Multiple computers one image DB

I hope this fits best in digital workflow. . .

I'm looking for a solution to be able to access all my images from any computer in the house. I want the ability to do anything I now do on my main machine (Upload, Edit, Rate, Process, Delete, add etc) and have those changes reflected in the DAM program I use as well.

Until now, I've been using the export as catalog function of LR to move from one computer to another, but that's not very efficient.

I'd like to stick with LR for now, but for the functionality, I'd be willing to reconsider. I also have iView Medio Pro on hand.

I'm figuring I'll have to go with a server and or NAS or something.

I currently have to Mac Pros, A MacBook Pro and three PC's. I also have two Burly enclosures, one 8 bay and one 4 bay.

The PC's can be left out of the equation, but if they can be included that's gravy.

What would you recommend?

Easiest way would to create a server where you store images and run the program from.

Not sure about the MAC, PC compatability issue though.

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Originally Posted by Pete Woods

Easiest way would to create a server where you store images and run the program from.

Not sure about the MAC, PC compatability issue though.

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I have a Windows Home Server. A Mac can access it, and save or retrieve files, but can't run the console or be configured for automatic backups.

In today's exciting world of wireless networks, be advised that playing with the Lightroom database and generating image previews can be slow and at worst unusable over a typical 802.1g network. If you're plugged in, that's not so bad so long as your storage device (NAS, server, whatever) can actually push data down the wire sufficiently fast.

I can't even imagine running LR itself from the server - does it even work? I would have thought that you would need a local copy of LR on your client PCs, then access the DB and files on the server. I do half of this currently, where once I've finished working with a set of files on my laptop (nice fast local access to data), I get LR to move the files to my NAS, where I also do a daily DB backup. So I will attest to the fact that LR has no problem storing data on remotely mounted drives. However, it's not blindingly fast when I need to dig something out of backup.

One nice feature LR does have though is that it caches the preview files locally (for how long, is an option you can set) - which means that if I've looked at stuff in the last 30 days, say, I can still view previews of images that are now stored on the NAS even when I'm not connected to the network, as the cached previews are local to my machine. Kinda cool.

Thanks so far everyone.

I'm not sure if a local copy of LR is required, but I think it is. If two local copies of LR can access and update the same DB without confusing each other, that will be great. There won't be any simultaneous access from two machines though, so I have a glint of hope.

PC compatibility really isn't an issue as I do all my photo stuff on MACs and the PCs are basically gathering dust.

I will not be doing a lot of wireless transferring as I plan to run cables to all rooms where I would likely work. Thankfully, the path through the walls already exists where I need it.

If you end up buying a NAS, I also advise checking 'real world' reviews to see what the actual throughput is over the network. Presence of a Gigabit Ethernet port does not mean it can kick out a gigabit of data every second.

I've just about settled on an Xserve. I'll do some more digging around.

You are going first class Jim !!!!! Great !!!

I have a really bad habit of starting low and then upgrading two or three times to what I really need / want. Things endsup being a lot more expensive in the long run that way so, I'm trying to break that habit without breaking the bank in the process.

Looks like LR wont fit the bill for multi-computer set ups unless you want to export / import the catalog each time :(

http://www.pbase.com/jimpoor/image/9...2/original.jpg

Interesting. Supposedly this is because they've implemented it using SQLlite as a single-user database, so it has no way to stop 2 copies of LR accessing it simultaneously and messing it up.

Of course, the next question in my head is... could I stop LR identifying it as a remote drive? :)

Hee Hee. Yeah, that's the challenge :D

Ok, well in Windows, LR is not so smart. I have my NAS mounted in Windows as a drive letter (as T: ), and LR created a new folder and catalog on the T: drive without any warnings or errors. I'm sure if I tried to access is using \\NAS\... then it would have failed. Still, can't complain :)

So if you're a Windows user, there's hope for you yet.

j.

If a PC can fool it, I'm sure a Mac can too provided someone took the time to find the work around.

Just to wind this up a bit, I now have a solution that does exactly what I wanted to accomplish, but in a way I hadn't thought of.

Tom Hill, on another forum came up with the answer.

MACs have an ability to "share screens" which allows me to take over, view, and control my main workstation from any of my other machines in the house. That allows me to run any program (LR and CS3 in this case) do whatever I whatever I want, and all the files stay on the main machine.

From whichever remote machine I use, I have the option to view either or both of the displays on the main beastie in the basement. Both screens make for a really small font, but I call them up to move things all to one monitor when my default layout has them spread over two.

To do this you have to go into Sharing under system preferences and enable screen sharing. Then, on you remote machine you go to finder, click on your other machine in the left column, and then click the Screen Share, button in the upper right. You may have to log in, and you may have to enable other sharing to get there (I don't know, because I have all my machines set to share everything with machines on my local network.

How quickly does the screen update? I have found the PC equivalents (e.g. VNC, MS Remote Desktop, etc) to be useful, but painful where lots of detail is involved (e.g. graphics).

Jim,

Hope I don't muddy the water too much but you might want to look at Aperture since you are using Macs. I admit I am not that up to speed on LR but one of the advantages that seems to be mentioned from other users of both programs is that Aperture gives you the ability to have referenced images in your library. What this means is you can have access to all your images on your laptop via the Aperture library through thumbnails (you have some control on the quality of thumbnails as well). A referenced file could be stored on a hard drive, CD, DVD, etc. Of course to edit the image you need to mount the device or media where the file is located.

You could copy the Aperture library to all your computers and have the images stored on a network drive (or something like the DROBO http://www.apertureprofessional.com/...ad.php?t=10435). Then no mater what computer you were on as long as it was connected to the network where your images were kept you would be able to edit them. I do know that I cannot run Aperture simultaneously on more than one machine connected to the network as it detects another copy running.

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Originally Posted by JH Tugs

How quickly does the screen update? I have found the PC equivalents (e.g. VNC, MS Remote Desktop, etc) to be useful, but painful where lots of detail is involved (e.g. graphics).

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So far, it has been updating "instantly" for me with no visible lag. I've been running it wireless form the laptop for a couple hours this morning.

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Originally Posted by Mike Poe

Jim,

Hope I don't muddy the water too much but you might want to look at Aperture since you are using Macs. I admit I am not that up to speed on LR but one of the advantages that seems to be mentioned from other users of both programs is that Aperture gives you the ability to have referenced images in your library. What this means is you can have access to all your images on your laptop via the Aperture library through thumbnails (you have some control on the quality of thumbnails as well). A referenced file could be stored on a hard drive, CD, DVD, etc. Of course to edit the image you need to mount the device or media where the file is located.

You could copy the Aperture library to all your computers and have the images stored on a network drive (or something like the DROBO http://www.apertureprofessional.com/...ad.php?t=10435). Then no mater what computer you were on as long as it was connected to the network where your images were kept you would be able to edit them. I do know that I cannot run Aperture simultaneously on more than one machine connected to the network as it detects another copy running.

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Thanks Mike,

I'm really fond of LR and now that I have this little gem of a fix, I don't think I'll be switching soon. The problem with Aperture is the need to mount the drives to do any "real" work. Of course, a day ago, I might have considered that an option based on what I knew at the time.

Best,
Jim

Set the application to run via Windows server in terminal services mode. It's installed on the server and you run via RDP. Same connection type from every machine you connect to. You can even launch it remotely if needed.

At work we use a similar method for a number of apps but publishing the with Citrix instead. It would still work with a server version of windows though.