4 Replies Latest reply: Sep 12, 2008 12:22 PM by Dorin Nicolaescu-Musteață RSS

    Can't stack images from different directories...

    hrh gracie Community Member
      Not a HUGE problem, but one that's a bit disappointing... In Windows, I'm using the DAM methodology from Peter Krough, and it puts my RAW files into a series of date-ended buckets. And my derivatives (.psd, .jpg, etc) files in separate directories - also date-ended, but not in the same physical directory(s) as the RAW files. It would be nice to be able to stack an image regardless of what the file physicall resides.

      They're all loaded into the catalog, so it seems to me that if we're trying to treat images as distinct from the physical storage locations, it would be convenient to stack the derivates with the "master"...
        • 1. Re: Can't stack images from different directories...
          Dorin Nicolaescu-Musteață Community Member
          What's the point of using 'buckets'? Making it easy to backup to separate DVD disks? If yes, I think it's a little a thing of the past and makes life harder instead of simpler, as a good DAM workflow should.
          • 2. Re: Can't stack images from different directories...
            Anthony.Ralph Community Member
            The point is...

            Assuming I have a folder which is filled with sufficient RAW/DNG images to fill a DVD, I move onto a fresh folder set up as per Peter Krogh's DAM approach.

            Now, supposing I want to go back at a later date and create a load more JPG or TIF images from images in that older folder? If I save the derived images into that folder, how do I back up the folder? It is now too large to fit onto a DVD and all my date ordered images are out of synch.

            In my opinion, it is not a complex task to keep originals, masters and derived images all in separate folders (aka 'buckets').

            I would be genuinely interested to learn of a slicker method.

            Anthony.
            • 3. Re: Can't stack images from different directories...
              hrh gracie Community Member
              Dorin, the whole DAM process is one of selecting a methodology. I suspect there are a lot of different ones that work for different people. One nice thing about a bucket size related to the backup is that once you've filled it and written a DVD (or CD or whatever), you don't add more files. So, all the derivates (.psd, jpg, etc) go in their own "matching" bucket (probably a bit crude for a description but maybe John Beardy can make it clearer). This also helps with Bridge, which seems to work ok with around 400 files, but seems to slow down when I get large numbers in a directory.

              Anyhow, in LR it would be really convenient to stack all the bits together even when they're in different directories... No big deal, just a small annoyance - there are lots of things in LR more bothersome than this.

              BUT, I too would be interested in other DAM methods that'd be more efficient.
              • 4. Re: Can't stack images from different directories...
                Dorin Nicolaescu-Musteață Community Member
                Well, I have a linear folder structure. Each shoot goes into its own folder:

                Shoot1
                Shoot2
                ...
                ShootN

                My internal drive is big enough to hold all of my images (not too many, 50+ GB). Once a week I backup my whole library and the catalog to a large external drive. I keep as many backups as the external drive can hold. Once the drive is full, the oldest backup gets deleted to make room for a new one. The latest, i.e. most recent backup is duplicated on my office computer.

                Now, I could have understood the hassle of DVD backup a few years ago, when external HDDs were not so popular, but now when they are so large a dirt cheap...

                For me (but maybe it's just lazy me :), one important aspect of the the backup workflow is: SIMPLE. Simplify each step, if possible. Taking care of buckets, when I just can copy the whole thing, does not seem simple to me. Also burning DVDs is much more of a hassle than copying to a HDD. And having difficulties on my way will eventually bring me to one day being lazy to make a backup and that will be he day when my main HDD crashes (knock on wood).

                Still, I'll be thankful if someone points to obvious flaws in my 'workflow'.