Windows Explorer as a Database Volume

[Guest]

I've reached the end of my usage rope with the Windows Explorer and the whole
antiquated filing scheme designed in Windows. My data is way too diverse and
has multiple usages and meanings attached to it. I've got so many
directories and subdirectories that I can't manage them anymore.

The crux of the matter is that Windows has only two basic tools of file
management: the dirctory (folder) and the file name. This is not adequate
because it assumes that any single file on my hard drive has only one purpose
and should be stored in an area where I can find it based upon some logical
nested hierarchy.

Is there anyone out there who is familiar with an application that can
transform the Windows Explorer file system into a Volume of raw files which
are identified not through file names and directories, but a
programmable/configurable database interface? (Even Access can't 'point' to
a file without it being static, and it can't manage or relocate, either.)

Example: music files. In order to organize my MP3s, I have to choose some
sort of arbitrary filing system, in my case, by music 'style.' So I have the
My Music folder divided and subdivided into all sorts of concept names, but
now that I have nearly 8GB of sound files, it's next to impossible to
remember where each file is located. For example, I had Eagles tunes under
both the Country and Pop music directories. Why should I have to keep all
this management schema in my head when I could use a database front end to
point to the file on the HDD for me?

I have a host of other applications and usages for my computer that could
benefit from having a PDM-style U/I organize my files by multiple concepts
and usages, not something is simplistic as file names and directories. Help?

Greg

 

[Guest]

What you're asking for is way over my head but in case you don't come up with
a solution may I offer this.

The K.I.S.S. principle (keep it simple stupid) (no implication meant in case
you've never heard that principle before)

For whatever reason, we humans seem think that creating folder upon folder
upon folder to organize our files will make our lives easier. Nothing could
be further from the truth. When it comes to folders, the fewer the better. If
you stored ALL your music in your My Music Folder, without any sub folders
whatsoever, it wouldn't be hard to figure out where to find the file.

NOTEKY

 

[Peter Foldes]

Considered any of the Office 11 suites.???? Excel\Access comes to mind. I have one Database file alone of 62gigs out of many..

 

[Kelly]

Hi Greg,

Good luck with your search and in the meantime,
try winfile.exe on line 71 (right hand side):
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

In memory of those lost during Katrina &
Prayers and Hope for the remaining displaced.

 

[SeaMaid]

Isn't that what Windows Vista will do? It's supposed to revolutionize file
management.

 

[Guest]

I used an extremely primitive example in my original post, but even that
would require - if I go by your suggestion - that I know exactly how I wish
to name all the music files (assuming that I would have the need to change)
and then store all 6000+ of them in the same folder. Under this premise, why
not simply wipe *all* of my directories and put all 36,000+ files into My
Documents?

The point is that it's not about the user searching for files directly.
It's about files having multiple usages and the user having to 'remember' the
file name. For more explanation of this concept, see my responses to the
other posts, thanks.

 

[Guest]

Yes, but the only way I can get Access to work at all like a true database is
to write something on top of MySQL. The only thing I know that Access can do
is embed hyperlinks that point to the files, but this is a static solution
and still requires the user to go into the Explorer to manage them.

At issue is the fact that my files have a number of completely disparate
uses. A single document could be used for music, genealogy, band rehearsals,
my school work, etc. What would be required of Access is to write a massive
database which would encompass all 36,000+ files that I have in some sort of
'super concept' - something linking all files together somehow so that I
could write queries. This takes us back to Square One.

 

[Guest]

Wow! What list of stuff. Yes, I can use some of these, but this indeed is
'in the meantime.'

 

[Guest]

Fro what I've read, this product is indeed a step in the right direction, but
still a far cry what I'm talking about. Let me give another example.

I've got a census image (JPG) that has three families on it which are of
interest to me. How do I name the file so that any time I need the file for
any of the three families, I will be able to find it? Doing something like
'Smith-Jones-Williams.jpg' and then performing a text search is wholly
simplistic. Searching on any of those family names could (and does) bring up
hundreds of documents that I have to sift through, and the only way I can
narrow things down is to add additional search criteria. This is where the
'management in my head' thing makes things exasperating. What if, for some
reason, *this* particular census image was a GIF and I was searching
'*smith".jpg'? I would never find my file.

In reality, the file should simply have a generic placeholder assigned by
this PDM layer I'm looking for (e.g., 'A12345.jpg'). My applications,
whether they be Excel, Media Player, Family Tree Maker, Photoshop...would
'see' the PDM layer when I was creating records/documents. In Family Tree
Maker, the link would read something like 'Aunt Bea's marriage announcement,'
but in Photoshop, it could have a different use, like 'example of high
contrast newspaper scan,' or in Excel, it might be 'listing of 19th century
newspaper scans.'

Each 'virtual file' is actually a link which points to the actual volume
file (stored only once). I never need worry what the file NAME is because
that name is meaningless outside the context of how I am using the file.

 

[Bob I]

Sounds like you want to use the WinFS "filesystem" that is being worked

 

[Stan Brown]

On Tue, 20 Sep 2005 20:45:01 -0700 in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, Gregory Winters favored us
with...

Example: music files. In order to organize my MP3s, I have to choose some
sort of arbitrary filing system, in my case, by music 'style.' So I have the
My Music folder divided and subdivided into all sorts of concept names, but
now that I have nearly 8GB of sound files, it's next to impossible to
remember where each file is located. For example, I had Eagles tunes under
both the Country and Pop music directories. Why should I have to keep all
this management schema in my head when I could use a database front end to
point to the file on the HDD for me?

Your browser is an excellent tool for this, if you know a little
HTML. It doesn't get around the problem of static file nmes, but it
will let you categorize the same thing multiple ways.

<a href="file:///d:/my%20folder/Eagles/tune1.wav">Gimme a G</a>

The %20 code is necessary when a space is in folder or file name.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"To put it bluntly but fairly, anyone today who doubts that the
variety of life on this planet was produced by a process of
evolution is simply ignorant -- inexcusably ignorant, in a world
where three out of four people have learned to read and write."
--Daniel Dennett, /Darwin's Dangerous Idea/ (1995), page 46