Database on external disk - temporary files

hi,

if i keep all my databases on an external disk, what files are actually copied onto the disk of the computer i attach the external disk to? does DTP leave anything ‘behind’?

best

If you have Spotlight indexing checked in File > Database Properties, those metadata files will be stored on the computer’s drive, and will remain there unless deleted.

After unmounting the external drive that holds the database, a Spotlight search will not, of course, provide access to documents.

However, the Spotlight search results could provide clues to database content, such as documents that contain data that meet the search criteria. That could be a security concern.

If that’s an issue, prior to unmounting the external drive, choose File > Database Properties and remove the metadata files. Or manually delete the DEVONthink metadata files at ~/Library/Caches/Metadata/. (Also recommended to clear disk space if large databases had been indexed for Spotlight, as these could become large files.)

I actually deactivate spotlight anyways. so if thats the only thing that gets stored locally, i am good to go :wink:

Well, not quite. Your Global Inbox is also stored on the computer, at ~/Library/Application Support/DEVONthink Pro 2/.

I’m assuming that you are running your databases among more than one of your computers, from your external drive.

In that case, good practice would be to clear the Global Inbox of any content, by filing it into your normal database(s), before ending a working session on that computer. That ensures that all new content will be available on the external drive, when it is mounted on another computer.

In a case where you may be using someone else’s computer temporarily, installing your DEVONthink application temporarily, as a courtesy (and to comply with your license) the app and the components added by Install Add-Ons should be removed when work on that computer is finished.

hm, good point, completely forgot about the global inbox. unless of course i mount the global inbox to my external disk, no?