Some newbie questions

[esjones]

I downloaded, installed and ran PhotoStructure for Desktops v.0.9.1 on Windows 10.

I’m wondering if I should have done more reading and decided on whether node or server would have been a better choice, or if I took the right path. Is this something I can change if I need to? (I assume the answer is ‘yes’ as the library is supposed to be portable among versions.

If I remove a media folder from a drive after it has been processed by PhotoStructure (perhaps to offline storage), I assume that those media files continue to be available in PhotoStructure, right? What happens if I restore that folder to the same or a different volume? Does it get re-imported, or does de-duplication prevent that?

What happens if I delete photos or videos from the Library using Windows Explorer or some other tool? Does that mess things up?

If I mount an SD card or USB drive with media files on it, do I need to do anything to get PhotoStructure to process it, or is it automatic?

Thanks!

[mrm]

@esjones

whether node or server would have been a better choice

Here’s the difference between Desktop and Server editions:

PhotoStructure for Servers

@esjones

Is this something I can change if I need to?

Yes, just shut down PhotoStructure for Desktop, install and run PhotoStructure for Servers, and re-use the same PhotoStructure library directory.

@esjones

If I remove a media folder from a drive after it has been processed by PhotoStructure (perhaps to offline storage), I assume that those media files continue to be available in PhotoStructure, right?

It depends. If you enabled automatic organization, PhotoStructure will have copied all unique files into your library, so when you unmount a drive, there’s still a copy on your computer.

If you don’t have automatic organization enabled, full-size zoom won’t zoom full-size (just to the largest preview), and videos that weren’t transcoded won’t play.

@esjones

What happens if I restore that folder to the same or a different volume? Does it get re-imported, or does de-duplication prevent that?

PhotoStructure will see if it already imported that volume. If it has, and the mtime and size of the file hasn’t changed since the last import, it will skip over to the next file.

If you might be mounting drives to different locations or different drive letters, make sure you read this:

What's a “drive,” or “volume?”

@esjones

What happens if I delete photos or videos from the Library using Windows Explorer or some other tool? Does that mess things up?

It shouldn’t! If you remove all “variants” of an image (what you can see on the Asset Info panel), that asset will be removed from your library. See this for more details:

DAMs, systems of record, and how PhotoStructure plays well with others

@esjones

If I mount an SD card or USB drive with media files on it, do I need to do anything to get PhotoStructure to process it, or is it automatic?

Yes, just plug them in, and if there isn’t already a sync running, PhotoStructure should immediately start importing those volumes, as long as you enabled “automatically scan all volumes” on the settings page.