Are the full images imported?

[hpitro]

Hello,

I have imported a bulk of my pictures about 50 GByte on disk. If I check the database (.imd5 file) it has a file size of about 600 MByte. This means for me that the databse contains only metadata. Is this right? Can I configure IMatch so that it imports the full images?

Thanks in advance.

Harald

[Mario]

Hello Harald,

welcome to the IMatch community.

Your IMatch database contains an index of all your files, a cached copy of all metadata, your categories and other data. IMatch databases never contain copies of your images. This is in fact a huge advantage of IMatch - because it does not move your image files into some sort of proprietary database. Your images are managed where they are, and you can still access them with all your other software.

[ubacher]

You can tell Imatch to keep an image in cache. Size you can specify. Usually done for raw images.
This way you can display images without having to have access to the files.

Preferences->Cache

[hpitro]

Hi,

thanks for your help. What I searched for was really a database which contains the images and their versions themselves.

Harald

[Mario]

Hi,

thanks for your help. What I searched for was really a database which contains the images and their versions themselves.

Harald

Some of the high-end DAMs (Cumulus, Widen, FotoWare I think) manage your DAM database on a dedicated server and take over full control over your files. This means you cannot access them any longer directly, you first have to export them from the database to a local file, then do whatever you want to do with the file, and then save your changes back into the DAM. Cloud-based DAM systems like Flight also work that way, bt to store 50 GB of images in the DAM you'll have to calculate with several hundred dollars cost per month.

A workflow like this is typically not wanted by IMatch users. Most users prefer the files to stay in the file system and directly accessible by Windows and all software. Moving all files into whatever DAM database makes it extra hard to work with image editors, RAW processing software of Office products.

[sinus]

Hi,
thanks for your help. What I searched for was really a database which contains the images and their versions themselves.
Harald

Phew, I am really curious, why such a scenario would make sense.
You can also simply create one or more main-folders with all the images. And the DB.

If you want travel with the whole stuff, you simply copy the DB AND the main-folders. Easy and simple.
Very easy with IMatch.

I hope, you find a good solution for you.

[Mario]

Phew, I am really curious, why such a scenario would make sense.

This is a typical Enterprise DAM scenario. All 'assets' (images, audio & video files, documents) are managed exclusively by a corporate-wide DAM system. Assets (images) are not saved to physical folders, but loaded into the DAM, which then takes over control. The DAM keeps copies of all version of the file, for example. When you want to edit a file, you check it out of the DAM, modify it, check it back in. The DAM then holds the new version and the old version, optionally. This way all assets are available in the entire company, version control, access control etc. becomes very easy. You can even perform checks when assets are checked back in, e.g. design rules or style guides. checks for metadata completeness and so on.

But that's a totally different area. There is a reason that companies like Widen charge 100,000 US$ up-front, plus consulting + implementation fees, very steep costs for maintenance contracts etc. And such systems always require a centralized server (farm) and lots of hardware.