Mavericks - tags and networks?

ajf · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:18

Is it possible to tag files with Mavericks when those files are on the network and that network is a Windows NTFS based system?
If so, would the tags then be visible to other Mac users on the same network?

Scenario:

We have three iMacs in a mainly Windows environment. Those users have hundreds of photos which are poorly organised currently.
They want to be able to add multiple tags to the files so that the other Mac users can search the files easily.
Windows users rarely access these photos so the availability or otherwise of the tags to them is not an issue.

Tunney · 7 Nov 2013 at 19:43

We tried it at work with a Synology NAS (EXT4-based?) and it seemed to work. Not tried it with a Windows-based system yet though.

ajf · 7 Nov 2013 at 23:06

Thanks.
That's at least encouraging. Presumably then the tags info is saved with the file on the network, and not on the Mac itself?

I was putting off upgrading their machines to Mavericks in case of issues as I am mainly a Windows support person!
This is something though, that if it works, will force the upgrade.

L33 · 8 Nov 2013 at 09:32

Pretty sure tags etc are saved in the ".DS_Store" files that are written to each directory (you'll see them if you turn on hidden files). So tagging etc should work on any drive, network or otherwise, as long as you have write access.

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 8 Nov 2013 at 10:16

Can someone please go into more detail about this because tags don't work on my Synology DS412+ unless I am doing something wrong.

I really want to be able to use tags with content on my server.

L33 · 8 Nov 2013 at 10:38

Johnny|lucidcomposure said:
Can someone please go into more detail about this because tags don't work on my Synology DS412+ unless I am doing something wrong.

I really want to be able to use tags with content on my server.

Have you turned off (via terminal, or with some tweaking application) .DS_Store creation on network drives?
Try re-enabling it:

Code:

defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores false

then reboot.
If you now look at the network drive with hidden files turned on (or via the synology web interface), do you see a .DS_Store file in directories you've browsed?

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 8 Nov 2013 at 13:33

Hi,
Enabled that via Terminal. Showing all files does show the .DS_Store file but the tags aren't working.

Sorry I should just add I am trying this at work where I use a Mac on a windows network. Doesn't work here either.

Chiribo · 8 Nov 2013 at 23:04

If you want to understand the nitty gritty of the tags implementation, you can have a look at John Sirucusa's OS X review: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/os-x-10-9/9/#tags-implementation

If I'm understanding it correctly, because the files are on an NTFS based system, the tags won't really do anything for the Mac users (because the tags are utilising HFS+ extensions).

I just tested this out with some files that are on my NTFS based HTPC and the tags that I applied to a few files - although they were visually shown against the files in Finder when I was in the folder, when I selected the Tag from my sidebar the files were not shown.

ajf · 8 Nov 2013 at 23:15

Thanks for the further comments.
Not had a proper chance to try this yet, but from further reading, it does seem that what Chiribo says is correct.
It will only work on HFS+ partitions.
Still want to confirm, but that would make sense.

Might have to go with another solution for those photo files they have!