Photos in too many folders

[krzysztof_sazon]

<p>Hey,<br>

That's my first post here, I'm glad I've finally joined this community and I hope to learn lots from you.</p>

<p>I've got a problem with finding and viewing photos. I've been using few different photo managment programs and what I've got on my drive is simply huge mess. All my photos are in one folder, but in very many chains of subfolders [many of them are copies btw].<br>

What I think maybe a good idea, is to put all photos in one folder and then find/view/edit them with lightroom. But I don't know how to extract them from those folders.</p>

<p>Any help is appreciated</p>

<p>pzdr</p>

[Charles_Webster]

<p>Just use Lightroom to Import them all in the folders where they reside now. You can tell LR not to move the files when it imports them.<br>

Then you can visually compare them in Grid view to eliminate the duplicates.<br>

That's what I did when faced with the same issue. When I imported my library I skipped folders that I knew contained duplicates, like those marked for Email or Web use, because I can recreate those easily from within LR.</p>

<p><Chas></p>

[JAPster]

<p>Since you say you have duplicate copies, then we assume these copies have the same name as the original. If you try to copy these duplicates into one folder along with the original you will get an error message from Windows. Windows will not let you or any software program create two files with same name in the same folder. You can get around this by renaming the duplicates with something like _1, _2, _3, etc.</p>

[at]

<p>Picasa (from the makers of google) is also very nice as an "entry level" photo mgmt tool.<br>

It can search your entire disk drive and import every photo it finds. Entry level..yes but still a very<br>

handy too. And its free. Certainly a good option to learn and grow with (until you need the power<br>

of LR, etc).</p>

[krzysztof_sazon]

<p>Thank you, I think I'll give a try with Charles method</p>

<p>pzdr</p>

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

<p>You may want to look at IDImager:</p>

<p>http://idimager.com/</p>

[leicaglow]

<p>I've been using ACDSee for many years, but I know I have to get Lightroom. Essentially what you're trying to do is build a central catalog of your images. You don't want to physically manipulate the image location, you want to use a database to track it. So if an image is tagged "airplane" but also "Hawaii", you don't have to have copies of it and all.</p>

<p>Here's how I basically track my images (if it helps--nothing too tricky):</p>

<p>My Pictures<br /> ..> Digital (unprocessed raw camera files)<br /> .....> _D20002991, etc.<br /> ..> Film Scans (unprocessed scans)<br /> .....> Scanner 1 Raw<br /> .....> Scanner 2 Raw<br /> .....> Scanner 3 Raw<br /> .....> Scan Service 1 Raw<br /> .....> Scan Service 2 Raw (The reason for multiples is I track the RAW quality by service)<br /> ..> Processed (film or digital<br /> .....> Exhibits (full sized scans or post processed)<br /> ........> Exhibit/project 1 Name<br /> ........> Exhibit/project 2 Name<br /> .....> Uploads (stuff for PNet and other forums)<br /> ........> Watermarked (generally, this is a copy of uploads, but with a watermark)</p>

<p>The only duplication is when I copy out images for a book or other document project, then they end up under My Documents. I use Windows (obviously). FWIW, I have all these files and folders backed up to two removable drives and one internal RAID drive. I alternate backups to each removable drive, every other backup, and one drive always is stored outside of my office/studio (offsite). Probably way more info than you asked for though. (sorry, I had to add ...'s because it wouldn't format the spaces correctly)</p>

<p>I forgot to mention: I don't do backups to CDs or DVDs, except for exhibit images. The problem I have is CDs have lost their info because of CD "Rot". So I don't trust them anymore. I also use a couple of products to keep my drives in good shape and warn me of impending doom<g>. One you should really get is SpinRite. http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm</p>

[JeffOwen]

<p>I have just had a look at my 'My Picture' properties and see that I have 31,661 files (photos) in 493 folders! There are quite a few duplicates but I guess I have at least 30,000 photos that I could probably locate very quickly if needed. This is due to the way I have labelled them and laid them out. It's not foolproof but by setting the first layer folders out in date order by year then sub folders by year-month-day- description I get most of my photos catalogued. Of course there are the odd ball shots and there are separate folders for these, probably about a total 30 distinct folders.<br>

Which ever way you decide to sort out your photos make sure to take a back up first and do it soon. Once you have done your sorting take another back up and keep it up to date. Get a system going and keep it going otherwise your problem will only get worse.<br>

Good luck.<br>

PS I only use Windows Explorer to do all my sorting.</p>