Software/Suggestions on Automatically Gathering/Organizing All Photos from a Very Large Hard Drive
Oct 4, 2021 23:21:51 #
I have a 8TB hard drive with tens of thousands of pictures on it - and it's gotten to be kind of a mess. I'd like advice on software to find all photos across the whole drive, then automatically move them into in folders organized chronologically in a new area on the drive - hopefully skipping duplicates along the way. Any thoughts?
(I do have the latest Photoshop Elements - and I know it has a catalog function where it can create a virtual catalog - but I want all the photos to be actually located in the same drive space - rather than scattered across tens of directories everywhere.)
Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can share.
(I do have the latest Photoshop Elements - and I know it has a catalog function where it can create a virtual catalog - but I want all the photos to be actually located in the same drive space - rather than scattered across tens of directories everywhere.)
Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can share.
Oct 5, 2021 00:17:33 #
reMarkable wrote:
I have a 8TB hard drive with tens of thousands of ... (show quote)
This is just the kind of thing Lightroom was designed to do. Many different ways to approach this all within one program. It’s also fun to pull together a mess and watch things fall into place.
…Cam
Oct 5, 2021 02:17:53 #
Was just going to suggest LR, but was beaten to it, easiest and fastest way I believe, also kind of fun! If it was me I'd also consider SSD drive for a more secure storage solution.
Oct 5, 2021 07:07:40 #
Your best bet is to do a bit of research on Document Management applications. Yes, they view photographs as documents and present previews. Although a lot of folks will mention Lr. It's best to use a separate application for document management. A good many of these applications are free to use.
--Bob
--Bob
reMarkable wrote:
I have a 8TB hard drive with tens of thousands of ... (show quote)
Oct 5, 2021 08:56:01 #
I suggest putting everything into LR and curate your photos. No body has tens of thousands of photos worth keeping. I am getting better at this but still struggle. For instance I did a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water yesterday. Took a few hundred photos. My goal will be to end up with five or so and delete the rest.
Went to Africa. A few thousand shots taken. I have maybe 200 left.
I going through old photos and scanning them. I have tossed out hundreds of old photos. A blurry shot of my mother cutting a cake at her wedding is not worth keeping when there is a perfectly good, in focus one on the batch.
Once I’m LR you can select / keep photos by pressing “P” for pick and deselect photos by pressing “X”. Once you are totally satisfied with your selection get rid of thenX photos and never look back.
Went to Africa. A few thousand shots taken. I have maybe 200 left.
I going through old photos and scanning them. I have tossed out hundreds of old photos. A blurry shot of my mother cutting a cake at her wedding is not worth keeping when there is a perfectly good, in focus one on the batch.
Once I’m LR you can select / keep photos by pressing “P” for pick and deselect photos by pressing “X”. Once you are totally satisfied with your selection get rid of thenX photos and never look back.
Oct 5, 2021 09:13:03 #
Ednsb
Loc: Santa Barbara
Plan first! Lots of good videos, then look at features of pp - LR, PSE, On1, if Apple then Photo, etc.
CULL!
Questions to think about
Personal or professional images?
Schemas - year/project subfolders. If digital images then they have date info you can search by and sort by. If scans, you can add data.
Or Don't use folders but use keywords. Let the software handle searching, sorting etc. That's why It’s called Data Asset Management.
On1 has a unique feature in that you don’t have to use a catalog (database) but rather you can use the folder structure of your OS. Catalogs can get corrupted and you have to use the pp software to move, delete etc of the catalog loses the image. A browser based pp can’t lose an image.
Lastly if personal images you may want a feature that detects faces. Many pp don’t. But if you are Amazon Prime you get unlimited storage of images at full resolution and Amazon Photos does a good job of detecting faces. Not your prime Data Asset Management but a secondary one.
CULL!
Questions to think about
Personal or professional images?
Schemas - year/project subfolders. If digital images then they have date info you can search by and sort by. If scans, you can add data.
Or Don't use folders but use keywords. Let the software handle searching, sorting etc. That's why It’s called Data Asset Management.
On1 has a unique feature in that you don’t have to use a catalog (database) but rather you can use the folder structure of your OS. Catalogs can get corrupted and you have to use the pp software to move, delete etc of the catalog loses the image. A browser based pp can’t lose an image.
Lastly if personal images you may want a feature that detects faces. Many pp don’t. But if you are Amazon Prime you get unlimited storage of images at full resolution and Amazon Photos does a good job of detecting faces. Not your prime Data Asset Management but a secondary one.
Oct 5, 2021 09:22:45 #
Oct 5, 2021 11:21:41 #
Hip Coyote wrote:
I suggest putting everything into LR and curate yo... (show quote)
I take a similar approach. I’ll come home from kayaking with 900 shots and I’ll cull mercilessly. First pass I’ll get down to about 200. Then I’ll look closer at similar shots from burst mode and took a closer look to really find the shots I want to work with. Occasionally I’ll keep a shot I might want to try something with in the future, but pretty much everything else is deleted. I’ll usually have 30-40 shots I process and if I’m lucky I’ll have a few wall hangers. I don’t get those people that say “I keep everything I shoot” and they have over 100,000 images. I wouldn’t want to deal with that.
Oct 5, 2021 13:04:39 #
gvarner wrote:
Take a look at this one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCleaner
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCleaner
This will do nothing he wants to do. At least I've never found a way.
Oct 5, 2021 13:41:42 #
I no longer use light room, but reading the comments from people who are looking to move on are very impressed with On 1 2022 version which increases overall speed of import. It comes as a subscription or as a perpetual license for that version.
Oct 5, 2021 14:13:13 #
DJon41
Loc: Utah
CamB wrote:
This is just the kind of thing Lightroom was designed to do. Many different ways to approach this all within one program. It’s also fun to pull together a mess and watch things fall into place.
…Cam
…Cam
If only I could get my head around the way LR does things, that is exactly what I need to.do.
Oct 5, 2021 16:01:16 #
Oct 5, 2021 19:08:59 #
I am inserting this question. What about photo stick? I have for a long time wanted to ask this same question.
Oct 5, 2021 20:13:59 #
chfrus wrote:
I am inserting this question. What about photo stick? I have for a long time wanted to ask this same question.
Photo Stick has been discussed here many times and generally panned as not worth anything. This is not at all what the poster needs.
...Cam
Oct 5, 2021 20:17:24 #
DJon41 wrote:
If only I could get my head around the way LR does things, that is exactly what I need to.do.
Lightroom does things in many different ways. There isn't just one way it organizes things. Watch some videos or get a friend who uses it to help you break it down. It was designed to be figured out fairly easily. Learning any new program takes work. Hang in there.
...Cam
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