Migrate to networked storage from local + replace VideoArchive -input on howto needed

[nia]

Hi.

Going into my 6th year with GBPVR, I'm now facing my most comprehensive reorganisation/rebuild so far.

Situation
Situation is, that I have early made myself depending on Jeffs excellent Video Archive, that has unfortunately grown more and more inompatible, as it has sadly been undeveloped for years.

VA was necessary to support two things for me:

• Move recordings to other local drives due to space issues. So I have recording directores on D: (Main); C: E: F: ...
  
• Rename of recorded series, e.g. "104-Series Name-Episode name.mpg" located in folders like ".\Series Name\" or ".\1KidsSeries\Series Name" under the recordings directory.
  

Both of the above done completely manually, editing and moving files outside of GBPVR, and leaving it to VideoArchive to track the changes (which it does quite nicely).

Change
So - now I am in the process of setting up an unRAID server for unified network storage. The intention is to move all existing and all future recording into one "//Netshare/Recordings" folder (probably mapped to a drive letter like V.

I currently intend to leave actual recordings to be performed locally on the GBPVR PC and then move the recordings to the server e.g. every morning after XMLTV update.

Questions
So, my questions and call for inspiration are the following:

a) How do I best migrate the recordings from the current local drives managed under Video Archive to a situation where VA is no longer used, but GBPVR still recognises

• original recordings moved to another folder than the original recordings folder still maintaining the original metadata (EPG info)?
  
• renamed recordings in custom folder structures recognised and playable through GBPVR?
  

b) How do I manage the initial migration to the network storage includung the amendmendt of the GBPVR references to the recording files.

• What would be the way to modify GBPVR database to point to the new location and successfully use it?
  
• For recordings only known by VideoArchive (the files moved or renamed), how do I best import the metadata?
  

I hope to draw on previous experiences and knowledge of the current plugin and utilities as to what approach is recommended.

Thank you in advance for any input

[Fatman_do]

Here is a archiving utility that you can use in your batch file for updating your guide..

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=26775

[pBS]

gosh, i think i need to make a wiki page for that one...:o
or at least a better one...

[nia]

Thanks Fatman_do and pBS.

pBS - looks like the tool is really useful! But maybe you're right about the WiKi part.

I'm just in the process of reading the thread and interpreting how different people have used the tool and built upon it. Looks promising.

Moving the bulk of recordings, I'll probably have to move the files (over 2TB) in steps - probably a drive at a time: Emptying disk to unRAID server, moving disk to unRAID server, using the newly added space for next move operation.

Would I want to use a modified version of the SSA or just move the files with explorer and then run som kind of database tool to modify the reference (don't know what that would be just yet)?

[pBS]

sqlite3.exe is all that's needed for batch operations on db...[all i use]
you could use the whole series version that moves a whole dir of shows at once...
it does take a lot of time to copy shows, so you probably wouldn't want to do them all at once..
[i think the 'series' ver is a few posts down..]

it can operate in background long as you're not recording or playing back files on same drive..

you can run from dos cmd line and you can always just 'rem' out the delete line and after checking destination, delete originals yourself..

also, not sure how well it does with shows with a '&' in the name as that gives dos problems..but i think i use it properly in this..
[gonna test with "law & order" here in a few..]
update: yep, the "&" is no problem...moved and updated fine...