Cataloged Folders that DON'T write to the Cataloged Folder?
My situation:
I have a NAS with multiple terabytes of images and I use with Lightroom. One of the things that I *really* like about Lightroom is that it keeps the Catalog/Previews totally separate from the image directories. They're stored in a completely different location. Having an app (like ON1 Photo RAW) write *anything* to my image folders is a no-no. In the past, Lightroom alternatives have always written files like "sidecar-files" to the image directory. This is a deal-breaker for me.
Is there any way to emulate this Lightroom behavior with ON1 Photo RAW? I'd like to point it at a folder with my image directory structure (on my NAS) and another folder on a local hard drive where I want it to store the Catalog, Previews, etc.
I've read the docs and the forum and can't seem to find the solution. I'm hoping that someone else might have solved this.
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The Catalogs are stored in your User's directory. On Mac that is ~\Library\Application Support\ON1. On Windows it goes to C:\Users\<user>\App Data\Roaming\ON1.
Previews can go there or you can tell the program where you want it to place the PerfectBrowseCache through the program Preferences > System pane. Those will be the previews for Cataloged folders only. Any non-cataloged folder images will be placed in the same place as above.
Even Adobe programs place their sidecar files in the same folder as the image they are associated with. That is why they are called "sidecar" file, they go alongside the image file. Those cannot be moved. The .on1 sidecars hold all your edits and metadata changes. While you can turn them off in Preferences I do not recommend it as they act as a backup to the program's internal edits database (separate from the Catalogs database.) If you ever have to Reset the program for any reason you would loose all your edits, Keywords, and metadata without them. With them the program is able to rebuild those databases.
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This Knowledge Base article explains the different preview caches and how they are used.
Catalogs and Caches - ON1 Photo RAW 2022 & ON1 PHOTO RAW 2021
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Hi Brian,
Thanks for the quick response. You've somewhat highlighted the problem that I face. I don't want my image server "polluted" with .xmp files for Lightroom and .on1 files for Photo RAW, .whatever files for other Image Managers. I'm fine with disabling the saving of "sidecar" files as I have a backup scheme for the database(s).
So I'm looking for each Image Manager (I run multiple side-by-side) to store its own catalog/previews/metadata in its own defined location (that I can change and run a backup process on). I don't require metadata and/or previews to sync between Image Managers.
The reason I must be able to change where DB/previews/metadata are stored is that I have an SSD RAID specifically dedicated to this purpose that automagically syncs to a backup server. This alleviates having to store multiple 100GB+ catalogs on my "C: drive".
Is there a setting in ON1 Photo RAW where I can tell it to relocate the catalog to somewhere else other than C:\Users\<user>\App Data\Roaming\ON1 ? I can't seem to find one, unlike in Lightroom and DxO PhotoLab.
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Be very careful about turning off the saving of the .on1 sidecar files. It is not uncommon for the internal edits database to become corrupt requiring it to be deleted and rebuilt. That can only be done if the editing and metadata changes you've made are stored in those sidecar files. I was working with someone just a couple of days ago who had to do this to resolve an issue he was having with the program. I understand you make backups but how far back do they go? If you restore from a backup that was made after the database became corrupt you're just going to put that corruption back in place and the problem will not be fixed. I highly recommend you rethink this but it is your decision.
Photo RAW does not have any way to let you choose a different location for its user data. I understand you can do it through Windows however. There was another post here a couple of weeks ago that explained how to do it but I don't have time right now to look for it as I'm on my lunch break. I'll look this evening when I get off work. If I remember correctly, it is in the Windows settings for the program.
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The only Windows option that I remember is to move the entire Roaming folder to another drive if C: is filling up. That option is in the Properties for the folder.
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That was it. Thanks Rick.
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