Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Kuroda Hi Bob,
Just wondering why would you want Lightroom to reside on a networked volume? |
I don't want the program on a server, but the catalog files. By keeping the catalog on an a central server I can open it from either of a couple of workstations in the studio (only one at a time) and know that I'm always using the most updated version of a catalog. Keeping key data on a server makes it easy to back up routinely. I don't have to worry about keeping data files synced between multiple computers. I currently use iView catalogs stored on a server... as well as most all of my other routine business data.
IView catalogs start to get flaky as you get close to a 2GB catalog size or over a certain volume of images. I can't recall exactly what that volume is supposed to be. I have about 27K in my 2007 catalog. With few files that have large previews it's catalog is just over 1GB and is very stable. Storing lots of large thumbnails and large previews will grow the catalog quickly. IView makes it easy to rebuild thumbs and previews of selected images. You can build big ones for a job your sorting and then delete previews for all except high rated images when you're done. That keeps the catalog size modest while still holding a large number of files. If the images are available while using the catalog you can see them just fine without previews, its just a bit slower.
IView as a more mature program has better tools for diagnosing and fixing things when errors occur than Lightroom has at this point. However if I was a betting person I'd be putting my money on Lightroom as the better way forward in the not too distant future. Adobe seems really fired up about improving Lightroom at a reasonable pace and they certainly have the track record with other products. We'll see.
Bob Smith