Renaming Server, any way to retain existing video recording with Sage data?

[Crowdx42]

Hi all,
I am considering moving my server onto a machine which is being used as a DNS and Web server. My problem is that this machine has a different network name than my old server and so the directory names will be different. Is there any way I can change this in the wiz.bin file or am I stuck with just being able to import the already recorded shows into the video library and so lose all the show details?
Thanks
Patrick

[stanger89]

The machine name should make no difference, not 100% sure about the directories, but I know Andy put up an FAQ about moving recordings/changing directory names.

IIRC, the jist was that if you can move the files while Sage is closed, so long as they are still in a recording dir. But before you take my word for it check the FAQ, and backup your wiz.bin just in case

[Opus4]

The machine name does make a difference. The first time you start SageTV while trying to use the old recordings & wiz.bin file, set the following property to true:

make_all_mediafiles_local - if set to true, SageTV will update the database so that it thinks all MediaFiles are local to the server, should be used if the name of the PC that is running the SageTV server is changed

Edit: This proprety will be reset to false after running SageTV.

This FAQ entry is the one with the relevant information. See the last Q in that post.

I recently changed to a new computer, so I can verify that it works.

Just in case you run into problems, though, it might be a good idea to use this property too:

use_errant_dir - true/false to move errant recordings to a different folder for future deletion

I always leave that one set to true anyway.

- Andy

[Crowdx42]

Well on the current Sage server I have used UNC paths and so the machine name defines where the folders are. Will the above work with such a setup?
Patrick

[Opus4]

Originally posted by Crowdx42
Well on the current Sage server I have used UNC paths and so the machine name defines where the folders are. Will the above work with such a setup?

Will the old computer be around so that the old UNC paths can be checked by SageTV? If you note step 2 in the last Q of that FAQ, SageTV will not recognize the videos in their new location if the old UNC paths are not available, or at least I couldn't get it to do so. Essentially, you have to have the old video dirs (or at least the drives) available for SageTV to see the files are not in their old location; if the old locations are not there, SageTV v2's behavior seems to be to assume they are offline & might be back later. That is why I suggested first changing any UNC path to a standard drive:\dir style of naming, even if you have to use mapped drives to do so. Previous Qs in that FAQ cover how to do that.

This applies to any dirs you used on the old computer. If you used, say, K:\Videos & there is no K: drive on the new system, SageTV will never see the videos that used to be stored on K:. I ended up creating a temp mapped drive K: so that SageTV would see that the drive existed. Once it did that & refreshed the actual location of the recordings from K:, I removed the mapped drive.

- Andy

[Crowdx42]

Well the machine is only going to be a different OS, I was running Windows 2003 server on an older machine and I now think that it would be better use of resources to have the server running on the same machine as Sage, so I am installing W2K3 onto the machine where Sage was installed and so will be a completely fresh install BUT all drives etc will be the same, just the machine name will be different due to the web server needing the same name as before on the older hardware.
Patrick

[Opus4]

But, that's the same thing as using a completely new computer, just with the same drive/directory layout. If you are changing the computer name & thus the UNC paths, you still have to deal with those issues -- the property to make all media files local & the fact that the old UNC paths simply won't exist. As I said, SageTV will keep looking for those old UNC paths & unless you deal with that issue, it won't see your existing recordings, in my experience.

- Andy