Best practice - mixed macOS and Windows

[Username]

What would the best practice be when running PSu server version in mixed environments when it comes to server paths for the stored images?

We want to be able to mount the share without path mapping problem no matter on which OS we mount it.

The share is a smb off an Mac mini.
Clients are several macOS and windows 10 clients.

[Hert]

PSU can be used on Windows and macOS and was designed to be used on one of these platforms.
While PSU does accept connections from mixed clients, it is recommended that Catalog Managers all use the same platform.

[thenetstriker]

Hi Hert, I'm having the same problem. I also use Photosupreme on Mac and Windows. The only workarround I found is to create a complete copy of the database and change the paths there. This way I have at least a readonly version of the database on my mac.

Is there a reason why you don't want to support this? As far as I can tell the only thing that we would need for this to work is a setting (or maybe a script function) to map the file path on a mac. Or maybe it would be even easier. The application could e.g. just change the file path from \\server\share to the unix format smb://server/share, but I didn't test this yet.

[Hert]

You don't need a second database to have read-only access. A catalog that was created on Windows client can be opened on a macOS client and you'll still have all database features available. But because PSU won't be able to find Windows file references on a macOS client, the files will be marked as "offline".
PSU is not designed to be used in a mixed environment. Use only Windows or only macOS clients on the clients where direct file access is needed.

[paulrbarnard]

A possible workaround which I use is to create separate catalogues on each system pointing at the same shared file space. Select to have all meta data saved to XMP. Then when switching systems you can run verify folder to pull changes from one system to the other. This works fine for all meta data.
My system takes this a little further as the file system i use is shared accross my computers using ownCloud. This means I have the image files local on each computer as well even though they are in different physical folder structure. My desktop for example stores all the images on an external RAID and my laptop on the internal SSD. When i'm on the road I simply import RAWs to PS and they are copied to my desktop in the office using ownCloud. I can tag and keyword on my Laptop while I'm away. Then when I get back to the office I verify folder and the desktop catalogue gets updated to reflect the changes i made on the road.
I also remove RAW data from the main folder structure into offline storage on my desktop computer. They are still held in the desktop catalogue but the physical files are removed from the folders on the Laptop. Again verify folder adjusts the catalogue on the laptop to reflect the changes.
It's a process that works pretty well for me without having to use the server version. It works fine with different OS and different physical disks.