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From: Paul Furman on 2 Mar 2010 18:50
MusoNZ wrote:
> Chris Malcolm wrote:
>> MusoNZ wrote:
>>>
>>> I'm looking for a cost-effective software solution for managing an
>>> increasing number of photos (around 10,000) in such a way that
>>> multiple users on our LAN can access the photo database
>>> simultaneously.
>>> We tried Photoshop Elements and had problems with database corruption
>>> when more than one person tried to access the database. Photoshop CS4
>>> is getting out of our price range. Many of the other programs (eg
>>> Picasa) are single user only.
>>> We need an editing/organising solution, like PSE, but suitable for
>>> multiple users (say a maximum of 10)simultaneously. We're running
>>> WinXP on a server2k8 network.
>>> thanks for any help you can offer
>>
>> I don't understand why you're looking for a solution in a photo editor
>> or manager. This is a very general problem of file access and
>> modification by multiple users, and was solved many decades ago by
>> operating systems and filing systems. Clearly whatever operating
>> system or file managing system your computers are running isn't up to
>> this kind of work. Ask your systems admins what needs to be done or
>> bought etc.. Once an appropriate OS or file manager is installed, or
>> the existing one configured properly, any programs like PSE will
>> simply find file access locked out when they try to do something which
>> would cause problems.
>>
>> Trying to solve a basic system deficiency by making application
>> programs is the wrong way to go, much less general, and in the end
>> more costly.
>
> We are are not trying access the *photos* simultaneously, just the
> organising software's database. We're running Win XP SP2 and PSE 5,
> when two people try to load the same catalog (from a network share),
> we get all kinds of errors. Does anyone know if a later version of PSE
> is more network friendly?
>
> The main issue as I see it is the categorising and tagging of photos,
> and having this same information available to all network users (since
> there's little point in each person having their own filing system for
> 10k photos). The only other alternative is a well managed folder
> hierarchy, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, searching across
> multiple folders can be very prolonged without some other search
> criteria (eg tags!)

I wouldn't be surprised if something like Canto Cumulus was needed,
that's very expensive but you are asking for a lot. Thumbsplus is not
bad but I have no idea how it works for networked users. Maybe try in
alt.graphics.photoshop where folks in graphic design offices would more
likely hang out.
From: Mark L on 2 Mar 2010 22:41
On Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:42:25 -0500, Shawn Hirn <srhi(a)comcast.net> wrote:

>In article <hmk88q$5ot$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>,
> Paul Furman <paul-@-edgehill.net> wrote:
>
>> MusoNZ wrote:
>> > Chris Malcolm wrote:
>> >> MusoNZ wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> I'm looking for a cost-effective software solution for managing an
>> >>> increasing number of photos (around 10,000) in such a way that
>> >>> multiple users on our LAN can access the photo database
>> >>> simultaneously.
>> >>> We tried Photoshop Elements and had problems with database corruption
>> >>> when more than one person tried to access the database. Photoshop CS4
>> >>> is getting out of our price range. Many of the other programs (eg
>> >>> Picasa) are single user only.
>> >>> We need an editing/organising solution, like PSE, but suitable for
>> >>> multiple users (say a maximum of 10)simultaneously. We're running
>> >>> WinXP on a server2k8 network.
>> >>> thanks for any help you can offer
>> >>
>> >> I don't understand why you're looking for a solution in a photo editor
>> >> or manager. This is a very general problem of file access and
>> >> modification by multiple users, and was solved many decades ago by
>> >> operating systems and filing systems. Clearly whatever operating
>> >> system or file managing system your computers are running isn't up to
>> >> this kind of work. Ask your systems admins what needs to be done or
>> >> bought etc.. Once an appropriate OS or file manager is installed, or
>> >> the existing one configured properly, any programs like PSE will
>> >> simply find file access locked out when they try to do something which
>> >> would cause problems.
>> >>
>> >> Trying to solve a basic system deficiency by making application
>> >> programs is the wrong way to go, much less general, and in the end
>> >> more costly.
>> >
>> > We are are not trying access the *photos* simultaneously, just the
>> > organising software's database. We're running Win XP SP2 and PSE 5,
>> > when two people try to load the same catalog (from a network share),
>> > we get all kinds of errors. Does anyone know if a later version of PSE
>> > is more network friendly?
>> >
>> > The main issue as I see it is the categorising and tagging of photos,
>> > and having this same information available to all network users (since
>> > there's little point in each person having their own filing system for
>> > 10k photos). The only other alternative is a well managed folder
>> > hierarchy, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, searching across
>> > multiple folders can be very prolonged without some other search
>> > criteria (eg tags!)
>>
>> I wouldn't be surprised if something like Canto Cumulus was needed,
>> that's very expensive but you are asking for a lot. Thumbsplus is not
>> bad but I have no idea how it works for networked users. Maybe try in
>> alt.graphics.photoshop where folks in graphic design offices would more
>> likely hang out.
>
>Another option is Extensis Portfolio. Note that the OP needs to separate
>out photo management from photo editing. The two are separate and
>distinct activities. Portfolio is a media management package, but you
>can use whatever photo editor you want with it.

The same is true of ThumbsPlus. Under Options > Customize > Toolbar >
External Editor. You can add as many external applications to launch as you
want. While Customize > Toolbar panel is open, you can double-click on any
previously defined buttons on the toolbar to modify them. Its not instantly
apparent how to re-edit your customized toolbar buttons so I thought I'd
mention this.

I wouldn't suggest getting v8 of ThumbsPlus at this point though. They are
doing a major re-haul of it with lots of things in flux. Read their release
notes on it to see if you feel comfortable testing it for them at this
point or not. v7 updated to SP2 is just fine. If you hunt around there's
even a stand-alone single file portable version of TP7 with SP2 applied. I
like to keep a copy on my camera's SD cards for when switching between
databases on various laptops while on extensive photo expeditions. If a
laptop goes belly-up in the field then all is not completely lost. I use
its File > Database > Import & Export options to merge things later.

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