STICKY: LOST LIBRARY after upgrading Frostwire

[Only A Hobo]

LOST LIBRARY

If you have installed Frostwire 5 after using Frostwire 4 your files that were previously in your Saved and Shared files will still be there but will not appear in Frostwire and can not be shared in their present form in Frostwire 5. You can add the files to your Frostwire Library, if you wish, by moving them to your Torrent Data Folder which is, by default, next to your old Saved and Shared Folders. However, at the time of writing, 14 August 2011, in Frostwire 5.0.8, the Frostwire Library is not as user friendly as it was in earlier versions of Frostwire and is hard to locate files, or folders. All this is set to change in the near future. The player is now different and vastly improved. A new and well laid out Library will be released in the near future.

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The following applies mostly to earlier Frostwire versions, but may help to locate the files in your old saved and shared folders

If you have upgraded your Frostwire You may find your Library has disappeared. Do not panic. The following should explain and help you get your Library back.

In previous versions of Frostwire prior to 4.17.0, the default location for downloads or saved files was the shared folder, which meant that your downloads would go straight into your library.

Now the save folder and share folder are different folders and your downloads made with the old version will most likely be found in your old save/shared folder.

The old location, in Frostwire 4.13, of the save AND shared folder was the same
in Windows C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_NAME\Shared
in Mac HD>Users>YOUR_NAME>shared
.... and that may be where your "missing" files are.

In Frostwire 4.17.0 and later The save folder is
in Windows C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_NAME\My Documents\FrostWire\Saved
in Mac HD>users>YOUR_NAME>Frostwire>saved

BUT the Shared folder is
in Windows C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_NAME\My Documents\FrostWire\Shared
In Mac HD>users?YOUR_NAME>Frostwire>Shared

To get your old save/shared folder to show in the Frostwire Library Go to Frostwire>Tools>Options>Sharing>Basic>Add and browse for the folder click Apply and OK

To get your new downloads to show in the Library an easy way is to go to Preferences or Tools>options>sharing>basic>add and browse for your new save folder click apply and OK. Alternatively, you can move the files from your save folder to your shared folder once you are sure they are OK to share .. which is probably a better way to do it since there is so much sub standard and mislabeled stuff kicking around the network.

You can alternatively change your save and share locations to your old save/shared folder if you wish.

If you cannot find your old files, try searching for files. Type mp3 or a song by name in Mac's finder or in Windows by clicking Start > search [I think .. I am not a windows user], but there is a possibility they may be hidden, so do enable "show hidden files and folders" before panicking.

If you really can not find your files, there is a small possibility they may have been saved in the Frostwire program files folder, which should not have happened, and they MIGHT have become deleted. Download Recuva or Restoration which will find deleted files.

Another program for file recovery was recommended by VirginyM, for which many thanks, who said:
"I've used Recuva before. It hasn't found all my deleted files. Advanced File Recovery arguably works the best.I say it, because this program helped me to recover my deleted term paper and some valuable photos."

I hope this helps. Do feel free to add any comments.

[AlleyCat]

Click on Start >Run then type %homepath% into the box, this takes you to the Frostwire folder where your shared files folder is. Create a shortcut for this folder on your desktop so you can do what you want with them anytime after > Highlight the shared file folder, Click on File, select send to 'desktop create a shortcut'.
Alternatively, Click on Start > select Search> then type in one of your song filenames. Right click on the file when found then click on Open containing folder. Create a shortcut as above.

[rockeee]

I tried your second option but when I open the containing folder the file in question was a 1KB shortcut file.

[Only A Hobo]

rockee

Please see your other thread viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5468&p=20012#p20012 and keep the topic there .. to save confusion.

Thanks

[todd]

I'v lost a whole folder, once my downloads r finished they go to frostwire (which is full of program info), not shared the shared folder has completely vanished!!! Please help!!!

[Only A Hobo]

Please tell us your Operating System and service pack# if appropriate and Frostwire Version.

Have you updated FRostwire from previous Versions.

Please Go to Tools > Options > Saving > Save Folder and tell us the location given.

Also Please do this for Tools > Options > Sharing

Please explain "they go to frostwire (which is full of program info)," in a bit more detail .. are you talking about the Frostwire library, and in which folder location in the library?

When installing did you choose a new location for Saving or did you use the default location?

[tidoz]

Please tell us your Operating System and service pack# if appropriate and Frostwire Version.

Have you updated FRostwire from previous Versions.

Please Go to Tools > Options > Saving > Save Folder and tell us the location given.

Also Please do this for Tools > Options > Sharing

Please explain "they go to frostwire (which is full of program info)," in a bit more detail .. are you talking about the Frostwire library, and in which folder location in the library?

When installing did you choose a new location for Saving or did you use the default location?

when i installed 4.18.3 i just choose the default folder as saving my music, i usually dont play with these things but my music are gone and all the advice given i still cant find my songs so i dont know what else to do.

[chibi_kaikai]

I previously had this problem, but I randomly got my library back without doing anything.... My current problem is that the only files in my frostwire folder is "Plugins". I have no saved or shared file... Other than that, frostwire is running well. Please help? I have a Windows 7 Laptop and am using Frostwire 4.21.1 I am very confused as to what's going on... Please help?

[Humanoid]

Hi chibi, the Plugins folder should be located in Program Files\FrostWire (along with other important data files that allow the program to work),
whereas the saving folders default location is Documents\FrostWire..
Be sure to check or adjust if you wish in Tools > Options > Saving that your saving paths are where they should be.

[chibi_kaikai]

Hi chibi, the Plugins folder should be located in Program Files\FrostWire (along with other important data files that allow the program to work),
whereas the saving folders default location is Documents\FrostWire..
Be sure to check or adjust if you wish in Tools > Options > Saving that your saving paths are where they should be.

Thank you for responding.
I tried to adjust, but it still seems as if there is no save file...
I'm not sure what else to do than what I already tried.
In the documents frostwire folder there are only these folders: Incomplete, Store Purchased, and Torrents.
And all of the folders are empty even though I know I atleast have some incomplete files. I AM SO CONFUSED.
I'm probably doing something stupid here, but for the life of me I still can't figure it out.
Please help?

[Only A Hobo]

Please go to tools > options > saving > save folder and tell us the exact path for the save folder.


If you have any downloaded files, please find them in the library highlight one and click explore. Where does that take you?

[laauura]

i have lost the saved folder in my frostwire folder now there's only the 'incomplete' and 'torrents' left. Is there a way to get it back? Beacause now i have no music files.

[Only A Hobo]

@laauura,

Please can you say if you are looking in your Frostwire Folder in the Frostwire library, or in your Frostwire file folder which will be in users > your name, or possibly name > Downloads or My Documents. (This depends on your Operating System.

Please tell us your Operating System and Frostwire exact Frostwire version (Help > About). Have you used a previous Frostwire version before and upgraded?

Is there a "shared" folder visible?

Please go to Frostwire > Tools > Options > Saving > Save Folder. What does it say in the box?

Please make a search on your computer for mp3 files and see if they show up.

[larpas]

It's nice that now I can have my saved and torrents going to my F Drive but a short time after the Torrent downloads completely it disappears from where I saved it (even though I saw it when it downloaded). I do a search on my computer and the video is nowhere to be found. Unfortunately a lot of videos I'm trying to download can only be found on Torrents and not the regular Video search area. And it's hard to try and redownload something you had downloaded alreadly. I had set up Frost Wire to delete completed downloads on Frost Wire to get rid of the clutter. I had changed it to not delete completed downloads but I hadn't tried it with Torrents yet, which I will shortly. I don't have problems with downloads of regular videos (non torrents) disapperaing after they are done downloading onto my F Drive.

I hope the next version fixes this problem if the example of the not to delete completed Torrent downloads works to keep them long enough to check if the video is okay and transfer it to somewhere it won't disappear from.

[Only A Hobo]

We have become aware of this and a few Pre-release versions are being released. If you would like to take this for a test drive please do and let us know how you get on. FrostWire 4.21.7 - RC 2 (Please Test)