I have a TON of pictures on my computer. The photogallery looks kind of cool;
I've been avoiding the picasa/adobe photogallery/yadda yadda, but I'm
starting to think about caving.

Here's the thing: if I take the time to rate and tag all those pictures, it
most likely take QUITE a while. Is there a way to backup the tags/ratings? If
so, would I, uppon restoring said tags/ratings, need to put the pics in the
exact same drive letter/sub directory, or is there some way to save the tags
WITH the images, similar to how you can now save ratings to .wma music files?

While I'm here, on a similar note: any way to backup settings like video
name, actor, and ratings that you input in Windows Media Player 11?

Wraith wrote:
> I have a TON of pictures on my computer. The photogallery looks kind
> of cool; I've been avoiding the picasa/adobe photogallery/yadda
> yadda, but I'm starting to think about caving.
>
> Here's the thing: if I take the time to rate and tag all those
> pictures, it most likely take QUITE a while. Is there a way to backup
> the tags/ratings? If so, would I, uppon restoring said tags/ratings,
> need to put the pics in the exact same drive letter/sub directory, or
> is there some way to save the tags WITH the images, similar to how
> you can now save ratings to .wma music files?
>
> While I'm here, on a similar note: any way to backup settings like
> video name, actor, and ratings that you input in Windows Media Player
> 11?
=================================
As you may read in the following article,
if at all possible, all metadata will be written
back to the image files.

Metadata and the Windows
Vista Photo Gallery
http://tinyurl.com/3994ha

Metadata that cannot be written back to the
image files will be written to the Photo Gallery
database. This database is named "Pictures.pd4"
and is found at the following location.

C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\
Windows Photo Gallery\Pictures.pd4

The file can also be found with an Advanced
Search for pd4.

Go to...Start / Search / Advanced Search.

Check the box..."Include non-indexed, hidden,
and system files" Enter pd4 in the Name field
and left click the Search button.

If you catalog lots of images, making regular
backup copies of your Pictures.pd4 file would
be an excellent idea.

If corruption develops, just replace the current
..pd4 file with your backup. If you have to restore
your system or move the images to a different
computer...the original locations of the images
would need to be duplicated.

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

Is it possible to move the location of the pd4 file. My problem is I have
all of my photos on a Windows Home Server. I then have five different users
that access the same picture files. At this point in time, each of the users
have to tag the photo's themselves as the pd4 file is stored on the local
machine under the users own directory structure. I would like to put the pd4
file on the homeserver and then either syncronize it with each of the users
OR just redirect the application to the file on the server. The value of
this is that I also have 3 different machines so my goal is to have the
ability for a user to sit down at any machine, view the pictures with all the
appropriate metadata (where everything is centralized and backed up).

"John Inzer" wrote:

> Wraith wrote:

> > I have a TON of pictures on my computer. The photogallery looks kind
> > of cool; I've been avoiding the picasa/adobe photogallery/yadda
> > yadda, but I'm starting to think about caving.
> >
> > Here's the thing: if I take the time to rate and tag all those
> > pictures, it most likely take QUITE a while. Is there a way to backup
> > the tags/ratings? If so, would I, uppon restoring said tags/ratings,
> > need to put the pics in the exact same drive letter/sub directory, or
> > is there some way to save the tags WITH the images, similar to how
> > you can now save ratings to .wma music files?
> >
> > While I'm here, on a similar note: any way to backup settings like
> > video name, actor, and ratings that you input in Windows Media Player
> > 11?

> =================================
> As you may read in the following article,
> if at all possible, all metadata will be written
> back to the image files.
>
> Metadata and the Windows
> Vista Photo Gallery
> http://tinyurl.com/3994ha
>
> Metadata that cannot be written back to the
> image files will be written to the Photo Gallery
> database. This database is named "Pictures.pd4"
> and is found at the following location.
>
> C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\
> Windows Photo Gallery\Pictures.pd4
>
> The file can also be found with an Advanced
> Search for pd4.
>
> Go to...Start / Search / Advanced Search.
>
> Check the box..."Include non-indexed, hidden,
> and system files" Enter pd4 in the Name field
> and left click the Search button.
>
> If you catalog lots of images, making regular
> backup copies of your Pictures.pd4 file would
> be an excellent idea.
>
> If corruption develops, just replace the current
> ..pd4 file with your backup. If you have to restore
> your system or move the images to a different
> computer...the original locations of the images
> would need to be duplicated.
>
> --
>
> John Inzer
> MS Picture It! -
> Digital Image MVP
>
> Digital Image
> Highlights and FAQs
> http://tinyurl.com/aczzp
>
> Notice
> This is not tech support
> I am a volunteer
>
> Solutions that work for
> me may not work for you
>
> Proceed at your own risk
>
>
>

Shawn Luddington wrote:

> Is it possible to move the location of the pd4 file. My problem is I
> have all of my photos on a Windows Home Server. I then have five
> different users that access the same picture files. At this point in
> time, each of the users have to tag the photo's themselves as the pd4
> file is stored on the local machine under the users own directory
> structure. I would like to put the pd4 file on the homeserver and
> then either syncronize it with each of the users OR just redirect the
> application to the file on the server. The value of this is that I
> also have 3 different machines so my goal is to have the ability for
> a user to sit down at any machine, view the pictures with all the
> appropriate metadata (where everything is centralized and backed up).

==================================
Sorry...I do not have exact steps to answer
your question. However, I can offer the following
info that may give you a starting point to figure
it out if you are willing to experiment.

Two warnings:

1) Proceed at your own risk.

2) If the .pd4 database is accessed and edited
from two or more computers at the same time
it will probably be irretrievably corrupted.

MS Digital Image Suite 2006 has a similar
Library and the database is Pictures.pd3.
The following article explains how a Windows
XP user accomplished the result with .pd3
that you wish to accomplish on Vista with .pd4.

I realize there will be major differences in the
steps but the basic idea would be the same.

Sharing Digital Image Suite
2006 Database between users
http://tinyurl.com/b8fda
or...
http://www.shahine.com/omar/CommentV...x#commentstart

Good luck.

--

John Inzer
Digital Media MVP

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk