Recorded TV AutoCopy Service
- How Does AutoCopy Work?
- Configuring AutoCopy
- AutoCopy Rule Editor
- Series Names and the SeriesInfo Database
How Does AutoCopy Work?
The Recorded TV AutoCopy Service is a Windows Service Application (What's this?) which runs whenever the Host is running.
The AutoCopy Service is installed when the Console is installed, and must be configured before it will function properly.
The AutoCopy Service monitors all the "Media Center" folders in the Folder List for these events
- Create Event - A Create Event occurs (fires) whenever Media Center finishes a new recording. The event does not fire until the recording is complete and the file is released by Media Center.
- Delete Event - A Delete Event occurs (fires) whenever a recorded TV file is deleted from a Media Center folder.
You use the AutoCopy Rule Editor to define AutoCopy rules to respond to those events:
- OnCreate Rule - An OnCreate rule rule applies to a specific series and is used to move (and collect) the series to a different folder in the Folder List.
- OnDelete Rule - An OnDelete rule applies to a specific series. See Collection Scenarios in the Windows Home Server Add-in documentation for some examples of ways to use OnDelete rules.
- OnCreateAny Rule - An OnCreateAny rule applies to all new recordings in a Media Center Folder. This rule is used to move everything to an alternate location. This is the basis of the AutoMove function in the Windows Home Server Add-in. A series-specific OnCreate rule always takes precedence over an OnCreateAny rule.
Existing Recordings
When you first define AutoCopy rules and then turn on the AutoCopy service, any existing recordings will NOT be moved because the Create event only occurs for new recordings. Use Recorded TV Manager 3 to move existing recordings.
When a new recording fires an associated OnCreate rule and there is an OnDelete rule also defined (and enabled) for the same series, the following implicit event rules are applied:
- If the location of the new recording is the same as the destination folder of the OnDelete rule, and if there are no other recordings of this series in the destination folder of the OnDelete rule, then the new recording will be left in place. Otherwise, the new recording will be moved or copied as defined by the OnCreate rule for this series.
- If the location of the new recording is different than the destination folder of the OnDelete rule, and there are no other recordings of this series in the destination folder of the OnDelete rule, then the new recording will be moved to the destination folder of the OnDelete rule. Otherwise, the new recording will be moved or copied as defined by the OnCreate event for this series.
Configuring AutoCopy
Important: The AutoCopy service is installed for the local machine only. To access network shares it is necessary to first configure the Log On account for AutoCopy. The Log On account is the user account that the AutoCopy service will run under, which must have administrative privilege, and it must have a password.
To set the Log On account for AutoCopy, in the Console, on the AutoCopy menu, select Configure AutoCopy... to start the Windows Services application. Scroll down to Recorded TV AutoCopy Service and double-click to open the Properties dialog.
Important: If the service is Running, Stop it first before configuring the Log On account.
Select the Log On tab. The default setting is Local System Account which will only support moving files to other folders and disks on the local machine.
To set the Log On account for the AutoCopy service, click This Account and then click Browse... which will open the Select User dialog.
Enter the User name in the textbox, as in "user1" above, and then click OK. The user account must have Administrative privilege and it must be password protected. It is recommended that this be the same user account that the Console is running under.
You may also click Advanced... and then click Find Now to get a list of user accounts. Select the user account from the list and click OK.
The account name will be prefixed with a dot-backslash (.\) which is required system notation. Note that although the Password fields are filled in, these are NOT the correct passwords. Enter and confirm the password for the account, and then click Apply.
Select the General tab. Click Start to start the AutoCopy service with the new service Log On. Click OK and then close the Windows Services application.
You can also Start/Stop the AutoCopy service from the AutoCopy menu in the Console
Problems starting the service are usually caused by:
- The selected user account does not exist or does not have Administrative privilege.
- The selected user account is not password protected.
- The password was entered incorrectly.
To verify that the AutoCopy service has started, from the View menu in the Console, select Activity Log... Select All Activity from the drop-down menu.
Note that PATH is the file path to the Recorded TV Manager data files on the Host machine. For more information, see PATH Variable.
AutoCopy Rule Editor
Use the AutoCopy Rule Editor to create and modify AutoCopy Rules. In the Console, from the AutoCopy menu select Rule Editor...
Note that un-checking the checkmark next to a rule will disable the rule. To permanently remove a rule from the list, use the Remove button.
To create an AutoCopy rule:
- Open the AutoCopy Rule Editor and click New...
- Select a condition: OnCreateAny, OnCreate or OnDelete
- Select an action: Move or Copy to a specified folder.
- Click the underlined links in the Rule Description to select the specifics of the rule.
- Click OK to close new rule dialog and then click OK again to close the editor, save the rule and refresh the AutoCopy service.
Series Names and the SeriesInfo Database
When selecting the series name, select from the list of known series. The list of "known" series is provided by the SeriesInfo Database.
If the series has never been recorded before (since Recorded TV Manager was installed), it will not appear in this list. Use the SeriesInfo Database Editor in Recorded TV Manager 3 to manually add the series to the list. After the first recording of the new series, it will be automatically added to the list.
See Populating the SeriesInfo Database for additional information.