mlkddk wrote:
As a Picasa user for my organization of my photo files, google keeps infringing on my files. What do you all suggest as a photo organizer. I liked the Picasa, because it would let me name and date the files, organize them by year and subject. But google keeps grabbing them and mixing all the photos into their own ideas. Would like something that keeps them off the Cloud.
While I really like the system that I'm currently using, I CANNOT recommend it for anyone else.
You see, I have my own system, which I created over 20 years ago, before things like Picasa or other archiving apps where commercially available. I created this system on my Apple Mac using FileMaker (I'm currently using FlieMaker Pro 17 Advanced, but I do need to upgrade it, but it's not cheap, perhaps in a couple of months when the budget gets a bit healthier).
Anyway, it's a forms-based database where I collect all of the pertinent information, including a thumbnail image, and which is searchable using any field in the form. Currently there are 56,645 records in my database, covering virtually every photo ever taken by my wife and I (she's 77 and I'm 76).
Below is a sample of what the records look like. Note that all of the fields are searchable either using a global search or ones limited to specific fields. The 'Item' is the name of the image file itself (all are saved as jpeg's). The 'Archive' field originally was the name of the CD-ROM that I used for my backup storage (which was the only practical media 20 years ago). Now it's just the name of the folder that the images are stored in (for images from digital cameras, that works out to 100 images per folder, just to keep things neat and tidy). The rest of the fields are self descriptive.
Now the actual images are stored in several places. The primary archive is on a 3TB portable drive with goes with my MacBook M1 Pro whether I'm at home or on the road. The second set is stored on a 4TB external drive which stays at home (and is locked in my gun safe when we're traveling). Both of those sets are always up to date and match each other. I have a third backup on an older 2TB portable drive which is stored in a fireproof document filebox, inside the gun safe, and it's get updated every couple of months. I also have a forth copy, on a couple of high capacity memory sticks, which our oldest son keeps for me in his gun safe in Texas. That set gets updated whenever we see him, which is at least once or twice a year. Technically, there's another set stored in iCloud (at least our youngest son, who does our IT, claims that there is).
Anyway, if I was to start from scratch today, I'd probably use some purpose-built app, but I've got so much invested in my current set-up that I'm going to stick with it.