Check out this threads:
Todie "Archiving Digital Photos Stored on CDs" 9/20/03 2:55pm </cgi-bin/webx?14/0>
Cumulus Workgroup Server looks pretty slick, but expensive. How many GB of image data do you anticipate? I would be much more inclined toward XServe RAID than toward a DVD jukebox. I would just use DVDs for backup off site, not for daily network use. Running working images through DVDs/CDs could be very slow.
We generate about 30GB of info a month. This includes image data, as well as all our other print production files.
we will also be "going backwards" into our existing archives, probably a total of 300GB of info.
thanks for the responses.
I have Cumulus Single User.
Version 5 in Classic was fair. The native OS X version I absolutely despise.
In particular I love (hate) this behavior;
1. Catalog images from your CD or DVD.
2. Remove disk and store away.
3. Attempt to open the asset with "Open with Creating Application"
4. Watch in amazement as Cumulus is unable to deal with this simple request because the correct media is not first mounted. At best you will get a couple of annoying dialogs complaining that the volume is missing. Things progressed to the point of the SBBOD with the 6.0.1 updater.
Portfolio can handle this simple task just fine. I wish it had the features of Cumulus, but I will settle for something that actually works over bloatware any day.
Gary Smith
I never did like Cumulus that much in OS 8-9. Unstable (crash, crash…) and poor support at least when I called.
Extensis Portfolio 6.1 in OS X I’ve found very stable and fast.
We generate about 30GB of info a month.
One thing to keep in mind is if you anticipate some serious growth in your business over the next few years. The planned aquisition of new equipment may also impact on how many files you go through.
It’s all very nice to get a system that fulfills your current needs, but if you have to change it in a year or 18months, you’ll feel frustrated.
I got Cumulus with a LinoColor scanner in the late 90’s. It never freaking worked.
The objective I described three posts ago never worked – until OS X and version 5 running in Classic.
Before that, instead of requesting the correct CD that the assets were stored on, it would request an AppleShare volume. This was on a Mac that was never connected to a network. This happened with brand spanking new OS 9 installs. This happened with brand spanking new Macs.
I was determined to rule out any conflicts with my installs, so any time I did a clean OS 9 install or bought a new Mac, I would first install Cumulus and run through that little cataloging and asset editing procedure. Mostly just for grins.
I don’t know why, but for some reason when OS X and Classic came around, it actually worked as expected (it would request the correct optical disk and accept it when mounted).
Now, with the native OS X version, Cumulus again insists on the user first doing the work for it by requiring the user mount the correct optical disk before any attempt to edit an asset. Cumulus should simply request the correct optical disk when it is needed.
Cumulus has always sucked, still sucks, and I expect will always suck.
The OS X version 6 has other issues I won’t bother with here.
The support area on their web site has still never heard of version 6. Kind of sounds like a popular page layout program that used to come from Denver…
Gary Smith
