Is it possible to have a container fields reference quicktime movies on a SAN without copying them to a storage path determined by filemaker? I would like a filemaker solution to act as closely to Adobe Bridge as possible, where as filemaker would simply reference the selected SAN files. Is this possible?
 

Thanks

David

You can still insert a file in a container "as a reference".  The problem with that is that the path to that file needs to be same for each individual users, starting from their machines, which is a big pain in a mixed mac/windows environment or a mixed local/remote user environment.

 

You may be better off with something like SuperContainer instead of native FM containers.

Ultimately what I want to get is a big proxy grid of images to so the user can easily scan the search results and say 'that one' from the visual proxy. The SuperContainer does not seem to display any proxy just the Quicktime icon. See the screen shot for sample.

 

If this can't be done I don't mind making copies of the media to the fm server using external containers. But the problem I will run into is backups. So my question there is "When running a fm server12 backup routine, is there a way to NOT backup the files that are stored in external containers?"

I've answered the backup copy elsewhere: after the first backup, FMS hardlinks any remote container data that has not changed so:

- it does not waste time

- it does not waste disks space

 

If you somehow managed to not backup the RC data, you'd have a heck of a time when you had to restore your file, so there really is no benefit to doing it.

Thanks Wim. I will give this a shot allowing it to do the backup. Valid point about the restoring the data.

I think I would like to revert to my original question since importing a large quicktime file into filemaker is not necessary. All I need is a link to the file on our San. Everyone that uses filemaker also uses the same connection to the San.

 

So, is it possible to have a container fields reference quicktime movies on a SAN without copying them to a storage path determined by filemaker? 

 

It could be as simple as storing a location like /Volume1/Movies/AMC/09/BreakingBadPromo1.mov   Then clicking on the link would then open the file in quicktime. The problem is I don't know the best way to store this path. I do understand that if some moves the file from the San it breaks the link, however I am okay with that based on the permissions we have.

Yes, it is possible.  The container needs to be inserted with the "as reference" option and the file needs to be selected through path that is going to be the same for ALL users.

 

So the first thing that is required that is that the folder where the movies are, is shared through the OS (and that all users have read access to it as a minimum).  Then you have to insert those movies using that shared syntax.  You can probably script that if you need to to make it easy.

 

If you have Windows users in addition to Mac users then it is more complex since they will need to map the shared drive to a drive-letter (or the files need to be inserted through the UNC format - serverNameshareNamefilename)

 

Do the users actually have to see the files / play / preview them?  If not then you probably don't need containers at all and you can just store the path in a text field and use "Open URL" to open them...

Yes the users need to play the movie via filemaker, but it is fine for filemaker to open the file via quicktime. I don't need to store the quicktimes in filemaker. I just need a little help get the path of quicktime into filemaker. Ideally the user would simply drag the quicktime into filemaker and then filemaker could get the path of the file. Here is an example of the path of one of the files...

 

/Volumes/networkFootage/Viewpoint/Past_Work/EPIX/13_overview_sizzle/epix_sizzle_bug_KN.mov

 

 

Again I realize that if some changes the file name it will break the link, but I am okay with that.

That path you're giving is the path from the machine where that folder is, right?

 

Go to another machine and mount that share, that's the path.

Also: do you have a mixed Mac/Windows environment?

The path is the path of the file that is to be open view the filemaker client. All clients are connected to the same volume. I will open the file with a shell script via filemaker. What I need to know is the best way for the client to put that path into filemaker. I was hoping for a drag and drop. We are all mac.