Duplicates when importing into collection( yes ive searched)

Hi all,
First some background info: I managed my collection and migrated all my media including my itunes library to an external drive. I updated all the paths in traktor, created a new collection, selected my music folders in traktor that are on the hard drive and imported everything. My new collection was created, all tracks located, and no issues. In order to achieve this, I did have itunes organize my media. That option has since been turned off since the creation of my new collection. In the prefrences tab of traktor I have 3 music folders selected. The itunes music folder on my external, my previous other music folder on my external, and the music folder on my comps hd.

The problem: After updating itunes, I wanted traktor to auto update all my newly added media, so in the preferences tab i selected import music folders at start up. I also have determine tracktime and auto analyze upon import selected. I closed traktor and restarted. It scanned all the music folders i have selected in the preferences tab and began importing folders and media that are already located in my collection! I did utilize the search function on the forum, but each thread is a bit different and most mention that no duplicates should occur upon import. However, not only have i confirmed duplicate files, but the amount of files in my collection and total collection size increased substantially after selecting import music folders at start up, when only one new track was downloaded for testing purposes. I reverted back to my original collection that I saved. Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Traktor TSP2.6.8, 08 macbook pro 13in, 8gb, pt2000 turntables

 

Sounds like when you turned on iTunes Organization, that it renamed/moved all/most your songs to new fodlers in your collection. Do a consistency check on your Track Collection in Traktor. My guess is that anything iTunes moved will show up as missing.

The next step is to figure out whether those missing files have been re-imported to Traktor from their new locations, and whether you should remove the missing files, or re-locate them. I've never had to do this, so I'm not sure which is the better route to go on this...maybe someone else has more insight on this? If he re-locates the missing files will he wind up with double entries in his library? Or will Traktor notice the doubles and fix on it's own?

Lastly...you can easily import new files by right clicking the Track Collection and selecting Import Music Folders. Setting Traktor to do so in preferences will do it everytime you start Traktor, and can take up a lot of your time, unneccessarily. Same with doing a consistency check. Better to do it manually beforehand, than when you're starting Traktor at a gig!

 

The file path for the files in my collection are all directed to my external hd. there are no music files on my computers HD. Initially when i created my new collection and selected all the write paths to the external hd, my tracks could not be found ( because they were moved). I ran a consistency check and located the tracks on my external ( where I migrated my media too). Afterward all tracks were located. Since they were located on the external hd how would itunes organizing my media create duplicates?

 

When you've turned on "Let iTunes Organize your files" it will sort all your music into folders according to Fields from it's database, <AlbumArtist>\<Album>\<Disc#>-<Track#) <Title> and that's how your files are moved. After they're moved, Traktor won't know until you try to load them into a deck, or do a consistency check.

 

Are the duplicates in iTunes or Traktor or both?

 

Duplicates are only in my traktor collection after importing music folders on start up. If i revert back to my saved collection prior to selecting import music folders at startup in preferences, there are no duplicates ( or at least very few haha). Keep in mind that the collection prior to selecting import music folders on start up in preferences also read all my media from the external HD.

 

Sidebar, if i uncheck the option for itunes to organize my library, how will newly aded media be save in my itunes media folder?

 

I think I'm becoming stumped here. Have you removed the old folders (from your computer) from Traktor's settings for Music Folders so it's only pointing to the external drive? And both iTunes & Traktor point to the same folder as the root of your music folders?

As for having option for itunes to organize music or not, some will say to uncheck it, I say it's personal preference. I like that iTunes will keep all my music in one place. You just need to remember that if you edit any tags in iTunes, there's a good chance you will cause the file to move. So, do frequent cosistency checks in Traktor, and to locate any missing tracks, just point to the root folder of your music, and Traktor will try to find your music's new hiding places!

One more tip...if you're deleting tracks, I find it better to do so in iTunes, so that iTunes knows it is no longer part of the library. There's nothing like Traktor's consistency check in iTunes, so when files go missing, it may be a long time before you see the "!" in itunes. You also cannot sort the "!" column in itunes to find missing tracks, so you'll need to scan through your entire library for those little circles with the exclamation point! (Pain in the rear!)

 

if you let itunes organize your music it changes the file name and/or moves it to a different folder, hence it's seen as "new" file in traktor. so, yes, this option should be off in itunes.

 

@djfreshfluke If i remove duplicates in itunes and run a consistency check on my collection, will I be able to remove duplicates in my collection? Or should i create a new collection all together?

 

huh? i thought you had the duplicates in traktor, not in itunes? *confused*

 

Sorry for the confusion, I do have duplicates in traktor, but i believe its because itunes placed my media files in more than one location. I have not checked itunes for duplicates, but i believe if i have any there will be very few. . Also, side note: would hosting my entire traktor collection on my external drive cause high cpu load? About 2 days ago i ran into an issue that caused cpu load to spike, calibration to fail, and sound to stop coming into the mixer. Im under the impression its due to the a10 driver and mavericks, but I just want to rule out that the load is not caused by having to go to the external to obtain my tracks. My collection has about 12,500 songs. Thanks

 

afaik itunes moves files around on the hdd when renaming etc, but it doesnt create duplicate files.
traktor however keeps the reference to the old file location and adds the new file location - hence it creates double entries.
you should be able to find and delete them via the consistency check, however, if you also remove them from playlists too, that will make your playlists incomplete, so i would in playlists relocate missing tracks "by hand". that's not fun, so the best is to either let itunes organise files before importing (and then never after) or just turn that option off. makes sense?

 

Yes, that makes sense. Upon my initial import itunes had organized my media. I switched that ooption off and am currently analyzing my collection. After the analysis I will run a consistency check and hopefully sort out my duplicate issues. One thing you didnt touch on was whether or not having my media on an external would cause high cpu load, any thoughts on that?

 

shouldnt make any difference. i've had it both ways... external drives with my older (i.e. less powerful computers) and internal with my newer computers (since they simply have enough hdd space). i had also both, powered and usb-driven HDDs.

the only issue i got was once with my powered external that there was a short in the room where i was djing and the outlet where my ext hdd was in didnt come back to life (unlike the ones for turntables, mixer & computer). so my music was not reachable and it took me a minute to find out what was going on. not really the fault of the ext hdd ^^

i like having my stuff on my internal but only for reasons like ext hdd can be easier forget, stolen, power supply lost etc pp.

 

Fresh Fluke, thanks for your feedback. For some reason I have abnormally high cpu usage out of no where! it happened shortly after receiving a low input error. I solved the low input error by obtaining mk2 vinyl, checking my rca's, and applying a bit more tracking weight. However, ever since receiving the error, my cpu load has been crazy. Prior to my error, i was running Traktor with key lock engaged, multiple apps open , and i was streaming my radio show, and my cpu load was minimal. Now im at more than 50% load and thats just with one song playing, no other open apps, etc. The only changes I made prior to receiving the error was moving my media to an external drive. I have a ticket open with support, but their reccomendations are not really helping. Ive tried multiple latency settings, different usb cables, different usb ports, updating firmware and drivers, previous versions of traktor, etc. At this point traktor is unusable and I have exhausted all potential triggers of this issue ( at least I think I have). Idk what to do

 

hm.
please let me know your ticket number, i want to have a look into that.

 

actually, i had my music on an external disk at a time when usb2.0 was just out ^^
the effect should really not influence your playback.

 

Ticket # 2014071110001108. Thanks