My-First-DAM-Migration Log (stardate 0601.10)

[Rick McCleary]

Dan,

I've been following this thread and am very impressed with your organized approach.

However, it seems that you're making the directory structure more complex than it needs to be.  I would question your assertion that "more subfolders is better" as long as you don't break your rule.  Performing cataloging work in your physical directory structure has very little value.  iView can do all the organizing, sorting, categorizing and "sub-grouping" you want.  Let it do its job.  

Peter's bucket concept for archiving is brilliant.  You literally dump images into buckets, and sort them out in the next step (iView).  In my buckets, I have the images organized by shoot -- very simple.  In a particular bucket (ex. RAW_019), all the subfolders are named "yymmdd_client (or personal)_shoot description".  That's it, nothing more.  It is a straight chronological organization.  Kind of like a calendar/diary that reports "just the facts, ma'am".  The editorializing comes later in iView when you have a chance to play with different portfolios, sequences, image pairs, groupings, etc.  This is the fun part of DAM -- the next creative step.  There is no way to anticipate ahead of time (when you are actually archiving the images) what those groupings might look like.  And with properly rated and keyworded files, you can find anything; it doesn't really matter where in the physical archive those files reside.

Of course, the catalog becomes sacred -- just like the archive files.  Rigorous backup is essential.  The Library of Congress would be in a bit of a panic if they lost their catalog, too!

I'm open to further illuminations on the topic...

[danaltick]

Rick,

It's basically just a two dimensional archive versus a one dimensional archive.  I'm just going to give it a try to see how it works out.  I would actually just stay with the linear approach like Peter's uses until I've had a chance to experiment with it for a while.

Dan

[danaltick]

I've created a subset of keywords that define the format or type of digital images I intend to archive and catalog in my DAM system.  These keywords should remain constant until some new technology is developed for digital imagery:

• RAW
• JPEG
• Originals
• Derivatives
• Delivery
• Masters
• Contacts

Note that I will also archive TIFF files, but have not listed that format as a keyword because currently my Master files will all be TIFF's, and because I intend to combine my TIFF's and JPEG's in the archive.  I don't see a long-term advantage to keeping those formats segregated; however, I may change my mind down the road.  I intend to maintain the bucket structure of the archive, with each new bucket containing a directory hierarchy using these keywords.

I have also decided to add a few additional keywords for further subdividing my archive that are not format or image-type specific, but are applicable at the present time:

• Personal
• Job

Because these keywords are not format specific and may be removed or changed in the future, they will be placed at the top of the infrastructure and can be peeled off at any time without affecting the structure of the lower levels.  The lower levels should remain consistent from bucket to bucket through the life of the archive, and only change due to some new technology.  The new layout of my bucket structure is listed on page one of this thread.

Note that I've created this infrastructure completely independent of any cataloging software I will use now or in the future.  Its only purpose is for easier traversal of the archive buckets and nothing more.  I see this becoming more important as we migrate to larger bucket sizes (i.e Blu Ray) and the list of job folders becomes much longer within each bucket.  If you feel that you will never have more than a few dozen jobs per bucket, then a linear structure might be preferable.

Note that the internal structure of the DAM buckets is really independent of DAM.  DAM is more concerned with the external management of those buckets (i.e. backup, burning, migrating, and sizing).  Therefore, you are really free to structure the buckets internally to match your own personal needs.

Dan

[danaltick]

Just a quick update.  I'm using separate buckets and catalogs now for my Personl, Job, and Music&Video.  Everything else is pretty much the same.  I have three separate mirror jobs, one for each type of current bucket.  And I have a fourth mirror job for the Image Working Files.  These get scheduled nightly one after the other as a single batch job.  The first line of the batch job turns off the Norton Antivirus Autoprotect and the last line turns it back on.  This is important; otherwise, your jobs will run extremely slow.  I don't have to worry about this with my incremental O/S backups because they are compressed and I've told NAV not to scan within compressed files.

DAM is up and running and fully automated; so far so good.  I will post any issues that may arise down the road.  It's been fun, and good luck to all.  Feel free to post questions or comments.

Best Regards,
Dan

[MJLawler]

Dan,
Very interesting.. Thanks for posting this. It was very helpful. Especially the mess I’m coming from.. 
I was wondering if I may post my migration plan here for review also.? Or should I start a new thread?
Thanks,

rgrds,

[danaltick]

It would be best to start a new thread under Migration Issues.  I actually need to post the updated diagrams again.  I'm going to try to do that this week sometime.  I've had someone else ask me for that.

Dan

[MJLawler]

Thanks Dan will do.. 

oh BTW if you looking to post your diagrams or images of them. and need web space. Try some of those free hosts like photobucket.com or imageshack.us. they work pretty well.

rgrds,

[danaltick]

Thanks Michael,

I actually have my own domain, but that's good to know for future reference.

Dan

[danaltick]

For expediency, I'm just posting my current Windows Explorer views for my Working Files directories and archive bucket directories.  I realize some of the subfolder names are not self explanatory, so feel free to ask questions and I will attempt to answer them as time permits.  Basicly though, I use two bucket structures, one for personal work and one for job work.  The bucket template can change at any time and reflects my current working situation.  For example, DE stands for Digital Extraction.  I do green-screen digital extraction portrait work.  SE stands for Special Effects.  That is where I store any special effect masters I create.  non-DE is where I store my normal masters with no special effects or digital extractions.  DE+BD is where I store my final green-screen digitally extracted masters after adding the new digital backdrops to create the final masters.  Externals is where I store all third-party images I wish to keep that were not created by me.  As my work requirements change, so will the template.  I created shortcuts to the lower level Job Raw folder and Personal Raw folder for the current Job and Personal buckets in the final stage of the Working Files directory.  That is so I can just drag&drop the current job to the current bucket when it's complete and ready for archiving.  So I drag once to the current bucket shortcut which performs a copy because the shortcut is to a different disk.  I then drag a second time to the Copied2Archive subfolder which performs a quick move, freeing up the parent directory for more incoming jobs.  My WorkingFiles directories and Buckets are on separate local harddrives on my working PC and are backed up nightly to separate PC's on my LAN.  I describe this earlier in the thread.  Keep in mind, my directories and workflow are setup conducive to a LAN and may need some alterations if you are keeping your backups offline.

Dan

[andreiz]

I made some changes to the Image Working Files flow diagram and browser images listed on page one:
   

• Changed the name of folder 2 to 2_RateRpdfxKywrdR&F.  This stands for Rate, RapidFixer, Keyword, and Rank & File in that work order.
• Added Copied2Archive subfolders with explanation
• Added shortcuts to archive (see browser image) with explanation.

Dan

I couldn't see the image you are referring to. Could you clarify the Copied2Archive subfolders structure?