Creating a "virtual partition" can be as easy as typing

> subst v: f:\avid01

into a (windows) shell window (or start->run). This will assign new drive letter "V:" to the contents of  folder "F:\avid01". Type

> subst /?

to get full syntax. I'm sure there are tools that can do the same, and maybe windows has some gui to assist here, and this will probably not work on vista...

There's one advantage of having "real" physical partitions: files won't be scattered all over the disk but are held closely together in one part, so reading of multiple streams may be a little faster. On the other hand "virtual" partitions are not fixed in size, which allow optimum usage of your always to small diskspace.

catwoman:

ould you tell us your workflow and what virtual-drive-software you are using (daemontool??)?

Workflow

To start with I have a folder on my C drive called Avid media template.  In this folder I have an empty OMFI MediaFiles folder and an Avid MediaFiles folder. Inside the Avid MediaFiles folder I have an MXF folder and inside that an empty 1 folder. (all standard Avid media file naming)

I create a notepad file with the appropriate subst commands (details later) and save it to my desk top. The saved file is Avid media drives.txt  I rename this to Avid media drives.bat

At the start of any new project I copy the Avid media template folder on to the appropriate media drive and rename it with the project name. (No spaces in the name or if you want spaces in the name you must use quote marks around that name.)

I then right click on the Avid media drives.bat this opens options for my virtual drives file. Select edit and add a new subst line to the file with the new project name and drive letter you want it to be.. Choose file save and then file exit.  Double clicking on the saved **.bat file runs it and creates the virtual drives.  (Avid will not see new ones if you run the .bat file whist Avid is open. You need to quit Avid and run the file then open Avid.)

My Avid media drives.bat looks like this

subst J: E:\APLGoodies
subst K: E:\LCOCP
subst L: G:\WOWAVIDP2
subst M: H:\WOW2008
subst N: G:\WOW2008UPRES
.......

Where J:, K:, L:, M: & N: become my virtual drives

E:, G: & H: are my media harddrives and media RAIDS.

I save the .bat file into my Windows startup directory and create a shortcut to it on my desktop. I use the shortcut for updating whist the computer is running and Windows creates all my virtual drives on startup.

In the new Avid project for the first time I set a projects Media Creation settings to the virtual drive  assigned to the project.  I print out the .bat file  to be pinned in the edit suite  so anyone knows which drives are  appropriate to each project.

At the end of a project I run MDV (free Russian media management tool) on all drives and move any media that has strayed (never happens of course ) on to the wrong drive for the project and move it to my virtual drive.

This gives me a clean folder to archive. If at anytime in the future I want to revisit this project I simply reactivate the archived folder by making it a new "virtual drive" 

Elegant (well it would be if I ever finish the database detailing all the archived media hardrives) and very quick Project based media management.

Main limitation is the number of drive letters Windows allows. Secondary limitation Windows often fails to notice virtual drives when plugging in a USB key so you have to manually assign the USB stick an unused drive letter before Windows will read it.

As said previously I have used and recommended this media management workflow for more than 6 years now (originally using Media Mover for media management as the MDV program had not been thought of back then) and have not had a problem with it in that time.

I think I covered it all but you can PM me any questions for anything I missed.

As I'm using a similar solution i might add one idea:

At the beginning of our batch-files there are lines like

> subst V: /D

which remove the drive letter substitution before it can be assigned again, otherwise subst will fail if you try to assign an already assigned drive letter.

We use the virtual drives mainly so that students won't accidently mess with other students' footage, sadly we can't provide a "real" multiuser environment, and students usually have to share workstations.

macjaeger:

> subst V: /D

which remove the drive letter substitution before it can be assigned again, otherwise subst will fail if you try to assign an already assigned drive letter.

Thanks a lot Andrew and jaeger. This sounds great, although I wish Avid would make this issue easier for us (like FCP does). I will try it out.

Isn't the 10000 file count a windows limitation?

.- Yes, it is

It has nothing to do with Avid.

 Recommended maximum file counts have been lowered from 10,000 in OMFI to 5,000 with MXF media. The reason is that the system has a much easier time managing multiple smaller media databases than it does with one gigantic database. It's even been suggested to Avid to further lower the limit to 2,500.

Larry, is it then recommandable to use MXF instead of OMFI from now on? Or is there any disadvantage to MXF? Seems like MXF with  the "virtual drive" method is the way to go for proper media management.

 Catwoman:

MXF is essentially the new Avid media format that supercedes OMFI, due to requirements of High Definition media, XDCAM, P2, tapeless file exchange environments and the like. There is absolutely no problem mixing OMFI and MXF files on the same timeline. I have been doing it for 4 years now without any problems. So yes, I would recommend creating all media, video and audio in MXF format from now on. And since your MXF media management software will automatically create additional numerical folders as needed whenever the 5,000 file count maximum is reached, you'll have the "leaner and meaner" databases working for you, which is a great advantage when it comes to overall system response time and stability.

 Hi,

I fully agree to AndrewAction with the virtual drivers (folders), but the subst commands are too complicated to me. I use Virtual Drive Creator instead. Works flawlessly in the same idea Andrew said. Never had any issue.

One more point: I have sometimes several drives attached to my systems. To avoid digitizing or rendering to any other place than the projects virtual folder, I placed to each drive an EMPTY P2-folder structure (CONTENTS...). In this way, at software start, all the drives are flagged as P2-drives with only read-only capabillities. The only available drive is the virtual one.

This works very well in an shared Untity/Isis enviroment to avoid any using of local storage, too.

HTH

pixel

Thanks for the hint!

Usually I also like nice windows with buttons and roll down menus... but we need to switch virtual drives rather often (students sharing workstations), and then batch scripts come very handy.