Is storing Derivatives and Originals on the same drive a good idea?

[bcarlson]

I currently don't have a ton of files so I am storing my Derivatives and Originals in separate folders on the same drive (this saves me some money on buying hard drives). Is this a good idea? Should I divide them in another way (possibly like Peter does by Originals and Derivaties on their own set of drives)? The reason I wonder if this is a bad idea is because I currently catalog ALL my files in one catalog (because the Godfather, I mean Peter, says the fewer the catalogs the better). I am afraid that in the future I will need to separate the catalog due to its size limitations in MediaPro. When I go to divide the catalog I'm thinking it might be difficult to locate & update the files because they are all spread out different drives. I am using the bucket system though, so wouldn't that make it easier to locate them? I've been pondering this for a few hours and I think I'm just stuck in a maze in my own head.

Your help would be much appreciated and let me know if you have any questions. I've asked several questions on this board and have never had a response so I'm hoping I'll have more luck this time around.

Brian Carlson
www.briancarlsonphoto.com
 

[Roelof]

I think it's no problem to store both on the same drive. You seperated them by folder and in my opinion that is sufficient when looking at the arguments Peter appointed.
The most important reason for sepperation is file handling. The idea is that originals in archive will not alter anymore (all under folder X) and that deriatives will (all under folder Y), both need another workflow and because of the different folders this is possible.
Difference in handling back-ups is also possible so i don't see important drawbacks in the use of 1 hard drive for as long it is big enough to store both.

If it's a good idea to store both originals and derivatives in one catalog is another question. I think is should be no problem (if you handle your backup (catalog) good (1-2-3) and on a regular basis).
However it's also no problem to keep using one catalog and seperate your files to different hard drives.
Vice versa it's also possible to make different catalogs (one original and one derivative eg) on your parent (single) filesystem.

roelof