MCESync

Home - Hardware - Software - Troubleshooting - FAQs - Downloads - Links - Vista

MCESync

Version: 2.0 beta 3

Purpose: A utility to copy dvr-ms files to or from a Media Center's Recorded TV directory for viewing or archiving.

Author's Notes: There is no documentation or installer for it, currently. But it’s a simple utility. It doesn’t require any additional DLLs other than the ones built into the OS, so just unzip and drag it to your location of choice. I recommend dragging a shortcut to your Startup menu item in the Start menu, if you want total unattended operation.

To use the utility, you need enter a remote source directory and destination recording directory, there is a browse button for each, to make it easy.

Then you have a few options. You can choose a different file type to search for copying, by default it is dvr-ms. You can also tell it to limit the copies, having it leave so much data on the destination drive.

Then there are 4 check box options:

Remove Source Files – When the file is copied to the destination drive, the original will be deleted. This is good for freeing up space on a remote recorder if your destination drive has large amounts of storage (which is how I use it).
Replace Older Destination Files – I added this option in case the utility began copying a program that was in the middle of recording. I actually don’t think it will, because the file copying technique I use opens the file for non-shared access. But it’s there just in case.
Make Room For New Files – This will delete the oldest programs in the destination directory to make room for the new ones which will be copied over. This makes certain you always have the latest and greatest on your destination.
Automatically Start On Launch – This is intended for unattended operation. If you want to make certain syncing starts again after a power failure (and you have a short cut to the utility in your startup menu), check this box. When the utility re-launches, it will begin searching for new files to copy.

There are 2 filters that allow you to choose files older or newer than so many days, and/or larger or smaller than a specified size.

The program works by sitting in the background, waiting for new files to arrive in the Remote directory. It checks the remote directory every 5 minutes for new files. When a new file arrives, it automatically begins moving the file to the Recording Directory. If you have the Make Room For New Files option checked, and the Recording Directory is full, it will automatically delete the oldest program to make room for the new program.

I recommend running the utility on the system that holds the Recording dfirectory. It may be possible to have several copies running on multiple machines, all pushing files to the same directory, but it is possible that once the remote directory is full, and you have the“Make Room For New Files option checked, MCESync may require a couple of attempts to copy a file if another copy of MCESync is just beginning a copy.

Coming soon will be file cascading. This will allow the oldest programs in the recording directory to be automatically moved to a primary or secondary drive before they are deleted by MCE. This will allow you to easily add storage to your MCE system. You will see that MCESync has the UI for this feature, however it is currently disabled. I would like to hear your feedback about any ideas you may have regarding this feature, as I continue to develop it.

I realize many of you are using the program in a manner I didn’t expect. I designed it to move files from a secondary MCE system to my primary system, for easier viewing. I know many of you are using the program in the exact opposite manner, moving files from your MCE system to a central network storage area. I am glad that you have come up with other uses for the program!

Last Updated On 5/11/2008

Website hosted by 1and1