Drive Atlas
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Search every drive you own, even the ones on the shelf

Somewhere in a drawer is a drive, and on it is the file you need. Drive Atlas remembers what is on every drive, so you can find that file without plugging anything in.

The problem

If you shoot for a living, your archive ends up spread across a pile of external drives. Most of them sit unplugged. A few have useful names. Two are probably both called "My Passport."

When a client asks for a file from three years ago, the usual way to find it is to plug drives in one at a time and click through folders until you get lucky. That can take an afternoon.

How it works

  1. Scan each drive oncePlug a drive in and press Scan Drives. Drive Atlas records every file name, size, date and folder. Then you can unplug the drive and put it back on the shelf.
  2. Search everything from one boxType part of a file name, a project or a folder. Results come from every drive in the catalog, plugged in or not. You can also search by the date a photo was shot, or limit results to video, RAW, or offline drives.
  3. Go get the right driveEach result shows which drive the file is on and where that drive lives, if you gave it a location like "top shelf" or "studio rack." Plug it in and click Open.
Drive Atlas search results for files shot between two dates, listed across several offline drives

Good to know

Drive letters don't matterWindows hands out drive letters as it likes. Drive Atlas identifies each drive by the drive itself, so a drive can be E: on Monday and G: on Thursday and the catalog still knows it.
Rescans keep it currentFiles you add after a scan aren't in the catalog until you scan that drive again. When a drive you already mapped is plugged in and its catalog is more than two months old, the app offers to rescan it. If you say not now, it won't ask about that drive again for a month.
Labels for the shelfYou can print a QR label for each drive. The code holds a plain-text summary of what is on it, so any phone camera can read it without an app or an internet connection.

What it can't do

Drive Atlas can only search what it has scanned. It catalogs names, sizes, dates and folders, not the words inside documents, and it doesn't look inside zip files. It never needs an internet connection to search.

Questions

Can I search a hard drive without plugging it in?
Yes, once it has been scanned. Drive Atlas keeps a catalog of every file on every drive you scan, so you can search drives that are sitting on a shelf. You only need to plug a drive in to open the file itself.
How do I find which external drive a file is on?
Scan each drive once with Drive Atlas. After that, type the file name, project or folder into the search box and every match shows the drive it lives on, plus the shelf location if you set one.
Does it work with camera RAW and video files?
Yes. The catalog is built from names, sizes, dates and folders, so any file type is cataloged, including formats the app has never heard of. Thumbnails are optional and built per drive.
Does it upload my file list anywhere?
No. The catalog is a file on your own computer. The app makes zero network connections and has no account.

Free for your first 2 drives

Every feature included, no timer. $20 once maps all of them. Windows and Linux, no account, zero network connections.

Download freeBuy · $20

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