unify Windows and Mac OS directory structure

[BinBerlin]

First of all: I am super impressed that I can use the same catalogue within Photo Mechanic Plus in Windows 10 and in Mac OS.

Unlike Lightroom for example PM+ is able to open a catalogue produced in Mac OS and is stored on a server share in Windows 10 and find all the files within the directory structure even though the drives are not labeled with the Windows typical letters.

Unfortunately if you try to scan a folder in Windows 10 to add new files or folders PM+ will create a new folder hierarchy with the  drive letter of the server share. Basically I end up with two directory structures pointing to the same files which makes the multi platform compatibility almost useless again.

Someone else has suggested that already: The ability to simply update/synchronise a folder to update content (like in Lightroom) would at least partially fix that problem.

But ideally the directory tree inside the browse tab would have unified structure that avoids windows or Mac OS specific elements all together and allows me to find files on drives or server shares regardless of the platform.

That would make PM+ a fantastic multi platform DAM system that can be shared in a network between different computers. The only question that remains: Is the PM+ catalogue multi user ready or will it destroy the database if you access a catalogue at the same time from different locations? Anybody tested that yet?

[Kirk Baker]

That would make PM+ a fantastic multi platform DAM system that can be shared in a network between different computers. The only question that remains: Is the PM+ catalogue multi user ready or will it destroy the database if you access a catalogue at the same time from different locations? Anybody tested that yet?

It would corrupt the database for sure.

-Kirk

[BinBerlin]

What a shame. Guess a multi user system is a lot to ask for.

Just please please please do NOT take the easy safe route and ban PM+ from storing catalogues on a server share (that's what Adobe did).

Any chance that we can get the other functionality I asked about (directory structure for Windows 10 and Mac OS identical/exchangeable)?

Bernd

[Kirk Baker]

Bernd,

What a shame. Guess a multi user system is a lot to ask for.

Just please please please do NOT take the easy safe route and ban PM+ from storing catalogues on a server share (that's what Adobe did).

We won't likely ban anything, but it will corrupt the DB if you open it simultaneously from two different computers.

Any chance that we can get the other functionality I asked about (directory structure for Windows 10 and Mac OS identical/exchangeable)?

Is there a common mount point (a folder) where the macOS system and the Windows system provide the directory structure in your topology?  For instance, do you have something like this?

Server Name
    Photos

On macOS, path is: /Volumes/Server Name/Photos
On Windows, path is Q:\Photos

If you're going to have only items at the folder "Photos" or below then we would likely be able to solve that.

-Kirk

[BinBerlin]

Hi Kirk,

that pretty much describes my case exactly.

I can avoid the pre-mapped shares with the letters associated in Windows 10 but even if I go straight to the Network Shares I get this different directory path, following your example it would be
/SERVER/photo/...

Interestingly the shares brought over from Mac OS do NOT have the server name in the directory path.
Following your example again it is:
/Volumes/photo/...

In an ideal world PM+ would be able to detect that both photo shares are identical and wouldn't create a new directory path when I do a scan of this folder.

Looking very much forward to the final release. PM+ should solve a lot of my workflow problems. Really great job guys!

best
Bernd

[Kirk Baker]

Please try the b19 version: http://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=13393.0

It offers a new feature that allows you to choose a shared folder.

Added: Manage Shared Paths feature that allows the user to pick common paths shared between computers.  Usually these paths are going to be on network drives that have different paths depending on the OS platform.  For instance, say you have a network drive that publishes a folder named “Photos”.  On macOS, it would mount as /Volumes/Photos and on Windows it could be accessed via drive letter Q:\Photos or via \\Server\Photos.  On your two systems you could make that path be simply considered as “Photos”.  (This feature is a Work In Progress. Currently Shared Paths must be configured before images are included in a catalog, to take effect.)

HTH,

-Kirk