ACDSEE Help w/ 2nd portable HD

[joeandmeg]

Hello,
I use a laptop and have all my digi files on a EHD and backed up on a separate portable HD. When I travel, I'd like to leave the EHD home and bring the portable HD and still have the ability to use all my tags in ACDSEE. All my files are exactly the same...so, I thought I could just plug the portable HD into the same usb slot that I keep the EHD hooked into...and it would recognize it as the same drive. But, when my EHD is plugged in it indicates drive "E"...but, when I plug the portable HD it indicates "G". So, although I can see all my digi files when I use the portable HD...if I want to use my tags the file can not be found b/c it's trying to search through drive "E" not "G". Oh my gosh...does this make any sense? Is there an easy way for me to use my ACDSEE tags with two separate external hardrives (1 EHD & 1 portable HD)?

I'm a little worried...b/c if my EHD fails, I want to know that I can be up and running quickly with my portable HD as a backup. But, now I'm wondering if it would even work at all.

I've made backups on both my EHD and portable HD of my ACDSEE database...but, I'm not even sure how or what I'm supposed to do with them.

Thanks for your help...and I apologize in advance for my ignorance with this topic.

Thanks,
Meghann

[anxela]

It's possible to remap to another drive, so all your work won't be lost if your EHD fails. But I don't think that's something you want to do all the time.

To keep the same keywords on both drives, you have to copy the files within ACDSee to have the database info follow the files... That will, however result in duplicate files in your database. Does that make sense?

I'm sure there are other ACDSee users here that will jump in with info.

[anke]

The only thing I can tell you is that the two drives are not interchangeable. Your computer recognizes them as different and the files will not be accepted by ACDSee. If you want to use your database you will have to take your EHD or make a whole new one with your other drive. At least that is how I understand it..sorry!

[sarahorton]

When this happens, I solve it by changing the drive letter so the computer sees it as "E" instead of "G."

Let me know if you need me to walk you through that process. I'll need to know if you are Mac/PC and what operating system you are using, though.

[joeandmeg]

Thanks for the responses!

Sara...I changed the drive letter of my portable drive to match that of my ehd by going through 'computer management' - 'storage' - 'disk management'. But, it still did not recognize my tags. Is this the way you would change the drive letter? I found info about 'binding' and it looks like it would work if my ehd failed and I needed to replace it with my portable HD...but, I'm assuming that option should not be used too often.

Thanks,
Meghann

[anxela]

Yes, the "binding" option is what I was thinking about. I would contact ACDSee about using that if you want to use it all the time. It could be that it shouldn't be used all the time, but it could also be that is doesn't matter *at all*... So send them an e-mail or try the forums over there. You should get a fast answer.

[anke]

their forum is very helpful and they will help you I'm sure!

[faerywings]

Have you been able to figure this out?
I have ACDSee program installed on my desktop and laptop. My scrap supplies and my database are on a portable EHD. I did have to re-map the hard drive letters, so they would be the same, and I also have to make sure that my ehd is connected *before* I boot up my computer because occasionally my computers like to rename all my USB ports.

If all of your drives letters are the same, and you can open your database, you might need to restore the database on the HD that is not seeing the tags. What happened to me once (OK-- several times LOL) was that the EHD was seeing an older version of the database and had the tags from older files, but none of my more recent tags. I restored to the newest version of the d/b and that did the trick.

If you are still having issues, definitely go to the the ACDSee forums.