Storing multimedia content files
There are three ways to store multimedia content within GEDKeeper:
store the file in its' original place and use an absolute pathname as a
reference, use file "storage" (a directory), or use a file
archive (ZIP). Each method has its own advantages.
- "Using absolute pathnames". When this method is applied, the database
stores only the pathname. When your system reads this file, it is opened using
that pathname. Such a file is completely independent from the GEDKeeper
database, so once you have moved the database to another system, it is
necessary to fix all broken pathnames.
- "Saving to the store". In this case, GEDKeeper creates a new
directory near your database file (in the same directory with the database
filename). The new directory has the same name as your database
filename. When you add a multimedia file to the database, this file is
copied into this directory. Thus, you got a centralized files storage
linked to your database, which is very easy to be moved to another
systemyou just copy the database file and its sibling directory of the same
name.
- "Saving to the archive". GEDKeeper creates a ZIP archive having the same
name as your database and sharing the same directory.
Most multimedia files you have added to the database are copied into
this archive. This method has several advantages. One of which is
having single data storage for all files in the database. It is also
very easy to move such a database to another system. You just need to
move the database itself and the ZIP archive of the same name. You cannot
add large files (video, music, and photos) into an archiveit is
disallowed by GEDKeeper. Large non-text (binary) files have very low compression rates,
that is why there is no sense to add such files into an archive.
Such files are treated in the "Saving to the store" method.
You can use any or all these methods freely.