[mythtv-users] removable storage questions

[Michael T. Dean]

On 05/29/2009 09:55 AM, James Miller wrote:
> On Thu, 28 May 2009, I wrote:
>
>> I've implemented a solution posed in this thread, details of which
>> were clarified by Mike. I've now tested it and it seems to work as
>> advertised. I'm largely satisfied with the results. So I'll briefly
>> describe in this final
>
> I actually have a final query regarding the solution I've outlined and
> implemented in this thread--a question about the simplest way to go
> about and identifying recordings to be moved over to the long-term
> storage drives. I will first describe the process I currently use,
> which is a bit unwieldy. Then I'll ask if there is a simpler way to go
> about identifying recordings and moving them over to long-term storage.
>
> The recordings made by Mythtv are assigned names that consist in a
> series of numbers followed by a file identifier extension. Just
> looking at the file name, which consists in part in a date identifier,
> one cannot determine--unless one has memorized all or parts of the
> weekly television schedule--which file contains what recording. So, to
> determine which recordings I want to move over to storage, I've been
> looking through the recordings menu, identifying a target recording by
> title, then looking at program details (hit "i" on the keyboard, then
> "recording options," then "program details"), which gives me an actual
> file name.

Or, (assuming "recordings menu" means the Watch Recordings page), hit
'u' to go straight to Program Details screen.

> I then switch over to a VT and fire up my favorite file manager (mc),
> find and move the file over to the long-term storage drive. That's a
> rather clunky and unwieldy process, so I'm just wondering whether
> there isn't a less cumbersome way to identify and move the recordings.
>
> Bearing in mind that the target storage directory is not always
> attached to the system, what might be some simpler ways to identify,
> then move, recordings over to the long-term storage drive? 

Run mythrename.pl --link to create a directory of links.  Then, ls -l
will give you the link name and the original recording name/location. 
The next time mythrename.pl runs it will delete the old link (and, if
the external storage is connected/accessible, it will create a new one),
so no need to worry about the old links.

Or, you can use:

ls -l | awk '{print $8}'

to extract the name of the actual file--which you could then move, all
inside a little script.

Mike