Changing paths for collections / portfolios

[Stephen]

I just had a system crash (equivalent to power out) and had to restore a backup.
Before the restore, PSu was still working but could not sync. I exported my new portfolios created in the interim, to minimize the fallout.

I can import these into PSu to retain the latest labelling / keywording, but I would like to reset the source of the original image. I want to change the location of the backed-up portfolio to the location of the original files. Typically my portfolios are composed of images from various folders. In PSu's Folder View it is possible to re-allocate the path, but can this be done for collections / portfolios?

Thinking aloud, it would be possible to re-import these images to a new folder and then change the paths. However, as there are multiple files and multiple paths, the import destinations would need to be split. Perhaps somebody knows an easier way?

Thanks.

[vlad]

I'm wondering if I'm the only one who doesn't understand the described issue(s). Stephen, what do you mean by changing the location of a portfolio?

[Mike Buckley]

I also have the same questions vlad asked.

[Stephen]

This was written in a period of great stress, so I apologize if it's not easy to understand.

A portfolio might consist of images from dozens of folders, i.e.
Paris 2014-06-12
Paris 2015-01-01
Paris 2016-05-06 etc.

If you lose a portfolio it can create ages to re-construct and you might never succeed because some develop over time.

It was clear that restoring a backup, I was going to lose 12 portfolios, so I exported them. I now want to import them. It was my idea that I could do this:

Import Paris external drive to Paris internal drive.
Make it a portfolio.
(It now consists of copies of the original images)
Then change the paths of each image to the original images.

Thus I will have reconstructed the original portfolio.

[vlad]

Hi Stephen,

It was clear that restoring a backup, I was going to lose 12 portfolios, so I exported them.

So, you couldn't create a new catalog backup (because of some catalog issues, I assume), therefore you exported the portfolio content to folders; right?

Question: did you have ICS writing enabled in your global preferences? In that case, your portfolio data might actually be stored in your images! (Not sure if the portfolio metadata made it to the physical files, though, since you earlier mentioned syncing problems.)

I now want to import them.

It might be worth checking the metadata in your relevant images: select such an image and open Details -> XMP Advanced -> ics. Do you see icsPortfolios over there? If you do and it has the right content, you may be lucky: (temporarily) enabling Read IDimager ICS scheme and reimporting the images might actually recreate the right portfolios with the right content!

(Just keep in mind that any write-sync overwrites the entire ICS metadata, therefore you should *not* save metadata for the imported images, if they're not in the right portfolios yet. If you have pending changes, you might want want to *temporarily* disable ICS Writing - until you reimport the images in the right portfolios.)

It was my idea that I could do this:

Import Paris external drive to Paris internal drive.
Make it a portfolio.
(It now consists of copies of the original images)
Then change the paths of each image to the original images.

Thus I will have reconstructed the original portfolio.

I'm still not sure I follow. How are you going to change the paths of images in the portfolios?

[Mike Buckley]

Then change the paths of each image to the original images.

Why is this step necessary or even helpful? It seems to me that if you have portfolios, the original images and physical copies of them, restoring the copies to the path of the originals would not be helpful. That would be especially true if you made the copies versions of the originals when you exported them from the portfolio.

Maybe I'm missing something or misunderstanding something.

[vlad]

My understanding is that Stephen does not readily have the portfolios as such, but only their content (image copies), exported from portfolios to folders. That's only my assumption, though - let's wait for Stephen's clarification, when his stress level gets closer to normal.

[Mike Buckley]

Stephen stated that he wants to import the copies and then make portfolios of them. That explains my thinking that he would then have the portfolios, the original images and the physical copies of them.

I forgot to explicitly mention that if the copies were exported as versions of the originals, he would always be able to find the originals by right clicking any version, selecting "Show More" and then selecting "From this version set." That would seem to negate the need to change the path of any images.

[vlad]

I forgot to explicitly mention that if the copies were exported as versions of the originals, he would always be able to find the originals

Ah, I see! You have a very good point, except that:

A) We don't know if Stephen exported the copies as versions
B) He no longer has that catalog (since he didn't or couldn't back it up), if I understand correctly

On the flip side, there are possible solutions on both counts:

1) If Stephen did use versions, the versioning info may still be in the ICS metadata.
2) Regardless, the originals could likely be found by running version detection on the imported copies (...provided the copies were not renamed during or after exporting).

All these ideas suggest there's hope - quite a lot of hope, actually - for Stephen's portfolios.

[Stephen]

he portfolios in question were created after my last back up, but I still have all images in the database. I used the command >share >copy to folder to make a "copy" of all images in each portfolio to another disk location and to keep all images from each portfolio in one place. The idea was to be able to recreate the portfolios easily.

I don't like having multiple copies of the same image and the advantage of a database is that this is not necessary.

Having recreated the portfolio I then wished to point PSu to the location of the original files. i.e. I click the images one by one, find their current location in the finder. Then I wanted to point to the original location (which still exists of course). I cannot discover how to do that, so I will probably have to just create the portfolios from scratch.

I was unable to make a backup of the latest (corrupt) version of the database because it was not permitted. This was the only way I saw to record the content of the portfolios before restoring the backup.

Thanks for this tips. I hope this is clearer now.

[vlad]

Hi Stephen, I believe I understood your portfolio situation correctly and the offered tips may help you. Are those tips clear? Did you try any of them?

[Stephen]

Vlad wrote:
"It might be worth checking the metadata in your relevant images: select such an image and open Details -> XMP Advanced -> ics. Do you see icsPortfolios over there? If you do and it has the right content, you may be lucky: (temporarily) enabling Read IDimager ICS scheme and reimporting the images might actually recreate the right portfolios with the right content!

(Just keep in mind that any write-sync overwrites the entire ICS metadata, therefore you should *not* save metadata for the imported images, if they're not in the right portfolios yet. If you have pending changes, you might want want to *temporarily* disable ICS Writing - until you reimport the images in the right portfolios.)"

Thanks, that is a very useful tip and indeed I have found that field and will do some experimenting. In some cases I have been recreating the portfolios with the same names, so it might not be able to help with all portfolios. But I am extremely grateful for this tip and being made aware of this field.

It also appears to have a bug, which might have been reported. If you change the name of the portfolio or collection from i.e. pending Paris to 2016-07-07 Paris, which I do when the collection is completed, then the ics field does not update, even if you invoke the command "Save metadata to file for all out of sync images". The images do not appear to be out of sync because there is no red dot. Only when you mark them and then save, does the portfolio name update itself in the ics field.

[Mike Buckley]

If you change the name of the portfolio or collection from i.e. pending Paris to 2016-07-07 Paris...The images do not appear to be out of sync because there is no red dot.

I have always guessed that that is the sort of thing explaining the potential usefulness of the Preferences Write setting that forces the update of images that are supposedly in synch. Personally, I would never use that setting in combination with the Auto synch setting. However, I can see how it would be useful when Auto synch is disabled.

[fbungarz]

It also appears to have a bug, which might have been reported. If you change the name of the portfolio or collection from i.e. pending Paris to 2016-07-07 Paris, which I do when the collection is completed, then the ics field does not update, even if you invoke the command "Save metadata to file for all out of sync images". The images do not appear to be out of sync because there is no red dot. Only when you mark them and then save, does the portfolio name update itself in the ics field.

Probably not a bad idea to report this to Mantis...

[fbungarz]

Personally, I would never use that setting in combination with the Auto synch setting.

Why not?