I need a lot of help here. I have the EX485 and 2 XP + 2 Win7 desktops, an XP laptop and now a MacBook Pro. I really like the Macbook and iPhoto and the wife loves how easily pictures are uploaded into it. I now need a solution so that I can have a single location with all of my photos and not risking file duplicating or multiplying. I spent last week cleaning up duplicate picture files. I have ~50,000 pictures 200GB in my MSS with a very simple year/month folder structure. Since switching to the Mac for photo viewing and my wifes facebook we have not continued this structure and everything is going into the iPhoto directory approaching 100GB stored only on the Mac, not yet on the MSS. What is the best and most futureproof/ headache resistant way to bring all the pictures into single MSS photos directory. I can see more Macs in my future but I am not ready to explode the last 10 years of file structure into 1 massive 60,000 file directory.

Help. Where should I start.

First, welcome to the world of MSS/WHS. Good to have you aboard!

There are really two questions here I belieb\ve, one how to use the MSS and the other how to structure the photo storage.

For the MSS I suggest that (1) you place the photos in the PHOTOS Shared Folder (in appropriate sub-folders), (2) duplicate that folder to protect against disk failyures and (3) back it up to off-line storage.

Now, what is an appropriate (sub-folder) structure: For this I suggest that you take a look at http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6348 and join the discussion there. There is no single " right" answer for this but consistency over time is the real key (as I think you have already discovered). You may have a bunch of copy/baste operations in the near term but once you are set up and follow the structure you'll be fine in the future.

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

There is an option in iPhoto where you can have iPhoto put the photo into the iPhoto database but not actually copy the picture onto the Mac. The only disadvantage is that without a local copy on the Mac you can't view the photos directly when the Mac is not on the home network.

I store all of my photos on the MSS and have them all managed/imported through Lightroom 2 on the Mac. Then when I want to import specific photos into iPhoto I simply do an export action in Lightroom 2 and set iPhoto as the application for them to be imported to. I used to manually manage all of my photos with specific folders (vacations, family, pets, etc) but this is simply too cumbersome. By default Lightroom 2 will store all photos in a year/month/day folder arrangement. You can enter meta data when the files are imported and create dynamic albums based on keywords. So, if I'm entering a picture of my wife I simply enter her name as meta data and all photos of her show up in a single dynamic album, which I can then export if I like.

If you want to have multiple Macs using one iPhoto/LR2 database you can do a google search and you will find that there are ways a single database can be shared between multiple machines.

May I suggest we take the comments about best practices for photo organization over to http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6348? It would be best to have it consolidated in one place...

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

Hey guys thanks for the responses. Looks like I have some work to do. I had a complete MSS crash of the primary drive last winter and lost a lot of files. To this day i hate xcopy for what it has done to me. I just want to do a correct file structure from the beginning now.

PS anyone have a recommended Windows program for changing metadata? The date on my camera was messed up for a long time and until I had iPhoto auto organize some imported photos I had no idea.

iPhoto allows you to adjust the time of pictures. I think it is under "Photos > Adjust Time/Date" or something similar.

My personal feeling is that trying to avoid "file duplication" is not the best approach. I agree that you do not want it out of control... but I like having 2 backup copies of all important data (Pics are my single most important data). I personally keep them on a client, and make sure they are backed up to my MSS and also to the cloud.

At the number of pics that you own, you may want to consider Adobe Lightroom (that jmpage2 uses) or Apple's Aperture (which I am moving to).

/Jim

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My family website: www.pappas.me

In the post I just read I saw that iPhoto allows you to adjust the time of pictures. I think it is under "Photos > Adjust Time/Date" or something similar. You have a Mac handy?

The thread: http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=6359

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

I am really looking for a way to do this in a format similar to an excel spreadsheet that can be arranged and sorted based on different metadata (i.e. date taken and camera)

PS good one John you linked to this thread about a post right above yours. Have too many tabs open?

Yes, it's in Advanced Preferences: "Copy items to iPhoto Library". Make sure it's unchecked.



What I did (after making the same discovery as the OP) was to make sure any newer photos imported from digital cameras were backed up to my MSS, then I deleted all of the photos in the iPhoto Library (it was under my username on the Mac, IIRC).
Then I imported ALL of the photos from my MSS into iPhoto, making sure the above box was not checked.

Now there are no duplicates, but iPhoto takes a good 20 - 30 seconds longer to finish loading the program and the photos to the point where you are able to click on anything.

now, the challenge is to get rid of all the duplicates in my iTunes/MSS Music folder...UGH...

Forgetting about creating a proper photo folder structure. My question is still what the OP originally asked. How do you get the photos from iPhoto onto the MSS and into the Photo share? Is this done manually by exporting all of the photos out of the iPhoto massive file? Then is everyone just manually copying all of the directories out to the MSS?

I thought that the WHS software would actually move the various images off my Windows based PCs and place them into the Photos directories automagically... but I backed up 2 XP machines last night for the first time and they just dropped all of their files into that machines share on the MSS.

Is the only way to get files into the various shares to manually copy them in?

As has been said a few times, discuss the file structure in that other thread and discuss how to share the photos between OS X and Windows in this thread when using iPhoto on the Mac.

For reference I have an EX470, 1 XP Laptop (going to Win7 next week), 1 XP Desktop, 1 MBP, 1 MacMini (hackintosh). I am running TImeMachine on the 2 Macs and the WHS backup on the XP Machines.

Thanks.

Larry

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Larry

iPhoto does NOT really keep all of your pictures in a single massive file. The pictures are kept as individual files (ex: jpeg). Many people get confused about this because if you open the iPhoto library, then the application opens giving the impression that it is just one massive file. However, it is really a directory. To look inside and see your individual pictures... right click on your directory and select "show package contents".

/Jim

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My family website: www.pappas.me

It may not be the only way (although I don't know of another), but it is certainly the easiest, IMO.

Ok, you're right. It is a directory structure laid out by year, month, date. I guess I will just manually copy everything over.

Now, how will WHS take care of duplicates? Will it just yell at me as I copy this all manually over if there are any duplicate files but in different directories? I have about 30,000+ pics on different computers that all need to be copied to the MSS. Before I start going through them and changing the directories how will it know what is a dupe?

Ok, so on a Mac there isn't a way to get anything onto the MSS without it being done manually... what about under Windows? Is it also done manually?

_________________
Larry

On a PC, you can turn on the media collector, and it will automatically keep your photos, music, and videos up to date... merging the data from multiple clients at your discretion. Depending on how you have it organize the data on the share, it should automatically de-duplicate as data is placed into the shares.

I had my EX485 set up to consolidate music by artist/album... and it did a good job. I had pictures set up to organize by folder structure... and I do not know if it de-duplicated.

The above should also work on a Mac on the EX490/495... and across the entire MSS product line once the software is updated (scheduled for this month). I have NOT done this yet on my iMac.. because that does not get powered on until after Santa arrives in a couple of weeks. My intent is to migrate my primary data storage from my PC... to my new Mac.

I do NOT keep my primary photo storage on the MSS. I do use the MSS to back up the PCs, and also to consolidate music/pictures/videos etc into the shared folders. Hence... my MSS only contains BACKUP copies of my most important media.

/Jim

_________________
My family website: www.pappas.me

Thanks Jim. I have a 470 and I don't see the collector with the ability to grab that data and place it into the various folders.

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Larry