Author Topic: Photo/video management software  (Read 1541 times)

PathtoFIRE

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 873
  • Age: 44
  • Location: San Diego
Photo/video management software
« on: September 21, 2020, 02:06:56 PM »
Windows 10 only

I have more than 10 years of photos and videos saved on my computer, with most sitting in archives made from backups of previous computers. However, things are not well organized, I'm sure there are duplicates, and even duplicates of duplicates, since my tendency was to just save everything and figure out how to sort it all out later. Well that day is today, however the number/size of files makes it very unwieldy to do with just Windows explorer. This is one area where I'd like to spend some money on a program that can scrape the entire hard drive for all photos, identify and erase duplicates, and allow for ongoing organization of new photos/videos. Google obviously presents me with a number of software options that appear to do this, but this is also an area where maybe there are features or other aspects that I don't know about that some of you may find essential, etc. Thanks for your suggestions, or other advice on this.

ysette9

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8930
  • Age: 2020
  • Location: Bay Area at heart living in the PNW
Re: Photo/video management software
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2020, 02:42:44 PM »
One of the big drivers for me remaining in the Apple ecosystem is how well I like their management of my music and photos/vidéos.

PathtoFIRE

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 873
  • Age: 44
  • Location: San Diego
Re: Photo/video management software
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2020, 11:25:47 AM »
Yeah, iPhones+PC has not been real great. Though I find iTunes frustrating, I had a perpetual item on my to-do list to update my mp3 playlists; I find it so odd that I can edit the playlist on my phone, but once I plug it in to update and backup, it just overwrites with the older playlists from earlier.

cool7hand

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1319
Re: Photo/video management software
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2020, 01:51:33 PM »
Unless I am mistaken, Amazon Prime has a personal photo backup option for free. I have not played around with it, but it supposedly allows deduping. It might be worth a look given its price!

https://www.clonefileschecker.com/blog/how-to-store-pictures-online-without-creating-duplicate-photos/

dang1

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 489
Re: Photo/video management software
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2020, 03:10:50 PM »
I have Google Photos installed in my Windows 10 machines https://photos.google.com/apps , and photos and videos gets synched automatically- very happy with my setup
https://www.phonearena.com/news/Google-Photos-High-quality-vs-Original-Whats-the-difference-and-should-you-care_id93938

ysette9

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8930
  • Age: 2020
  • Location: Bay Area at heart living in the PNW
Re: Photo/video management software
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2020, 08:39:18 PM »
Yeah, iPhones+PC has not been real great. Though I find iTunes frustrating, I had a perpetual item on my to-do list to update my mp3 playlists; I find it so odd that I can edit the playlist on my phone, but once I plug it in to update and backup, it just overwrites with the older playlists from earlier.
My experience has been PC + anything/nothing is frustrating, so I don’t think it is an iTunes problem. :)

Daley

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4825
  • Location: Cow country. Moo.
  • Still kickin', I guess.
Re: Photo/video management software
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2020, 08:24:37 AM »
Have a recent thread relevant to the topic at hand for @Path2FIRE

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/photo-library-management-software-(duplicate-removal!)/



Yeah, iPhones+PC has not been real great. Though I find iTunes frustrating, I had a perpetual item on my to-do list to update my mp3 playlists; I find it so odd that I can edit the playlist on my phone, but once I plug it in to update and backup, it just overwrites with the older playlists from earlier.
My experience has been PC + anything/nothing is frustrating, so I don’t think it is an iTunes problem. :)

I don't know what you're trying to do with your computer, and maybe it was my time in Linux for nearly 15 years that *cough* spoiled me with such low expectations of seamless workflow, but I find interoperability within Windows perfectly useful and serviceable even between disparate software titles and bits of hardware, especially when I utilize sync tools between devices that aren't dependent upon the manufacturer's software, and I just use what works for my needs. It astounds me even that under Windows 10, stuff just works. Something I hadn't seen even in Linux for years, and for a time there, stuff in Ubuntu Linux just worked, too.

What I do know, however, is that iTunes is a complete crapshow on Windows and makes the entire OS insufferably slow by its mere presence, and never impressed me on OSX, especially as a "portable device manager"... which is why I will never use a smartphone that refuses the owner/operator access to basic things like file storage and the ability to treat the phone like a hard drive when plugged in, allowing anything to access, swap and replace files for you.

ysette9

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8930
  • Age: 2020
  • Location: Bay Area at heart living in the PNW
Re: Photo/video management software
« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2020, 10:09:41 AM »
You have a very different experience with operating systems than me so I can see how your perspective could be different. I’m just a user of computers for work (school back in the day), and personal stuff. I used Windows PCs for 14 years for work and use Apple at home for going on 20. My very consistent experience has been that the Mac mostly just works intuitively for me. With Windows I can mostly get what I need done but always with glitches, crashes, disobedience, and general frustration and inefficiency.

Can I get what I need done on a PC? Almost always yes.
Do I enjoy the journey? Definitely not.

No experience with Linux except for a brief moment in 2000 when we tried to switch on one computer and never figured out how to get it connected to the internet.

Daley

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4825
  • Location: Cow country. Moo.
  • Still kickin', I guess.
Re: Photo/video management software
« Reply #8 on: September 23, 2020, 10:53:24 AM »
I used Windows PCs for 14 years for work and use Apple at home for going on 20. My very consistent experience has been that the Mac mostly just works intuitively for me. With Windows I can mostly get what I need done but always with glitches, crashes, disobedience, and general frustration and inefficiency.

Can I get what I need done on a PC? Almost always yes.
Do I enjoy the journey? Definitely not.

I always hear this refrain from Apple users, even today, and most of my personal experience witnessed with Apple users post-Windows 8 that causes what little of these problems that still exist are usually rooted in how Apple users try to force and expect other operating systems to behave like Apple trained them to use OSX.

The problem anymore is the approach of the user towards the device and Apple's conditioning of you as a user to their methods. Are there legit complaints to be made about Windows? Absolutely, as is any operating system, but most of the vague and nonspecific complaints of Apple users about Windows these days isn't a problem with Windows, but a problem with how Apple infantilizes their userbase and walls them off from exposure to any useful level of broader, cross-platform computer literacy in their daily usage... not for the user's benefit, but their own financial bottom line. A Pavlovian-level of psychological conditioning is quite possibly the holy grail of vendor lock-in, and Apple mastered that trick decades ago by convincing users that failures on their own platform were the user's fault for not doing it the Apple Way, and frustrations with other systems and software titles not working like they've been conditioned to expect as failures and bugs that make said competition inferior.

dang1

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 489
Re: Photo/video management software
« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2020, 12:20:38 PM »
I think the last time I used Apple frequently was in the early 80’s grade school. Never since then- I do compare every time I make purchases- actually surprised myself that I recently bought a Windows laptop instead of another Chromebook, but Apple is always the overpriced alternative.

Windows works well for me. From work, at home, even, one time with a laptop borrowed from a peasant rice farmer in the Philippine boondock, nothing Apple in sight in the few weeks since arriving. Come to think of it, if Apple had its way, only rich people would have access to tech.

Would overhyped Apple work for me? Probably. not Apple Maps. Playing Fortnite not. But it would always frustratingly annoy me to know that there are non-Apple devices that work as well and even better, but cost a whole lot less.

alsoknownasDean

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 2843
  • Age: 39
  • Location: Melbourne, Australia
Re: Photo/video management software
« Reply #10 on: September 24, 2020, 02:33:30 AM »
One of the big drivers for me remaining in the Apple ecosystem is how well I like their management of my music and photos/vidéos.

Until Apple decided to change from iPhoto to Photos and you end up having duplicate libraries. Ask me how I know that one :)

which is why I will never use a smartphone that refuses the owner/operator access to basic things like file storage and the ability to treat the phone like a hard drive when plugged in, allowing anything to access, swap and replace files for you.

Would you believe that's not built into the OS in OSX for Android phones? There's an Android device manager app that can be used, but it's clunky and slow.

I miss the trackpad on my Macbook, but I'm happy with Windows 10. It's not like the XP or Vista days anymore :)

OP, I've mostly used a combination of Systweak Photo Organizer and Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro. In the previous thread Daley has recommended a couple of free alternatives.

Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro does a really good job at deleting duplicates (obviously photos only), but it's a subscription product and surprisingly expensive.

Systweak Photo Organizer does a good job at putting the photos into a structure, but doesn't do the same for video files. I've got them in a separate directory and will look at those later.

Try and find one that lets you set how much of a match you want it to be before a duplicate is flagged, and lets you tweak the auto-mark settings for deletion. I've used Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro to keep the oldest of any exact duplicates so I don't have a bunch of files of 2019-2020 modified dates. Systweak Photo Organizer sorts the photos by the date in the metadata.

There may be decent free applications or something cheap on the Microsoft Store that'll do what you're after better.
« Last Edit: September 24, 2020, 02:37:09 AM by alsoknownasDean »

Daley

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4825
  • Location: Cow country. Moo.
  • Still kickin', I guess.
Re: Photo/video management software
« Reply #11 on: September 24, 2020, 07:23:32 AM »
which is why I will never use a smartphone that refuses the owner/operator access to basic things like file storage and the ability to treat the phone like a hard drive when plugged in, allowing anything to access, swap and replace files for you.

Would you believe that's not built into the OS in OSX for Android phones? There's an Android device manager app that can be used, but it's clunky and slow.

Of course not! It's the competition, so it must be drastically handicapped and the experience made as awful as possible to convince you that only Apple products are easy to use. It's technological gaslighting. Most Apple users are in an abusive relationship, but it's such a nice and usable system that never hits them so long as they give Apple all their money and only use the services Apple allows them to, and they don't use anything else!
« Last Edit: September 24, 2020, 07:26:32 AM by Daley »

ysette9

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8930
  • Age: 2020
  • Location: Bay Area at heart living in the PNW
Re: Photo/video management software
« Reply #12 on: September 24, 2020, 02:26:38 PM »
I hear what you are saying about Apple... and yet, I’ve used Windows for 40 hours a week, 48 weeks a year for 14 years and I still don’t like it and find it cumbersome to use. I think I’ve given it a good shot at impressing me and I’ve had a good shot to learn how to use it.

Thankfully we all have options for ecosystems and can choose what suits us each best.