HELP! So many images, so difficult to find the one I want.

[SSonnentag]

I'm looking for some software that lets me keep track of what DVD my images are on. I'd like to be able to do key word searches. I want to be able assign certain key words to an image or a directory and then have some sort of database lookup return which DVD/directory/file matches my query. Any ideas?

Shawn

[apb]

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/6221

I would recommend a great piece of shareware for OS X & OS 9 - DiskTracker.

It's not the prettiest, but it's very solid and functional.


andy

[S_Leeper]

I did some research awhile back & ended up getting IMatch...
Unfortunately, I have yet to invest the time to learn how to use it. But, I seem to remember that keeping track of images on removable data storage was a feature.

[SSonnentag]

Thanks, I'll look into IMatch. They claim to support the Fuji RAF format. We'll see....

I don't have a Mac, so Disk Tracker probably can't help me, but someone else might be able to make use of it and this thread. :)

Shawn

[crabby]

Shawn,
I use Extensis Portfolio http://www.extensis.com/portfolio/index.html?ref=hp It's powerful yet very easy to use. It can also use the thumbnail embedded in raw files and show the EXIF data. Downside, it cost $200.

Mike

[jknights]

I would recommend iMatch.
Support is also very good and responds well to email questions.

It is relatively cheap very powerrful and the Yahoo forum is very active with loads of helpful people (Just like here):)

I used to use CantoCumulus but it was not so good.

[Paperboy]

I like an earlier version of iview..... but I'm not sure it will point to the right disk. Their newest version might. www.iview-multimedia.com

There is also Canto Cumulus..... free demo at www.canto.com, works for all flavors of OS's, even UNIX. ( <--- yeah, I know it's powerful and all, but it's still a four letter word for me)

But I have found CD's and DVD's a pain to deal with. I do burn for back up, but not for access. With the price of hard drive's these days, I find it more convenient and faster to dedicate a 120 GB (or whatever suits your needs) drive for images, for instant access and retrieval, faster loading AND.... no need to put away. (I am so lazy!!)

I tinkered with mirrored RAIDs for safety, but in the end I just double burned back up CD's / DVD's to keep it simple.

As a bonus these apps will catalog not just pics, but also videos, and other documents.

[Wichita Wayne]

I really like it for general picture management.

http://www.cerious.com

you can also use it to view RAW files (imbeded JPG) and launch images in PS, Photopaint, or the EX converter

[etompos]

I don't use CD's or DVD's for backup--they can't be trusted. I've created too many CD's and DVD's that seemed to burn correct yet they did not work. Plus I have CDR's that are 5+ years old and they are 'difficult' to read even with the best CD-ROM drive.

Hard drives are so cheap, fast, and reliable. Throw in a cheap RAID controller, like the Adaptec ATA RAID 1200A ($70), some removable drive slots ($20 each), and you have real-time backup without the hassle of dozens of CDR's.

When a drive fills up, you can document the contents for free using DOS commands. Create a batch file '.bat' extension which contains the following command:
DIR [DRIVE LETTER]:\ /S /A:D >> "out.txt"
Replace [Drive Letter] with the letter of the drive to be indexed. Remove the '/A:D' if you want the index to show all files (the code above only indexs the subdirectories). The file names are indexed to a text file in the same directory as the batch file. Print the file and store it with the removed HD.

I've use this in the past to document the contents of CDR's and HD's. Work's great and it's free, but does solve your problem when you have an archive spanning many CDR's.