HydrogenAudio

Lossless Audio Compression => FLAC => Topic started by: the irf on 2007-02-16 11:38:16

Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-16 11:38:16
I've been good , cleaned out all the shit I know I never will use
Can't even remember how much, must be +100GB


Now I am left with 2 empty drives.
1 160GB external and 1 320GB internal.


My FLAC collection I already have on system drive ( have it on D: not on C: partition )
Want to move it to a less active drive.

My collection is about 150GB FLAC files
How can I easily convert all old FLAC to the new FLAC to another drive with identical folders and subfolders?

I wish FLAC frontend had this function, auto create folders and subfolders.
If you drag 1 folder to FLAC frontend, 1 identical folder with same subfolders is created in the output directory.
This would ease the process considerable
please 

Is there any reason to wait for new FLAC version?
Was mostly thinking if FLAC 1.1.4 has any serious bug reports......

Was thinking it would be great to have all FLAC on the 160GB drive that I never have turned on anyway.
Easy to turn on if I need it ....
I use FLAC on PC, convert to mp3 for my DAP (iAudio U2)



My FLAC collection is set up like this:

Lossless
-----------Artist 1
----------------------Album 1
----------------------Album 2
----------------------Album 3
-----------Artist 2
----------------------Album 1
-----------Artist 3
----------------------Album 1
----------------------Album 2
-----------Artist 4
----------------------Album 1
----------------------Album 2
-----------Artist 5
----------------------Album 1
----------------------Album 2
-----------Artist 6
----------------------Album 1
----------------------Album 2
----------------------Album 3


Lossless is the main folder
Artist is a subfolder to Lossless
Album is a subfolder to Artist
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: beto on 2007-02-16 12:26:20
maybe I am not grasping something but why don't you move the files from one drive to the other? I don't get your question...
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-16 12:31:58
I want to convert from old FLAC to latest FLAC 1.1.4.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: Marino13 on 2007-02-16 12:32:44
You could use a progrm like foobar2000 which will do exactly what you are asking or you could use Synthetic Soul's batch file found in this thread http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....=50993&st=0 (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=50993&st=0) and then just copy your music to your other drives once it is complete.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-16 12:35:25
foobar 0.9.4.2 isn't updated with FLAC 1.1.4
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: DrGreen on 2007-02-16 13:19:28
if you have the space, do what beto said. copy the root dir to the new drive and encode the files there with --force (flac --verify --force File.flac). when the conversion is done and you have verified that there are no errors, delete the oiginal files
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-16 13:24:34
Is there are a way I can copy only the folders and not the files?

I can do this manually, probably gona delete some stuff to.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: gottkaiser on 2007-02-16 13:31:08
The re-encode batch file (http://www.synthetic-soul.co.uk/files/flac-113.bat) is very helpful. The tools is discussed here (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=50993).
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: DJED on 2007-02-16 13:33:41
Gosh darn - ya beat me to it...

It is VERY effective. The space saving is very much worth it.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-16 18:40:25
This is too much, the batch file.
It ain't default settings, i want default.

like this:
(http://www.keepmyfile.com/thumb/1171638768196cfb.gif) (http://www.keepmyfile.com/image/196cfb1405961)

and yes, wihtout tags
Don't use it, never will.......

Is there a way to re-create the directory without the files?
I'm gonna do it manually, gonna delete what I don't need anyway........
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: goweropolis on 2007-02-16 19:22:33
foobar 0.9.4.2 isn't updated with FLAC 1.1.4

Couldn't you just set up a custom encoder in foobar and point it to wherever you have the FLAC 1.1.4 binary on your hard drive?  For transcoding and customizing output to specific directories based on tags, foobar is without a doubt the best solution.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-16 19:26:42
note, based on tags
have no tags

And I'm not about to tag 5000 FLAC files


my request on the first post:
I wish FLAC frontend had this function, auto create folders and subfolders.
If you drag 1 folder to FLAC frontend, 1 identical folder with same subfolders is created in the output directory.
This would ease the process considerable

by that I meant something similar to what Monkeys Audio has
like this:
(http://www.keepmyfile.com/thumb/117164595395e81b.gif) (http://www.keepmyfile.com/image/95e81b1406101)
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: jcoalson on 2007-02-16 19:54:49
you can reencode in place with a simple script that finds all flac files and then reencodes them one at a time.  in bash it's just

Code: [Select]
find /top/level/directory -name '*.flac' -exec flac -5Vf {} \;


I am hesitant to add functionality like this that is so easily accomplished with scripts.

Josh
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: beto on 2007-02-16 20:11:39
I am hesitant to add functionality like this that is so easily accomplished with scripts.


Sorry josh, but there is no script easier than a gui. If it is implemented in the binary then a gui will certainly follow.
And not everyone is on *nix, in fact almost no one is. 
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-16 20:34:23
Josh, I wish I knew how
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: HotshotGG on 2007-02-16 21:07:12
Quote
Sorry josh, but there is no script easier than a gui. If it is implemented in the binary then a gui will certainly follow.
And not everyone is on *nix, in fact almost no one is


but the command-line is significantly easier once you learn how... I haven't played around with Bash myself in a long time 
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: jcoalson on 2007-02-16 21:46:16
I disagree that a gui is easier.  it may be easier if you don't know any scripting language.  but no doubt you run into situations like this ones quite often, not just with flac.  I've seen hundreds of threads and posts on HA asking for things that are so easy to do with scripts.  your small investment learning bash will pay off countless times.  you can install cygwin (http://cygwin.com/) and get a bash shell with little hassle.

to me, GUIs are like a caveman language where you have to grunt (click) and wave your hands (mouse) at the computer until it does what you want.  (imagine the mouse pointer as your hand, then say "ugh" every time you click to mean "ME WANT THAT".)  if whoever wrote the gui didn't add a feature that you can specifically communicate with an exact grunt and wave sequence, you're out of luck and have to ask the developer to add that.

shell scripting is like spoken language, a much more natural and powerful way to communicate what you want to do.  instead of every developer having to reimplement functionality for crawling a tree and doing something, one guy just writes the 'find' command and it's usable in conjunctions with other commands.

windows has tried to dumb everything down to make it seem like a caveman can communicate but I think a basic part of computer literacy is knowing a scripted language.

Josh
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-16 22:49:21
1 question to you Josh

Is what I requested difficult to add to FLAC frontend?


If you think about, it's useful feature
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: Marino13 on 2007-02-16 23:16:30
I want to convert from old FLAC to latest FLAC 1.1.4.



That is why you use it as a command line encoder.  Heck,  I still use 0.8.3.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: jcoalson on 2007-02-16 23:21:16
oh, I didn't write the frontend, you'll have to ask speek.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: Marino13 on 2007-02-16 23:22:30
1 question to you Josh

Is what I requested difficult to add to FLAC frontend?


If you think about, it's useful feature



You need to take some time and search this forum.  There is plenty of information you need and plenty of ways to do what you want.  If you do not think that Synthetic Soul's batch file is easy and can't figure out how to set up foobar2000 (which will do EXACTLY what you want it to) then I question your computer skills.  Maybe you need to talk to a friend who can help you out instead of trying it yourself.  My five-year-old son could use SS's batch file!
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: Martin H on 2007-02-16 23:28:55
to me, GUIs are like a caveman language where you have to grunt (click) and wave your hands (mouse) at the computer until it does what you want.  (imagine the mouse pointer as your hand, then say "ugh" every time you click to mean "ME WANT THAT".)  if whoever wrote the gui didn't add a feature that you can specifically communicate with an exact grunt and wave sequence, you're out of luck and have to ask the developer to add that.

*LOL* That is one great analogy, Josh
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: Daffy on 2007-02-16 23:44:47
I disagree that a gui is easier.  it may be easier if you don't know any scripting language.  but no doubt you run into situations like this ones quite often, not just with flac.  I've seen hundreds of threads and posts on HA asking for things that are so easy to do with scripts.  your small investment learning bash will pay off countless times.  you can install cygwin (http://cygwin.com/) and get a bash shell with little hassle.

to me, GUIs are like a caveman language where you have to grunt (click) and wave your hands (mouse) at the computer until it does what you want.  (imagine the mouse pointer as your hand, then say "ugh" every time you click to mean "ME WANT THAT".)  if whoever wrote the gui didn't add a feature that you can specifically communicate with an exact grunt and wave sequence, you're out of luck and have to ask the developer to add that.

shell scripting is like spoken language, a much more natural and powerful way to communicate what you want to do.  instead of every developer having to reimplement functionality for crawling a tree and doing something, one guy just writes the 'find' command and it's usable in conjunctions with other commands.

windows has tried to dumb everything down to make it seem like a caveman can communicate but I think a basic part of computer literacy is knowing a scripted language.

Josh


No offense, but this logic/attitude is appalling coming from someone of such stature.  You do realize that not everyone is a programmer or as skilled at scripts as you?  I've been hanging out around here since the beginning of time so it seems and I still don't understand 90% of the stuff I read.  That's why I rarely post.  But I had to express my disappointment on this one.  How come all of a sudden I'm relating to the "cavemen" in the Geico commercials?
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: jcoalson on 2007-02-17 00:24:26
please don't be offended.  the "caveman" thing came to me many times in my own personal use of GUIs where I felt like a caveman myself trying to grunt and wave through something that a simple one line script could have done.

also note that you and any other english speaker has no trouble communicating to me in english, which is a far, far more complex language than either bash or perl.  so I am not looking down on anyone.  I think with cygwin and an oreilly book even a casual computer user could pick up bash in an afternoon and be instantly more productive.

Josh


edit: I mean this book: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/bash3/index.html (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/bash3/index.html)
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-17 01:09:35
You need to take some time and search this forum.  There is plenty of information you need and plenty of ways to do what you want.  If you do not think that Synthetic Soul's batch file is easy and can't figure out how to set up foobar2000 (which will do EXACTLY what you want it to) then I question your computer skills.  Maybe you need to talk to a friend who can help you out instead of trying it yourself.  My five-year-old son could use SS's batch file!



Search, ok, I will do so!
But for what exactly?, it would help to know.

My five-year-old son could use SS's batch file!


Smart kid you got

What a "nice" way to say dumbass 
"Thanks"!


I can run it, and do the task but I have a few questions about it.

1. It's set up for 1.1.3, I do not know if something has changed in 1.1.4 that can affect the output files.
2. Except the highest compression ratio is anything else changed ?


Computer skills is a very wide area.
We all lack of knowledge in some areas.


About foobar, how am I supposed to know how when I never use it.
It's not like any other software I use!


As you all can see I'm new here
Take it easy

--------------------------------------------

It's often a lot easier to understand when someone tells you the first step.

Sometimes you can't see even if it's in front of you 
You all know what I mean, for example when driving you can see a sign and your mind is somewhere else

Not all of us walk the same stairs in the learning process!
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: Zoom on 2007-02-17 03:32:16
I can run it, and do the task but I have a few questions about it.
1. It's set up for 1.1.3, I do not know if something has changed in 1.1.4 that can affect the output files.
2. Except the highest compression ratio is anything else changed ?

To answer your first question, nothing has changed in the 1.1.4 version of FLAC that will negatively effect the batch file that Synthetic Soul created. The second question, I'm not completely certain what you are asking. If you are asking if anything besides the highest compression ratio has changed in FLAC 1.1.4, you can view the changelog here: http://flac.cvs.sourceforge.net/*checkout*.../changelog.html (http://flac.cvs.sourceforge.net/*checkout*/flac/flac/doc/html/changelog.html).

(offtopic)
@ jcoalson
I have and would recommend the fish book (O'Reilly Bash Book) to anyone who wants to learn the Bash shell. I learned bash scripting etc. on UNIX, but I still go back to the fish book for reference occasionally.
(/offtopic)
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: wraithdu on 2007-02-17 03:41:29
Why don't you try OmniEncoder?  It's a nice simple frontend.  Drag and drop your main directory to the window, set up the encoding options (bare necessity defaults  only are available, which is what you want), and use the option to mirror your directory structure to the new location.

Version 1.3 still has flac 1.1.3, so just replace flac.exe and metaflac.exe with the new 1.1.4 versions from the flac homepage.  Omni just uses default settings, so there should be no problems.

HA thread - http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=51093 (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=51093)

For your earlier question about creating just directory structure, you can use xcopy to do this (included in your windows installation).  Say your music is located in C:\music\ and you want to mirror your directory structure to D:\music\, at a command prompt type -

xcopy C:\music\*.* D:\music\*.* /T /E

/E will copy empty directories as well.  If you don't want that, leave it out of the commandline.  Type xcopy /? for a list of all available commands.  Hope this helps!
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: goodnews on 2007-02-17 04:02:57
Version 1.3 still has flac 1.1.3, so just replace flac.exe and metaflac.exe with the new 1.1.4 versions from the flac homepage.  Omni just uses default settings, so there should be no problems.

HA thread - http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=51093 (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=51093)

Looking forward to a new FLAC 1.1.4 version of OmniEncoder! Remember that not all users here know how to replace files in the OmniEncoder distro. But thanks for pointing this user to OmniEncoder.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: wraithdu on 2007-02-17 04:10:14
To be a little more specific, flac.exe and metaflac.exe are located in the main OmniEncoder directory, wherever you choose to install it.  Download the new version of flac 1.1.4 -

http://umn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/...c-1.1.4-win.zip (http://umn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/flac/flac-1.1.4-win.zip)

Open the archive and extract flac.exe and metaflac.exe from the 'bin' directory to your Omni directory.  Answer yes to overwrite the files.  No bubbles no troubles
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: Synthetic Soul on 2007-02-17 08:10:32
I can run it, and do the task but I have a few questions about it.

1. It's set up for 1.1.3, I do not know if something has changed in 1.1.4 that can affect the output files.
2. Except the highest compression ratio is anything else changed ?
1. No.  If you are using FlacGetV with the script to check the version (it doesn't sound like you need to) then you would need to ensure the config uses SET flacVersion=114. The version I uploaded recently already states that.

2. You can just amend SET flacOptions=-8 to SET flacOptions=-5 or SET flacOptions= (nothing after the equal sign) to use default compression.  Nothing else is specifically changed.

If you don't need all the safety aspects of my flac-113 script and you just want to re-encode from one drive to another you could just use:

Code: [Select]
FOR /R X:\ %%G IN (*.flac) DO FLAC -o "Y:%%~pnxG" "%%G"

If you copy the above code into a text file and save it with a .bat extension you can double click it and it will re-encode any FLAC file on drive X: to drive Y: using the exact same folder structure.  Be warned though: any file that is corrupt, or confuses FLAC.EXE, will not be re-encoded, so you run the risk of losing files if you don't compare the directories afterward.  The benefit of the flac-113 script is that it can recognise some issues and will report all files that failed re-encoding after the whole process has completed.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-17 09:52:05
you can reencode in place with a simple script that finds all flac files and then reencodes them one at a time.  in bash it's just

Code: [Select]
find /top/level/directory -name '*.flac' -exec flac -5Vf {} \;


I am hesitant to add functionality like this that is so easily accomplished with scripts.

Josh



Synthetic Soul, thanx I understand that

But this Josh said, is it just few steps?
If so, can anyone tell me how 

Same as what Synthetic Soul told me? 


Thanx a lot wraithdu

I knew about OmniEncoder and how to change flac exe etc... in the program directory.
But I never knew it has the option to mirror a directory.

About xcopy, I never knew it does that.
Is it possible to include smaller files?
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-17 10:20:09
Tried OmniEncoder now, for 10 mins nothing happens

I did copy FLAC 1.1.4 (flac.exe and metaflac.exe) to the installed directory.
Mirror the directory to E:\ but nothing happens for +10 min, not even the directory is created.

Gonna try Synthetic Soul tip now.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: smok3 on 2007-02-17 10:25:56
isnt there flac -f option that should just rewrite old files in 1.1.4 (with a nice batch file)? (then just copy things in 2nd step)
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-17 10:36:26
here is what I get with the bat file
It worked, but only on 1 flac file that already was encoed with FLAC 1.1.4
297GB free space



06 One Million Miles Away.flac: ERROR initializing encoder
                                init_status = FLAC__STREAM_ENCODER_INIT_STATUS_E
NCODER_ERROR
                                state = FLAC__STREAM_ENCODER_IO_ERROR

An error occurred opening the output file; it is likely that the output
directory does not exist or is not writable, the output file already exists and
is not writable, or the disk is full.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-17 10:56:33
xcopy.exe D:\ E:\ /T /E

worked perfectly to copy the directories.

thanx wraithdu


Also what Synthetic Soul suggested, works.
But only if the directories are created.

ignore the error!


Thanx everyone!
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: PatchWorKs on 2007-02-17 12:15:16
The re-encode batch file (http://www.synthetic-soul.co.uk/files/flac-113.bat) is very helpful. The tools is discussed here (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=50993).


Unfortunally it won't work with my ogg-flac collection... 
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: mugen on 2007-02-17 13:08:06
Is there any appreciable benefit to re-encoding files encoded with an old version with FLAC 1.1.4?  I tested with several albums encoded late in 2004, and found that the difference was on the order of several MB - not exactly earth shattering percentages.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: jcoalson on 2007-02-17 15:04:30
depends on your material, someone else reported 6% gain.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: wraithdu on 2007-02-17 15:54:36
Tried OmniEncoder now, for 10 mins nothing happens

I did copy FLAC 1.1.4 (flac.exe and metaflac.exe) to the installed directory.
Mirror the directory to E:\ but nothing happens for +10 min, not even the directory is created.

Gonna try Synthetic Soul tip now.

Did you get a progress bar that said 'Decoding Tracks'?  I think that Omni decodes all files to WAVs in your temp directory before creating any directory structure or encoding.  Watch your temp directory for activity.  This seems a little silly, as you could run out of disk space very easily.  Maybe I'll make a request to the developer to do this one file at a time.

Anyways, this is probably why after 10 minutes you saw no activity.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-17 16:13:07
Maybe, but it's a little silly to not have the output directory as temp directory.
Have my windows temp set on partition D:

what Synthetic Soul suggested is done, all converted.

But now I am left wondering how to move all cue, log etc... files.

Is there a way for this to or do I have to do it manually?

Edit:
Actually it did not solve everything.
Have 4078 FLAC files in the old directory, and 3932 in the new

How can I compare?


Edit 2:
Comparing now with WinMerge
http://winmerge.org/ (http://winmerge.org/)
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: wraithdu on 2007-02-17 17:22:06
That would be a question for SS, as I think he said his batch file checks and reports errors.

I tested something with Omni this morning, and I'm having other problems as well, so it's better you used the batch file (or foobar if you want to set it all up).

As far as copying log files, etc., it's basically the same process with xcopy as creating the directory structure.  Say you have folder.jpg in each album directory for album art, then using your example before you'd type -

xcopy D:\*folder.jpg E:\*.* /S

the * will search for folder.jpg in all directories below D:\
/S copies all subdirectories to keep structure (similar to /t above but actually copies files)
you can add on /F to show full paths of files copied
/L will just show you all the files that will be copied, without actually copying anything (useful to make sure you have the right command line and it finds all your files)

You can substitute anything for *folder.jpg, like *.cue to copy all cue sheets.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: wraithdu on 2007-02-17 17:40:58
Edit 2:
Comparing now with WinMerge
http://winmerge.org/ (http://winmerge.org/)

That's a sweet program.  I wish I'd found that last week...
Tip - set file compare to Size only.  It'll go a lot faster searching through your directories.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: the irf on 2007-02-17 17:46:29
ok

I used xcopy.exe D:\*.cue E:\ /S
for log and cue files


Edit:
WinMerge can do this just perfectly
Thanx a lot wraithdu!
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: wraithdu on 2007-02-17 22:47:07
Yeah, I kinda realised after posting, that WinMerge has the ability to copy missing files both ways between the directories.  Well it's good to know how to do it both ways, especially if you want to batch the whole process.
Title: old FLAC to new FLAC 1.1.4
Post by: jamesbaud on 2007-02-19 05:23:50
With the recent release of FLAC 1.1.4, I'm sure a lot of people are having to deal with transcoding their old files. I personally find dbpoweramp R12 batch converter very useful for this purpose, as I too am a GUI kind of person. It can be set to mirror the old directory structure in the way you suggest. However, only the Reference edition has this feature. Also, since the FLAC codec for this edition is still at 1.1.3, you'll need to use the CLI codec to configure 1.1.4's FLAC.exe, so you'll need some familiarity with the command line ;-)