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rei101

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 24, 2011
976
1
Hi

I have 6 external drives, in each drive I have some 3 to 6 tv shows episodes, each one on its folder.

Now, each show has about 150 episodes of one hour in SD. And when they sent the episodes they saved different amount of episodes on each drive. I mean, the episodes for each TV show are not contained into one drive but spread.

Drive 1:
Show A: 1 to 20 episodes
Show B: 6 to 30 episodes
Show C: 36 to 45 episodes

Drive 2:
Show A: 21 to 95 episodes
Show B: 1 to 5 episodes
Show C: 11 to 35 episodes

And so on...

Each show is about 1.6 TB total when complete and the drives have barely 90MB of free space, no headroom to move entire folders, it is better to move file by file.

I need a way to make the computer to transfer each show and consolidate them into one folder, to put A in one drive, B in another and C in another.

Is there a way to automate with Automator or any other software?

I bet there is a brilliant mind here who knows about it.

Thank you!
 

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,071
15,492
California
If I understand what you are asking, that is not possible without either deleting or moving something off the destination drive to free up enough space for the added files.
 

rei101

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 24, 2011
976
1
If I understand what you are asking, that is not possible without either deleting or moving something off the destination drive to free up enough space for the added files.

Yes, the original content need to be deleted after it has been transfered, simultaneously.
 

onekerato

macrumors regular
Jun 6, 2011
222
1
What you need is a bash/perl/python/ruby scripting guru... moving files across disks, looping one by one through each incorrectly located file is delicate business and puts your data at risk. If you don't have a backup of this content, IMHO it's not worth attempting to restructure the folder contents in "one pass" because it's easy to clobber data when working through a script. You should at least employ a small fast disk to hold backup of files that are in transit.

If you don't find a guru, you can still dump the list of the files into Excel and generate a sequence of move commands to run through the Terminal.

When it's so easy to buy, beg, borrow or steal an extra HDD these days, I don't see why you'd go down the scripting route though.
 

rei101

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 24, 2011
976
1
What you need is a bash/perl/python/ruby scripting guru... moving files across disks, looping one by one through each incorrectly located file is delicate business and puts your data at risk. If you don't have a backup of this content, IMHO it's not worth attempting to restructure the folder contents in "one pass" because it's easy to clobber data when working through a script. You should at least employ a small fast disk to hold backup of files that are in transit.

If you don't find a guru, you can still dump the list of the files into Excel and generate a sequence of move commands to run through the Terminal.

When it's so easy to buy, beg, borrow or steal an extra HDD these days, I don't see why you'd go down the scripting route though.

Thank you.

I am in Venezuela and hard drive is as expensive as buying a new mac pro. The inflation this year went %500+.

But thank you about the excel thing. I have been moving the files myself but it has been tricky.
 

onekerato

macrumors regular
Jun 6, 2011
222
1
I am in Venezuela and hard drive is as expensive as buying a new mac pro. The inflation this year went %500+.

O.M.G. And then I googled, and I think you made a typo! Venezuela inflation at 50% yoy. It's still pretty bad though... all the very best.
 

rei101

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 24, 2011
976
1
O.M.G. And then I googled, and I think you made a typo! Venezuela inflation at 50% yoy. It's still pretty bad though... all the very best.

To fill up you gas tank with 91 octane is..... 11 cents! The price of the gas hasn't increased at all.

Fast food places cost $2. The thing is that the inflation this year was huge! and if I sell each dollar in the black market I can take the advantage of the difference.

But when it comes to imported equipment, those prices are basically the double than in the US because they are not regulated. Not to mention that studios have to charge in local currency and trying to save to get new equipment.
 
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