Few random applications

[Handruin]

You guys may already know about these tools. I'm downloading them right now to give it a try. I figured I'd share them with you hoping that some may have used them. So far, MirrorFolder has me the most intrigued.

MirrorFolder is a real-time mirroring and synchronization software to backup files on local/network/removable drive/disk from local hard disk. You can mirror your important folders, or even an entire drive, on another local/network/removable drive/disk either in real-time or in auto-synchronization mode.

http://www.techsoftpl.com/backup/index.htm

Second Copy® 2000 is the perfect backup product designed for Windows 9x/Me/NT4/2000/XP you have been looking for. It makes a backup of your data files to another directory, disk or computer across the network. It then monitors the source files and keeps the backup updated with new or changed files. It runs in the background with no user interaction. So, once it is setup you always have a backup of your data some where else.

http://www.centered.com/

WebDrive integrates a WebDAV or FTP server into the Windows desktop by mapping it to a network drive letter. Files are transferred by simply saving them to a drive letter - there's no need to run a separate FTP Client. WebDrive instantly web-enables any Windows application by providing the ability for these applications to directly open files on web servers. WebDrive can connect to WebDAV, FTP, and HTTP Servers supporting Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions.

http://www.southrivertech.com/products/webdrive/index.html

 

[mangyDOG]

Second Copy looks interesting with the ability to keep up to 25 archived versions of a file, very useful if someone screws up a document and saves it over the top of the correct version.

I'll be very interested to hear how your tests go.


Cheers,
mangyDOG

 

[zx]

Thanks! These seem like nice little software. I'll test them too and see if they meet my needs (i've been looking for backup solutions...)

 

[blakerwry]

i used a program called internet neighbordhood a while back... i used it for its similarities to webdrive (map a drive letter to an FTP site)... i thought it was kind of buggy and had a hard time with good connections/too many connections to the FTP server at one time...

overall it was usefull, but could have been better... I might try webdrive here in a bit to see if it fares better

 

[Handruin]

I've had a chance to utilize these tools and for backing up my files, Second Copy® 2000 is my favorite so far. I’m going to use it for a few more days and I may purchase a license.

I believe Mirror Folder has its place, but it's not what I need right now. From a backup scheduling management point of view, Second Copy has the better interface for organizing my files and managing a backup schedule.

So far I've created a mirror backup folder on my new machine and I'm using second copy to backup a range of files and directories I have through my older machine. This tool works well because I keep all my production files on my older machine so that I have a central place to manage everything.

Because of the central location, I've been using Microsoft’s backup tool to handle those files in the past. Now I can use Second Copy to create different backup schedules and eventually archive them. Files such as my web files are backed up every couple of hours, where as some of my other files I do every 2 days since I know they don't change much. In this mix I will also be placing files on DVD-R for better protection, but for the most part, mirroring the files between the machines works well for me right now. Now that I manage my e-mail using IMAP, I don’t have to worry about backing up the e-mail from my machine.

Second Copy® 2000 also allows me to set a priority level on its service so that it doesn't interrupt my normal operation. I don't remember seeing one for mirror folder.

Now for the positives on Mirror Folder, I do like how I can keep a real-time synchronization between files and at the same time, lock the mirrored directory so the files can't change. Mirror Folder has a little bit of trouble with mapped drives. It wouldn't allow me to run real-time mirroring unless I set the file share to anonymous access level permissions. I wasn't comfortable with doing this even though it isn't a big threat in my environment.

Blake, I also tried Internet neighborhood and I wasn't very happy with the tool. When I mapped a drive to Storageforum, it locked all my other FTP connections to this server. It was more of a pain than I needed. I'm going to try out webdrive now, and I hope it is better than internet neighborhood.

 

[Pradeep]

Have you dabbled with 2003 Server's shadow volumes? Prob not as much control over it as the Mirror Folder program tho.

 

[Handruin]

I've used the volume shadow copy a little bit, but I didn't know you could keep copies on another physical machine. I thought the shadow volumes help with keeping archives of previous file history.

 

[Tannin]

Second copy gets a very good report card from two or three customers I have that use it. I'll take a look at mirror folder shortly, as since I've taken to flipping back and forwards between laptop and desktop, things can get confusing.

 

[Tannin]

Oh, and Web Drive is yet another of the many excellent Windows apps that have been ported over from their original OS/2 platform.
</OS/2 zealot mode>

 

[Howell]

i used a program called internet neighbordhood a while back... i used it for its similarities to webdrive (map a drive letter to an FTP site)... i thought it was kind of buggy and had a hard time with good connections/too many connections to the FTP server at one time...

overall it was usefull, but could have been better... I might try webdrive here in a bit to see if it fares better

I also own Internet Neighborhood. I found it bogged down my machine too much similar to the way the Nut&Bolts file compression did because it is always loaded.

Handy, you might also look at FileBack PC. I have it purchased & installed but have not had time to play with it.

 

[blakerwry]

i just ran the trial, I would never buy that program. Too buggy for my tastes.

 

[Handruin]

i just ran the trial, I would never buy that program. Too buggy for my tastes.

Which one?

 

[blakerwry]

Internet Neighborhood

 

[Handruin]

Ah, ok. Was worried you meant Second Copy was buggy. So far it runs perfect, no bugs yet. I was concerned about missing something that you found.

 

[Tannin]

This is probably worth a new thread, but seeing as it's more or less on-topic here, I'll just add on to this one.

I have, as you all know, many thousands of jpeg images, and sort them cronologically in the main. On the whole, this works OK, as the Coolpix names everything DSCN????, starting at 0000 and going up to 9999, then starting over. Thus a simple sort by filename produces what I need.

However, there are problems:

• If you forget to format a part-used flashcard leftover from a previous day, it resets itself to carry on from the last-used number on the flash card.
• It wastes four characters per filename, mindlessly repeating "DSCN" for every file - and I never could abide waste.
• If your day happens to include the 9999 to 0000 rollover, your pictures are in the wrong order.
• If, like me, you own two Nikon cameras, you wind up with no end of trouble: either you have a series of different files with identical names, or else you have them wildly out of sequence.
• Finally and unforgivably, there is no facility whatsoever to customise the auto filenaming system: it's DSCN???? or nothing. In a $1000+ camera, this is absurd.

So, what I have to do is copy the day's shots onto the hard drive, using different folders for the two cameras, and then use the excellent Z Tree to rename one set to DSCP???? or whatever. Clumsy, and it doesn't put them in the correct order, but it gets me by.

Why not rename them to the creation date? Because if you try that, using ZTree or any of the other common file management utilities, you get the date and time you copied the shots onto the computer, not the time you took the pictures. (And thus, of course, a whole stack of files trying to have the same name.) You could do it by hand - reading the EXIF date and manually renaming each file, but with an average of 500 shots a day, that is out of the question.

The answer, then, is a utility program - and herin lies a story.

 

[blakerwry]

google to the rescue my son.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1389945,00.asp

 

[Tannin]

Simple, I thought: it's a pretty common sort of requirement and there must be dozens of programs out there that do it, more than likely free ones.

So I hit Google and searched for the obvious combination: EXIF RENAME. Heaps of hits. One by one, I followed them, downloading anything that looked likely.

And you know what? They are all CRAP. Honestly, there are some dreadful programs floating around out there. Things like "The Rename" which can read the EXIF data OK and rename files OK, but can only rename files to the file creation date (not the EXIF date), and although it can reset the file creation date to the EXIF date, can only do so one file at a time! Millions of options, but totally useless for a photographer.

Lots and lots of others, and not a single one of them a practical proposition. The only thing that looked a possibility was a five-part command-line thing that promised to extract EXIF data to a list, which I could then feed into something like ZTree to do the renaming with. A hell of a lot of mucking about for a simple rename function, and the damn thing costs US$20 - which is absurd for a command-line app.

Or the one that, via a very clumsy interface, could be persuaded to rename to EXIF date, but mindlessly insists on getting its date/time format from the Windows Control Panel - another dud.

After searching for an hour and a half, I cracked it and logged on here to (a) complain, and (b) ask for help. But, for some reason I forget already, I happened to try another dozen downloads .... and suddenly hit the jackpot.

It's a very small (200k) download, and it has no frills whatsoever. It just does what it's supposed to do. The main site seems to be down at present, but there is a backup site here or you can email me. (I'll upload it to the Storage Forum server if anybody wants me to.) It's called SetNameToTime.

No-frills, clunky, works.

As Tea would say, I like works.

 

[Tannin]

I found that page, Blake. Unfortunately, it renames to the file creation date, which is useless, as the creation date of the file on your hard drive is the date you copied the contents of the flash card, not the date you took the picture.

Oh, I guess you could run it on the actual flash card (very slowly - flash cards being what they are), or you could move rather than copy the image files, thus retaining the original creation date, but I don't fancy mucking about with only-copies.

Copy to hard drive, burn to CD, then format the flash card and rename the files - that's my practice, and the practice I'd recommend to anyone with a digital camera. One copy is never, ever enough. Hell, if I think I've just taken an absolute ripper, I'll go and get the notebook out of the car and copy it to hard drive right there in the bush, just in case I drop the flash card down a rabbit hole or something.

 

[blakerwry]

screenies here

Looks like it supports drag and drop as well... maybe i should give this to my father (who is just beginning his digital collection)

 

[Tannin]

Don't know about drag and drop, never tried it. But even people in the father category should be able to use this one, though it would be wise if you set up the new name format page to his requirements. You would work it out in two minutes but it's clunky, and if your dad is anything like my dad, he will get flummoxed by it. Once that is set, though, it's dead easy. Even I can do it.

 

[Deadwood]

jhead

I do the same thing (rename images to the date in the exif info). I use jhead to do it, though. Don't know if it's available for Windows. I have a script that downloads images from the camera, renames them, puts them in folders organized by month, and also creates resized copies of the images for web posting, and creates a text file of the full exif information for each image.

 

[LunarMist]

I found that page, Blake. Unfortunately, it renames to the file creation date, which is useless, as the creation date of the file on your hard drive is the date you copied the contents of the flash card, not the date you took the picture.

Oh, I guess you could run it on the actual flash card (very slowly - flash cards being what they are), or you could move rather than copy the image files, thus retaining the original creation date, but I don't fancy mucking about with only-copies.

Copy to hard drive, burn to CD, then format the flash card and rename the files - that's my practice, and the practice I'd recommend to anyone with a digital camera. One copy is never, ever enough. Hell, if I think I've just taken an absolute ripper, I'll go and get the notebook out of the car and copy it to hard drive right there in the bush, just in case I drop the flash card down a rabbit hole or something.

Tony:

What are you using for raw conversion? BreezeBrowser is cheap and will rename and retimestamp Raw, TIFF or JPG files based on the original EXIF information. Of course the Raw files should have correct shooting time/date stamps, so the most common usage for redating is when generating TIFF and JPGs files at a later date. However, I don't like to change file dates, as it makes backups more difficult. I would rather know the true date that the file was converted. Most people rename files with client and/or project and then subproject, session, etc. It may be a good idea to retain the original (or modified) camera body ID no. so that problems with a specific body can be pinpointed. The time/date can be useful for PJ work, but othertimes just makes for messy filenames. After you have thousands of files it will be necessary to create a database of all file info anyway.

 

[LunarMist]

http://www.breezesys.com/BreezeBrowser/features.htm