Make your selects before gathering the drives
A portfolio, client delivery or retrospective can draw from years of shoots spread across several drives. A collection keeps those selects together as references. Adding a photograph does not move its original or create another copy of it.
Once your sources are indexed, you can browse their stored previews and gather selects even when the drives are unplugged. You only need the originals available when you are ready to export them.
Create a collection across sources
- Search or browse your indexed archive. Command-click photos to start selecting multiple items.
- Choose Add to Collection from the selection bar, then choose or create a collection.
- Find more images from other folders or drives and add them to the same collection. You can build it in several passes.
- Open the collection to review your selects together. The files still live in their original locations.
Creating and adding to collections is a Pro feature, included in the trial. Existing collections remain viewable and exportable after Pro ends.
Choose one destination for the originals
Open the collection's menu and choose Export Originals…. Pick a destination folder and choose Export Here. Nevervault copies the files into a subfolder named after the collection.
When all source drives are connected, the export runs as one job with progress in Activity. If any source is disconnected when the export is prepared, Nevervault opens a window that breaks the collection down by source.
See which drives you need
The export window lists the source names and the number of originals from each. Disconnected sources are marked not connected and Connect to export. You can see which archive drives to retrieve without remembering where every selected photograph lives.
For example, a collection might contain 12 originals from your Studio NAS, eight from a travel SSD and five from an older backup drive. The window gives each source its own row. Sources are the archive folders you added to Nevervault, so several folders on one physical drive can appear separately.
Export a batch, then connect the next drive
- Keep the export window open and the destination available. Choose Export beside a connected source to copy its batch.
- Wait for that row to finish and check its copied and skipped counts before disconnecting the source.
- Connect the next drive, or mount its NAS share in Finder. The row updates when Nevervault recognizes the source as available.
- Click that source's Export button. Its originals join the same collection folder.
- Repeat for the remaining sources, then choose Reveal in Finder to inspect the exported files.
You do not need enough ports to connect the whole archive at once. Nevervault exports one source at a time and tracks completed batches in the open window. Connecting a drive makes its Export button available; you choose when that batch starts.
What gets copied?
The export copies the selected original files, rather than the small search previews. Source files stay in place. The destination gathers the files into the collection folder rather than recreating each source's folder tree.
If two originals have the same filename, or a filename already exists in the destination, Nevervault adds a numeric suffix such as image-2.CR3 rather than overwriting the existing file. Exporting the same collection again can therefore create additional copies.
Before you close the export window
Check each row's result. A completed batch can include skipped files, so a checkmark alone does not mean every original was copied. Keep sources connected until their batch finishes, and make sure the destination has enough free space and remains writable.
The per-source progress belongs to the current export window. Keep it open while swapping drives; it is not a saved queue that resumes after closing the window or quitting Nevervault. If you need to repeat an export, check the destination for files already copied.
For reconnecting sources and the difference between previews and originals, see searching external drives and NAS. To find candidates for your next collection, start with RAW photo search.