watch folder on a server

[Bavarian1]

My photos are stored on an external server (cloud). The catalogs on my PC. The software does not allow to set a watch folder on a server. Is there a solution?

I can see the folder structure of the external server drive on the left side of the PSE. It shows me all the photos that are on it. Only the folder monitoring does not work. The catalogs are on my PC.

Thanks for your help.

[MichelBParis]

I don't use an external server (cloud) and I am not sure to understand how you do it. What is possible with images stored in Cloud solutions like Dropbox or OneDrive is to use their syncing ability to a local copy on your hard disk. I don't know of a way to manage files 'in the Cloud' from the Organizer.

That said, there has been a number of posts about the inability of the 'watch folders' service to work with files on a NAS.

My advice is to forget about watch folders in your situation. Just use the 'Import' from folders command selectively from the folders you want to 'watch'. All already imported files will be skipped and only the new ones will be imported. Same process, but not automatic, not in background task and totally controlled by yourself when you decide to.

[Bavarian1]

first of all, thank you very much for your help!

I also had the impression that several users have problems with it. I will then do it as recommended.
My storage situation is as follows:
- all my photos (over 40000) I have stored at Strato, a German provider
- the catalogs (3 in total) I have, as recommended by the software on the PC
- there were no problems to display the photos and the file structures in the organizer. It works like on a local hard disk
- in fact, one would think that with these conditions, the monitoring of the file structures in question should also be successful
- You can also select "File" and "Monitor folder". However, if you return to the window after selecting, it remains empty. It seems to me that this is a bug in the program.

Again, thank you!

Bodo

[MichelBParis]

Hi Bodo,

That's very interesting because it's the first time I see the organizer and the editor working directly on files in the 'Cloud' as if they were on local drives or even a NAS. Could you supply screenshots of how your files are displayed in the 'folders tree' panel on the left or in the information panel on the right?

Did you try my suggestion to import from a folder where you have added new photos?

I am also curious to see if you could verify with a small test catalog if you would be able to create a backup and restore somewhere else, on the Cloud or anywhere locally?

[Bavarian1]

Hi Michel,

yes it´s true - it is working just fine.

In the attachment I have attached the desired excerpt.
So far, your advice has not been necessary, because I had no new photos. But I am sure that it will work.
Since I have the photos on a cloud, I don't need another backup as I can use my provider's utilities to restore the files.
But I will try to make a backup from the cloud to the PC with a tool and then report back to you.

By the way - the black and white pictures - thats me 73 years ago 😉

[Bavarian1]

Michel,

I have successfully made a small test backup from the server to my PC using a backup tool (Syncovery).

Bodo

[MichelBParis]

Thanks, that works with an external backup tool, but what I was curious to see is if the integrated backup and restore of the organizer has the same issue than the watched folder feature in  correctly managing network locations. That might help understand the watch folders issue.

On the other hand, any external backup solution will only deal with restoring the media files and/or restoring the catalog folder. They won't be able to restore the links in the catalog if you restore to a different drive and all your photos will appear as disconnected in that case. I suppose you are making copies of your catalog folders as backups. They will work so long as your Cloud files stay on the same location and path. Suppose you want to migrate or copy your photo files and catalog to a new drive, you'll need the integrated backup and restore solution. That would be important for people wanting to use your Cloud solution.

By the way, are you happy with the speed of your Cloud solution?

[Bavarian1]

So, as mentioned, I don't use Adobe's internal backup because I don't need it. Also, I haven't found the place to enable the backup.
Since I'm using the server solution only recently, I don't see any danger regarding a change of the drive at the moment and according to the current status also for the future.
When I transferred my photos and the catalogs to the server, I got a message from PSE that it would be better to save the catalogs to a drive on my PC - which I did. In doing so, I had to rebuild 3 huge catalogs, which cost me 3 days. However, I was able to do some cleanup in the process, so it was quite good.
In the catalog menu there is a function "Restore Catalog". Isn't that what this function is for?

The processing speed is a bit slower for some functions, like "Save metadata to files". But otherwise I have no problems with the speed. Is certainly also dependent on the Internet speed.

Greetings
Bodo

[Doug Price]

Sorry, I have no idea what this is about.
Doug Price