# Setup a testing beets in a don’t-change-anything configuration?

**URL:** https://discourse.beets.io/t/setup-a-testing-beets-in-a-don-t-change-anything-configuration/930
**Category:** Help
**Created:** [September 23, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/setup-a-testing-beets-in-a-don-t-change-anything-configuration/930 "2019-09-23T14:53:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 7

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![evand](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.beets.io/evand/32/238_2.png) [@evand](https://discourse.beets.io/u/evand)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/setup-a-testing-beets-in-a-don-t-change-anything-configuration/930/7 "2020-01-01T21:41:27Z")

</div>

One way to be certain no changes can be written to the underlying files is to mount the drives read-only. I do feel the documentation could be little more explicit on how beets behaves where command line parameters vs the config file is concerned.

> [@Beets import vs reimport and command line vs config.yaml](https://discourse.beets.io/t/beets-import-vs-reimport-and-command-line-vs-config-yaml/770/2):
>
> No. It says that it would move your files if you have copying enabled. But you have disabled it with -C (and also in your config). The command line takes precedence. It seems so, with your configuration. But if I were you, I’d make a backup just to be safe. Nope—that’s exactly why we added the log file option, to cover this use case. The “normal” use case in this situation would be to move the files that get imported to another directory, so only the files that are left behind have been s…

---

_[View the full topic](https://discourse.beets.io/t/setup-a-testing-beets-in-a-don-t-change-anything-configuration/930)._
