Storing images in catalog

Harry25

• January 29, 2020 13:35

I've been using C1 for years now, and have always been using referenced images vs stored inside the catalog.
I now have about 30K inside my main catalog.
I would like to ask if anyone in the community actually store their images inside the catalog, if there is any positive or negative difference to the way the program works, and any other possible gotchas, limitations or benefits.

I'm asking because I think it would be much easier to backup the catalog and images and maybe even make it possible to sync this one file to dropbox or iCloud.
I think I have to accept that C1 will not be getting in the near or distant future any modern features or updates to the DAM part of the software (it has been virtually unchanged for a few years now, and completely lacking cloud syncing, face recognition, maps, etc), so my workflow is as follows:
- Import all the raws into my main C1 catalog
- Do all my editing in C1
- Exports JPGs from C1 and import into Apple Photos (which uses an iCloud library) and properly tag them
- I have a TimeMachine which backups my files (and my raws) periodically
- I basically use the C1 catalogued raws rarely, as access from Photos is much easier

So... back to the main question: does anyone think I would gain anything by moving my pics inside the catalog given my usage scenario?
Thank you,

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  Paul Steunebrink

  • January 29, 2020 13:55

  I sometimes store images inside a special purpose catalog.
  
  The main advantage is that if you need to move a catalog to another location including the original raw files, storing inside is the easiest way. The link to referenced images can break, to internal images not. Also working on a catalog via a cloud drive like Dropbox or iCloud Drive works best with images stored inside because the file path that locate the images is relative to the catalog itself.
  
  That said, the main disadvantage of storing inside the catalog is the lack of flexibility in storage options that external drives offer for a growing collection of images that do not fit on your internal disk. In addition, but not relevant for your workflow I assume, is the ability to access images outside Capture One for externally stored images.
  
  For Capture One it is all the same. It has not plus or cons, everything works the same.

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  Eric Valk

  • January 30, 2020 07:00

  I always store my files outside the catalog, (unless its a small special purpose catalog) for the following reasons:
  1) I occaisionally use tools other than Capture One for manipulating images. This is more complex if the image files are inside the catalog.
  2) Once you drop a few thousand 20MB or more files inside a catalog, it becomes a really big object that is hard to move. Backing up the whole thing takes up a very large amoun t of backup space. Backing up only changed parts leads to a risk the the restotreed catalog may be damaged.
  3) If you try to restore just a couple of images inside a catalog from something Like Time Machine, it is really difficult because of the folder system inside the catalog makes the image files hard to find, and after the restore process the catalog database may no longer have references to the restored image files, leading to further difficulties. Restoring the catalog database will wipe out recent changes, that's usually a bad choice. On the other hand restoring images files which are oustide the catalog is very simple.
  
  The risk that you incur if you store the image file outside the catalog is that you might accidently alter the image file with some other SW tool, and Capture would likely reject the image file, because it haas changed after importing. If the image files are properly backed up it s usually no problem to restore one that has gone missing, or has accidiently been moved or changed. (I've never actually had a problem with files being accidiently changed, but I have had the odd file go missing.)

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