A file or disk catalog organizer helps index files stored on hard disks, removable media such as CDs, DVDs, USB drives or network drives in a few seconds and create catalogs for searching files without having access to the original media.
Some useful organizers provide searching capabilities based on file name, date and size, filtering options, or searching duplicates or singles, etc. These organizers save your precious time and effort in finding the files you want instantly from a collection of even thousands of files on your storage media.
Discussion
Cathy is a tiny portable program that catalogs files on removable media, or on your hard drive. Once indexed, you can quickly search and locate a file by name, size, and date, with additional search fields for MP3 files. Multiple catalogs are supported and you can also search for duplicate files. There is also a handy directory listing feature that allows you to print the contents of any folder.
The real strength of this program is its speed; it can index hundreds of thousands of files without a problem. This makes it handy for sysadmins as well as users with large file collections. Cathy doesn't index the contents of files, just file names and other file properties. If you want to search contents use a desktop search program.
Gentibus CD - "for the people" - is a very good name and choice if you're looking for a tool to organize your CD/DVD collection. The scan on CDs, DVDs or hard disks can be categorized and searched. The advanced search function will also find "Harry Po" if you're looking for "Harry Potter". Gentibus CD will find duplicates, quickly discovers image, audio, video and program files as 'super-categories' on its own, which comes in very handy when you're archiving a medium with mixed content. A very pleasing feature is that Gentibus CD will show you thumbnails of any pictures you might have archived on your CD/DVD so you will be able to search them somewhat as a virtual CD.
Visual CD scans all the usual suspects in an explorer-like approach. The 'catalogs' contain the data of one medium, can be password protected and joined by favorites and also display the contents of zipped files. The search is very refined as you would expect in a competent file manager, complete with an 'extra' menu with very welcome features (dublicates, file splitter, thumbnail-maker, etc.) and the option menu allowing you to adjust the software to your needs.
Disclib is a terrific utility. I archive all of my projects to CD/DVD and keep them in a fireproof box for storage. But there are over 30 full discs now (half are DVDs), and many of them have multiple versions of the same project. Disclib keeps an index of the file/directory structure of every disc, so I can search through them all without having to swap 30 discs in my drive! Invaluable!
There is no portable version of this product available.
Windows 2000, XP
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Tags
file catalog, disk catalog, disc catalogue, file organizer, disk organizer, disc organiser, free software
by stretch (not verified) on 28. January 2012 - 13:46(87934)
I agree with James B. I've been a long time user of Cathy and had no real reason to change but tried VVV and found it almost as fast as Cathy (really the difference is small enough not to worry about) but it has two major advantages 1) open source and still being developed and 2) most important to me is the ability to export to a csv file. Also the search is a bit more intuitive and blindingly fast.
Every now and then I try the other offerings on this page because finding duplicates would handy but none of them do the search in a useful way. It's all a bit clunky. Other than that here's my quick summary testing on win7:
Gentibus: threw up an error after only three discs scanned - "graphic memory is full close one or more catalogs". No too stable then and no search for dupes.
Cisual cd and Disclib very slow especially in the search even with the deeper search options turned off.
Of course if you need the multimedia/ zip file searches then you'd have no choice but for me VVV looks to be the business.
by User noone (not verified) on 2. January 2012 - 23:23(86435)
2 GiB is the maximum memory size a regular 32 bit program can allocate 2^32=2GiB, Originally XP Gold could only use up to 2 G of ram, no real 32 bit program can read more then 2 GiB (with pae it can handle around 3.5) there are ways around them like using low level disk access to read a file but that's a different story, as dep is written with mfc you can write to the developer and ask him to recompile with large file support.
by James B (not verified) on 16. November 2011 - 16:57(83391)
VVV (Virtual Volumes View) is the new Cathy! Since Cathy is not regularly updated (and has some problems - see next paragraph), this program seems to step up to the plate. I've been looking for a simple, fast cataloguing program similar to Cathy for a long time and I think I may have found it.
I have come across a big problem with Cathy; there is a limit to the number of folders that it can catalogue - approx 65000 folders. I contacted the developer and he has no plans to fix the limitation nor open source the project. This really limits the usefulness of the program. VVV has no such limitations (neither do the other programs), but at the same time offers all of the great features and speed that Cathy had and offers a nicer interface and some extra/useful features to top it all off.
Essential Features:
- Fast cataloging of volumes
- Simple interface (no unnecessary/extra bulk)
- Unicode filename support
- UNC path/network paths support
- Virtual folders support
- Command line options
I've been using 'Cathy' for several years but now Avast! always wants to Sandbox it. Avast! is probably overcautious. In any case, I thought I'd take a look at other software in this category and I started with Gentibus CD a few hours ago. So far, I'm impressed.
It's easy to use but has many filter options to choose from when searching your catalogs. The interface is well laid out and pretty much intuitive. It may not be as fast as Cathy (Cathy took less than a second while Gentibus CD took about 4 seconds in one of my test searches) but it just looks and feels better. Do I need to look at the others available here? I'll probably get around to it, but meanwhile I feel Gentisbus is very suitable for my needs.
by Anonymous12345678 (not verified) on 8. March 2011 - 23:16(67661)
Hi all, I'm looking for catalog software to catalog offline hard drives and flash drives but I would like it to be integrated into explorer. so when I open explorer or my computer I want to see all my drives, even the ones that I don't have attached. Alternatively I would use a stand alone program for this if it had a built in file manager utility so I could also manage/copy/move/delete/new folder etc. my online drives. It is not clearly stated if any here do that. anyone have any suggestions for what I'm looking for? Thanks.
by Donald Bock (not verified) on 11. February 2011 - 22:55(66212)
Gentibus CD - "for the people" - is a very good name and choice if you're looking for a tool to organize your CD/DVD collection. The scan on CDs, DVDs or hard disks can be categorized and searched. The advanced search function will also find "Harry Po" if you're looking for "Harry Potter". Gentibus CD will find duplicates, smartly discovers image, audio, video and program files as 'super-categories' on its own, which comes very handy when you're archiving a medium with mixed content. A very pleasing feature is that Gentibus CD will show you thumbnails of any pictures you might have archived on your CD/DVD so you will be able to search them somewhat as a virtual CD.
This darn thing kept telling me my data access files where not installed despite installing the latest one.
by dalchina (not verified) on 17. December 2010 - 16:19(62823)
CD Sync portable (freeware) suits me better than Gentibus.
1. It supports unicode - e.g. it handles Chinese filenames (Gentibus doesn't).
2. It has a surprisingly fast & comprehensive player
3. It opens the source of the indexed item in the default file manager (Dopus in my case) whereas Gentibus doesn't.
4. Better English - Gentibus has occasional French in the GUI
On the other hand Gentibus handles compressed files internally in a neat interface, and it has a neat way of finding image files in indexed compressed files.
by Fred Smith (not verified) on 11. December 2010 - 22:50(62313)
Have been using 'Cathy' for a few months. Just discovered if you leave it running while you browse online it will eventually try to connect to internet. Why is this? It is seldom updated so it would seem pointless to have checking for updates. Also, there is nothing in the programs settings which permits you to disable this activity. I'm suspicious of any program that wants a connection but does not seem to require a connection for it to perform it's task. Strange. I found out it was trying to connect after I installed Outpost Security Suite 7 Free which popped up and asked if I wanted to permit or deny 'Cathy' connection to the internet.
A lot of software makes connections for data gathering purposes which are not necessary for it's general performance including of course Windows itself.
The added problem with single author software like this is there is no privacy policy to refer to and even if there was, no guarantees for the content.
IMO if programs act in a way that you find suspicious I would uninstall it and use something else. That said, with the file itself tested clean and the connection now blocked there shouldn't be anything further to worry about.
by suvim (not verified) on 29. October 2010 - 0:13(60388)
Hi techsupportalert team,
I am in need of a File search and Listing tool with features as given below -
1) Search for multiple file types
2) Search across multiple folders
3) Add/Delete new file types
4) Save the search result as a htm file - this saving the search results in htm format is very important for me.
So please if you could find such a tool for me I would be grateful to you.
One more problem is I have an old PC at home with Win98SE so the tool needs to work on Win9x.
I've made a script that automatically adds information about all files on an inserted disc into an SQLite database, which I have more power of searching by using SQL. Faster too. So I'm not using this software, but
Recently (in the last year or two) I found (LineSoft) LS MyLib. This has all the search features of the software mentioned above and most other disc-cataloging software I've tried, except exporting catalog data into a stand-alone executable viewer (I've noticed this feature in a commercial piece of software perhaps), but it balances this disadvantage by being portable.
It can also categorize catalogs into categories and sub-categories in a tree-like manner. It reads MP3 ID3 info. It allows comments and manages debtors (which discs you have given to friends and when). And also very important for me, it is fast, customizable, has a nice neat organized user interface and it is also portable! Good enough for me, except I don't burn so many discs as I used to (I have hundreds).
[Moderator's Note : Reference to shareware/commercial product removed.]
It is not an SQL script, as you can't traverse the file system from the dababase query language intepretor of SQLite. It is a short application written in Visual Basic .NET, which creates an SQL script which you can invoke from the SQLite interpreter.
In the future, it will work with the database directly, but for now it is a two-easy-steps process. I was planning to make a more useful user interface for it. Write to me at brunetu [AT] gmx.com and I'll be more than happy to provide you with it.
Have a nice day!
[Moderator's Note : Link to site removed, as non-English sites are not allowed. Email address has been obfuscated, as its not safe to post email addresses on a public area like this.]
I've been using Disclib for a few weeks. The Help file is not great and you have to mostly figure it out on your own. It has a nice structure but continually stops working, so you should save every time you add a disk or a few descriptions or categories. You can comment on every volume, folder or file which might make finding the right disc easier.
Hi, Ive used Disclib for some time until I must have reached its limits. I have about 60 dvds cataloged and it just refused to add more. Its startup and search is also abysmally slow. I found Win Catalog Light (free prog) and its much better than Disclib. Pity it doesnt get a mention in the freeware list??
Am I asking the impossible? Or just tilting at the wrong windmill?
What I want is a cataloguer that will handle all my purchased audio CDs, so that when I insert one initially for the program to scan, the program uses the freedb online to collect the names of each .cda file and then stores that for future reference. So far the ones I've trialled don't do that. All the files on the audio CDs are stored in the database as Track01.cda, Track02, etc.
This won't enable me to make a later search for the disks on which there are songs by the same composer, or instances of the same song sung by different artists and so on. This is the functioality I need.
I can't figure how the existing method of simply naming the tracks generically could be of use to anyone.
I'm clearly in need of some advice here and would appreciate it.
Tess
PS. Like some others here I also use 'Everything' and find it brilliant and extraordinarily fast as a hard drive indexer.
A two-pane file manager that looks to have some good features - a portable version, media player, image viewer, pdf viewer, file difference compare, etc.
Using Everything you may feel like searching in google suggest because results appear as you type. It takes a few seconds to build a very small data base file for you hard drive. Portable and free. Just a single exectuteabe.
Indexyourfile is not live search but it has many features, search inside files, preview of files inside indexyourfiles, thumbnails preview, you can make database of even network folders and has a many other customizations. again it is, Portable and free, Just a single exectuteabe.
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Comments
I agree with James B. I've been a long time user of Cathy and had no real reason to change but tried VVV and found it almost as fast as Cathy (really the difference is small enough not to worry about) but it has two major advantages 1) open source and still being developed and 2) most important to me is the ability to export to a csv file. Also the search is a bit more intuitive and blindingly fast.
Every now and then I try the other offerings on this page because finding duplicates would handy but none of them do the search in a useful way. It's all a bit clunky. Other than that here's my quick summary testing on win7:
Gentibus: threw up an error after only three discs scanned - "graphic memory is full close one or more catalogs". No too stable then and no search for dupes.
Cisual cd and Disclib very slow especially in the search even with the deeper search options turned off.
Of course if you need the multimedia/ zip file searches then you'd have no choice but for me VVV looks to be the business.
I tried tu use Disk Explorer Professional but indexing says too much large than 2gb and says "error", can't works, what can I do?
2 GiB is the maximum memory size a regular 32 bit program can allocate 2^32=2GiB, Originally XP Gold could only use up to 2 G of ram, no real 32 bit program can read more then 2 GiB (with pae it can handle around 3.5) there are ways around them like using low level disk access to read a file but that's a different story, as dep is written with mfc you can write to the developer and ask him to recompile with large file support.
I've been using Cathy for years and love it. Fast, simple, reliable.
But I've started having some problems with it which I believe are down to my increasing use of ntfs hardlinks.
i
VVV (Virtual Volumes View) is the new Cathy! Since Cathy is not regularly updated (and has some problems - see next paragraph), this program seems to step up to the plate. I've been looking for a simple, fast cataloguing program similar to Cathy for a long time and I think I may have found it.
I have come across a big problem with Cathy; there is a limit to the number of folders that it can catalogue - approx 65000 folders. I contacted the developer and he has no plans to fix the limitation nor open source the project. This really limits the usefulness of the program. VVV has no such limitations (neither do the other programs), but at the same time offers all of the great features and speed that Cathy had and offers a nicer interface and some extra/useful features to top it all off.
Essential Features:
- Fast cataloging of volumes
- Simple interface (no unnecessary/extra bulk)
- Unicode filename support
- UNC path/network paths support
- Virtual folders support
- Command line options
I've been using 'Cathy' for several years but now Avast! always wants to Sandbox it. Avast! is probably overcautious. In any case, I thought I'd take a look at other software in this category and I started with Gentibus CD a few hours ago. So far, I'm impressed.
It's easy to use but has many filter options to choose from when searching your catalogs. The interface is well laid out and pretty much intuitive. It may not be as fast as Cathy (Cathy took less than a second while Gentibus CD took about 4 seconds in one of my test searches) but it just looks and feels better. Do I need to look at the others available here? I'll probably get around to it, but meanwhile I feel Gentisbus is very suitable for my needs.
What about looking at wincatalog lite, ive found it great
Hi, looking for a catalog tool with following features:
1. Unicode filename support
2. UNC path support (I type \\server\share$\folder and it indexes it as a folder)
3. Windows xp-vista-7 platform
Every program I found in google doesn't have either 1. or 2. WhereisIt is very close but it cannot properly update network paths.
is there any software that will organize data on a hard drive?
say move:
all audio into audio folder
all video into video folder
all pictures into chronological folders by date
and etc etc...
there might be something out there...
Please advise...
Thank you...
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Hi all, I'm looking for catalog software to catalog offline hard drives and flash drives but I would like it to be integrated into explorer. so when I open explorer or my computer I want to see all my drives, even the ones that I don't have attached. Alternatively I would use a stand alone program for this if it had a built in file manager utility so I could also manage/copy/move/delete/new folder etc. my online drives. It is not clearly stated if any here do that. anyone have any suggestions for what I'm looking for? Thanks.
Gentibus CD - "for the people" - is a very good name and choice if you're looking for a tool to organize your CD/DVD collection. The scan on CDs, DVDs or hard disks can be categorized and searched. The advanced search function will also find "Harry Po" if you're looking for "Harry Potter". Gentibus CD will find duplicates, smartly discovers image, audio, video and program files as 'super-categories' on its own, which comes very handy when you're archiving a medium with mixed content. A very pleasing feature is that Gentibus CD will show you thumbnails of any pictures you might have archived on your CD/DVD so you will be able to search them somewhat as a virtual CD.
This darn thing kept telling me my data access files where not installed despite installing the latest one.
CD Sync portable (freeware) suits me better than Gentibus.
1. It supports unicode - e.g. it handles Chinese filenames (Gentibus doesn't).
2. It has a surprisingly fast & comprehensive player
3. It opens the source of the indexed item in the default file manager (Dopus in my case) whereas Gentibus doesn't.
4. Better English - Gentibus has occasional French in the GUI
On the other hand Gentibus handles compressed files internally in a neat interface, and it has a neat way of finding image files in indexed compressed files.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/PORTABLE-SOFTWARE/Office/CD-Sync-Portable.shtml
(Finally looking to move on from EZcat..!)
Have been using 'Cathy' for a few months. Just discovered if you leave it running while you browse online it will eventually try to connect to internet. Why is this? It is seldom updated so it would seem pointless to have checking for updates. Also, there is nothing in the programs settings which permits you to disable this activity. I'm suspicious of any program that wants a connection but does not seem to require a connection for it to perform it's task. Strange. I found out it was trying to connect after I installed Outpost Security Suite 7 Free which popped up and asked if I wanted to permit or deny 'Cathy' connection to the internet.
????
A lot of software makes connections for data gathering purposes which are not necessary for it's general performance including of course Windows itself.
The added problem with single author software like this is there is no privacy policy to refer to and even if there was, no guarantees for the content.
IMO if programs act in a way that you find suspicious I would uninstall it and use something else. That said, with the file itself tested clean and the connection now blocked there shouldn't be anything further to worry about.
Hi techsupportalert team,
I am in need of a File search and Listing tool with features as given below -
1) Search for multiple file types
2) Search across multiple folders
3) Add/Delete new file types
4) Save the search result as a htm file - this saving the search results in htm format is very important for me.
So please if you could find such a tool for me I would be grateful to you.
One more problem is I have an old PC at home with Win98SE so the tool needs to work on Win9x.
Thank you,
Suvims
I've made a script that automatically adds information about all files on an inserted disc into an SQLite database, which I have more power of searching by using SQL. Faster too. So I'm not using this software, but
Recently (in the last year or two) I found (LineSoft) LS MyLib. This has all the search features of the software mentioned above and most other disc-cataloging software I've tried, except exporting catalog data into a stand-alone executable viewer (I've noticed this feature in a commercial piece of software perhaps), but it balances this disadvantage by being portable.
It can also categorize catalogs into categories and sub-categories in a tree-like manner. It reads MP3 ID3 info. It allows comments and manages debtors (which discs you have given to friends and when). And also very important for me, it is fast, customizable, has a nice neat organized user interface and it is also portable! Good enough for me, except I don't burn so many discs as I used to (I have hundreds).
[Moderator's Note : Reference to shareware/commercial product removed.]
How can I get a copy of the SQL script you wrote?
Hi
It is not an SQL script, as you can't traverse the file system from the dababase query language intepretor of SQLite. It is a short application written in Visual Basic .NET, which creates an SQL script which you can invoke from the SQLite interpreter.
In the future, it will work with the database directly, but for now it is a two-easy-steps process. I was planning to make a more useful user interface for it. Write to me at brunetu [AT] gmx.com and I'll be more than happy to provide you with it.
Have a nice day!
[Moderator's Note : Link to site removed, as non-English sites are not allowed. Email address has been obfuscated, as its not safe to post email addresses on a public area like this.]
I've been using Disclib for a few weeks. The Help file is not great and you have to mostly figure it out on your own. It has a nice structure but continually stops working, so you should save every time you add a disk or a few descriptions or categories. You can comment on every volume, folder or file which might make finding the right disc easier.
Hi, Ive used Disclib for some time until I must have reached its limits. I have about 60 dvds cataloged and it just refused to add more. Its startup and search is also abysmally slow. I found Win Catalog Light (free prog) and its much better than Disclib. Pity it doesnt get a mention in the freeware list??
Am I asking the impossible? Or just tilting at the wrong windmill?
What I want is a cataloguer that will handle all my purchased audio CDs, so that when I insert one initially for the program to scan, the program uses the freedb online to collect the names of each .cda file and then stores that for future reference. So far the ones I've trialled don't do that. All the files on the audio CDs are stored in the database as Track01.cda, Track02, etc.
This won't enable me to make a later search for the disks on which there are songs by the same composer, or instances of the same song sung by different artists and so on. This is the functioality I need.
I can't figure how the existing method of simply naming the tracks generically could be of use to anyone.
I'm clearly in need of some advice here and would appreciate it.
Tess
PS. Like some others here I also use 'Everything' and find it brilliant and extraordinarily fast as a hard drive indexer.
Disk Explorer Professional 3.70 does exactly what you want and much more. It's the best and it's completely free.
Cheers,
Akuma
If you like a little of nice gui and you dislike the look of cathy, try DiskGardenREv34.
InsideCAT Lite Edition (9.1 MB, http://www.insidecat.biz/disk_cataloguer/disk_cataloguer.htm). Alas, no more than 100 discs.
lloonn
Try this one:
www.se-soft.com/Explorer.aspx
SE Explorer
A two-pane file manager that looks to have some good features - a portable version, media player, image viewer, pdf viewer, file difference compare, etc.
Seem to be good ill try thanks for sharing
For searching i recommend two freeware tools.
Everything
www.voidtools.com
IndexYourFiles
http://www.indexyourfiles.com/
Using Everything you may feel like searching in google suggest because results appear as you type. It takes a few seconds to build a very small data base file for you hard drive. Portable and free. Just a single exectuteabe.
Indexyourfile is not live search but it has many features, search inside files, preview of files inside indexyourfiles, thumbnails preview, you can make database of even network folders and has a many other customizations. again it is, Portable and free, Just a single exectuteabe.
thanks interesting i'll try; thanks for sharing
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