Import metadata and location from external drive

[glenmac]

I have users with many Tb of image files stored on labeled external drives. Is it possible to import only the metadata and file path from these drives, but not the image files themselves?

Thanks,
Glen

[jmoore]

Hi Glen,

The "inplace import" functionality outlined under "Advanced import scenarios" (specifically with symlinking) is likely what you're looking for. There may be some usability issues if you intend to periodically unplug the external drives. OMERO will very much assume that the files are *always* present, so you will need to manage the expectations of your users (for example, "images will appear black and show an error message if the disk has been unplugged").


Cheers,
~Josh

[glenmac]

thanks Josh,
This scenario assumes they want to look up an experiment or set of images to get the id of which drive to pull off the shelf. I will test this over the next few days.

Regards,
Glen