Portable Drive Installation

Portable Drive Installation - Put All Pictures and Associated Database(s) on a Portable Drive

The instructions below are for a portable drive. See the Users Guide Network Installation instructions for a network drive or share.
One example of a folder layout for a portable drive is as follows: (This assumes the Portable will be mapped as the P: Drive on any PC it is used on)

P:\ <-------The root directory of the P: Drive.

\PicasaStarter <-------The folder containing PicasaStarter and the shared settings file. (PicasaStarterSettings.XML)

\P_Database <--------The Picasa Database "Base" Directory. Each Base Dir contains one Picasa database set.

\Pictures <--------------All Pictures are in this folder and subfolders

This kind of folder arrangement ensures that the pictures and database and PicasaStarter settings will always be available when the drive is mapped to the P:\ drive on any PC.

Steps to Create a Database on a Portable or Network Drive:

A portable or network drive must have PicasaStarter, the Database, and the Pictures all on the same drive so when that drive is connected to another PC either as a portable drive or on a network, all the necessary files will be available to Picasa on that PC. These steps are best accomplished on the "master" Picasa PC since that PC will normally be the one that is in charge of the Picasa resources.

Installing the Drive and PicasaStarter:

  1. Connect the Portable drive to your PC and configure it to be the Drive letter you have chosen. P:\ is a good choice since "P" could mean "Pictures".You can find information on how to select or change the drive letter on the internet. This link explains the process in Windows Vista and Windows 7:

    2. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-add-or-remove-a-drive-letter

      1. There are also many resources explaining the process in Windows XP.

  2. Create a folder called PicasaStarter. For greatest flexibility the folder should be at the root of the mapped drive, for instance if using the P: drive the folder should be created as P:\PicasaStarter. Being at the root is not a hard requirement, but it makes it easier to use the virtual drive functions.

    1. Copy PicasaStarter.exe and it's DLL file(s) from the zip file to the folder you created.

    2. Double-click the .exe file to start PicasaStarter.

    3. A First Run screen will come up unless PicasaStarter settings are already assigned. Select OK on the first run screen to keep the default settings.

    4. At this point you should select "Personal Database of..." on the PicasaStarter main screen and click Run Picasa. Your normal Picasa window should appear and should run normally. If it does not, please troubleshoot the installation. Picasa should run identically to the way it runs when started without using PicasaStarter.

PicasaStarter - Main Screen

PicasaStarter - Database Configuration Dialog

Creating Database on Portable Drive

Installing the Pictures and Database on the Portable Drive:

    1. Create an empty "Base" folder for the database in the same place as the PicasaStarter folder, and call it something meaningful like "P Database".

  1. Create another empty folder or folders there for the pictures if they are not already on the drive.

  2. There can be a number of Picture folders created, for instance for different picture sets.

  3. Go into the PicasaStarter folder and double-click the PicasaStarter.exe file to start PicasaStarter.

  4. At the main screen click the Add button to add this database to the list.

  5. In the configuration dialog, name the new database something meaningful. You could name it "P Database" or "All My Pictures on P" or anything you will remember. It doesn't have to be named the same as the database folder you created above, but it can be.

  6. In the description box, describe what it is for and where the pictures are if you wish.

  7. For the Database Path,BROWSE to the location or drive you created the PicasaStarter folder in and select the database Base folder you created above. You could also make a new database Base folder in this browser and select it, just make sure it is on the portable drive. Each Base folder you create will contain one Picasa Database.

  8. If you are creating a new empty database, click the Create Empty Database button and select OK to get back to the main screen.

  9. If you are Creating a new Database, Skip steps 8 and 9.

  10. Click "Copy and Existing Database" to bring up the copy database screen. Select the predefined database that is always present in PicasaStarter, and click the button "Explore..." at the right-hand side of the Selected Source box. A windows explorer window will open at the place the database is located. Select the folders "Picasa2" and Picasa2Albums" located there and do "right-click"-"Copy". Close explorer window.

  11. The destination box should show the database you defined above that you want to copy the original one to, click "Explore..." for this database as well. Do "right-click"-"Paste" in this directory to put a copy of the original database there, then close the explorer window, and click done to dismiss this dialog, then click ok to finish the add new database dialog.

  12. Click "Run Picasa" and Picasa should start using the new database. If this is a new empty database, go to Tools menu -> Folder Manager, and Set all drives and Folders to Remove From Picasa, then set The Picture folders you want in thei database to "Scan Always".

  13. If this is the first time you have used the new database, Sometimes there is a problem this first time and Picasa starts extensive reindexing. Minor reindexing to build thumbnails is ok. If there is major reindexing, you can exit Picasa and erase the 2 folders Picasa2 and Picasa2Albums from the new database folder, and recopy them using the procedure in steps 8 and 9 above. You should now be able to run Picasa with this new database.

NOTE: At this point If you did not skip steps 8 and 9, you have created a new copy of your original Picasa database. This database is on the Portable or Network drive but the Pictures are still in their original locations.

If all the pictures you want to keep in this database are on the Portable drive, the only remaining task is to remove any folders that are not on the drive from this database. Any pictures not on this drive will not be there when the drive is accessed by a different PC or User. Start Picasa with this database selected and go to Tools - Folder Manager. Look at all drives and folders, especially those listed in the Watched Folders section, and make sure all picture folders on the Portable drive are set to Scan Always (Blue Circular Arrow). Everything not on the drive should be set to Remove From Picasa (The Red X). This does not delete the pictures, only removes them from this database.

Picasa Tools Menu Folder Manager

Moving Your Pictures to the Portable Drive

( Without needing to re-create the database from scratch)

Moving pictures to a portable or network drive is easy if you don't have any time invested in the old database. In this case all that is necessary is to use windows explorer to copy or move the picture folders to the Portable or Network drive, and set the picture folders to Scan Always in the Tools- Folder Manager menu.

If you have spent hours and hours getting all your Facetags and Labels and Albums just right you will want very badly to save all that work when you move your pictures to a Portable or Network drive. It is fairly easy to move the pictures and database to a new drive using the Picasa Move Folder command, but it takes some time and concentration. When Picase Moves folders it instantly updates the database, and you don't lose albums, captions, etc.

Go to the User Guide topic: Moving Pictures Without Rescanning to move the pictures to your Portable or Network Drive.

Caution:

  • When you use Picasa to move folders it moves everything in the folders, so only move folders containing only (or mostly) pictures

  • Since Picasa really does move the folders, if you want your pictures to be in the C: drive or the original drive also you will have to back them and the C drive database up so they can be restored to the C drive later.

  • Again, Work carefully and make sure you have backups for the pictures (My Pictures folder??), and the databases, so If you screw up you can recover.