Perhaps this should almost be a poll question. I searched for information on this and I’m sure it exists, but I couldn’t find a comprehensive result.
I understand index versus import.
But how are YOU doing it and why?
Also, what are your backing up practices? Not so much the self-contained backup’s (weekly etc.), but the kind to another drive or DVD etc.
I am using about 90% of the documents imported, with the rest, which change frequently indexed. I find this easiest to use since it makes re-installing systems etc much quicker to get up an running. Plus getting documents onto another machine.
I import only, and I make nightly backups of the entire DB to an external FW drive. I use Synchronize! X Plus from Qdea, Inc. Actually, I backup my entire Home folder, which also saves all application preferences.
I have thought of that! It is a concern of mine also, which is why I wanted to get some input from those who have dealt with DT Pro for a while now. Actually I have though of doing a combination of both, but that can eat up space. Not much at this point.
I import all but pdfs and movie files. I need pdfs and QT files to be available to other programs, so they are housed in one place in the Finder (movie and audio media in iTunes) and shared between programs (as aliases or indexed).
The rest I dump into DTPro–rtf files, image files, web archives, etc. I trust the program. I have never lost one iota of information (knocking on wood as I write this). I think maybe I’ve had one crash of the program in the entire time I’ve used. I can’t really remember.
I trust DTPro as much as I trust any software. Never had any problem with it… I just don’t trust any software completely.
Important info I print out and file in hard copy. I also backup regularly to a firewire hd as well as burning CDs / DVDs with new stuff.
All my writing gets printed out every night as well as backed up to .mac and the above media.
It could just be that old habits die hard (or not at all), but while I use and value DTPro and all its abilities, I just don’t have it in me to trust it exclusively with info I’ve searched hard for.
I’ve stressed DTP with some very large databases, and have done crazy things with those databases while I had them. My conclusion is that DTP is entirely trustworthy. Even on the few occasions when I’ve had to reset my system, or Force Quit DTP, I’ve still not lost one iota of database integrity.
But then, I also backup my system regularly to multiple targets; I use Repair & Verify followed by Backup & Optimize on a regular basis; and I keep my system very clean from the standpoint of addons and such (with only one recent exception, which has further turned me off from hacks).
my import/index ratio varied from 10:90 to 90:10 during my »what a great application! but what do i do with it« - period.
with dtp you may run various databases. i created a lot of them before i realized how cumbersome it is to jump from one database to another. so i merged them all into one.
now i import all the text-stuff, web-archives and urls.
last year when i restructured my dtp-database i pulled out all the pdf and stored them in one external folder.
my photos are stored seperately in an iview-database. i keep small images bundled with or included in articles, websites or text docs inside dtp as well, larger images are kept outside.
i’m quite sure, i will think my archiving strategy over when dtp 2 will enable one to keep various databases open at the same time.
at the moment i cut back the use of dtp to a minimum waiting for dtp2 to come out.
I’m new to DT Pro, and I’m operating largely on instinct (uh-oh), but I elect to index files into my database rather than import. Bill Deville suggests that index increases the database’s search capacity, so what advantage is there to importing? And, more, what is the danger to information already in file on my hard drive? I see no evidence in FINDER that my files have been altered by DT Pros indexing; so why the tension about back-ups? Is there something missing here, something I’m not getting? Please explain.
I initially started out using it the way you did. The home base for documents was files in folders, but collected in DTPro for collectiveness. Indexed in other words.
However, the more I use it, the more I have used the scripts to import items directly into DTPro bypassing the hassel of making separate documents first. For instance I see some text on the web or something I want to keep, and I use the scripts to import directly into DTPro. There is no individual text file.
That means to me that it is important to know and understand the backup process and the reliability. Since some of my information now resides in the program and some in files on my hard drives documents folder. If I lost the database, I loose what I do not have text files (etc.) of.
That is not to say that I do not make text files up sometimes.
So let me understand: You “import” from the web and you “index” from your own files. Because you “grab” info as you work (from the web or through scans), you tend to “import” more, since you’ve already brought most of the files you need from your computer’s HD into DT Pro by “indexing.” Am I on target, in the ball park?
Now, to the issue of scripts. I’m new to Mac and thus Applescripts. Where do you get the “scripts” to import and how do you invoke them.
That is correct. As to the scripts. I am not necessarily the best one to be handling this.
You should have seen a window asking to install scritps. In the right upper menu bar will be a little symbol that is a script. That drops down with a listing.
The manual should walk you through what the scripts do.
If this is not enough, I recommend asking by starting a new topic on scripts as I really am not comfortable handling those issues.
Cletus
