Spotlight comments in sparse image

Hi, does anyone know if it's possible to search for a file's spotlight comments when it's in a sparse image? If a file is anywhere else then it returns the comments fine, but I don't seem to be able to get a result inside the sparse image.

never mind

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Spotlight's blind spot: Spotlight comments on Disk Utility disk images.

Has anyone but me noticed that Spotlight goes blind to Spotlight Comments once the files are moved into a 256-bit encrypted read/write disck image created with Disk Utility? I don't have iPhoto, and I keep photos in too many categories for that anyway. I keep all my keywords in Spotlight comments in Finder attached to each file and create "albums" on the fly with Spotlight searches.
But as soon as I moved the whole mess into a read/write 256-bit encrypted disk image created with "from folder" in Disk Utility....I can still see all the comments in Finder GetInfo, but Spotlight can't. I even tried adding comments to the search field list and it still sees nothing, not even when the disk image is mounted and visible in my Finder window sidebar.
What am I missing?

Yes, I search while the drive is mounted.
Yes, I can drag it into and out of Spotlight's Privacy Pref's Pane. While it's in there the entire drive obviously disappears from Spotlight's searches. Once I - it from the exclude list it returns to seeing folder names only, but still finds nothing based on Spotlight Comments.
I'm starting to think Apple left that bit of code out. Anybody know how to put it back in?

Automator for Exporting Spotlight Comments?

Hello,
I have around 700 historic photos that have been digitized. All the photo details (dates, etc.) were entered into the Spotlight Comments field under Get Info. Unfortunately, none of the comments appear when I open the photos in Adobe Bridge CS4. Is there an easy solution (perhaps an Automator script) to export the Spotlight Comments and use them elsewhere?
Thank you,
Brian

Brian
If I read you right, what you are trying to do is grab Finder metadata and convert it to photo metadata. Specifically, convert spotlight comments to Exif and IPTC - which is what a Photo app will need.
You can't do this with Automator. The Automator dictionary has ways to set Spotlight Comments but I can see no way to get them. Further the dictionary has the ability to write to the IPTC data only of images in Aperture, not in the Finder or iPhoto.
You might do better with that question on the Automator forum here:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1261
Have you tried the Applescript that was suggested when you posted the query last?
As your target are file managed by Bridge, give the Adobe forums a go too.
However, you may run into another issue here and that is that most scanners (as I presume this is how the photos were digitised) do not create Exif and IPTC data for scanned images. It may not be possible to do what you want to do.
Regards
TD

Finder error -36 when transferring some sparse images over 100GB+

Hi,
I'm currently backing up sparseimages of different sizes onto backup hard drives for video editing.
I'm using the latest iMac with Mountain Lion.
I use Sparseimages in order to seperate FCPX projects (best way to keep organised so far in my opinion).
Although with the amoung of footage and size of files, I need to backup them up on different drives every so often to free up some space for myself.
While transfering the backups I noticed the error -36 would happen on the finder for some files. Specifically the larger ones sized 100GB+.This is for my work and is VERY important. So whoever can find me a good fix or explanation for this issue, will have my greatest gratitude!
Now before I get bombarded by questions and abused by "its already been covered - google is your friend", here are the setup and the things I found out about the issue:
iMac w/ OSX 10.8
- Thunderbolt to Drobo 5D (with 5x 3TB drives)
- USB 3.0 Startech Dock for 3.5" Sata hard drives - I'm using a WD 3TB internal drive on the dock
1. In most cases transfering a file between the following locations causes the WD drive to eject and the finder to create a -36 error:
(In every case, smaller sparseimages are copied just fine - anything 100GB+ just ejects the disk and causes the error)
- Drobo 5D to WD - Ejection + Error -36
- iMac Fusion Drive to WD - Ejection + Error -36
- Drobo 5D to iMac Fusion drive: NO ERROR
Now before you go and say that it may be an issue with the particular drive i'm using in the dock; I've swapped the WD drive I want to copy the files on with another WD drive and managed recreated the same error.
I've used Carbon Copy Cloner and got an error saying I shouldn't modify or change the disk while transfering when attempting to transfer the larger files.
I did find a way around it, but it's really long and would take days to do. It's to create a new sparseimage on the desktop and transfer all the content of the old sparse into the new one then transfer the new sparse into the WD docked drive. For some reason... that works, although, generally it takes a few hours to transfer one of the 100GB+ sparses, and having to copy the entire content onto the desktop then yet again copy it to the WD drive seems lenghty and unecessary. There MUST be a fix, I'm sure there's a way around it. Otherwise I'm stuck for the next few weeks with transfering alone
Thanks in advance for help!
Luke

Sorry, I see what you mean, although I'm having difficulty figuring out which one it could be for the following reasons:
1) Corrupt Directory:
The sparse images in question, the ones giving me the errors, mount fine if I run them directly from the Drobo 5D. They also can be transfered successfully to the desktop and can run from there too. But transfering to the 3.0 USB dock causes the error.
2) Failing Disk:
I've used a different 2 different hard drives in the same dock and tried to transfer the same sparse images... but no luck! Although copying it straight onto the deskop is fine. So the drive hasn't failed.
So that's why I reckon it has something to do with transfering large files to the Dock.
Any suggestions will help! It could be the docking station but I thought it could maybe be the OS handling the large files the wrong way or perhaps an issue with USB 3.0? I don't know...
NOTE: There are generally no errors, I can transfer many many files and folder at a time without an issue. It is ONLY when the file is very large and transfering that it EJECTS the drive and causes the -36 error
UPDATE:
Just saw your update! Will do a block test on the drive now, although, as I mentioned early on this comment, it seems to be that the other drives I used have the same problem.
Also, I was wrong, it's Seagate drives I'm using, if that makes any difference?
So many drives here, I'm getting confused! hehe

Need help modifying Applescript to copy "Spotlight Comments" into file

Hello all,
I have a very large batch of images of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks. I used the "Spotlight Comments" field of each file to save information about the notebook page depicted in each image:
Well, I had to modify each image in Photoshop and when I saved the files, Photoshop of course didn't retain the Spotlight Comments. Now, before I modified the images, I duplicated the directory, so I have a copy of all of the images that retain their Spotlight Comments field with each image's information. What I want to do is copy the text from the Spotlight Comments field of the original files and either paste this text into the Spotlight Comments field of the modified files (which are in a different directory, but retain the same filenames as the originals), or at least copy the text from the Spotlight Comments field of the original files and paste each block of text into a txt file with a couple of blank lines in between each entry, so that I can manually copy/paste the citations into the modified image's Spotlight Comments fields.
I successfully used this Applescript: https://discussions.apple.com/message/6741062#6741062
to get the Spotlight Comments from the original files, but it displays them one by one in pop-up dialog boxes and because I have almost a thousand images it is extraordinarily wearisome to copy the text from each pop-up, paste it into a text file, make two blank lines, click "OK" in the pop-up to get the next one...
Can anyone suggest how I can modify the code I have to tell the Finder to copy the contents of each pop-up and paste them into a single text file with a couple of blank lines between each entry?
I have the barest, most rudimentary knowledge of Applescript, which is why I'm asking if one of the wizards here can help me modify or write an Applescript to do what I need to do.
Thank you so much!
BTW, here is the code from the aforementioned discussion that gets the Spotlight Comments from files. I made into an Applescript application using Automator:
tell application "Finder"
repeat with tItem in input
set (comment of tItem) to (text returned) of (display dialog "Spotlight Comment: " default answer (comment of tItem as string))
end repeat
end tell

Hi,
Evan Izer wrote:
Now, before I modified the images, I duplicated the directory, so I have a copy of all of the images that retain their Spotlight Comments field with each image's information. What I want to do is copy the text from the Spotlight Comments field of the original files and either paste this text into the Spotlight Comments field of the modified files (which are in a different directory, but retain the same filenames as the originals)
This script does exactly that:
set sFolder to (choose folder "Select folder wich contains original images.") as string
set dFolder to choose folder "Select folder wich contains modified images."
tell application "Finder"
      repeat with tItem in (get document files of dFolder)
            set origFile to sFolder & (get name of tItem)
            if file origFile exists then
                  set origComment to comment of file origFile
                  set comment of tItem to origComment
            end if
      end repeat
end tell

Batch Renaming loses Spotlight Comments, Os X to blame?

I posted this over at the Adobe forum for Bridge, however, I'm going to post it here too because part of me feels like this issue I'm experiencing is tied to a recent Os update: from Leopard to Snow Leopard.
I'm a photo editor for a wedding photographer and have been implementing some of my own personal workflows into his pipeline. I tend NOT to rename camera-generated files, at all, unless there's an important reason to do so. Sorting an entire wedding by "Date" works perfectly for building the proper timeline for a shoot. So camera-generated file names are perfectly okay for our needs.
When an edit is complete I'll generate JPEGs from Aperture. The resulting files will continue to carry the original RAW files names, unless there is a duplicate file name, then Aperture will add a number: "(1)" to the file, if necessary. Typically, after export, I run an Automator action that stores the file name in the Spotlight Comments. Because prior to shipping and archiving, I AM going to rename the final JPEGs sequentially: 0001_wedding, 0002_wedding, etc.
The beauty was that with the original name stored in the Spotlight comments for the JPEG, I would easily look at 0148_wedding.jpg, see that it's spotlight comments said, "Original Name: IMG_3471" and obviously know exactly what RAW image this new JPEG started as. Worked perfectly.
So process was: Export, Store Original Name in Spotlight Comments of JPEGs, Batch Rename (sequentially) based on date modified in Bridge CS4.
Well now everthing's changed. We had a system drive go down. We were running 10.5.8. When the system came back from the shop, with a new drive installed, it was/is running Snow Leopard. 10.6.3? I think. Snow Leopard, no doubt.
And now my prior workflow has been wrecked because the act of renaming, in Bridge CS4, erases all those handy Spotlight comments. However, part of me is wondering though if this issue is rooted more deeply, at the OS level? Because R-Name (Batch renaming utility) is now eradicating Spotlight comments as is an Automator action built for the same purposes. This all used to work perfectly. And the one major change that has occurred was this "upgrade" from Leopard to Snow Leopard.
So, question is: is there something I can alter in Bridge Preferences to maintain my Spotlight Comments, when batch renaming? Is this all tied to the Snow Leopard? Is there ANY renaming utility that's not going to fall victim to whatever the hang up here is?? How can I batch rename and not destroy my lovely Spotlight Comments in the process?
Thanks for your time!!

Yes, this works. However, this was already part of my workflow.... and not where the trouble lies.
After exporting jpeg images from Aperture, they carry the same name of the original RAW files, from which they came. (So, IMG_8342.jpg would have started it's life as IMG_8342.CR2.) But we dont' send them out like that. We sequentially name them 0001_image.jpg, 0002_image.jpg, etc... So after renaming, how do you find the original file again, right?
BEFORE the renaming phase, I would run the "Store Original Names in Spotlight Comments" action. That way, I could look at the comments for a derivative .jpg—whose name has now changed—and determine the name of the ORIGINAL file.
After renaming, the derivative file might end up being named 0361_image.jpg, but it's Spotlight comments would say, for example, Original Name:<<IMG_8485.jpg>>. Then I would know that this particular file started off as IMG_8485.CR2.
As such, I could quickly/easily backtrack, knowing that the original RAW file was named IMG_8485.CR2
The issue is that once you've gone thru the effort to ADD these spotlight comments, if you THEN go through a re-naming step, this erases all those Spotlight Comments. That was my problem... Getting the Spotlight Comments in place was never the issue. KEEPING them there was the problem.

How to Import Spotlight Comments into iPhoto

Is there a way to import Spotlight Comments into iPhoto at the same time I bring in the image?

Afraid not. You will need something to convert those comments into standard photo metadata like Exif or IPTC.
Regards
TD

Cross-Platform Spotlight Comments?

Hi there, we have a massive database with oodles of images on it. Some images have the product name in the title, others do not. We'd like a quick and easy way to do a search for say...Potatoes, and have all of the images associated with potatoes show up. I know you can add Spotlight Comments to each individual photo, but I'm having trouble getting any results from my search.
Also, will a PC running Windows be able to do any kind of a search of these items? Or is there a way to label the images with keywords so both a PC and a MAC can do searches for them? We're trying to avoid making duplicate images that are then moved into an actual photo called Potatoes which will no only bog down our server with more images, but could cause confusion if any images are changed and not move into the exact same folders again.
Thanks for any input.

Start with a search for *search server, search share, shared search*, or variants. There are many recent posts on the subject about hosed searches w/10.5.6. Whether or not there are solutions for your issue, I haven't a clue since everything I have is Apple—I don't do windoze.

Spotlight Comments - questions, limits and opinions

My wife and I are a little behind the curve. We updated our MacBook Pros, MacPro and PowerMac G5 to Leopard early this year in part due to the fact that my testing showed that Spotlight Comments are persistent on our home ethernet - If I put identifying comments in a file's Get Info > Spotlight Comments box while it is on my MacBook's Desktop, then move it to a "file server" (a shared drive on the PowerMac or MacPro), my wife can see and modify the Comment from her MacBook. The comments almost seem to be part of the file itself (yes, Francine, we know they really are not) unlike the volatile pre-X Finder Comments. We do not normally have any Windows machines on our network and when we do we certainly do not use one as a file server. We're pretty much vanilla Apple.
Now, on to my questions:
1 - if not in the file itself, where are the Spotlight Comments actually stored? If they're in a folder's .DS_Store files, then they would disappear if you nuke those files (like when trying to fix a folder that is not properly displaying its contents) and that has not been my experience. I know that you can use mdls in the Terminal to show the comment and the other useful stuff that appears in Get Info's More Info field, but can this data get separated from the file it is connected to, or is it in that mystical Resource Fork? I'm not a developer (JavaScript is about as much code as I can handle) so I don't need the gory details. I just want to know if we can nuke Comments by unintentionally deleting some invisible file.
2 - What are the limits in Spotlight Comments? Are there any? How many characters will that field take? I am asking this since I have been trying to put info concerning an image into its Spotlight Comment field and once I close the Get Info window the Comment is gone. If I check with mdls in Terminal the image's kMDItemFinderComment field is not even created. I have been trimming off hunks of characters in the Comment and am now below 700 but it still won't take it (the file is not locked, I have full control of it, and it doesn't appear to matter what files' or folders' Comments field I try to paste it into). Is this limit documented anywhere, because I've been Googling for it all morning with no matches.
3 - if not Spotlight Comments, then what? I see DefaultFolder has an option to write Comments as "OpenMeta Tags" but what little I could understand upon looking that up made it sound like they're Spotlight Comments that are embedded into the file itself - even files that do not normally have a spot for Comments. Putting the description in the filename is much easier in X than previously, but gets a bit unwieldy very quickly. Many (but not all) image formats can accept descriptions in things like EXIF, but doing so changes its Modification Date and screws up our sorting...
4 - only tangentially related: how many years did it take for Apple to put in Safari a function that we made use of all the time in Netscape & IE in pre-X times: put the source URL of a download in the Comment field. Now why can't the Mozilla team put that in Firefox? It's not like I haven't posted that as a feature request multiple times...
I know that file "tagging" is a hot topic and I do not expect a real solution here, but if someone can confirm that there is a character limit in a file's Spotlight Comment field and let us know where or if it's documented...
Message was edited by: Notary Sojak

UPDATE - apparently once a file's kMDItemFinderComment field is created (I got the Comment to stick once I was below 600 characters) it can take more characters. I jut replaced the successful 595 character comment with the full 735 character comment I had initially been unable to add and it is visible from all the Macs.

Spotlight comments - max length?

Is there a maximum number of characters that can be in a Spotlight comment entered in a Get Info window, or perhaps are there forbidden characters?
I have a bunch of images that I've downloaded and pasted a description into the Spotlight comments. Now it's been several days and when I tried a search that yielded no results I realized that the Spotlight comments for these files are now empty.
A search here yielded a similar problem where comments disappeared and the solution offered was to run in Terminal "mdimport -n (FILENAME)". This did nothing for our missing comments.
Can anyone suggest what my be going on and hopefully a reasonable solution?
Message was edited by: Notary Sojak

Hello,
Check this out: Organize files with Spotlight comments
And here: http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008443.html
Carolyn

Search by Finder "Color Label" or "Spotlight Comments"?

Is it possible to do a search of referenced images by either their Finder Color Label, or their Spotlight Comments in Aperture?
I suspect not, but thought I'd ask just in case I'm missing something..
Would anyone else find this capability useful?
G5 2x2.5Ghz/2.5GB; 15" 1.25Mhz PowerBook/1GB; 4x3.0Ghz Mac Pro/4GB Mac OS X (10.4.1)

heh.. so I'm guessing that's a "No", "no", and "NO".
Oh well.. guess I'll submit some feedback then.

How to Copy Items w/ Spotlight Comments?

Hi all,
I built my first Automator workflow, but having a slight problem. I'm using the "Ask for Finder Items" action which allows me to browse my image collection. I then use "Review Photos" action to review the photos and I have "Approved images" checked, then finally "Copy Finder Items" action to copy those approved images to a specified folder.
Here's the problem: I have spotlight comments in the original files that aren't being copied with the file to the specified folder. Can anyone write me a workflow that will properly copy files with the comments?
Thanks, Bill

Niel:
OK, I setup the AppleScript action, but now I'm getting an Error dialog that says "Can't set folder "Users:myusername:Desktop:SelectedImages" to {alias "myharddrive:StockPhotos:iStockphoto:iStock_000000446037Medium.jpg"} plus any other images I selected w/ error (-10006)
I thought the problem might have been the spaces in folder names, so I took all spaces out, but to no avail. Any suggestions?
Thanks, Bill

Smart Folder Based On Spotlight Comments

I'm trying to set up a smart folder to contain all files that I've made a given Spotlight comment for. When I start to set up a New Smart Folder and choose the Comment drop down and input the comment that I've tagged several files with (by using Command-I on the given files) it doesn't seem to take. Is this supposed to work? If not, what does the "Comment" drop down list item refer to in the New Smart Folder dialogue? Thanks for any clues about this.

Unfortunately this seems yet another case where one set of programmers in the Spotlight project were not talking to another set of programmers. When I selected "Comment:Contains http" I got one hit, which had nothing whatsoever to do with the many files I have that have their source URL in the Spotlight Comment field. I quickly discovered that it was because Comment actually issues this query:
(kMDItemComment = 'http*'cd) && (kMDItemContentType != com.apple.mail.emlx) && (kMDItemContentType != public.vcard)
When I used a metadata reader to examine one of my files that had the URL in the Spotlight Comment field I discovered that the comment is actually entered in this metadata field:
kMDItemFinderComment = "http://image.versiontracker.com"
So the metadata programmers have the tag as "kMDItemFinderComment" while the programmers for the search criteria assumed it was "kMDItemComment"--so the search won't work.
What I did was select Raw Query, and then entered this:
kMDItemFinderComment = "http://*"
The asterisk * is a wild card standing for "anything at all following http://"--this promptly found 23 files in my current Downloads folder. Using this as the Raw Query and selecting Computer to search:
kMDItemFinderComment = width*
Immediately found 7, 665 images on my three internal drives that have their dimensions given in the Comment box.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder
PS--I just sent this to Tiger Feedback.

A sparse image or sparse bundle question in relation to a NAS

Hi all,
I want to create a sparse image or bundle on my Synology DS713+ NAS to store my iPhoto and Aperture libraries.
The reason for a sparse image or bundle lies in the fact that both iPhoto and Aperture very much like a solid Mac Journal formatted drive to operate on.
Because I use an iMac and a MacBookPro I want these libraries available for both computers, and while they reside on a NAS they are 'automatically' backed up, and acessible to both computers.
I've tried storing the iPhoto library on the NAS directly (not Mac formatted but some Linux format, nót FAT32 anyway), but this was performing very poor (copying the library took hours and hours), and I've read on many NAS and Synology forums that this is not the way to go. The best solution I've read from these forums is to create a Sparse Image or Bundle on the NAS to benefit fully form an iPhoto or Aperture Library.
Now I have created a Sparse Image, and mounted it, and moving (copying) an iPhoto Library to it is done in a snap (amazing).
But having the Sparse Image mounted on my iMac, I cannot acess it on my MacBookPro unless I first umount it on the iMac, and then mount it on the MacBook.
Is there a way that such a Sparse Image can be mounted on more than one computer at the same time. In my case, mounted on both the iMac and the MacBook?
Or must it specifically be a Sparse Bundle to accomplish this, or maybe some Terminal wizzardry to get this done?

I'm a little confused here, but what you did answer did help quite a bit. Thanks for that. Anyway, I'm having problems adding to the array. It keeps telling me 'cannot find symbol - method add (double). I'm assuming that this method should be defined in the AuditRecord class, which has been given to me but there seems to exist no method in that class called 'add'. I suppose I could make one, but my professor said that we shouldn't be modifying the AuditRecord class at all, which leads me to believe I'm on the wrong track again. Anyway, here's my updated code in the hopes that it's a simple mistake that I'm making once again:
public class AuditTrail
    private ArrayList<AuditRecord> auditTrail;
    //ArrayList<AuditRecord> auditTrail = new ArrayList<AuditRecord>();
    //private double amount;
public AuditTrail()
   auditTrail = new ArrayList<AuditRecord>();
* Add a record
public boolean add(double amount)
       if (amount > 0)
       //create auditrecord and add to audit trail (array list)
       AuditRecord auditTrail = new AuditRecord(amount);
       //auditTrail.AuditRecord(amount);
       auditTrail.add(amount);
       System.out.println("Amount of "+amount+" added.");
       return true;// similar behavior to a collection
    else
        System.out.println("Invalid deposit amount.");
        return false;
}

Why can't I open multiple sparse image files at the same time in FCPX?

I work in a multiple editor enviroment, where we have hundreds of different projects. They are all divided into sparse image files to keep them all separated. I used to be able to mount multiple sparse image files and see them all in FCPx. But recently, FCPx upon opening, will close out all but one sparse image. The images are still mounted to the OSx but FCPx will not recognize them. I can only open one sparse image at a time. I am needing to export multiple projects at the end of the day, and can't batch export or send them all to compressor because I can open up multiple projects.

I work in a multiple editor enviroment, where we have hundreds of different projects. They are all divided into sparse image files to keep them all separated. I used to be able to mount multiple sparse image files and see them all in FCPx. But recently, FCPx upon opening, will close out all but one sparse image. The images are still mounted to the OSx but FCPx will not recognize them. I can only open one sparse image at a time. I am needing to export multiple projects at the end of the day, and can't batch export or send them all to compressor because I can open up multiple projects.

Spotlight comments in sparse image

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