I need some help working with folders on external hard drives

I'm currently working on renaming the folders and the episodes for my Anime shows hard drive and need a bit of help.

I am trying to add more information to the folders area. So when I click on the main Anime folder and see a "Details" style of folders I would see a list of folders that are named the title of the show and then the year like this (####) and then there is currently only Comments which is the plot for the show which I started using StyleFolder last night to help place the comments on the folders. I was wondering is there a way to add things like "Year", "Genre" and the setting for "Complete" as well as :File Count" so I can see how many files are inside each folder or if there are more then 1 season per folder I could put (2) for how many folders and then inside the show folder place the number of files per season folder is anything like this possible.

So it would look like this: I would open Anime and see "Checkbox - Name", "Comments", "Genre", "Year", "Complete", File Count".

Is it possible to edit this information on windows 11 file explorer or is there a free program where I can edit the folder information so how. I am using "StyleFolder" to add the desktop.ini file with the comment section but I don't know how to edit the files to add more information to the folders. Is there any other free programs that could also help do the same thing.

I also use mp3tag to edit the file information so editing the mp4 files is not all that hard but its mostly for mp3 not mp4 but I can change the cover art and add Genre and Title and I could use the "Show Name as Album Name" I guess and year as well. I could even add things like "Track as episode number" but it would show up as track on the folder and not episode number I guess. So is there a way to customize the folders for specific hard drive or flash drives.

Plus another quick question that might be a bit simpler to answer how and where do I store icons for the folders so I can move the hard drives from 1 pc to another.

Example I am changing the icons with StyleFolder I have the cover art for about10 shows so far I will be changing the cover art for the episodes with mp3tag and then I will use the same image to make folder icons and then change the folder icon to the cover art icon. Now do I save the icons in 1 size in one icon or do I need to save multiple sizes inside 1 folder. And do I need to store the icons inside each Show folder or inside a folder just called Icons. I'm still pretty new to this and am still working the kinks out I guess.

So basically I want to know how and where to store the icons and I also want to know how to add more information to the folders area. I know how to go to right click and add the things by using the check boxes for mp4 but its hard to figure out how to add the information to the areas. StyleFolder helped add the plot to the comments section but that is as far as I have gotten.

I know you did not ask for this, but have you looked into free media library management software. That possible does auto renaming files, checking on imdb, download auto the covers and description, filling in the missing tag values that you can do in mp3tag, way less manaul things to do. It functions as well as a media server and can stream to other devices in house.
jellyfin.org (video)
mediamonkey.com (more music then video, but a lot of automation and possiblitities).

Reads like a multitude of different threads in your post.

No, I don’t think half (or more) of what you ask is possible using Windows File Explorer. Not that I am aware of anyway.
You would be better off installing Plex as a media server.
Within Plex there are a multitude of options available to sort, categorise, rename etc etc etc. The best part is that you usually don’t need to do a thing because after pointing Plex to your media drive, Plex will download episode and season information from online databases and sort and add etc everything on its own.
Plex will also show information about each episode including voice actors for your Anime… usually.
Also, you wouldn’t need to move the external from PC to PC as you would just connect to the media server that is on the main PC

For instance:



Then you can click on a season, in there will be info on the season, from there you can click on an episode, in there will be info for the episode etc etc

I hope that helps, I got lost in your post.

dawn121988 said:

So it would look like this: I would open Anime and see "Checkbox - Name", "Comments", "Genre", "Year", "Complete", File Count".

Click to expand...

Add More attributes in Details view..., they all exist...

dawn121988 said:

So basically I want to know how and where to store the icons

Click to expand...

I would store them each in their respective folders so that when you move folders around, the path doesn't get broken...

Plex or Emby are your best choices.

I think I might be willing to give plex another try for the full movies and TV shows and anime shows. Once I get the info all corrected per episode and show and movie info. I normally just open the file explorer and click on the show and go from there I never really open things like plex often enough to remember how to use it and set it up. Since each show needs to be set correctly the same for movies.

I think I will setup each hard drive and then go from there. I will make sure the seasons are full for the shows no longer airing and the show with full seasons and then I will update there info and try setting up plex on my Windows 10 desktop PC and use it for running the media to my HDMI TV 32" I plan to place on the wall above the desk.

This way I can have plex on the desktop PC instead of needing to open it on the laptop every time I plan to watch something. This should make it easier.

This way I will edit the files on the laptop and then move them to the hard drives/Flash Drives to view on the desktop.

This way I will have the older desktop just to run the media stuff once I have them edited.

I will also make sure that plex is saved on the taskbar. This way I don't click on file explorer to view files and there info once there moved to the hard drives/flash drives. I hope this makes sense.