Mark disc as downloaded

[mbbphoto]

We more than occasionally run into the issue where we have downloaded a disc on another computer or if PM thinks it has not been downloaded.
This results in ingest workflow confusion which can be stressful on busy jobs.
Often we don't want to reformat the card at this point…

Could there be a way to mark a disc as downloaded without downloading everything on it?
We do a manual ingest from folder as a workaround but have to do it every time we download the disc until we reformat.

thanks
Marc

[Kirk Baker]

Marc,

Could there be a way to mark a disc as downloaded without downloading everything on it?

What would be done with this 'marking'?  You would look for it as a file on the disc via the Finder/Windows Explorer?  Or do you want PM to see that the file exists and just refuse to ingest anything?

-Kirk

[mbbphoto]

OK, sorry, I meant card not disc…
I want to be able to mark a card as read so that the next time I ingest it it will ignore the images already on the card.
Sometimes I forget to reformat a card and don't want to immediately reformat.
I don't like to reformat a card until I have returned to the studio and verified that I have everything, its also an additional level of backup..
By marking it as read I don't have to do a manual folder ingest each time….
Am I the only person this ever happens to???

[Kirk Baker]

Marc,

OK, sorry, I meant card not disc…
I want to be able to mark a card as read so that the next time I ingest it it will ignore the images already on the card.
Sometimes I forget to reformat a card and don't want to immediately reformat.
I don't like to reformat a card until I have returned to the studio and verified that I have everything, its also an additional level of backup..
By marking it as read I don't have to do a manual folder ingest each time….
Am I the only person this ever happens to???

Photo Mechanic currently writes a very small file on the camera card when it is Ingested if it doesn't exist already.  The file is named ".pmingest.dat" and is invisible from the Finder.  The contents of the file consist of a unique ID number that PM uses to keep a database of what files have been ingested for a particular card ID.  This database is local to each computer and to each user of a given computer.

This works fine for most people, but it won't work for the case where a card is ingested on one system and is then ingested again on a different system.  Each system does not know what the other has downloaded because they don't have access to each others' ingest database.

If PM were to write to a file on the card that listed what files were ingested by a particular instance of Ingest then it could function as you desire.  PM tries to write as little as possible to a camera card (they're often full or are nearly full) because it can cause problems to fill up a card (write errors when the card is full.)

I hope that explains things.

-Kirk

[Luiz Muzzi]

Hi, Marc
It doesn't happen to me because I only ingest images to a singular MBPro which has PM installed. This way PM only ingests the new files, disregarding the old ones, even though I have not formatted the card yet.
Regards,

-Luiz Muzzi

[mbbphoto]

Marc,

OK, sorry, I meant card not disc…
I want to be able to mark a card as read so that the next time I ingest it it will ignore the images already on the card.
Sometimes I forget to reformat a card and don't want to immediately reformat.
I don't like to reformat a card until I have returned to the studio and verified that I have everything, its also an additional level of backup..
By marking it as read I don't have to do a manual folder ingest each time….
Am I the only person this ever happens to???

Photo Mechanic currently writes a very small file on the camera card when it is Ingested if it doesn't exist already.  The file is named ".pmingest.dat" and is invisible from the Finder.  The contents of the file consist of a unique ID number that PM uses to keep a database of what files have been ingested for a particular card ID.  This database is local to each computer and to each user of a given computer.

This works fine for most people, but it won't work for the case where a card is ingested on one system and is then ingested again on a different system.  Each system does not know what the other has downloaded because they don't have access to each others' ingest database.

If PM were to write to a file on the card that listed what files were ingested by a particular instance of Ingest then it could function as you desire.  PM tries to write as little as possible to a camera card (they're often full or are nearly full) because it can cause problems to fill up a card (write errors when the card is full.)

I hope that explains things.

-Kirk

I understand Kirk and furthermore I understand that  very few people may be affected by this.
What i'm looking for is a manual function that would update the pmingest.dat file to the current files on the card.
I guess we'll continue to work around on this when necessary.
Thanks for all you do
Marc

[pescatore]

Luiz Muzzi I can confirm this :-(
After some time PM ingests oder or all files from a card, newer read in on another Mac.
I use 32 GB cards - can it have something have to do with the card size, or with the time the pictures are on the card?

It's not ever, after some time (1-2 month) this problem occurs.... Bad :-(

Hope also for an solution...

Enjoy your day :-)

Uwe

[Kirk Baker]

Uwe,

Luiz Muzzi I can confirm this :-(
After some time PM ingests oder or all files from a card, newer read in on another Mac.
I use 32 GB cards - can it have something have to do with the card size, or with the time the pictures are on the card?

It's not ever, after some time (1-2 month) this problem occurs.... Bad :-(

Hope also for an solution...

I don't understand what you're saying so I don't know what I'm supposed to fix for you.

Please restate the problem.

-Kirk

[Goos van der Veen]

Marc, I think that what you want may possibly be hazardous for people with other workflows.

If I understand you correctly, you have one camera and one card, and two computers.
You start taking photographs, and download them to the first computer.
Then you take a second set of photographs, and now want to download only the second set to the second computer.

If Kirk would make something that would automatically prevent the second computer from downloading the first set of photographs, then people who, contrary to you, do want the second computer to receive ALL images from that card, will have a big problem because they may reformat a card with has images on it that they haven't downloaded to their computer.
In your case you either have to download the images manually, or download too many of them. They can easily be trashed, so you only lose a bit of time.

Wouldn't it be easier if you used two separate cards, one for each computer and clearly marked?

[Goos van der Veen]

Uwe,

do you leave your images on your card, even after having downloaded them to your computer, for more than a month? If so, you're asking for trouble.

It's generally considered best practice to download them to your computer and copy them to a second disk (CD, DVD, hard drive, SSD) for backup. Before you start taking new photographs, you should reformat the card in the camera every time.

If you don't, the risk of card corruption and loss of images increases every time you take it out of the camera, in and out of the card reader and back into the camera.

[pescatore]

Yes Goos, I let the pictures on the card ( one month or longer... ) if I'm on traveling.
I'm importing new shoots every evening, but let the imported pictures on the card.
It's a easy way for me to have an backup of my pictures...
I think the PM function is especially for this case. And it's a fine function :-)

But after some time PM seems to loose the focus of the earlier imported pictures, so all pictures will be twice imported (append with a "A" on the filename, prefer my settings).

The question is, why loose PM the focus on the earlier imported pictures after some time?
I'm on traveling. Importing every time the pictures with the same laptop.
It maybe that I use another cardreader on the same laptop.

Kirk, is my doing understandable to you?

Thanks :-)

Uwe
--

[Kirk Baker]

Uwe,

Yes Goos, I let the pictures on the card ( one month or longer... ) if I'm on traveling.
I'm importing new shoots every evening, but let the imported pictures on the card.
It's a easy way for me to have an backup of my pictures...
I think the PM function is especially for this case. And it's a fine function :-)

But after some time PM seems to loose the focus of the earlier imported pictures, so all pictures will be twice imported (append with a "A" on the filename, prefer my settings).

The question is, why loose PM the focus on the earlier imported pictures after some time?
I'm on traveling. Importing every time the pictures with the same laptop.
It maybe that I use another cardreader on the same laptop.

PM creates a local database of files that have been downloaded to your computer, matched with the ID of the incremental ingest file stored on your card.

Any images that aren't already in the list of downloaded files will be downloaded again.  If you're getting images downloaded more than once then either the database has been lost or the incremental ingest file on the card has been lost.

-Kirk

[pescatore]

Thanks Kirk for the clarification.
I know the dot-File on card, but where resists the special database file?

Thanks
Uwe
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[Kirk Baker]

Uwe,

Thanks Kirk for the clarification.
I know the dot-File on card, but where resists the special database file?

There are multiple files, one for each card ID.  They are stored in PM's disk cache folder in a sub-folder named "ingest" and then in a sub-folder named "incremental".

-Kirk

[pescatore]

Ahh, interesting Kirk.
Are this files also deleted if I press "empty now" Cache?

Thanks
Uwe
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