mass removal of duplicate tracks

[Tim Allen]

I have just run PerfectTunes for the first time. It has found a large number of duplicate tracks. Should I mass delete them? Does that mean that all the copies in the various windows are deleted, leaving one copy behind? Also, what happens with RAID backup? I was surprised that that there are so many duplicates. Is it because the back up versions are also being picked up (i.e those on the second hard disc in my NAS drive)?

A second issue relates to album art. I have gone through the process of selection album art for those that do not have any. That seems to have worked well in most cases. However, some albums have randomly been given album art for a different album. How has that happened? can I selectively correct them without running the programme again for the whole file?

Also, when I ran the search for duplicates, some have been found with different album art. How has that happened?

I would be great to get answers - and simple instructions for what to do.
Thanks
Tim

[Spoon]

Many of your questions, only yourself can answer because it is your own music collection. You should not delete anything until you are certain where the duplicates are from. In the de-dup program, click the spanner icon top right and see which location is being index, it should be only 1 location, no your nas drive. The 'i' info button in dedup will show where the files are located for a detected duplicate.

About album art, you can run it manually, that is for each album you click the 'fix' button next to the album, to just do that album.

[Tim Allen]

Many of your questions, only yourself can answer because it is your own music collection. You should not delete anything until you are certain where the duplicates are from. In the de-dup program, click the spanner icon top right and see which location is being index, it should be only 1 location, no your nas drive. The 'i' info button in dedup will show where the files are located for a detected duplicate.

About album art, you can run it manually, that is for each album you click the 'fix' button next to the album, to just do that album.

Thanks so much. I only want one copy of a file in my music collection (which is backed up on my NAS drive). The de-dup program suggests there are are many duplicates. I am not sure why that is.

Also, I have been assuming that I am accessing my music library - which is in my NAS drive. However, your answer suggests that is not the case. So which 'library' is being read?

The one in the NAS drive comes up in the window. If is is not actually reading that one, is PerfectTunes automatically only reading the one in my computer? If it is the one in the Synology NAS drive (which appears as DISKSTATION/music), is that affected by the back up of files on my second hard disc (you seem to suggest it is not)?

So, if I just click delete all duplicates, what will happen? In each case two files appear in the windows. Will just one be deleted, or both?

On correcting the art work - yes I know I can correct the individual ones that come up. However, not all albums come up when I use PerfectTunes (maybe because it is not actually read my DISKSTATION /music library). Yet, running PerfectTunes has inserted art in those albums that do not come up - sometimes wrongly, and I can't find a way of accessing them from PerfectTunes.

Am I missing something basic? Doing something daft?
Sorry if I am being thick.

[garym]

perfect tunes is reading the library that you pointed the software to. You have to enter something. It could be your NAS. As spoon noted earlier, you should be able to click on these files or the i button and see exactly the computer path where the file is located. Could be your NAS, could be your backup, could be your local PC, or ?????.

[Spoon]

For one of the duplicates click the 'i' and look where it says the folder is for that item, then click 'i' on the next item, what folder location is written?

Or if you want to see the location of all duplicates, click the spanner icon top right >> Export Duplicate List

[mville]

I only want one copy of a file in my music collection (which is backed up on my NAS drive). The de-dup program suggests there are are many duplicates. I am not sure why that is.

Probably because you have included both your music collection location and the music collection backup location in PerfectTunes.

Also, I have been assuming that I am accessing my music library - which is in my NAS drive. However, your answer suggests that is not the case. So which 'library' is being read?

It is not possible to answer this question. It is the location(s) that YOU configure in PerfectTunes.

The one in the NAS drive comes up in the window. If is is not actually reading that one, is PerfectTunes automatically only reading the one in my computer? If it is the one in the Synology NAS drive (which appears as DISKSTATION/music), is that affected by the back up of files on my second hard disc (you seem to suggest it is not)?

Spoon is not suggesting anything, only advising you NOT to delete anything until you are absolutely sure you know what you are deleting and how to configure the location that is being indexed in PerfectTunes De-Dup.

Please can you post a screenshot of what you have showing in PerfectTunes Music Library?

[Tim Allen]

perfecttunes.jpg

Here is a screenshot as requested. As you see, DISKSTATION/Music is indicated. I left it running overnight, and it seems to to have connected to that library. It has now corrected the album art. I am not sure what the problem was. Maybe it was just very slow - although there are only about 40 cd albums in the library. Possibly, it will help if I plug my computer directly into the NAS drive.

My concern about mass deleting duplicates remains. As far as i can see, everything I have put in my DISKSTATION music library has been duplicated. There are two copies of everything showing. My suspicion is that what I am seeing is one that shows in my library when i open it, and one that is on the second WD Red hard drive, which the NAS drive uses for backing up all files. Does that make sense? If so, having two copies of everything in PerfectTunes is OK. However, it would be better if I can do as suggested - i.e. that I do not include the back up files in PerfectTunes. How do I do that?

[mville]

DISKSTATION/Music is indicated. I left it running overnight, and it seems to to have connected to that library. It has now corrected the album art. I am not sure what the problem was. Maybe it was just very slow - although there are only about 40 cd albums in the library. Possibly, it will help if I plug my computer directly into the NAS drive.

My concern about mass deleting duplicates remains. As far as i can see, everything I have put in my DISKSTATION music library has been duplicated. There are two copies of everything showing. My suspicion is that what I am seeing is one that shows in my library when i open it, and one that is on the second WD Red hard drive, which the NAS drive uses for backing up all files. Does that make sense? If so, having two copies of everything in PerfectTunes is OK. However, it would be better if I can do as suggested - i.e. that I do not include the back up files in PerfectTunes. How do I do that?

DISKSTATION/Music is indicated twice, which might explain why you are seeing duplicates.

Also, you have configured 2 other locations. Only you will know what is contained in these locations, but if you have copies of your files within these locations, this might also explain why you are getting duplicates.

If you are sure that your audio files are in DISKSTATION/Music, I suggest you start again, removing ALL locations (and maybe clear database cache). Then, Add Folder again for DISKSTATION/Music, so this is your only indexed location.

I'm not entirely sure why PerfectTunes allows users to add duplicate locations, but maybe Spoon can comment on this.