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Forum: VirtualDJ Technical Support

Tema: Database in Dropbox? - Page: 1

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Hi!

I have a maybe weird but somehow 'genius' question...
Maybe this was asked before here.
I was wondering what would happen if I would share my whole drive (containing my music and of course its associated database as well) about dropbox (or similar providers).
I'm asking this question because I'm thinking about working with two different Laptops which both have only two USB-Ports each and no one left for an external drive...
(I'm also not a huge fan of external storage while djing.)

So there would be big SSDs build into both computers and the exchange between them would happen via dropbox... (This also is a nice way for backups)
The SSDs would be partitioned to have one system-drive with the VDJ-installaion and one drive exclusively synced with dropbox.
I can imagine that I can't run both computers at the same time because they would mess up each others database, but that's not even the case.
I just don't want to work with external drives, but have the ability to switch computers.
I mostly know how VDJ works with its database and that the informations of every song gets saved on the drive the song is saved on.
And since I can do switches with external drives, I was wondering if this is also possible with dropbox in general.

I know that there have to be 'clear' switches made...
Meaning not to switch until the dropbox of the computer I worked on isn't synced, and stuff like that...
Has anybody any experiences with such a system?
And what do developers say?
Is that realizable as a main way of working?
Is there any possible failure I should be aware of?

And an also very important question:
What would happen with the database on the main-drives of the different computers?
Are there any cross references in the databases of different drives?
Because if I take a look at my databases it seems kinda like that.

Thanks for the suggestions in advance!
 

Mensajes Sun 11 Aug 19 @ 1:28 am
the file paths would probably need to be exactly the same on both machines
 

Mensajes Sun 11 Aug 19 @ 1:48 am
wickedmix wrote :
the file paths would probably need to be exactly the same on both machines


I tried switching between windows and mac with an external drive and that problem didn't accrued.
So I think this could be fine...
Is there any 'definitive statement' that can be made regarding this behaviour?
Maybe VDJ kinda 'ignores' the name of the drives if it recognizes databases on external drives?
 

Mensajes Sun 11 Aug 19 @ 2:42 am
AdionPRO InfinityCTOMember since 2006
Vdj indeed ignores the drive name or letter so that would not be a problem.
As long as you only use one at a time it should indeed work like that.
 

Mensajes Sun 11 Aug 19 @ 5:32 am
PhilWPRO InfinityMember since 2011
I also suggest that you make absolutely sure that Dropbox has finished syncing before disconnecting the laptop from the Internet or you will have database corruption. You probably know this already but others reading the thread may not.

I don’t like external drives either - I use FreeFileSync to synchronize two laptops over my home network. And once in a while I will use an external to backup my media.
 

Mensajes Sun 11 Aug 19 @ 4:33 pm
Adion wrote :
Vdj indeed ignores the drive name or letter so that would not be a problem.
As long as you only use one at a time it should indeed work like that.


Ok great!!!
The idea is to create ONE solution for a lot of challenges:
- Backup for the whole collection.
- The possibility to change the hardware relatively fast if something goes wrong.
- Switching systems for development-reasons (skin and controller).
- And be able to sort tracks comfortably from desktop-computers but use them in the field on a laptop.

This behavior of the whole database-thing makes it possible, and paired with online storage the backups and the syncing isn't a big problem anymore...
Thanks for that!
 

Mensajes Sun 11 Aug 19 @ 8:32 pm
PhilW wrote :
I also suggest that you make absolutely sure that Dropbox has finished syncing before disconnecting the laptop from the Internet or you will have database corruption. You probably know this already but others reading the thread may not.

I don’t like external drives either - I use FreeFileSync to synchronize two laptops over my home network. And once in a while I will use an external to backup my media.


Yes i know that, and I already see it coming that it could happen to me in a thoughtless moment, but this seems ok if there is a cloud based backup on the otherside.
The corruptions wouldn't be that big, and if I really make this mistake, then I also have to correct the entries in the database. ^^


But this FreeFileSync idea sounds also great... I'll take a look at it, maybe I could use this for various other things.
Thank you very much!
 

Mensajes Sun 11 Aug 19 @ 8:38 pm
If your going to have the computers in the same place, at least say when you get home, then you have better options then dropbox. For example, as mentioned, sync with FreeFileSync etc. I am assume you want to do this for backup machine mostly? If they need to be in different locations and you use DropBox, then it seems you would have to leave each one on all the time so that it would be synced when you go to use it. Mostly sync should not talk long but it all depends on what changes are made... initially may take the most time.. Just playing them can cause a small update for each file depending on options chosen.. Problems with syncing can happen and then you are back to some side by side syncing using something other than DropBox which should be less error prone anyway.

If everything goes well with DropBox (error prone?), you have the advantage of having an offsite backup, but that can be done any number of ways.
 

Mensajes Mon 12 Aug 19 @ 12:17 am
Thank you for your tips, it seems I have to look for an other solutions anyway, because:

VDJ saves the database-folder in the root-directory.
Dropbox on the other side doesn't offer the possibility to choose the whole drive (beginning from the root) as "synced folder"...
It at least needs a Dropbox-folder inside the root to work.

So I can't choose "Z:\" alone as my Dropbox-folder.
The path has to be "Z:\Dropbox\". And only the files inside the folder get synced.
Which means that the database that gets created from VDJ is always outside the folder, and therefore it does not get synced.
I contacted the support and they confirmed exactly this problem.
(They opened a ticket with the dev-team to implement that eventually)

There could be some ways to get this working:
1. Is there a way to tell VDJ that the database of drive "Z:\" is somewhere else? (Haven't searched yet)
2. There are apps that make it possible to sync folders outside the dropbox-folder (Dropbox-Support advises against it)
And this one is really weird:
3. Maybe I could choose the "outside-folder" in FreeFileSync, and let it sync locally with the "inside-folder", and then sync it with dropbox, and do the same thing in reverse on the other end. (Jeeeeeeesus) xD

So, dropbox would be my favorite, but as far as I calculate it this is a little toooooo tricky - at least with dropbox - unless there is no easy solution for the database-problem or dropbox doesn't implement that.

Any ideas to the mentioned possibilities? :D
 

Mensajes Mon 12 Aug 19 @ 1:47 am
 

Mensajes Mon 12 Aug 19 @ 6:12 am
kradcliffe wrote :
You can change the VDJ home folder locationin the registry with a simple script.

I use SSD drives and have it set to D:\\VirtualDJ but you can set the home folder to anything you want including a Dropbox location.

See attached and modify it to suit.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zrcphm1tum5j0jb/VDJ%20Home%20D.reg?dl=0


Thanks you!
I will download it later... at work now.

Can I also change the directory of the database on an external drive?
Or better said: the directory of the database on another partition?
(The drive letter always stays the same, and the drive doesn't get removed since it is a partition of the main drive.)
 

Mensajes Mon 12 Aug 19 @ 6:20 am
PachNPRO InfinityMember since 2009
You can't change the location of the database.
You have to set your home folder to somthing like this:

D:\Dropbox\VirtualDJ

Then it'll get synced as far as I understood.
If you also got a folder D:\Dropbox\Music, all should be good.
Just make sure the other laptop's got the same configuration.
 

Mensajes Mon 12 Aug 19 @ 8:01 am
I use Dropbox to sync my database over several computers.
Since you can't set Dropbox to sync the root of a drive you can make a junction on the root of the drive to move the database folder inside the Dropbox folder.
The only limitation is that this method works only on Windows and NTFS formatted drives.

Typical usage example:
1. Rename VirtualDJ folder from D drive to VirtualDJ2
2. Run a command prompt with administrator privileges
3. cd d:
4. mklink /j VirtualDJ "c:\users\username\documents\dropbox\database drive d"
5. copy contents of d:\VirtualDJ2 folder to d:\VirtualDJ

 

Mensajes Mon 12 Aug 19 @ 6:19 pm
PachN wrote :
You can't change the location of the database.
You have to set your home folder to somthing like this:

D:\Dropbox\VirtualDJ

Then it'll get synced as far as I understood.
If you also got a folder D:\Dropbox\Music, all should be good.
Just make sure the other laptop's got the same configuration.


Oh ok... this makes sense indeed...
I have got a folder named Z:\Dropbox\Music in fact.
Currently its uploading the files.

I haven't done anything with the database yet.
But the more I think about it I kinda get familiar with the idea that the database doesn't sync automatically.
It's like having a 'master copy' of the database, and if I want to change computers once in a while I can copy the few MBs manually into the dropbox folder.
The advantage is that this saves the database from uncontrolled overwritings, at least for the first few weeks till I get more into this whole method.

Maybe I try some tweaks first (with scripts or additional software) to automatically copy the database into the folder, but not back again to protect the original from getting overwritten.
Then I'd always have an up-to-date backup, but also the unretouched original. Should there be a switch between computers I only have to replace the older database on the next computer I want to work with...

I think this sounds really healthy.
 

Mensajes Tue 13 Aug 19 @ 12:57 am
PhantomDeejay wrote :
I use Dropbox to sync my database over several computers.
Since you can't set Dropbox to sync the root of a drive you can make a junction on the root of the drive to move the database folder inside the Dropbox folder.
The only limitation is that this method works only on Windows and NTFS formatted drives.

Typical usage example:
1. Rename VirtualDJ folder from D drive to VirtualDJ2
2. Run a command prompt with administrator privileges
3. cd d:
4. mklink /j VirtualDJ "c:\users\username\documents\dropbox\database drive d"
5. copy contents of d:\VirtualDJ2 folder to d:\VirtualDJ



This is a kind of the scripts that I meant in my last comment.
Thank you in first place for this tip!
Does this also copy in one direction only?

I saw a way to do it on mac too, as I googled software for this kinda stuff...
So thank you! I'll try it!
 

Mensajes Tue 13 Aug 19 @ 1:01 am
Hi again!

So everything works pretty well so far...

BUT:
I bought a bigger plan within Dropbox because I need more space, and how dropbox likes to say it:
This plan is meant for team working.
What that means is, that the Dropbox-Folder which was named simply "Dropbox",
is now named "Andy Chiles Dropbox". (Team-Name + "Dropbox")
(And no this isn't changeable at all because they want the software and you to work like this - horrible!) (I spoke to the support) -.-

The good thing is: I haven't synced the Dropbox on my Djing-Laptop yet (Thank god I only did it on my PC at first).
But if I start the Dropbox app on my Laptop the next time:
- It first will create another folder besides the old one and names it "Andy Chiles Dropbox".
- Then it moves everything from the old to the new folder.
- And then it makes a shortcut out of the old "Dropbox"-folder, to the new one.
This means every filepath will change and VDJ will not recognize it because its happening outside VDJ.

So my next question is:
Can I open the database of my Z-Drive in a scripting-text-editor and simply replace this part of all the paths by batch, after dropbox has done its syncing/moving-thing?
Or will there be any problems if I just replace every "Z:/Dropbox/" with the new "Z:/Andy Chiles Dropbox/"?
(Backup is already made)

Thanks in advance!
 

Mensajes Tue 03 Sep 19 @ 9:27 am
Yes you can open your database with a TEXT editor (not Wordpad or MS Word!!!) and do a mass replace.
However if the "Z:/Dropbox" points to "Z:/Andy Chiles Dropbox" via a symlink then you shouldn't have any issues even if you leave anything as it is.
Still doing a batch Search and Replace on database AND on playlists/Virtual folders e.t.c. is highly recommended
 

Mensajes Tue 03 Sep 19 @ 10:02 am
blckjckPRO InfinityMember since 2008
I've been using Dropbox to sync my media and VDJ home folder for over a year now. I have upgraded to the professional plan which is still individual. You get 3tb, 180 days of file history, advanced sharing, and more. I'm wondering if maybe you have the buisness plan. That may have changed your directory structure.

I've also shutdown before the sync was finished. It's gone two ways. One way I just booted up the laptop and let it finish syncing. The other way I had started VDJ on the backup laptop before the sync had finished. In the second case I just worked with the history withing dropbox to find the version I wanted. It was very nice to have that ability.

Because my internal drive is not big enough to hold my library yet, I also have 2 external drives. They are mirrored. The media on the external is also uploaded to dropbox now that they allow files to be stored in the cloud and not on the local drive. Backup of the external database is done with VDJ's backup option. Leaving the external plugged in while initiating the backup will include the external database as well.

As far as it already changing your file location, you don't need to edit with a text editor. As PhantomDeejay mentioned, VDJ can locate the files without loosing your info. When they come up missing, just do the locate missing option and it will re-link them.
 

Mensajes Tue 03 Sep 19 @ 10:17 pm
PhantomDeejay wrote :
Yes you can open your database with a TEXT editor (not Wordpad or MS Word!!!) and do a mass replace.
However if the "Z:/Dropbox" points to "Z:/Andy Chiles Dropbox" via a symlink then you shouldn't have any issues even if you leave anything as it is.
Still doing a batch Search and Replace on database AND on playlists/Virtual folders e.t.c. is highly recommended


Ok, so I'll try it... Hope it works with no bigger issues.
Thank you!
 

Mensajes Tue 03 Sep 19 @ 11:36 pm
blckjck wrote :
I'm wondering if maybe you have the buisness plan. That may have changed your directory structure.

Yes, I have the business plan with unlimited storage because I decided to upload my whole data to dropbox to access it from everywhere...
Since I work on various video- and graphic-projects and and it seems to be easier to store this files online to work with more people.

blckjck wrote :
As far as it already changing your file location, you don't need to edit with a text editor. As PhantomDeejay mentioned, VDJ can locate the files without loosing your info. When they come up missing, just do the locate missing option and it will re-link them.

Ok so I'll try it that way, also only to understand what VDJ does in such cases.
But to be sure I think I will edit a copy of the database and see what happens.
If it works I rather choose that way, to avoid issues while playing. :)
 

Mensajes Tue 03 Sep 19 @ 11:44 pm
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