Migrating to new PC

[drogulus]

    I've largely completed the task of installing my programs on my new PC. The data is on 2 external drives (mostly music and video along with program archives (installers, zips, etc.). The biggest remaining task is the reinstallation of iTunes.

    As 1 1/2 of you know I've been harping on the virtues of keeping a lossless archive in addition to the working music library. Who knows, I might get a bigger portable and decide to run lossless on it. Now, I'm reaping the fruits of my own good advice (someone ought to). First, a word about iTunes. It doesn't let you run it on more than one machine with the same Pod. Either I tether the portable to My PC (old) or PC-II and move my playlists to the new Itunes installation. This is a big chore. Though I can get my playlists to appear I still have to populate them. They're all empty. That's an easy task with pop music since you drop artist folders onto artist playlists. With classical composers I do something different. I take composer folders from my archive (a brand new one that now resides on my big internal drive) and drop them onto composer playlists.

     In the process of moving the lossless archive I'm transcoding from WMA to ALAC. Now I'm running a unified archive/library, all lossless with a few mp3s scattered about. The whole system has been simplified, and I can use the space freed up to back up everything, but not by copying iTunes to an external drive. Oh no, I have a better idea. I'm going to create a system image of my C and D drive (iTunes/archive) and put that on the external drive. Now I'm saving both my music and my iTunes installation and everything else on PC-II in one single easy operation. Just update once a week and I'm covered against all contingencies short of comet-borne space vampires.

   

[Gurn Blanston]

Well, you better give those comet-borne space vampires some thought too, Ernie, 'cause sure as hell....

Sounds good though. I didn't realize iTunes was such a pain-in-the-ass. The earlier part of your description matches up with what I did last summer. No images though. Good idea that.

[drogulus]

     I'll be dead when they return in 2061.

     Up to now I've been imaging the C drive only, a better choice than System Restore. But with a larger internal drive combined with a unified archive/library I can now save everything in the vacated space on the external. I'll be working on this project for the next couple of days, and once it's done I'll have the baddest all-purpose idiot-proof box in town. Now, where do I find an idiot?

[Scarpia]

    I've largely completed the task of installing my programs on my new PC. The data is on 2 external drives (mostly music and video along with program archives (installers, zips, etc.). The biggest remaining task is the reinstallation of iTunes.

    As 1 1/2 of you know I've been harping on the virtues of keeping a lossless archive in addition to the working music library. Who knows, I might get a bigger portable and decide to run lossless on it. Now, I'm reaping the fruits of my own good advice (someone ought to). First, a word about iTunes. It doesn't let you run it on more than one machine with the same Pod. Either I tether the portable to My PC (old) or PC-II and move my playlists to the new Itunes installation. This is a big chore. Though I can get my playlists to appear I still have to populate them. They're all empty. That's an easy task with pop music since you drop artist folders onto artist playlists. With classical composers I do something different. I take composer folders from my archive (a brand new one that now resides on my big internal drive) and drop them onto composer playlists.

     In the process of moving the lossless archive I'm transcoding from WMA to ALAC. Now I'm running a unified archive/library, all lossless with a few mp3s scattered about. The whole system has been simplified, and I can use the space freed up to back up everything, but not by copying iTunes to an external drive. Oh no, I have a better idea. I'm going to create a system image of my C and D drive (iTunes/archive) and put that on the external drive. Now I'm saving both my music and my iTunes installation and everything else on PC-II in one single easy operation. Just update once a week and I'm covered against all contingencies short of comet-borne space vampires.

   

Only convinces me that life is too short to spend it trying to convince iTunes to do what you want it to do.   

[drogulus]

     I know, iTunes is much better suited to pop genres built around songs and albums and performing artists, and not at all suited to classical. So now I refuse to let iTunes organize my library (you uncheck this option when you install it). Then when you drop a file/folder into an iTunes window it doesn't move it, so composers stay in composer folders, they don't get moved into artist folders. I could have done this years ago, but it's easier to do it when you're starting fresh.

     

[Josquin des Prez]

Forget iTunes. Really. Get some alternative program like Floola, or better yet, don't buy apple products.

[drogulus]

     I want a Blu Ray drive for my new PC. I can play ISO's from Blu Ray now using a virtual drive.

     

     The first drive (with a game disc in it) is a physical drive, the second with a movie "in it" is a virtual drive which will play anything, even an HD-DVD if I had one.

     Now I need a drive to make my own ISO's (or MKVs, either one will do). Which one should I get?

[drogulus]

     Halllooooooo.......

     It's quiet...

     Yah.....too quiet....

     You know what gets me? Internet spelling and word usage, it's so dissappointing.

     These people should of paid attention in english class.

     We're just marking time 'til the geeks with the goods show up.

     There are 2 kinds of people in the world, the kind that think there are 2 kinds of people in the world and the kind....OK, forget it.