Re-locating raw files folder

[myotis]

I'm sure this must be obvious.

I have renamed the external hard drive that my all my Raw files live in.

Naturally, PM+ now sees these files as offline, but how do I tell it to look at the new location for the raw files?

Can I just go into the catalog sync, delete all the paths to the old location of the raws and replace it with a single link to the top level folder in the new location of the raws.

This is what I've actually done, but lost my nerve when it came to actually running the sync.

Assuming this is explained in the help somewhere, it would be useful to know what terms I should beusing to find it. As I haven't been able to find anything.



Thanks,

Graham

[ahoward]

Go to the Browse tab, Browse by folder path, and then locate the root level of the drive. Right-click on it and click "Update Folder Location", and then find the new drive.

This is sort of covered here: https://docs.camerabits.com/support/solutions/articles/48001164434-how-to-update-the-catalog-location-of-folders-you-have-moved

However, the screenshots need updating and the menu option's wording has been modified, slightly.

Assuming this is explained in the help somewhere, it would be useful to know what terms I should beusing to find it. As I haven't been able to find anything.

I searched for the following in Google and it found the appropriate article:

update file location photo mechanic plus

But you shouldn't really need to know what to search for in order for search to work correctly. What terms did you search for and where did you search for them (either the search engine you used or did you use docs.camerabits.com and search on there?)

[myotis]

Thanks,

I can't actually get this to work. Maybe I've made too big a change, it's a new computer and I've taken advantage to tidy up some of my file organisation.

So old location was;

/Volumes/Sandisk_2T/Photo/CameraOriginalsWorkingCopy

New location is:

/Volumes/ExtRaw_1/RawMasters

I am going through the process, but nothing changes in the browse window when I choose the new location.

I'm clicking on Sandisk_2t in the browse window  and then changing location to ExtRaw_1.

Is this because the sub-folders don't match up

As regards the search terms I tried google and the camera bits help pages and the forum, and included Photo Mechanic Plus when appropriate.  I can't exactly remember what terms I used but they did include various combinations of update, reconnect and relocate original files.

Cheers,

Graham

[ahoward]

Is this because the sub-folders don't match up

This is likely not helping the matter. I wasn't aware that subfolder names had changed, just that the drive name changed.

That said, something should be happening when you do this operation: Basically, when you have the following folders in your catalog:

/Volumes/Drive1/FolderA
/Volumes/Drive1/FolderB
/Volumes/Drive1/FolderC

And you choose to update the location of Drive1 to Drive2 in the Browse menu, that just tells Photo Mechanic that FolderA, FolderB, and FolderC are now in Drive2, and the Browse menu should update, even if those folders don't exist there: Photo Mechanic Plus will just show its proxies for those images and give you a yellow dot for each one, telling you that it can't find the source file at that location. If there's actually nothing happening, it may be best if we troubleshoot this more directly. You can call our support line between 9am and 5pm Pacific Time: +1 503.547.2888

[myotis]

I'm getting the yellow dot, but no change in the folder names in the Browse window.

I'm a bit reluctant to phone from the UK for support, and to be frank, for me it would probably be easier to just create a new catalogue.

But it would be useful to trouble shoot.


Could I email support directly instead?

Graham

[ahoward]

The only thing that I think would be helpful from an email would be a copy of your Photo Mechanic log file, which you can get by going to Help -> Reveal Support Data. Send that to support@camerabits.com

The reason I suggest a phone call is because we can then jump into a screen sharing session so I can investigate this issue and get a first hand look at what is not working, which tends to be a better approach to mystery behavior than going back and forth through email/forums.

If you set up a new catalog as a test, add a single, small folder, move it (outside of Photo Mechanic), and then try to tell the catalog where the folder has moved to using the steps above, does that work as I have described?

[myotis]

The only thing that I think would be helpful from an email would be a copy of your Photo Mechanic log file, which you can get by going to Help -> Reveal Support Data. Send that to support@camerabits.com

The reason I suggest a phone call is because we can then jump into a screen sharing session so I can investigate this issue and get a first hand look at what is not working, which tends to be a better approach to mystery behavior than going back and forth through email/forums.

If you set up a new catalog as a test, add a single, small folder, move it (outside of Photo Mechanic), and then try to tell the catalog where the folder has moved to using the steps above, does that work as I have described?

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I have been sidetracked into other things.

I have emailed support the PM Log, but will create a new database, and try moving a folder as you suggest.

Cheers,

Graham

[ahoward]

The only thing that I think would be helpful from an email would be a copy of your Photo Mechanic log file, which you can get by going to Help -> Reveal Support Data. Send that to support@camerabits.com

The reason I suggest a phone call is because we can then jump into a screen sharing session so I can investigate this issue and get a first hand look at what is not working, which tends to be a better approach to mystery behavior than going back and forth through email/forums.

If you set up a new catalog as a test, add a single, small folder, move it (outside of Photo Mechanic), and then try to tell the catalog where the folder has moved to using the steps above, does that work as I have described?

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I have been sidetracked into other things.

I have emailed support the PM Log, but will create a new database, and try moving a folder as you suggest.

Cheers,

Graham

After some further investigation I think I understand the issue and have been able to reproduce it. Basically, if you change the name of the drive, you should perform a Catalog Reintegration from the Catalog Management window before doing anything else. At that point, if you have changed the name of a subfolder on the drive, you can then use the method described in my previous posts to update the catalog with the new location of the folder. I'm not sure if this helps at this point, but I did want to make sure that a workaround was posted.

[myotis]

After some further investigation I think I understand the issue and have been able to reproduce it. Basically, if you change the name of the drive, you should perform a Catalog Reintegration from the Catalog Management window before doing anything else. At that point, if you have changed the name of a subfolder on the drive, you can then use the method described in my previous posts to update the catalog with the new location of the folder. I'm not sure if this helps at this point, but I did want to make sure that a workaround was posted.

Thanks Andrew.

Had I anticipated the changes I eventually made, I would have probably have done it in this order from inside PM. But the changes sort of evolved as I re-organised my external hard drives for my new computer.

Graham