rom duplicates

[kernzy]

one of my computers has a very small hard drive, and i am forced to use it from time to time.
i need to conglomerate all mame's roms into one folder, for ease of access.
so, when i add new roms for newer MAMES, i will get duplicate roms, i.e., kungfum (1). does the bracketed number make a difference to the rom itself? or will it run normally?
things are messed up on this computer. (the one that resets to desktop every so often!)
i even had MAME exe's deleted as i used them! playing a game for 30 seconds, then it freezes, reset MAME, and the MAME exe. was gone! tried another MAME, and it deleted that, too!! weird.
cheers guys!

[mahlemiut]

so, when i add new roms for newer MAMES, i will get duplicate roms, i.e., kungfum (1). does the bracketed number make a difference to the rom itself? or will it run normally?

Usually, applications will add a '(1)' or similar to a filename if the original filename already exists. MAME will only look at the romset zip (and parent romset zipfile, if applicable), so kungfum(1).zip won't mean anything to MAME.
Your options are to either replace the old zipfile with the new one, or extract the files from the new zipfile and add them to the old zipfile. If you replace them, however, it is possible that the new zipfile won't work with older versions of MAME. This possibility is reduced if you extract the files from the new zipfile and put them in the old one.

things are messed up on this computer. (the one that resets to desktop every so often!)
i even had MAME exe's deleted as i used them! playing a game for 30 seconds, then it freezes, reset MAME, and the MAME exe. was gone! tried another MAME, and it deleted that, too!! weird.
cheers guys!

Your system is very weird. MAME does not delete itself. Sounds like you need a new PC.

[kernzy]

absolutely!!