Database import/export and working on two computers

[fred.hammersmith]

Hi to all.
I am certainly not the only one who has to work on two computers, one for home, one for the office?
My pro collection is of 200 000 pictures approx. Still growing with each projects.
Embedding the metadata in the image file has always seem like a "secure" way to maintain database integrity. So when I work on my ACDSee database, I always does it in my main computer (computer A).
Then I sync the image folder on both my computers. Then "catalog" the image files in my work computer (computer B).
But this seems just too slow a process now. ACDSee going through the 200 000 files take so much time, and to be sure everything is OK it has to do so even for minor corrections to my database.
There has to be some way to use the Import/Export database feature to do this, right?
Or maybe you can suggest another method? Can I "map" an outside drive so databases in both stations will work OK?

[Greyfox]

Hi to all.
I am certainly not the only one who has to work on two computers, one for home, one for the office?
My pro collection is of 200 000 pictures approx. Still growing with each projects.
Embedding the metadata in the image file has always seem like a "secure" way to maintain database integrity. So when I work on my ACDSee database, I always does it in my main computer (computer A).
Then I sync the image folder on both my computers. Then "catalog" the image files in my work computer (computer B).
But this seems just too slow a process now. ACDSee going through the 200 000 files take so much time, and to be sure everything is OK it has to do so even for minor corrections to my database.
There has to be some way to use the Import/Export database feature to do this, right?
Or maybe you can suggest another method? Can I "map" an outside drive so databases in both stations will work OK?

If you export the database from PC#1 and import it into PC#2 (and import/export really only works with exact same versions), then any prior changes that were made to the database in PC#2 will be lost, and vice versa. I suspect there is also the possibility of issues if the two PC's see the images as being on different drive paths.

You could try putting both the images and the database on an external drive that both PC's can access. One of the downsides will probably be a drop in performance.
Because ACDSee isn't designed as multi-user, there is likely to be some issues if both PC's access the database at the same time, and it isn't just accessing the same image at the same time. From memory you would have to turn off ACDSee Indexer and perhaps the Face ID queue on at least one of the PC's.

I would make sure you do embed the metadata in the images, and also use regular backups.

Edit: This is an old thread, but might be of interest

https://forum.acdsee.com/forum/main-category/acdsee-ultimate/45503-best-practice-for-working-on-multiple-computers

[Regor250]

Thinking outside the box, it may sound simple, but why don't you put the files AND the database on an external USB drive and move the drive between systems? You can't be at 2 places at once. Even better, get 3 drives, and do an incremental image backup of your work drive before moving locations it won't take much time (using something like Macrium Reflect, forget Windows crappy backups) and will guarantee that you won't loose any data.

[Greyfox]

Thinking outside the box, it may sound simple, but why don't you put the files AND the database on an external USB drive and move the drive between systems? You can't be at 2 places at once. Even better, get 3 drives, and do an incremental image backup of your work drive before moving locations it won't take much time (using something like Macrium Reflect, forget Windows crappy backups) and will guarantee that you won't loose any data.

I think the downside to that might be the performance hit when the database is on an external USB drive.

[fred.hammersmith]

Thinking outside the box, it may sound simple, but why don't you put the files AND the database on an external USB drive and move the drive between systems? You can't be at 2 places at once. Even better, get 3 drives, and do an incremental image backup of your work drive before moving locations it won't take much time (using something like Macrium Reflect, forget Windows crappy backups) and will guarantee that you won't loose any data.

I was considering this exact solution. Will the same database file be able to work on two computers? Can I put it on the external hard drive?

[Regor250]

You can, but be careful about launching Ultimate if the drive isn't connected, it will crash unceremoniously; it might be prudent to load another local default database before closing ACDSee each time. Like Greyfox said there will be impact on speed most likely, so selecting and processing large number of selected files might be an issue, but if it were me, I'd at least try.

[Greyfox]

...Will the same database file be able to work on two computers?

Yes it should, but they would both have to be Windows PC's - the Mac version database is different to the Windows one.

Can I put it on the external hard drive?

As per Regor250's answer, also my comment about a possible loss of performance.
In addition, ACDSee indexer will try to process items when the PC is idle, and this could be an issue if the external drive is not connected, so possibly wise to disable ACDSee Indexer. Maybe also ACDSee Mobile Sync.

[fred.hammersmith]

Hi. I just wanted to mention that my first post was stating that going through my 200 000 pictures database was very long... Well yes indeed it was very long because there was a big bug in the process. Actually, I was entering an infinite loop, with the cataloging function going everywhere in my disk drive, without any control. Tech support at ACDSee could not help me. Then I noticed the point at which the process seemed to go off rails. And the problem became clear: some of my filename paths were too long (over 250 characters). This is very bad for the cataloging process. Avoid at all costs.

[brajaq]

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation?tabs=cmd