UGN shareware UGN shareware
As computers, software, media formats change -- and file sizes balloon -- archiving files that you want to keep can become a problem. I found this solution out of necessity...
One of the agonies of upgrading to the latest equipment and software is figuring out what to do with what you had before -- particularly if what you had is no longer supported. In those early years I moved data to archival SyQuest carts; first the 40-meg variety, then the 125-meg sizes, and eventually the SyJet versions which were a huge 1.5 gig. With the advent of CD-Rom burning, I spent many hours transferring archives from the SyQuest carts to the computer hard drive, then to the CD burner. With the new Macs, the next logical chapter to this story is about more CDs, DVDs, and probably eventually large hard drive storage devices.
As I moved from the G3/OS9 level machines much of the data was transferred to the new computers via USB and FireWire. More CDs were burned, and then a series of a half dozen full data DVDs, which brings me to current times. But that stack of CDs and DVDs now represents a problem on its own. What now?
CD Finder does the trick
Acting on tips from several user group web sites I frequent, I downloaded a copy of CDFinder. As you would expect, the advice was excellent and the shareware fee has already paid for itself over and over in terms of finding single files within a collection of nearly 50 discs. It does the same thing many other utilities do -- but it does it very quickly, completely, and cleanly.
CDFinder is the perfect software solution to organize your disk and data archive, and to keep track of digital media assets -- it catalogs any data disk, CD-ROM, DVD, iPod, network volume, Audio-CD, and more. You can even set it to "batch" catalog CDs and all you have to do is shove them in. Once cataloged, the robust 'search' functions find files based on any number of criteria or combinations thereof. (Click for picture)
With the latest release, CDFinder becomes the answer for Intel-Macs.
Several unique features set CDFinder apart from the rest of the crowd. CDFinder can
* import 7 catalog formats of other vendors
* read exhaustive photo and audio meta data
* catalog the contents of 6 archive file formats
* catalog Audio-CDs
* use AppleScript to integrate CDFinder into any workflow
* search your local data with Spotlight
* find data based on every available meta data piece that CDFinder can catalog
* be used in a cross-platform network with CDWinder for Windows
CDFinder can share the catalog database in a network, and supports a wife variety of audio data, including MP3 and AAC files, Audio-CDs, and photo files (EXIF, IPTC). Contents of archive files can be cataloged as well, including StuffIt, StuffIt Deluxe, Compact Pro, ZIP (used by Mac OS X), TAR, .rar, and the older Apple Installer (Tome) files. The CDFinder application contains the user interface translated into several languages: German, French, English, Italian, Swedish, Spanish, and Dutch -- Together with CDWinder for Windows, (http://www.cdwinder.de/) this is a unique cross platform, network solution to catalog disks and CD-ROMs on a Macintosh and a PC.
CDFinder requires Mac OS X 10.2 and is fully compatible to Tiger. As a Universal Binary, it runs native on PowerPC and Intel-Macs. A CDFinder Private License starts at $30, several Business Licenses are available.
If you've got a lot of data and media that you need to access, then CDFinder is one you'll most definitely want to take a serious look at. I found it a real winner, and well worth the shareware fee. The download is fully functional, but limits catalogs until you unlock it. I was so impressed, I had purchased the keys long before running out of free catalogs.
* Web Site: http://www.cdfinder.de/
* Downloads: http://www.cdfinder.de/downloads.html
*
CDFinder Users Guide CDFinder_Users_Guide.pdf (PDF)
Return to: the top of this page, or the INDEX for this department
Exit to: The User Group Network front page
Contact: The Editor, Webmaster or Membership Director