If you’re looking for a way to record to one drive and move it to another, perhaps recording to a local disk then moving it to a network storage drive, then DVRMSToolbox may just provide the solution you’re looking for. Using the FileWatcher service and the right processing conditions you can setup a process to automatically move your recordings to another location.

To get started you’ll need to download and install DVRMSToolbox from Andy VT’s blog. This handy little program can go a long way toward enhancing the behind the scenes experience of your Windows 7 Media Center. During installation be sure to enable the FileWatcher service to be installed as it will be required to automatically process new files added during the operation of Media Center.

Once you’ve got DVRMSToolbox installed run the DVRMStoMPEG Settings application from the programs menu. Select the FileWatcher tab and make sure that your desired “scratch” disk is being watched. This is also the location you should set as the default recording location inside Windows 7 Media Center. Under Watched Ext you should also be sure that .wtv is listed as a file type to watch.

Next we need to create a profile to move files from the recording location to the storage location. Select the DVRMSToolbox tab and press the New Profile button on the bottom. Give the profile and name and description then press the Add button on the right and select Durrant.Plugins.FileOperation and Durrant.Plugins.FileSizeWait. Press the Select button to continue.

A configuration dialog will appear for each plugin. Configure the File Operation to Move the Input File to your storage drive location as shown below. The FileSizeWait operation can keep the default settings.

After you’ve configured each plugin make sure that the FileSizeWait plugin is listed first in the profile. This will ensure that the recording has finished before trying to move the file. You can change the order by selecting the entry and using the Up and Down buttons located at the bottom. Then Save this new profile.

Afterward, Save your settings with the Save button at the bottom and then open Process Condition Editor from the programs menu. Then create a new condition by pressing the New Condition button on the right hand side.

Now enter a description for this new condition and select the new profile you just created from the dropdown box. Below that you’ll see an empty box and a few buttons on the right. Click the Add button to establish a set of rules to check on each file picked up by FileWatcher.

For example, to move all .wtv files, which are the default recorded TV format, add a FileExt equals .wtv condition. This will move all .wtv files to your storage location unless you define more conditions. When FileWatcher determines that all the conditions are true the profile you’ve selected will be executed. Save your conditions to return to the condition editor.

If using DVRMSToolbox for other things you’ll likely want to ensure that files are moved to storage last. Use the Raise and Lower Priority buttons on the right to move the new condition to the bottom of the list then hit the Save button.

That should be all there is to it! If everything has gone correctly FileWatcher will routinely check your recorded TV location for new recordings then move them to a permanent storage location once they’ve completed. Check out this guide for details on using a Ram Disk as a recording scratch drive!