List of Folders with Picture Files

[ginarossi]

Newbie help is needed! I just downloaded XYplorer based on reviews I have read.

1. I am trying to get a list of all FOLDERS on my HD's that contain picture files. (jpg, tif, bmp, etc).

I have 12 TB of data (yes TB) with thousands of pictures in hundreds of folders.
2. My objective is to copy all of the folders that have images to a new hard drive. I can't figure out how to "just" get a list of folders that contain files with the specified or desired file suffixes.

I know that I have multiple copies of many images.
3. After copying all of the folders to a new drive, I want to run a de-dupe routine that will leave me with one copy of each image. eg. delete or move duplicate files.

Is there anyone out there that knows how to do this? And, is willing to share?

Thanks,
Gina

[admin]

Let's begin with the first wish. One at a time.

1. I am trying to get a list of all FOLDERS on my HD's that contain picture files. (jpg, tif, bmp, etc).

This is not the first time something like this was requested. I note the demand.

Currently it is not possible, but I will think about a solution.

Question: What about nesting folders? A folder contains images AND subfolders with further images. Now, which folder(s) should be returned in the search results?

[Marco]

My workflow would be:

1. branch view of those 12 TB - possibly in chunks to avoid freezing and all that nice stuff like running out of memory

2. Apply the Power Filter "Images Only"

3. Select all the files only: Ctrl-M and then "*:" in the filter box

4. Move (or copy) such selected files to the destination. You'll be prompted for a Rich Copy: click on Yes

5. Repeat steps 1. to 4. until you have "scanned" all those 12 TB

6. Now in the destination search and delete all the empty folders [Don, is it possible to find empty folders and folders containing only empty folders?]

7. Run a duplicate file search, and delete the duplicates

[ginarossi]

Marco -
Thanks for this. It sounds like the procedure may do what I need. As I understand it, the "Rich Copy" command will keep the file structure in place, which is what I would like. I have not tried it yet, but do not understand why I would end up with empty folders if "Images Only" power filter produced a list of only image files. Can you explain this?

[ginarossi]

Admin -
I would like the full path returned for each folder that contains images. I would like to copy the folder to another location and maintain the path structure. The folder structure and folder names will provide important info about the actual file content.

[TheQwerty]

Similar to what Marco suggested...

If you only want to copy the images and retain their folder structure you could do a search for all image files and then use a rich copy/move, but if the folders contain other files you'd want with the images this wouldn't be as useful.

Take a look at the following:
Find Files by Type
Rich File Operations
Rich File Operations - Automatic Prompting
Tutorial Video

[Marco]

Marco -
Thanks for this. It sounds like the procedure may do what I need. As I understand it, the "Rich Copy" command will keep the file structure in place, which is what I would like. I have not tried it yet, but do not understand why I would end up with empty folders if "Images Only" power filter produced a list of only image files. Can you explain this?

Yes, that's exactly the purpose of Rich Copy.

Now, upon re-reading my procedure, I see it's a bit convoluted and it could be optimized.
The Qwerty's suggestion is very good and raises two important questions:
1 - is getting a list of folders that contain images necessary? I mean, in order to copy the images from disk A to disk B you do not need to know which folders contain images: you just search for them and then copy/move to another location, Rich Copy is completely automatic. But you may want to get such folders for other purposes besides copying...
2 - do you want to copy just the images or the folders containing such images, which means (in the second case) that you can end up in the destination with having other files too besides the usual jpg/png/bmp?

[ginarossi]

Marco and TheQwerty,

My goal is to copy the folder structure and folder names but only include the image files in the copy to a new drive.

I want the folder structure and folder names to be copied because the structure and names hold key info about the picture content within. eg. SpaProject\SpaInterior1\SpaInterior2. The filenames for the actual picture images are usually meaningless if they have not been edited. eg. 12345.jpg

I don't think it will be a problem if I end up with other file types during the copy process to a new drive. I should simply be able to search for all *.doc, *.xls, etc. files on the new drive and globally delete those files.

[Marco]

Then it's all very simple:

1. search for such image files: go to the root of the location you want to scan, press CTRL-F to open the Find panel, set "boolean" mode and in the Name field type

Code: Select all

*.jpg OR *.png OR *.bmp OR *.whatever

, basically the extensions of the image files.

2. CTRL-A in the List to select all the results

3. Move/Copy to destination: you'll be prompted to Rich Copy - accept it.

As I suggested yesterday, do this procedure in chunks: 12 TB is a lot of data to search through and handle.