totalfinder server folder consistent format

TOTALFINDER SERVER FOLDER CONSISTENT FORMAT ARCHIVE
TOTALFINDER SERVER FOLDER CONSISTENT FORMAT UPGRADE
TOTALFINDER SERVER FOLDER CONSISTENT FORMAT FULL

The system described here integrates a scalable and secure storage method with hardware that is affordable for the individual or small business. The structure described in this chapter is geared to people who want to create and maintain an archive, but who do not have an IT department to handle the data management. What If I’ve Got an IT Department to Handle Data Management? Essentially, what we will be designing in this chapter is a structure to hold all your image files and a way to name the files within that structure. The directory structure for your image files should be simple, unified, and scalable, and it should be independent of the storage medium on which it happens to be hosted.

TOTALFINDER SERVER FOLDER CONSISTENT FORMAT FULL

You’ll want to structure your image storage system so that you can move it as easily as your folder full of documents, and you’ll want to be able to find things when you’re done. The directory structure (the way the files are stored) stayed constant, even though it was moved to an entirely new data storage device (the hard drive in the new computer).

TOTALFINDER SERVER FOLDER CONSISTENT FORMAT UPGRADE

If you had all your documents in a folder-or perhaps a folder full of subfolders, as shown in Figure 4-2-this part of the upgrade process was probably not too difficult because all you had to do was copy the parent folder from one machine to another. You have probably upgraded your computer before, and had to transfer your saved email files or word processing documents from one machine to another. This is a good thing, because you should organize the directory structure with other issues in mind:įigure 4-2. My word processing documents are organized so that I can move this folder of subfolders to a new machine and keep my files organized in exactly the same way.

TOTALFINDER SERVER FOLDER CONSISTENT FORMAT ARCHIVE

You can view an entire archive according to multiple criteria, including date created, commissioning client, portfolio images, quality rating, subject pictured, and, yes, where it is stored.Ĭataloging software frees us from having to use the directory structure to identify the content of our images. Cataloging software allows us to organize the same set of files in numerous ways. Metadata and cataloging software offer much more flexibility and efficiency for organizing than folders do. It saves time, reduces confusion, and will really pay off when you hit one of those practically inevitable bumps down the road (such as drive failure or format migration). Letting go of a filing hierarchy based on image content can be difficult, but once you surrender yourself to the concept that the directory structure does not have to be the ultimate keeper of important content data about your images, a very simple preferred data structure emerges-a structure that leverages the particular qualities of digital media. This does not mean that folder naming is irrelevant as a content-organizing tool it means that content organizing is a secondary job.Īs we saw in the previous chapter, metadata does the heavy lifting for organizational purposes. We’ll see how you can use folders in a simple, straightforward way to stack files up so that you can back them up, validate them, and restore them in the event of a problem. In the digital world, we are not so constrained. In the physical world, storage and organizational structure are often inseparable. By storage, I mean containing the images, putting them away, moving them around, and other handling issues, distinct from the organization of the images that is best accomplished by using metadata. I suggest you should use folders principally for storage, rather than for organization. However, folders provide an ideal tool for managing the data itself. Figure 4-1. One of the biggest problems with using folders for organization is that as soon as you remove the image from the folder the information is removed from the image.

Totalfinder server folder consistent format