Like many users, I have terabytes of data across multiple computers and hard disks, and its becoming increasingly impossible to find stuff I need and manage it sensibly. I keep coming back to the idea that we need an integrated approach that combines these 3 areas -
- backup/filesync to backup my data. I much prefer synchronization software to just keep an exact copy on a separate disk, but the software needs to be able to track copies
- cataloging to know which media contains what
- indexing to help me find stuff quickly
Right now, I have different apps for each of these which do not play well together. e.g. if I search for a file in my index app (Copernic/X1) I want it to tell me that its on my USB backup drive #2 and that its also backed up on my laptop. I do not want the index itself to contain 3 copies of the contents of the file. Similarly, the disc cataloging app should work with the index. Both should update seamlessly in realtime as and when different computers/disks come online, and the index/catalog itself should replicate itself. The backup program should let me select a folder to backup, then use the cataloger to track where its been backed up, and sync automatically. And of course, all of these programs should use UNC and USB device id's so they don't depend on disk numbers that can change, as well as do link tracking for moved files.
Now I know no such program exists (or does it?) so I'm looking for suggestions and workflow dieas on how best to do this.
