drive as another backup place, myself. It never hurts to have at least three backups in two different formats with one location "off site". Which leads me to...
Second - Microsoft SyncToy:
Yes, this is an old-but-reliable program that does what its name says. It can bite you, if you don't use it correctly, as most backup utilities can. The basic idea is to put the source directory on the left, the destination directory on the right, and chose ECHO {changes on the left are echoed on the right}. Do this in reverse on your One Drive & secondary computer. You could also log into One Drive on both computers and just skip the flash drive. Transfer speed will vary with all bandwidth point conditions!
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15155
Third - Flash Drives:
Having a flash drive is a great failover backup choice. I'd take it one step further... Look at the "Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF)" SSD drives. These are PCB shaped SATA3 SSDs for the new thinner tablet and laptops, like what is in my Dell Inspiron 7000 2-In-1. You can buy a USB3 shell for these and use them as flash drives with SSD reliability and flash drive performance! Run SyncToy on your music collection & profile, and you would be able to dynamically move over to ANY Windows computer running VDJ with ease.
I have been using a 1TB spinning drive in this scenario for years. I haven't had a reason to jump over to an NGFF version, yet. I will as soon as I need to!
I am not sure I covered everything, but I will re-read your post and see if I can add more. Good luck!
First:
Installing into One Drive "might" be causing your slowness. It deeps on where the reads are initiating from when you copy. I would copy the files from the default install location up to One Drive as another backup place, myself. It never hurts to have at least three backups in two different formats with one location "off site". Which leads me to...
Second - Microsoft SyncToy:
Yes, this is an old-but-reliable program that does what its name says. It can bite you, if you don't use it correctly, as most backup utilities can. The basic idea is to put the source directory on the left, the destination directory on the right, and chose ECHO {changes on the left are echoed on the right}. Do this in reverse on your One Drive & secondary computer. You could also log into One Drive on both computers and just skip the flash drive. Transfer speed will vary with all bandwidth point conditions!
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15155
Third - Flash Drives:
Having a flash drive is a great failover backup choice. I'd take it one step further... Look at the "Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF)" SSD drives. These are PCB shaped SATA3 SSDs for the new thinner tablet and laptops, like what is in my Dell Inspiron 7000 2-In-1. You can buy a USB3 shell for these and use them as flash drives with SSD reliability and flash drive performance! Run SyncToy on your music collection & profile, and you would be able to dynamically move over to ANY Windows computer running VDJ with ease.
I have been using a 1TB spinning drive in this scenario for years. I haven't had a reason to jump over to an NGFF version, yet. I will as soon as I need to!
I am not sure I covered everything, but I will re-read your post and see if I can add more. Good luck!
Posted Sat 03 Jun 17 @ 4:52 pm