Index offline storage?

[Nill Toulme]

I just installed one of those little eSATA docks that lets you plug in a 2TB hard drive more or less like a floppy disk (remember those?), and moved 900GB of archived RAW files offline. Two copies will now live in a drawer in my office and one copy offsite, and I will only pull them out when I get a print order from a old shoot or something like that.

Here's the question: Will BB Pro let me generate and keep online a complete index of all those files, complete with thumbs? If not, are there other recommended apps that will? I don't need keywording.

Thanks,

Nill

[cppcodeguru]

Hello,

I am using iMatch http://www.photools.com that can do it, the feature is called Removeable Media Handling:
http://www.photools.com/im0002.php

Andreas.

[Nill Toulme]

Thanks Andreas!

Nill

[DavidB]

Just for completeness, BB Pro does not maintain any form of file index. As often discussed in this forum, this is both a good and a bad thing.

In the Adobe lineup, Lightroom has very good facilities for handling images in offline media; for instance it can store quite large previews in its database. But if you don't want Lightroom's RAW file handling capabilities, IMatch is much cheaper.

David

[Nill Toulme]

Yikes... how long is 46,988 minutes? That's how long iMatch says it's going to take to index that drive. :eek:

Nill

[DavidB]

Yikes... how long is 46,988 minutes? That's how long iMatch says it's going to take to index that drive. :eek:
Now you know why BB Pro doesn't have an indexing function :).

Lightroom works considerably faster, particularly on a high spec. machine, as it can take advantage both of multiple core processors and a 64 bit OS. But, again, it's the cost ...

David

[cppcodeguru]

Yikes... how long is 46,988 minutes? That's how long iMatch says it's going to take to index that drive. :eek:

Nill

You could enable "Fixed Size" in "Options\Preferences\Off-Line Cache" instead of "Relative" so that iMatch could use the thumbnails stored in the RAWs.
This may help.

Andreas.

[Nill Toulme]

Thanks Andreas. I bet that will help. So, no doubt, will getting a eSATA interface for my dock instead of the USB 2.0 I'm using presently.

Nill

[Nill Toulme]

Fixed Size was already set by default. :-(

Nill

[cppcodeguru]

Fixed Size was already set by default. :-(

Nill

What is your USB 2.0 transfer rate if you are not using iMatch (e.g. in TotalCommander or explorer)? Are you using XP, Vista or Windows 7?
Where did you store your Offline-Cache (is it a fast drive)? You could configure all Paths in the Options Menu.

Did you try to import without Off-Line Cache? You could also build/rebuild the cache later, if all pictures are in the database.

In your case with a lot (>100000) of pictures iMatch recommends to build more than one database.

You could try to import only a few pictures to test where the problem is.

I hope I could help you,
Andreas