Karaoke Forums

I need to know if there is a better way (faster) to transfer all my songs to an external hard drive. The one I have been using for some reason finally gave up the ghost and decided to quit on me. Luckily I was not doing a show at the time. I do have all my music on my desk top computer and am in the process of transferring it all to another external hard drive. I started it duping last night and it's still not finished. So if y'all know of a faster way than copy let me know.

This brings up another question. I have heard it said that if you have more than one copy of your songs you need a disc for each computer. Does this include what I call my master file (on the desk top) which is not used for shows but only a safe haven for everything. Also what about a second external hard drive to take to shows in case one craps out? Is this legal?

I would hate to think that if you loose a drive that you have to RIP every disc again, that could take weeks.

What do y'all do in cases like this?

Lone Wolf

Make sure you have USB2.0 in your computers. Not sure how many songs you have to work with, I transferred 14K songs from my backup to my main in less than 3 hours. When I did it on my USB 1 machine it took almost 20 hours.

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300,000 songs takes a bit longer..

Copy them overnight..

Well it finally got done after 15 hours. I have over 50gig of stuff

I'm taking it that y'all also have master files on a desk top 'puter!

Y'all didn't address the multiple copy question so I'm guessing that as long as you are not using it for public use its OK.

L.W.

15 hours is a bit much.. Firewire or USB 2.0 should be faster..

Okay, I'll answer your question about multiple copies - after format shifting everything from CDG to a hard drive, you then apparently can have a backup copy of your karaoke recordings on a second hard drive (in addition to the one you take to your shows, and who in their right mind doesn't do this after all the time it takes to rip???)...Question of legality arises when you run TWO shows with one set of music (simultaneously). You legally should have a hard copy (CDG) of every song you have on your system... and may use one system playing that set of music at a time.

Of course there are a gazillion opinions about this but the above is what I have gleaned from the most reliable sources I know (not from those who have been scared stiff and intimidated by big companies out of format shifting to a computer, {and these people still exist}...nor those who have a pirated collection of 80,000+ songs).

All of us using computer based systems had to do that horrid ripping job when we got started but amen, brotha, it is much easier job than pulling CDGs all night.

k

You didn't bring up mul;tiple copies vs shows. 1 set of original cdgs per computer per show to be 'legal' - if that is possible even with a 1:1 ratio. More shows ran at the same time with less than one set of origianls to back up the computers being run is illegal. Make a backup for storage only, nothing more.

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i have my backup copy on a external drive placed in my safety deposit box,at the bank just in case there is a fire or some other disaster, i have insurance but ripping all those tracks again is very time consuming......i update it a couple of times a year...cal

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I have tons of back up. I have 2 copies of each hard drive I carry with me to shows. I have a external back up at home. I also have everything on internal hard drives.

Right now my karaoke is 165 gig Music is 230 gig and music videos are 3 Tb.

That is a lot to lose.

Back that puppy up..

Just so you know,

internal bus speed on most modern computers is faster than USB 2.0.

If I EVER had to redo my whole library and do it quickly, I'd unplug any IDE drive not needed and boot up with the new hard drive as my secondary unit... do the internal transfer, and then power down, unplug the hard drive, and put it back the way it was.

That's good advice.. Just make sure they are on different cables. (Faster that way.)

Ok I understand that internal ide is faster and it's easy to unplug one not used at the moment and plug another one in but are you saying that you do not use USB to your laptop? or do you have an ide to usb converter or just what? OR are you using a stand alone ide drive with its own power supply. Just a little confused on this one.

L.W.

p.s lots of good answers to this question about 2nd drives, backups, and such

No, I DO use an external USB for my backup. I'm saying if I had to copy a 500GB hard drive, I'd hook it up internally to do so, or run off the external for immediate needs.

oh, and I use a desktop rather than laptop... MUCH easier to reconfigure if you need to!

Thanks Knightshow you had me a little confused there.

You use a desk top for your shows? Is'nt that a little bulky to have to
lug around?

L.W.

yes, but I don't have to mess with an external drive (although I do bring one just in case)... To me it's worth it, and more than once I had to open that sucker up to work on it.

Please understand that I am not CURRENTLY running shows, but I did it for almost three years with this computer.

On my table, on the far left side, I have the tower unit, and on it sits my lcd screen. I also use a mouse on that as well. Next to that is my mixer/fader; keyboard in front of it, and as I make custom singer screens, I'm always using it! Next to that is the road case that USED to have not only my amp, but my jvc triple tray, an EQ and on top of that was my wireless mic setup. (Also used to have another player, a RSQ DVD, but that was a short lived time. I also used to lug in Pioneer Laser Players!) For my recent show I did, I only have the RSQ player, the wireless mic receiver, and the amp in the road case.

The pic in my albulm shows my roadcase. I lightened it up on my computer and you can clearly see the triple tray stacked in the case. Not worth the trouble to reload it though... as I no longer have that same setup, not in the same area, etc.

Anyway, I digress... to me, the computer is about functionality. I have NEVER liked laptops, mostly because if there's a problem, they're not easy to crack open and adjust things.

[font=verdana] Before this computer I am using now, I had a IBM Net Vista. It was only about 3” high and about 14/15” square. It would fit very nicely into my Gator 10x6 case. I have been thinking about finding another one for my karaoke setup, because like you, I don’t like laptops. I would really have to get with a host that runs computer karaoke, to see how this all works, but from what I’ve learned on this forum, it is the way to go.

I can't imagine packing a tower in and out of venues. Seems I have enough to pack as is, and I have a rather small setup. I did purchase a hand cart yesterday to put the stuff on when I unload, then I can just wheel it in, instead of carrying it in a piece at a time and making so many trips. Now if I can just find room in the Pontiac for it when all the karaoke gear is loaded.... [/font]

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Blue Rose Classic Karaoke
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Okay, I'm a full time DJ who's been collecting music for years, and I don't have (nor need) anywhere close to this much music. Karaoke is at roughly 60GB while music sits at around 30GB, which includes a lot of my own CDs not purchased or used for DJing. I can't see ever needing that much music for a show of any kind. And 3TB of videos? Wow. My hat's off.

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hi-voxentertainment

We use a PC shuttle with Hoster - about the size of a 2-slice toaster. Very compact and easy to transport. We use a 17-inch monitor with a cordless keyboard and mouse. (Chose cordless because using powered speakers, we have ENOUGH cords and cables hanging around)... However, Just have to make sure we have AAAs available for the keyboard and mouse.

i have been running my shows off of a gateway laptop it works fine though i am still not a vista fan...but if i had it to do over i would build me a rackmount system just like keith 02 did if fits right into your road case, something goes out on it easy to repair. then all you need is a wireless keyboard and mouse your set to go. the nice thing about building your own is you can get exactly what you want, hard drive size, sound card, video card, ram etc,etc. you can go high dollar or stay on a budget and still get great pc that will do everything you need for dj or kj work....cal.......heres what a typical rack system starts with...http://circotech.com/rm-4190-19--4u-rac ... -case.html

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cal's quote:"the best things in life are free, yet those things are priceless"