Backed-Up Catalog Not Visible

[charlesBOEHM]

Why don't I see the icon for the back-up HD in the Catalog Folders pane of EM2? I thought EM2 is suppose to 'know' where all copies of images are located. Do I need to drag the external drive icon onto that pane or do I need to open the external drive and drag the Picture folder (or individual images or folders) to EM2?

Charles

[peterkrogh]

Charles,
EM will show you where cataloged images live - it does not show you all connected drives. (A browser like Bridge will show you any drive connected to the computer.)

Are there cataloged images in the backup drive, or just duplicates of the images on the primary drive?

If you want to point the catalog to the backup drive and say "find the images on this drive instead" you select on a folder, and right-click (control-click on Mac) and "reset Folder path". Then you can find the folder ont he backup drive, select it, and the catalog will now look to that folder to find the images.

Does that help?
Peter

[charlesBOEHM]

PK

I could be misinterpreting what I read in DamBook1 now in DamBook 2 (p414 The Catalog Folders panel & Fig 11-25) that EM2 shows the mounted (connected) drive. What I expected was EM2 would point me to any duplicate, copy, or version of a photo on any drive or storage media; connected or not! Of course, it will not retrieve it if the said facility is not mounted (connected). Your response answers my question faithfully, but I didn't know I needed to click through, which is not a big deal. (Two minutes work and THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS to fix a furnace! Well lady, it's KNOWING where to kick it.)

I'm noted for being unorganized so many of my pics are dupes on a bootable partition (backed up daily) and a storage partition and on DVD's. PS allows me to 'play' with my pics so I have a number of versions in psd format. I don't believe I need the thorough cataloguing techniques you use, but I have a better understanding on what to do with my own photos because of your writings. I just have to get my pics, and myself, straightened out and at the same time get more acquainted with EM2. Too, in the next couple weeks I'll need to deal with the new Mac OS.

CharlesBOEHM

[peterkrogh]

Charles,
No, Expression does not sniff out duplicates on other drives. You have to point it to them.
This is one reason I counsel to make sure you have a primary copy of the data, and then make backups that are structured in identical chunks.  This makes reconnecting to the backups easy, if necessary.

The issue about online vs offline drives is that you can see what's on those drives - if the images have been indexed by that catalog (that is, have they been "put into" Expression Media.)
Peter