PhotoWorkFlow

Nothing is more frustrating and time wasting than trying to recreate your software customizations once you have migrated your software to another computer after a fresh OS install.  In my case, both my Photo Mechanic preferences were highly customized for my workflow optimization and my PhotoShop Actions (really a fancy macro executions) were just very complicated.

Going off to Google land, ended up with a lot of funky feedback, so I then went direct to experts.

Photomechanic: ….. Thank you for contacting Camera Bits.

Export the Photo Mechanic settings to your computer. Open the Photo Mechanic Preferences and click on the Export button, then save the file to your local machine. Give the file any name that you will remember. Once the file has been saved, copy or move the preference file over to the new computer.

Import the preference file. Open Photo Mechanic’s Preferences on the new computer and click Import. Choose the file that you exported on the old machine and import the settings.

Well, that was easy enough ! The one area that will need your attention is to set your cache folder location and colorspace (ProPhoto-nothing else recommended as an alternative due to its hugh color space).

CS5

My resource for migrating CS4 ACTIONS to CS5 ACTIONS, was a concern to me.  To the rescue was a small how to video that Moose Peterson did on preparing your computer for CS5 migration.  It was another very simple tip and worked for me flawlessly.

Simple open up your PS4 Actions,

1) Highlight the Action Folder to Export

2) In the upper right hand corners are some small arrows that once you press will display a drop down list, Select Save Actions

3) Open up CS5, goto ACTIONS, and Load Actions.

Very simple…very easy….

I also read that you should keep a copy of  your Actions backup in case of a Hard Drive failure..So making the process above part of your backup routine might be something you’d want to consider.

I have been working at perfecting a process to take all those Images that have been uploaded and Ingested off-location (meaning away from my home base) and how to get them Ingested and Uploaded when on-location (meaning back at home).

This secret is trying to keep things simple, use the simplest software available, and have the simplest hardware. In all cases your software needs to be the same on both your off/on location computer, and your hard drive enclosures can benefit by having multiple connectivity capabilities to use as USB, firewire or Esata.  I will walk you thru the process, software, software settings and hardware

Here is the work Flow:

Off location:

1. Insert CF card (My preference: PhotoFast) into MacBook Pro with either USB, Firewire or Esata Express 34 Card Reader. (My preference Sonnet Esta 34)
2. Use Photo Mechanic software as your Ingest tool. Add field keyname metadata, setfile name to date of shoot,reset sequence to zero, set file location transfer and begin Ingest.
   1. Transfer files to MacBookPro HDD partitioned as ‘FritzImages1′ (My preference: MacBook Pro 17″, 2.8Ghz,6GB,500gb)
   2. Transfer files to External enclosure with HDD partitioned as ‘MBP Achieve’ (My preference: OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini, Quad Interface)
   3. This allows me to have two sets of my files for redundancy.
3. Erase & Reformat CF cards (in camera with D3s or Image Rescue 3 SW by Lexar)

On location

1. Use external enclosure (OWC mercury Elite) from step 2.2 above. Connect via Esata to MacPro
2. Use software program BackupList+ to identify files to transfer and upload.
   1. Upload files to 2 separate locations 3.1 & 3.2
3. Upload files to MacPro from external HDD partition “MBP Archive”
   1. Transfer files from external HDD partition MBP Archives to MacPro partitioned ‘FritzImages1′
      1. Note: 86 GB took 20 minutes using Firewire 800
   2. Transfer files from external HDD partition MBP Archives to External HDD 2xT2 Raid 0 partitioned MSTR Data
      1. Note: 86 GB  took 12 minutes using ESATA
4. This allows me to have two sets of files for redundancy
   1. 1 set of ‘working’ files on MP FritzImages
      1. This will be backed up later for redundancy as part of standard backup workflow
   2. 1 set of MSTR Files on External HDD using RAID 1
5. Erase files on external HDD MBP Archive

Okay, so there you have it…it has taken a while to nail down the process, software and hardware.  You should be able to follow this, or make modifications as you see fit.  The off location Ingest workflow is fairly straightforward and routine. The On location Ingest is made possible with the quad Mercury Elite, the FirmTek Card for the MacPro, the Newer Technology Raid-1, and the last piece which came together for me last night was the BackupList+ software.

All of the hardware was recommended by Llyod Chambers and the hardware can all be found at OWC.

And by the way all 3 1/2 HDD in this system are 2.0TB Hitachi Deskstar™ 7K2000

The Basics of any HDD work flow should be a)partition system files from work files 2) 3 way redundancy. either by clone, synch or archive:

1. Clone = exact copy of Host Drive, I’ll use this on my system files & work files, example #3; s/w Carbon copy clone
2. Synch=two way match of Host and Remote Drive, I’ll use this on my ‘working photos’; example #2; s/w Chronosynch
3. Archive=Historic backup of Host, this is were time machine shines, I’ll TM my system & work files;example #4 (I’ve had issue with TM and don’t trust with Photos):s/w Apple
4. Clone=exact copy of Host Drive, I store MSTR of all photos (untouched) and have RAID 1 setup; Hardware solution; G-Safe*,

The piece that continues to be been missing in my work flow is Offsite Storage in red above. , because I don’t have a solution I Mirror RAID 1 #5/#6

I recently tried a relatively new service for MAC users at BackBlaze.com

After grabbing a user name and password, my 15 day trial began,  the upload speed is very very slow and in my case 2Tb of Photos calculated out to be an upload time of 365 days !

So this is not an option for me, so I’m still looking for that off site or on line storage.  My images just can’t fit in some paper folders ala Prez.

Mirror 1 RAID

Note on G-Safe:

Early this week, this 14 month old solution, had a system failure of one of its 1T HDD. Because the system was Raid1 mirrored and is hot swappable. No real issue with data loss. However, I’m intending to upgrade both drives to 2X2T. I was lucky that the other drive did not go down and because there was no three way redundancy, I would have been in trouble. I like Gsafes, out of the box solution. I have a few other of there storage systems, but I have had three returns in the past two years, so there reliability is not that good in my experience.  I would venture to building your own system for a lot less if your mechanically inclined. ref: Llyod Chambers.

Build your own

I decided that with 1/2 of my Mirror Raid1, hot swappable 1T out for repair at G-Technologies, that I just wasn’t comfortable with only one HDD holding all my photos for the last year with no backup so I purchased from OWC,

1. 2 X 2.0 TB Hitachi 7K2000 7200RPM SATA I/II HD with 32MB Cache and an
2. A special enclosure made by Newer Technology the Guardian MAXimus RAID-1 External eSATA/FireWire 800/400+USB 2.0 Dual Hard Drive Enclosure Kit. Supports 2 x SATA HDDs! Quad Interface, Oxford 936 SATA chipset.

The description gives it away, the enclosure will hold 2 X2T HDD and with a Quad interface anything can hook up to it !

The price tag for this setup is around $485 and a comparable GSafe is $700. The G-safe has removable hot swappable drives and a few more bells and whistles, but I’m looking for a lean system, and here it is.

The assembly was very easy, you are provided a nice instruction manual, and quick visual screen shots on how to initialize the system using your MAC disk utility application.

I decided to run the HDD with the e-sata port thru my MAc-Pro, and the speeds are great, considering that my write time is slowed due to the redundancy factory of the mirror drive.

The fan noise is louder than normal, but peering over to see the blue light steady state is reassuring that the data work flow is back on line !