Oh, this bugs me no end!

[ChristinaS]

Aaarggh!

I rebuilt my pc and I am now slowly restoring my files onto it. So far so good.

I have many Nero compilation files (.nra) which I have used to burn many cd's in the past. I have kept them sicne every so often I burn a new cd from the compilation. Some I have kept as cd images (.nrg), but most are just compilations.

The problem is that the compilation files are useless to me since they are now empty. When I restored my files they didn't end up in the exact same folders on the same drives, since I've been also cleaning up and rearranging my files. The silly compilations contain pointers to files that are no longer where they used to be. Usually they are just on a new drive letter but the same folder and path as before. Instead of preserving the original information it simply removes it - so totally useless :(

I'd have preferred for it to show the original path and filenames and perhaps flag them as not being accessible - because I would then be able to find them again myself easily. But this way I have no way of knowing what was in the compilation either! Silly Nero!

[Archon]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

I think that if you uncheck tha automatic refresh option(in the compliation dialog about multisession) it should show you the files, but labeled with an X as not available...

I checked it and it asked me file per file if I want to remove it... and I think that clikcing on "no" while holding shift has the effect of "no to all", though not sure for nero (there isn't a noto all just a yes to all....)

[donny]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

and then right-click on the file and you will see in properties the path to the original file.

Hope it helps...

[LtData]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

Or mabye try opening the compilation files in notepad?

[ChristinaS]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

Oh, dear! I have no such options. I must not be looking in the right places for sure. yet I have gone through all the preferences. No such thing.

When I open an existing compilation file (.nra) it right away informs me that "some files may have been moved or renamed" and poof! they vanish from the list - which shows up empty. I see no option when I create a new compilation either to preserve such a thing.

Actually I'm not stumbling into the multisession option either, though I think I've seen it before. I have never used it though.

My version is 6.6.0.16 (just upgraded from the one I had before which was 6).


Ok, the multisession comes in when dealing with cd-rom not audio cd. The compilations I'm talking about are for audio cd's. :cry:

LtData, I did open them in Notepad, but they are rather messy to try to read properly. I will have to do this eventually. I find it a particularly stupid method, it seems to me they could have used the principle of Windows shortcuts where you see what it was and it gives you the option to go and find again the target after it's been moved.

[neilthecellist]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

Did you put Word Wrap up while you were looking at them through Notepad?

[ChristinaS]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

Neil, have you ever seen one of those files? It is a binary file and you can see some text in it. Of course I have used word wrap! I cannot edit the file, I can simply hunt and peck for file names. If I try to change any values by editing (even like a change command) the format gets corrupted.

Here's a snippet from one of thsoe files.

All I need is to get it pointed to exactly the same location but on another drive. This is one of the easy ones. I have others where I have moved things to different locations altogether, as subfolders of other folders.

NeroCDAV5.0.0D Melina's Late Night JazzMelina ......... www.example.com 07/19/05Wed. June 29, 2005 show ð&*blooper*8230;ÝB GULP « C:\Documents and Settings\---------\My Documents\My Videos\.........-sanyo-camera\jazz-1\converted\New Folder\wav\Late Night Jazz Hour-wed-01-I Put A Spell on You.wav 4 Late Night Jazz Hour-wed-01-I Put A Spell on You.wav Late Night Jazz Hour wed-01-I Put A Spell on You ¹E &*blooper*8211; OF &*blooper*8211; @ ENON « C:\Documents and Settings\...................

[neilthecellist]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

Ok, nvm, I feel stupid again.....Ignore me....

[2buzz]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

Christina, if you can program, there are a number of small languages and utilities that could be used to write a small program that would rummage through the compilation files and change the drive letters.

REXX is one such language that runs on most platforms. Everyone has their own favorite. Generally, the "best" language is the one that you know. If you can program, you can probably learn enough REXX in a morning to accomplish your goal. PERL is another favorite, but it is somewhat harder to learn.

In some languages this sort of task would be a single line.

Another possibility is to find a Windows version of the GREP utility.

Basically, all that needs to be done is read through a file looking for "C:\Documents and Settings\..........\My" (or any other appropriate string) and change the drive letter.

----

Once in a while I'll discover a kind program that will fix little problems such as this if you ask it to move files by drag and drop. You could try this withNero.

[ChristinaS]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

LOL! Yes, I can program, but I've only ever programmed on main-frame computers - I mean BIIIIG ones - using languages like Fortran and Cobol - ... so I'd have to start by getting compilers, libraries, all the stuff that is needed for programming for the pc.... Ugh.... Soon, as my daughter starts her first computer science course with Java programmin, I'll have to install it and LEARN it too

Nah, I'm just for now going into the stupid .nra files by Notepad, copy and paste what files I see referenced there, and recreate my .nra file from scratch by refinding my files wherever I've stashed them.

Same problem of course with a few other programs - like my old cd labelling program where the file contains links to images used - and comes up empty when they've disappeared! But at least it tells me what file it's looking for.

[2buzz]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

REXX was first developed for mainframes as sort of a super JCL batch language.

It has now filtered down to just about everything -- even Mac's.

For Windows you should look for REGINA (a REXX interpreter).

REXX has a core that is write once, run anywhere. As always, a few operating system specific embelishments are useful, but you won't need any for your job.

---

It's not a mainframe thing (unless you are running UNIX), but GREP was designed for this sort of chore.

[Wayne]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

I love REXX and find it very useful for performing a variety of tasks on my employer's mainframe computers especially when you don't need to code something in COBOL. The other platform where I have used REXX was on my old Amiga 1200 where it was called ARexx (Amiga Rexx). The advantage of REXX is that it is an interpretered language, it doesn't need to be compiled.

I suppose any programming language could be used but you would still need to know the structure of the file before you start.

[ChristinaS]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

I absolutely have no idea of the file structure.

Maybe I shoudl in fact go to Nero's site and see if they don't have a utility to do just what I need. That would be the logical thing.

[2buzz]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

Wayne,

At home I mostly use OS/2 and REXX is built-in, much like VB is a part of Microsoft. I never owned an Amiga, but I was always impressed that it could run REXX.

Christina,

Finding an official Nero program to solve your problem? Where's the challange in that?

If they don't have a ready made solution or document the file format, the snip of file that you included makes me think that you could get away with scanning for anything that looks like a file name (there are some REXX functions that could help with this) and change the drive letter. They could annoy you by coding a drive letter in the binary sections, but I doubt they'd do that because it would complicate their debugging.

I'm not claiming that REXX is the absolute best language for this sort of thing, but it is so easy to learn, this is a one shot job, and you'll probably find all sorts of things that REXX can do for you.

PERL could also do the job, but learning PERL is not a one morning adventure.

GREP is a Unix style text scan and replace utility, not a language. It will probably do everything that you need to do, but as a FORTRAN and COBOL programmer, you'll think that the concept and documentation was dumped off by an alien spacecraft making a fast exit and laughing all the way home.

[ChristinaS]

Re: Oh, this bugs me no end!

LOL!

Yeah, right! documentation! :lustig1:

Have you seen any php documentation sites discussing the various functions for regular expressions? Egad! Powerful means deadly - if you don't understand it, which I'm having a very hard time with anythign beyond the very basic stuff.

I might look into acquring REXX somehow. First place I checked offerred too many choices for download based on I don't know what, but mostly as add-ons to something else, so I didn't bother.