Studionity Drives · Desktop, buy once
Search hard drive photos by face, across every drive you own
Know what's on every drive. A client rings about a shoot from 2021, and the honest answer today is an afternoon of plugging in disks one at a time. Index them once and the same question takes seconds — asked by face, date or event, at your desk or on the go.
In development · macOS & Windows · price at launch
Point it at a drive and walk away. It indexes once, then the disk can go back on the shelf.
The problem
Which disk has the shoot?
Eleven external drives on a shelf. Folder names that made perfect sense the week you wrote them — NEW final 2, copy of copy, a client surname you no longer place. No index, and a bride on the phone asking for one frame from her mehendi.
- Years of archive disks, catalogued nowhere
- Plugging drives in one at a time to find one shoot
- No way to ask "which disk has photos of this person"
- What you have
- Eleven disks, three backup generations, no catalogue.
- What you need
- One shoot, from 2021, with a particular family in it.
- What it costs today
- An evening of plugging in drives and squinting at thumbnails.
How it works
Index every drive once. Then just ask.
Point it at a disk and it reads the frames where they lie, online or off. Afterwards you search by face, by date or by event instead of remembering folder names.
Searching every indexed drive for one face
Five disks hold her. Two are on the shelf, unplugged — and the catalogue still knows which ones to fetch.
Illustrative example with sample drive names, not client data.
Unplugged
Knows which disk it's on, even unplugged.
The catalogue outlives the connection. Search finds the file and tells you which disk to plug in — so the answer arrives before the drive does, and you carry one disk to the desk instead of six.
- Every result carries its disk label and path
- Works with the drive on a shelf, in a bag or at the studio
- Re-index only what changed when a disk comes back
- Result
- 388 frames matched, shot across three days.
- Where
- /Weddings/2022/Kapoor/RAW — on the disk labelled WED-2022-C.
- Status
- Not connected. Plug that one in.
Duplicates and gaps
What's copied twice, and what isn't copied at all.
Because it has read every disk, it can compare them. It spots the folders sitting on three drives and, more usefully, the ones sitting on none — so you learn what you're missing before a client asks for it.
- Duplicate folders and frames flagged across backups
- Gaps surfaced: a shoot with no second copy anywhere
- Reclaim the space you were paying to keep twice
Desk or on the go
The answer finds you, wherever you're standing.
Offline photo search that isn't stuck at one desk. At the studio it works with no internet connection at all. Away from it, the catalogue is searchable on the go — so a question asked at a venue gets answered at the venue, and you know which disk to pull before you're back in the chair.
- Search from the studio machine with no connection needed
- Search the same archive from a laptop or a phone when you're out
- Every answer names the disk and the folder, so you know what to fetch
- Asked
- "Do we have anything of the Nairs from 2023?"
- Answered
- 96 frames on SUMMIT-2023, 388 on WED-2022-C.
- Where you were
- At the venue, on a phone. The disks were on the shelf at the studio.
Illustrative example with sample drive names, not client data.
Buy once
Buy once, no subscription.
Studionity Drives is one-time-purchase desktop software for macOS and Windows. It is in development; the price is announced at launch. An archive tool that stops working when a card expires is no archive tool at all.
Hosted plans are priced separately — see buy-once desktop pricing.
Buy once
macOS & Windows · price at launch
In developmentNo subscriptionDesk or on the go
Archive questions
What studios ask about the archive.
How do I search hard drive photos by face?
Index each drive once with Studionity Drives. After that you search your whole archive by who is in the frame, by date or by event, instead of opening disks one at a time and guessing at folder names.
Can it find photos on a drive that is unplugged?
Yes. The catalogue outlives the connection. Search returns the file and tells you which disk it lives on, so you carry one drive to the desk instead of six — and the same answer arrives on whichever device you are holding.
Can I search my archive when I am away from the studio?
Yes. The catalogue is searchable on the go, so you can answer a client from a venue or a car and know which disk to pull when you get back. At the desk it also works with no internet connection at all.
Can it find duplicates across my backups?
Yes. It spots duplicates and gaps across backup drives, so you find out what you are missing before a client asks for it.
Is it a subscription?
No. It is a one-time purchase for macOS and Windows. The app is in development and the price will be announced at launch.
Do I need a Studionity account?
No. It is standalone desktop software for your own archive and works whether or not you use the hosted platform. An account only comes into it if you want the catalogue searchable on your other devices.
Stop plugging in drives one at a time.
Tell us you want it and we'll send a build the day it's ready. No list, no drip campaign — one message when it ships.
Invite-only pilot · Made in India 🇮🇳