Change Where Search Looks

[mhedstrom]

Hi, this is with PM 4.5.1.1 on my Mac.

I've got all my photos stored on a mounted network drive, and none that matter on my computer. If I use the "search", "find" , or "quick search", those just search my computer, not the mounted network drive.  Is there any way to change this? Or is there a way for me to search over my mounted drive on the photos there (like I'd like to find the photos containing keyword "Michelle" or something).  Thanks.

[Kirk Baker]

Hi, this is with PM 4.5.1.1 on my Mac.

I've got all my photos stored on a mounted network drive, and none that matter on my computer. If I use the "search", "find" , or "quick search", those just search my computer, not the mounted network drive.  Is there any way to change this? Or is there a way for me to search over my mounted drive on the photos there (like I'd like to find the photos containing keyword "Michelle" or something).  Thanks.

The underlying technology (Spotlight) does not work on network volumes.  There is currently no way to overcome that obstacle that I know of.

-Kirk

[mhedstrom]

I just kind of got it to work.  If I open a terminal window, and type

mdutil /Volumes/IMAGES -i on

Spotlight actually indexed the drive. 

I confirmed via:

danieljackson: root# mdutil /Volumes/IMAGES/ -s
/Volumes/IMAGES/:
        Status: Indexing Enabled

If I then, in the Finder, hit Apple-F to get the Find window, and selected the Images drive, I was getting instantaneous results (that is using Spotlight, isn't it?)

Apparently the page I found says you have to reindex everytime you re-mount the drive if you want the search to work, but I'm guessing there's a script someplace on that page or somewhere else that will do that automatically for you.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050430233117572

[Kirk Baker]

I just kind of got it to work.  If I open a terminal window, and type

mdutil /Volumes/IMAGES -i on

Spotlight actually indexed the drive. 

I confirmed via:

danieljackson: root# mdutil /Volumes/IMAGES/ -s
/Volumes/IMAGES/:
        Status: Indexing Enabled

If I then, in the Finder, hit Apple-F to get the Find window, and selected the Images drive, I was getting instantaneous results (that is using Spotlight, isn't it?)

Apparently the page I found says you have to reindex everytime you re-mount the drive if you want the search to work, but I'm guessing there's a script someplace on that page or somewhere else that will do that automatically for you.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050430233117572

Neat.  Well I stand corrected.  But it can take hours and hours to index a large drive.  Best not to unmount it if possible.

-Kirk

[mhedstrom]

I think the directions are off a bit. I unmounted the drive, remounted it, just had to turn indexing back on and it worked. However PM isn't picking up the index so I can't search that drive.  Is there a way to make it selectable so I can search it (kind of like how if I press Apple-F in the Finder, I get the find window and can search over my network drive index?).

[Kirk Baker]

I think the directions are off a bit. I unmounted the drive, remounted it, just had to turn indexing back on and it worked. However PM isn't picking up the index so I can't search that drive.  Is there a way to make it selectable so I can search it (kind of like how if I press Apple-F in the Finder, I get the find window and can search over my network drive index?).

We just make a query to Spotlight and it handles the rest.  It is similar to using the Spotlight menu in the upper right corner of the screen.  Does the Spotlight menu find items on your network drive?

-Kirk

[mhedstrom]

I've been doing a bunch more reading on this, and everything I'm reading says that Spotlight searching/indexing of networked drives is bugged/doesn't work most times.  Is there any additional functionality you would consider adding to PM, or suggestions you could give me to be able to do a keyword search of my photos?  Moving them onto my hard drive isn't an option, and I don't want to get the Windows version when I love my Mac too much (and besides, I already bought the Mac version).  Or have you seen any other software which will do IPTC keyword searches?

[Kirk Baker]

I've been doing a bunch more reading on this, and everything I'm reading says that Spotlight searching/indexing of networked drives is bugged/doesn't work most times.  Is there any additional functionality you would consider adding to PM, or suggestions you could give me to be able to do a keyword search of my photos?  Moving them onto my hard drive isn't an option, and I don't want to get the Windows version when I love my Mac too much (and besides, I already bought the Mac version).  Or have you seen any other software which will do IPTC keyword searches?

Cataloging applications do exactly what you're looking for.  There are two major players in this category on Mac OS X: iView MediaPro, and Extensis Portfolio.

We are also adding a cataloging module to Photo Mechanic in our next major version.  But I don't have a release date yet.

-Kirk

[TimCaseyPhoto]

I'm having the same difficulties as the original poster was 7 years ago.

I can't find any information about how to search filenames, metadata, exif, itpc, etc. from files on a network volume.

Has this problem been solved yet?

[Kirk Baker]

I'm having the same difficulties as the original poster was 7 years ago.

I can't find any information about how to search filenames, metadata, exif, itpc, etc. from files on a network volume.

Has this problem been solved yet?

Spotlight does not search index network volumes from client computers.  If your server volume is hosted on a Mac OS X system, it is possible to get the server itself to maintain the Spotlight index: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH8444

-Kirk

[TimCaseyPhoto]

Thanks. It seems that this will be a major IT project. I hoped to be able to get a system in place by September, but it looks like it's going to be a lot more complicated.