Comprehensive integration approach for photos across multiple computers?

Question

Hi All--
I've been wading through the discussion boards and have multiple partial pieces of info. However, I am looking for a state-of-the-art solution to an old problem because I want to integrate all of my photos onto a single drive and (probably) library from several sources (different computers). Many may have redundant images between them. Some of my key questions are:
1) Is there any software out there that could (in a batch mode) look for and group photos with identical or highly similar content based on the image data itself (not file name) and allow side-by-side comparison to reduce redundancy and do an initial sort before import? It seems daunting to just put all files in one spot to try to compare manually. Do Aperture or PS offer anything liker this capability?
2) Assuming >10,000 images, is it better to have a single library; or to move between, say "work" and "personal" libraries? Is such moving between libraries readily practicable in iPhoto 06?
3) Will I ultimately want to organize all of my photos into one location and then do a single, massive import into iPhoto for best library organization, or is there a better way?
4) After all of this consolidation, if I use default iPhoto library organization, I will e.g. have shots from year 2000 named as rolls from 2006, etc. Is it worth the effort of trying to create a better file organization, or just rely on accessing the massive iPhoto library and creating albums and smart albums?
5) I am willing to dedicate significant time and effort now to do this correctly once, not looking for a quick-fix. I need a solid strategy to begin with. How do I get well-organized after getting out of the blocks in such a sloppy fashion? What is current "best-practice"?
6) For future security, can I rely on Retrospect or the new upcoming backup systems, or should I back up image libraries separately?
Looking for some sound advice to get this moving over the holidays. Your help will be appreciated. Sportscarbill

Answer 1

Bill
1) Is there any software out there that could (in a batch mode) look for and group photos with identical or highly similar content based on the image data itself (not file name) and allow side-by-side comparison to reduce redundancy and do an initial sort before import? It seems daunting to just put all files in one spot to try to compare manually. Do Aperture or PS offer anything liker this capability?
Try iPhoto Library Manager to merge the various libraries. It's a shareware ($20) and you can read about it here.
http://homepage.mac.com/bwebster/iphotolibrarymanager.html
For Duplicates, check out Duplicate Annihilator :
http://www.brattoo.com/propaganda/index.php?action=software
But in the end, the only way to be sure is to look. AFAIK neither PS or Aperture offer anything to help.
2) Assuming >10,000 images, is it better to have a single library; or to move between, say "work" and "personal" libraries? Is such moving between libraries readily practicable in iPhoto 06?
That's up to you, but remember that you can only have one library open at a time. My library is 10k + on an iMac G5, i gig of RAM with no difficulty. However, choosing between libraries is as simple as holding down the option (or alt) key at launch. Moving shots between libraries means either merging or exporting from one and importing to the other.
3) Will I ultimately want to organize all of my photos into one location and then do a single, massive import into iPhoto for best library organization, or is there a better way?
Do it piecemeal. You'll learn along the way and improve your workflow as you learn. Start with the smallest batch too.
4) After all of this consolidation, if I use default iPhoto library organization, I will e.g. have shots from year 2000 named as rolls from 2006, etc. Is it worth the effort of trying to create a better file organization, or just rely on accessing the massive iPhoto library and creating albums and smart albums?
If you have a large library, I strongly suggest that you use all the filing tools that iPhoto offers: Rolls, Albums, Smart Albums, Folders and keywords. It's a database: what you get out of it depends on what you put into it.
5) I am willing to dedicate significant time and effort now to do this correctly once, not looking for a quick-fix. I need a solid strategy to begin with. How do I get well-organized after getting out of the blocks in such a sloppy fashion? What is current "best-practice"?
See my answer to 4, above. But here's a suggestion: Organise yourself with date-based albums:
Folder: Year 2000, inside albums for Jan, Feb, Mar etc.
When you've done that, you can go back and keyword according to location, people, events so you can then quickly develop albums by date, Smart Albums by date, location and people and any compound thereof. Keywording makes searching very easy.
6) For future security, can I rely on Retrospect or the new upcoming backup systems, or should I back up image libraries separately?
The pics are stored in the iPhoto Library Folder which is at Home/Pictures. Back up this folder and you'll preserve the pics, organisation, keywords etc. However: It is strongly advised that you do not move, change or in anyway alter things in the iPhoto Library Folder as this can cause the application to fail and even lead to data loss
Inside the iPhoto Library Folder is the library6.iPhoto file. Make a copy of that file as protection against database corruption.
Hope that helps. If you've any more questions, post away.
Regards
TD
MacBook Pro 15 2.16gig / iMac G5 20   Mac OS X (10.4)   2 gig RAM/ 1 gig RAM