Manual · Chapter 12
Project Folder and Data Safety
A ViolaScope project contains more than ratings and labels. The managed photo resources and the project information belong together and should be protected as one complete working set.
The project folder is the central project location
The ViolaScope project folder is the central location for the data that belongs to a project.
It combines the managed photo resources with the project information required to continue the workflow later.
Once a project contains important review work, the project folder should be treated as important working data and included in your backup strategy.
Original source and managed project resources
ViolaScope distinguishes between the original source from which photos are loaded and the photo resources managed as part of the project.
When you initially use Load Photos, the selected folder acts as a source.
ViolaScope then works with the photo resources that belong to the managed project state.
The original source remains a separate location and should not be confused with the ongoing managed project data.
Why the distinction matters
The source folder may later be moved, archived or no longer be available.
What matters for continuing an existing project is that the managed project resources and the associated project information remain complete.
This is why a complete backup of the project folder is more important than relying only on the original import location.
Do not manually alter managed project files
Files inside the managed ViolaScope project should not normally be renamed, replaced, deleted or moved manually in Finder.
ViolaScope maintains relationships between image resources and project records.
Manual file changes can cause the physical contents of the project folder and the stored project information to no longer match.
Project information
ViolaScope stores organizational information that belongs to the project.
Depending on the workflow, this can include:
- star ratings
- favorites
- color labels
- culling decisions
- tags
- photo identity information
- location information assigned within the project
- stored Vision Culling results
- other project-specific state
This information is part of the project and should be protected together with the associated photo resources.
Internal identity
ViolaScope uses internal identity information to associate a photo resource with the correct project record.
A file name alone is not sufficient to reliably establish that two image resources are identical.
Internal identifiers, checksums and other fingerprints can therefore be used where necessary to maintain reliable associations.
What a complete project backup should protect
A complete backup should protect the entire project working set rather than only one individual component.
In practice, this means preserving:
- the ViolaScope project data
- the managed photo resources
- the information required to associate those resources with the project
Keeping these elements together provides the strongest basis for restoring the project later.
Export is not a project backup
An export is intended to transfer a selected or reviewed result into another stage of your workflow.
It may contain copied images, XMP sidecars and a transfer manifest, but it does not necessarily contain every component of the original ViolaScope project.
An export folder should therefore not be treated as a complete replacement for a project backup.
XMP is not a complete project backup
XMP can transport supported ratings and metadata between applications.
However, an XMP sidecar does not contain the complete internal state of a ViolaScope project.
XMP is therefore useful for metadata exchange, but it is not a complete project recovery format.
The transfer manifest is not a complete backup
The ViolaScope transfer manifest contains information about an exported set and its identities.
It is useful for transfer and recognition workflows, but it is not intended to replace the complete project folder.
Keep the original project backup independently of any transfer manifest.
Catalog backup and image resources
A catalog backup can protect important project and organizational information.
It does not by itself replace the image resources that belong to the project.
If the catalog is available but the corresponding managed photos are missing, the project cannot be considered completely recoverable.
Why the full project folder matters
The simplest fundamental backup principle is to protect the complete ViolaScope project folder.
This keeps the project information and its managed photo resources together.
A full project-folder backup therefore provides a more complete recovery basis than backing up only an export, only XMP files or only catalog information.
Keep backups consistent
A useful backup should represent a consistent project state.
Avoid creating a partial backup in which some project components come from one point in time while related image resources come from another.
When possible, create the backup while the project data is not being actively changed.
Keep more than one copy
A single backup stored next to the working project provides only limited protection.
A stronger backup strategy uses more than one copy and keeps at least one copy separate from the main working storage.
This reduces the risk that hardware failure, accidental deletion or another local problem affects both the working project and its only backup.
Restore the complete project when possible
If a project must be restored after data loss, restore the complete backed-up project set whenever possible.
Restoring only individual components can leave the project in a state where records and physical image resources no longer correspond.
A complete backup provides the best chance of returning to a known consistent state.
A managed project file is missing
If a photo resource expected by the project is missing, first determine whether the managed file itself has been removed or moved.
If a complete project backup exists, restoring the corresponding project state from that backup is preferable to substituting an arbitrary file with the same name.
A matching file name does not prove that the resource is the same image.
The original source is missing
A missing original import folder is a different situation from a missing managed project resource.
If the photo has already been incorporated into the managed project state and the project folder is complete, the original source is not necessarily the active working location for that project.
The important question is whether the managed project resources remain available.
Exported files are separate from project safety
After export, the destination contains the result of a particular transfer operation.
Those files may be important for the next stage of your workflow, but they are separate from the responsibility to back up the original ViolaScope project.
Keep project backups and exported working results as separate concepts.
What should be backed up?
For reliable project recovery, the preferred backup target is the complete ViolaScope project folder.
Depending on your broader workflow, you may also choose to retain:
- the original source photos
- important export folders
- XMP sidecars used by other applications
- transfer manifests
- additional catalog backups
These additional copies can be useful, but they do not change the basic principle that the complete project folder is the central backup target for ViolaScope project recovery.
What is not enough by itself?
None of the following should be considered a complete project backup on its own:
- an export folder
- XMP sidecars only
- the transfer manifest only
- a catalog backup without the image resources
- the original import folder without the ViolaScope project data
Each of these can contain valuable information, but none represents the complete managed ViolaScope project by itself.
A practical backup routine
A simple project-safety routine can look like this:
- Keep the active ViolaScope project folder intact.
- Avoid manually renaming, replacing, deleting or moving managed files.
- Back up the complete project folder regularly.
- Keep at least one additional backup separate from the working storage.
- Retain important source photos independently when they are part of your broader archive strategy.
- Keep exports as workflow results, not as the only project backup.
- Verify backups periodically before they are needed for recovery.
Next step
Once the project structure and backup strategy are clear, keyboard shortcuts can make the day-to-day review workflow considerably faster.
The next chapter lists the keyboard controls currently available in ViolaScope.