A Russian developer has a tool very similar to the MediaSift application released recently. Its a Windows only app which scans a selected volumes database and reveals the projects and their associated media files.

At the moment it works on one drive at a time, but the developer says he is working to make it scan all drives at the same time (like mediaSift). It does however have the ability to scan network drives (Unity / Editshare etc).

It's very nicely laid out, better looking than MediaSift I think and does most of the same operations - Scan / Copy / Move. It also has a Delete command which seems a little too easy to use at the moment.

It also has a Hardware Tool to show drive usage.

Here is the download page. There is no English text on the page, but the program is in English.
http://fiool.nm.ru/progz/
You will see two versions 'MDV_AVID' and 'MDV_AVID(без превью с поддержкой MXF)'. The first version is v0.1 and the second is a beta v0.2.

In v0.1 there was a feature to show a frame preview of the media file, this did not work, so it was turned off in v0.2. He is hoping to get this working in the future. There a few other interface improvements in v0.2 and it appears to be able to read MXF media files too.

I hadn't seen it mentioned here yet and its well worth a look. Send some feedback to the developer.
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Mark

Mark,

Thanks for the pointer.  Seems to work fine with .mxf which is what I need since that is all I use now.

 

Wow, very nicely done. I like the fact that it scans MXF folders, 'cause I'm using that a lot too. If it would scan multiple hard drives at once we'd be on to something.

Chris

PS: How are we supposed to send the developer feedback? I can't seem to get to his homepage, and I don't have any idea what his email address is.

Hi Chris,

His email is on the About pop-up in the app. Right click on the apps title bar (where it says build 20 dec 2005) and choose About MDV.

Definitely worth sending feedback as he is actively developing this tool.

Mark

like it Mark.. although i'm kind of reluctand to use anything i can not read But it works so far....

Thx for the pointer...

Menno

The developer just emailed me to say a new build of v0.2 has been posted.

The new version will now scan all media directories at the same time - so if you have a number of workspaces on a Lanshare for example it will scan them all at together.

Mark

... and it will pick-up files passed from Avid3D in the Acid Media Files\VideoStorage\Avid3D (mxf) directory.  So for HD users (who can only use mxf) and Studio Toolkit/Studio users, there really is no other tool for reliable project-based media copy/move operations.

 

Another new build is now available from the developers site. This build has the following improvements as a result of a few requests:

Q - Is it possible to have the creation date shown in the main list window, then the media files could be ordered by date.

A - Added. Also there was added feature to view OMFI file info (file properties stored in OMFI header)

Q - Being able to Ctl-A to select all in the Media File window to select all files would be nice

A - Added.

Q - I sometimes get a message telling me that I have extra information attached to the files I am trying to move. This information is Mac application info and such, and that it might be lost. It also asks me if I would like to proceed. (I am moving a project that started it's life on our Mac Composer) It asks me this FOR EVERY FILE! A "yes to all" option would be appreciated.

A - Added option to turn off confirmation when you are moving locked(read only) files.

Q - If you could make that video preview work, that'd rock!

A - Coming soon, but now it's not possible.

If you find this app useful, I'm sure the developer would appreciate a quick email to say thanks!
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Mark

Hi everybody,

if the tool really works with unity it is the first one that does and I will kiss the programmer. I will check that tomorrow. Great post! I waited for it because there is no way to transfer a project with all mediafiles if you are using unity.

mark.burton wrote:

If you find this app useful, I'm sure the developer would appreciate a quick email to say thanks! -- Mark

He also appears to like getting suggestions via email and is pretty responsive to them.

 

Gotta love people like that... aplause for those who create things like that .. thx for the heads up Mark...

Menno

Really thanks to all.

The tool really works with unity!
we tested MDV on Unity  with 17Tb media drives,17 workspaces 
and over 150 000 mediafiles. It works perfectly....

Known bugs/issues:
* some media files may appear under *UNREFERENCED FILES item in project list.
* if you have many media files linked to project (more than 10000) 
   adding them to mediafiles list may be a little bit slow
*retrieving additional information from MXF files not supported yet

Please download the latest version from my website.
there are some bugfixes:
* speeded up file searching over network.
* MDV did not find all projects(now i hope that it will find all projects)
* some more tweaks
http://Fiool.nm.ru/progz/   or  http://djfio.narod.ru

if you have any suggestions - send me e-mail fiool@nm.ru

Hi DJFio,

Good to have you here at last! Thanks for the new version.

Mark

This is a sweet tool.  Being able to expand the window edges with the mouse would be helpful.

Cheers,

Philip

* now MDV window is resizeable
(download the last build from my homepage)