Scan and archive old photos - but where/how to write a store to each photo?

[stighenning]

Hi,

I bought a Epson V700 scanner to which I'm going to preserve old memories. Both paper and negatives.
I use PC and Picasa to sort my images.

I know that picasa has the ability to store information in its own picasa database to each photo.
But Picasa is depended on a database-file which is store on my local computer. Not a network drive.. This means that if the computer crashes etc.. the documentation would be lost.
Backup up the picasa folder locally was not "googles intention".. I think.. they rather have you upload the photos into the cloud. (and That I do not want, but thats another story :-))

So my question(s):
How do you put information on your images which you archive ?
And how is this information possible to retrieve 20-30 years from now ?

[Geoff F]

Most software has some form of Exif data storage where you can add notes about an image, as well as the shooting information, which gets embedded into the image data. But I don't know about the Picasa system for doing this.

The usual method only works reliably when saving in the software native format so there is always a risk that these files may become obsolete if your software supplier goes out of business. In some cases, you can convert to Jpeg or Tiff, etc and retain the information; however, with other software all this data is removed once you change the format. No simple rules here.

I save in Adobe Psd format (after editing and adding data in Adobe CC) which retains full information and I am gambling that this particular format is so widely used it will be available in some form for a long time to come.

[Mike Buckley]

The method that I use is to catalog all of my photos, which includes adding whatever metadata I want to add. I use IDimager's PhotoSupreme to do that. The database catalog is an open architecture that can be exported if you ever decide for whatever reason you no longer want to use the product. You can write the information or not stored in the catalog to the image files. My catalog and image files are backed up at least daily to an external disk drive and are backed up weekly to a second external disk drive that is stored off-site.

[george013]

Hi,

I bought a Epson V700 scanner to which I'm going to preserve old memories. Both paper and negatives.
I use PC and Picasa to sort my images.

I know that picasa has the ability to store information in its own picasa database to each photo.
But Picasa is depended on a database-file which is store on my local computer. Not a network drive.. This means that if the computer crashes etc.. the documentation would be lost.
Backup up the picasa folder locally was not "googles intention".. I think.. they rather have you upload the photos into the cloud. (and That I do not want, but thats another story :-))

So my question(s):
How do you put information on your images which you archive ?
And how is this information possible to retrieve 20-30 years from now ?

I'm not sure what you mean. Do you want keywords, comments etc. IN your photos? If so you could use Iview.

George

[rpcrowe]

Perhaps a cloud based storage system would work. I store libraries of my images on Smugmug.com.

Many Internet Genealogical Programs have the capacity to store and annotate images. I use Legacy by Millenia
https://www.legacyfamilytree.com/DeluxeEdition.asp
This program has a capability to automatically backup any data entered...

[stighenning]

Thanks for comments and suggestion!
I checked out imatch5 and Photo Supreme. And Photo Supreme seems to be much better than imatch5.
Imatch5 failed at first runtime. Needed installation of VC_redist.x64.exe. It also gave a fail message when it tried to create the database.. although it seemed to work.
Iwatch5 seems to be good to customize menus etc.. but what it failed on was speed. Incredible slow, with just 158pics (for testing). I maybe did something wrong.. but install straight out of the box was not impressive :-/
But it looks to be good, but falled short due to speed.

The Photo Supreme - I was able to browse photos faster, edit the description etc (EXIF) and add other data on the fly..
Also do the same with batch updating images by just "selecting the photos" and change the exif data. Nice

I don't want my pictures lying around the web/net, so I like to keep them locally on NAS. Then encrypt the photos with hashbackup. (a linux based encryption system) After encryption, the photos are every night polled and uploaded to the "sky"

I like the idea of been able to backup the Photo Supreme database too.

Wow - I also found is has a "Travel mode". Very nice! Take the pictures "off site"... (the pictures are still on my NAS) and I can make adjustments on the pictures elsewhere..
then when I get back I can tick-off Travel mode, and "save the metadata for all the files-out-of-sync". Very very nice!!

Thanx for tips!

[Mike Buckley]

As you continue to evaluate PhotoSupreme, keep in mind that its peer-to-peer support forum is very effective and that the developer regularly participates in it. If you need any help, workflow ideas and the like, you'll surely get it very quickly.

[stighenning]

Only thing is thats PhotoSupreme is expensive... just wondering if I can install it on my laptop and my desktop PC with one license. Did not find any answer to this in their FAQ. Do you know?

[Mike Buckley]

You'll only need the one license to do that. You'll be on the honor system that you'll be using the two computers only one at a time. It would actually be very unwise in terms of your workflow to use both computers at the same time whether it's only you or you and someone else.

As far as being expensive, considering the cost of camera equipment and other software, I hardly consider $100 for a perpetual license to be expensive. Until upgrading to the current version, I very effectively used a previous version that was three generations earlier for at least five years. That cost worked out to less than $2 per month.

[stighenning]

True, spreading the cost on months.. its not much.
Workflow is to use one computer at the time. Work at my desk with photos and scanning..
Then taking my laptop, sync the files.. and leave home..
Sitting at my cabin or hotel (for that matter) I can edit the photos description. Then get back home and sync the updates back to the original photos on the NAS disk.

[stighenning]

It takes some time to process the files.. its been working since last night.. (and still running)




Hoping I can the put that database on a sentral NAS disk and both PCs work against the database on NAS. Is this possible ?

[Mike Buckley]

You're importing 172,000 files at one time, so it might take a very long time. The software has to build all the previews of raw files and the thumbnails of all file formats. It also has to store them in a separate database file as well as build the catalog database from the metadata stored in the image files. All of that takes considerable time. Once both database files are completely built, I think you'll find the program to be quite fast.

Based on my years of reading posts at the support forum, I would recommend importing in batches of about 25,000 at a time. Spot check each batch to ensure that everything has been properly imported.

Be aware that if you have a corrupt file, that one file can bring a halt to the entire process though that may not happen.

Hoping I can the put that database on a sentral NAS disk and both PCs work against the database on NAS. Is this possible ?

Yes, I believe that's possible but I'm reasonably confident I remember people reporting that your system will run slower than if the database was on a local drive. It's best to search the support forum or ask about that and the ideal way to configure your system. Lots of people there will be happy to provide you helpful information. http://forum.idimager.com/