How to avoid initial disk scan

[JoeM]

I have read horror stories on Amazon that Paintshop Pro X3 wants to scan your entire disk on startup to discover all image files and that there is no way to stop it. This may only be true on the first startup.

Is this true?

Can I prevent it from ever taking such action?

OT: Same question for VideoStudio Pro X3.

Thanks,

Joe M

[David Milisock]

I just loaded X3 on 3 systems and it looked at the pictures folder in the users folder on all three not the entire machine.

[JoeM]

David,

Thanks for your reply. That sounds better, but it is still something I do not want happening. My image folders are quite large.

I should have provided more information. I have not used PSP since JASC. I know little about the current structure and assumptions oof the program. I do not want to use the "organizer" (catalog or whatever). When I want to try PSP on an image file, I want it to act on that file only. I will find the file. I will tell it what to do with the resulting image.

Joe M

[Tim Morrison]

A new installation of PSPP X3 only scans five folders on your computer. Of those, one will be empty and another two will most likely contain very little.
The five folders in XP are:-

• My Documents\My Pictures (possibly large if you store photos there).
• My Documents\My Videos
• My Documents\My Corel Shows (Empty unless you've created Corel Shows in a previous version of PSP)
• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Pictures (The shared pictures folder that typically only contains a few Windows sample pictures)
• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Videos (The shared videos folder which is typically empty)

I don't think that you will have any problems if you just let X3 scan what it wants. There were problems with early versions of PSPP XI and there can be easily fixed problems if you've had XI (or Corel Snapfire) installed in the past.

[David Milisock]

I am just trying PSP X3 coming from the Corel Photo-PAINT and Photoshop end and I'm impressed with the capabilities.

[JoeM]

A new installation of PSPP X3 only scans five folders on your computer. Of those, one will be empty and another two will most likely contain very little.
...
I don't think that you will have any problems if you just let X3 scan what it wants. There were problems with early versions of PSPP XI and there can be easily fixed problems if you've had XI (or Corel Snapfire) installed in the past.

I would really like to install and try the editor component by itself. I want as little impact from the other components as I can possibly have. As I read the reply, you are saying: 1) There is no way to prevent the organizer scan (by omission); and 2) it's not that bad. Am I correct?

If I hide image files during the installation/startup and then put them back before the second use of PSPP, will PSPP ever scan for them again?

Can I have the editor open an image file directly or does the file have to have first been "organized" (somewhat akin to Lightroom)?

Is there a way to prevent the "Downloader" from loading/running?

Thanks,

Joe M

[ronzie]

Can't help with initial scanning but once Organizer initially starts go to File/Preference. Set as desired in the following images for default workspace and downloader start up:

Oranizer Default Launch Preference 1.jpg (34.18 KiB) Viewed 5106 times

Oranizer Photo Downloader Option Preference.jpg (45.11 KiB) Viewed 5106 times

[Tim Morrison]

I would really like to install and try the editor component by itself. I want as little impact from the other components as I can possibly have. As I read the reply, you are saying: 1) There is no way to prevent the organizer scan (by omission); and 2) it's not that bad. Am I correct?

The only ways I've seen mentioned are to do things like write protect the organizer database. I don't have any problems with it, although I don't use it, and don't have much in the My Documents\My Pictures folder, so it's not cataloguing very much. I doubt you'll have much in the other four catalogued folders.

If I hide image files during the installation/startup and then put them back before the second use of PSPP, will PSPP ever scan for them again?

Only if you're talking about files in My Documents\My Pictures. In that case they would be catalogued when you put them back. If they aren't in one of the five default folders they won't be seen unless you specifically add that extra folder to the organizer's list.

Can I have the editor open an image file directly or does the file have to have first been "organized" (somewhat akin to Lightroom)?

You can set X3 to open in the full editor instead of the organizer, and images can be opened directly, in any of the usual ways, without first adding them to the database.

Is there a way to prevent the "Downloader" from loading/running?

Right click its system tray icon and choose "Default settings". Untick everything there, click OK, and it will exit and never come back. (Unless you start it from the Start menu and tick some of its options).

[Tadjio]

I have been reading this thread with interest.
With earlier versions of PSP (XI and X2) I tried quite hard
to prevent PSP cataloging my photos.
I tried locking the ImagesDB.db database (which works) and
I tried copying My Pictures away (I actually pointed My Pictures
to a different folder for the initial installation of PSP).

Now, with X3, I alllowed PSP X3 to 'discover' My Pictures.
This contains 200Mb which are 50,000 Images in nearly 2,000 Folders.
With my fast quad-core 64bit Win7, this did not take very long to catalog.

The resultant ImageDB.db file in AppData \ Local \ Corel is 5Mb.
Using SQLite Database Browser I can see it contains 18,000 Images in 600 Folders.

I have the PSP X3 Preferences set to "Full Editor" Default Workspace.
Under Organizer I exclude RAW images and various other folders in My Pictures.
I have stopped the MediaCataloger running when I am not using PSP so that
it only operates when PSP is being used (and is allowed to complete after exiting).
When it is running, I can sometimes hear it screaming around the disk
I believe it is only cataloging any folders that I access whilst using PSP Full Editor.

I never use the Organizer, only the Full Editor, which is largely the same as
for X2, XI, X and PSP 9 and previous versions under JASC.

[pdxrjt]

I agree that letting it scan your pics is no big deal. You have all of the relevant tips on how to minimize the impact in the future. Regarding opening pics without the organizer, as stated you can use the usual ways. I was a big fan of the old "open folder always showing" system in the pre X3 days. I circumvent the new organizer and the amount of time it takes to switch views by leaving the folder of pics open on my right screen and just dragging it into the full editor. You can also surf to the pic using the usual folder hierarchy. Not that my goal was to prevent scanning (as I added my pic folders later) but I have my picture folders in a different spot and a shortcut to them in my "My Documents/Pictures" folder.