same catalog on two computers

[bildbaendiger]

Dear Camera Bits,

I am a new user of Photo Mechanic Plus and the first thing I have to say is that Photo Mechanic Plus is an absolutely great program.

I have a question about the workflow:

I have a huge photo catalog on a external 12TB drive and I work on two computers (Mac and Windows) with it.
The calculation of the Photo Mechanic Catalog took 2 days.
What is the best way, to sync the catalog on both computers?

I copied the catalog to the other machine and select the "Reintegrate catalog" command.
Then I have to "choose new location ..." to select the external drive on the other computer.
When I now change the metadata on the  catalog on one computer, how I can sync the catalog on the other machine?
Should I use the catalog "Full Sync" command?
What does the "Manage Share Folders " command do exactly?
Does it makes sense to do it even after the Catalog has been calculated?

Thanks a lot for your answers.

Greetings

Thomas

[Kirk Baker]

Thomas,

I have a huge photo catalog on a external 12TB drive and I work on two computers (Mac and Windows) with it.
The calculation of the Photo Mechanic Catalog took 2 days.
What is the best way, to sync the catalog on both computers?

I copied the catalog to the other machine and select the "Reintegrate catalog" command.
Then I have to "choose new location ..." to select the external drive on the other computer.
When I now change the metadata on the  catalog on one computer, how I can sync the catalog on the other machine?
Should I use the catalog "Full Sync" command?

It's a little hard to tell what your current situation is from your description, but if the following are true and you have:

- Separate PM Plus catalogs on each machine (already reintegrated)
- The external drive has images referenced by these catalogs
- The external drive is moving between machines

Then you should be able to just do the Full Sync.

What does the "Manage Shared Folders " command do exactly?

https://docs.camerabits.com/support/solutions/articles/48001157499-manage-shared-folders

Does it makes sense to do it even after the Catalog has been calculated?

If the above conditions are true Manage Shared Folders would be unnecessary because you already have duplicated the catalog and have reintegrated which has taken care of locating the files and folders on your external drive.

HTH,

-Kirk

[bildbaendiger]

Dear Kirk,

thank you for your answer.

You are right with the situation:

- Separate PM Plus catalogs on each machine (already reintegrated)
- The external drive has images referenced by these catalogs
- The external drive is moving between machines

But I am unable to reference the catalog after the "reintegrate" to the correct drive:
On the windows machine the external drive is mountet with a drive letter (for instance :I)
On Apple the drive has the path Volume/...
How can I change the path to the pictures?
When I use the  "choose new location ..." command (on the top level folder) nothing hapen.

Do I have to re-index the catalog?

Thanks for the answer

Thomas

[Kirk Baker]

Thomas,

You are right with the situation:

- Separate PM Plus catalogs on each machine (already reintegrated)
- The external drive has images referenced by these catalogs
- The external drive is moving between machines

But I am unable to reference the catalog after the "reintegrate" to the correct drive:
On the windows machine the external drive is mountet with a drive letter (for instance :I)
On Apple the drive has the path Volume/...
How can I change the path to the pictures?
When I use the  "choose new location ..." command (on the top level folder) nothing hapen.

Please post a JPEG screenshot showing where you're choosing the new location so that I can see it.  Use the 'Attachments and other options' link when you're composing your reply to this message and there you'll be able to upload your JPEG format screenshot.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[bildbaendiger]

Hello Kirk,

here are two screenshots:

The original catalog was created on a Windows Computer with the external drive: I and most top folder bb.
The screnshot shows the reintegrated catalog on a Mac where I want to change the external drive to the right path.
I have also added a screenshot of the navigator with the path to the connected external drive.

Maybe this info is important:
The external drive ist NTFS formatted and is mounted on the Mac with the utility "NTFS for Mac" by Paragon.

Thanks
Thomas

[Kirk Baker]

Thomas,

The original catalog was created on a Windows Computer with the external drive: I and most top folder bb.
The screnshot shows the reintegrated catalog on a Mac where I want to change the external drive to the right path.
I have also added a screenshot of the navigator with the path to the connected external drive.

Maybe this info is important:
The external drive ist NTFS formatted and is mounted on the Mac with the utility "NTFS for Mac" by Paragon.

I take it that the catalog functions correctly in that selecting a path in the Folder Paths tree or doing a search returns image results?

The concern is that the Folder Path is showing "I:" instead of "BB7" ?
If you select one of your images and then look at the status bar at the bottom of the window, is the path correct?

-Kirk

[bildbaendiger]

Dear Kirk,

thank you for your help.

The reintegrated catalog works correctly.
It returns correct image results and even the path at the bottom of the window is after the "choose new location ..." command correct.

But the problem is, that all images are shown as offline (yellow circle).
It is not possible to work with the catalog due the images are offline.

I make a test the way back:
I create a catalog with images on a extern drive /Volume/BB7 on a Mac.
Then I reintegrate the catalog on a Windows computer an do the "choose new location ..." command for the top level folder (and also others).
The same problem:
In the catalog browser the path is the incorrect Mac external drive path /Volume/BB7, in the status bar the correct Windows path I:/bb is shown, but all image left offline.

When you do now a full sync of this catalog all the containing images are shown in the log window as missing files.
However, they are not reallocated but will additionally imported.

On the Mac computer I work with macOS Catalina 10.15.7
The Windows is the newest Windows 10 System

Thanks for any hint.

Thomas

[bildbaendiger]

Hi Kirk,

there is a error message when i try to change the path:

[Thu 15:18:10] Error: CatalogState.path_tree_change: No sharepoint mapping found for path_from. Can't continue. (path_from="I:/bb/", path_to="/Volumes/BB7/bb/")

It describes the problem i have.

Greetings
Thomas

[Kirk Baker]

Thomas,

Thanks for the additional information.  What I'd like to know is what I asked in my last reply:

If you select one of your images and then look at the status bar at the bottom of the window, is the path correct?

-Kirk

[bildbaendiger]

Hi Kirk,

the path is wrong, the top level folder is shown double:

it shows
/Volumes/BB7/bb/bb/...
but the path must be:
/Volumes/BB7/bb/...

Thomas

[Kirk Baker]

Thomas,

the path is wrong, the top level folder is shown double:

it shows
/Volumes/BB7/bb/bb/...
but the path must be:
/Volumes/BB7/bb/...

Hmm.  That's still not what I'm asking about.  I'll give steps:

1) Click the Filter tab.
2) Press the New button.
3) In the contact sheet that appears, select one image.
4) Look at the status bar at the bottom of the window.
5) Is the path to the file correct?

Thanks,

-Kirk

[bildbaendiger]

Hi Kirk,

this is the same path display I have described.
The top folder (name "bb") is displayed there incorrectly (twice).
Or am I in the wrong place?

Thomas

[Kirk Baker]

Thomas,

this is the same path display I have described.
The top folder (name "bb") is displayed there incorrectly (twice).
Or am I in the wrong place?

No, you're in the right place.  I misunderstood you.  Thank you for the image.  Something is definitely going wrong that we'll have to diagnose and fix.

-Kirk

[bildbaendiger]

Dear Kirk,

I have an addition:

the error seems to have nothing to do with porting the catalog from one computer to another.
I had the same error now when working with the catalog on the original computer (Windows 10) with which the catalog was created.
After renaming a folder and using the command "choose new location ..." for this folder the path is set incorrectly for all images.
The top folder is set twice in the path by mistake.
This made the entire catalog unusable, since now every image is always offline.

Greetings
Thomas

[Kirk Baker]

Thomas,

I had the same error now when working with the catalog on the original computer (Windows 10) with which the catalog was created.
After renaming a folder and using the command "choose new location ..." for this folder the path is set incorrectly for all images.
The top folder is set twice in the path by mistake.

What was the old path and what is the new path?

-Kirk