Dear microscopists, tomorrow we are planning an upgrade of OMERO to version 5 (Mark Woodbridge's email from BSS). If anyone is planning to use OMERO tomorrow morning, please let Mark know. The background of this: OMERO 5 has completed changed the way it's handling image data: Rather than importing (and duplicating) the original pixel data, it now _*MOVES*_ the _*ORIGINAL FILES*_//(in whatever format they are in, Leica LIF, Zeiss CZI, ....) _*to the backed-up storage space*_, it just reads the metadata (microscope type, lasers, lenses, filters, dimensions etc.) and writes them into the OMERO database. Advantages: * _*no data *__*duplication anymore*_, only _one_ version is saved (not original file format + OMERO format) = saving space and money * it should be much _*faster*_ (we still need to test how much faster) for large data files, because data are only read and written once * the original files will be on the server, so there is _*no risk of losing information*_ (as before, if the original files were not uploaded to save space) * the original files will also be available directly to any other software - this will be useful straight away for FIJI scripts, Definiens analysis and very soon Zeiss ZEN (for which we will get a server licence as part of the super-resolution data setup) Of course, this is how OMERO should have worked from the beginning (it's been a long and painful discussion to get such a profound change for an established system), but we now have high hopes that this will massively help with our data. Because now, if you follow our recommendation to delegate storage and backup to the Bioinformatics Support Service, there is really no excuse left for leaving them on quickly ageing DVDs, harddrives, ... If you use OMERO, it will probably help you finding your data later, but even if not, this is still by far the best way to keep your data safe, and well worth 1-2% of your grant money. Good imaging, Martin -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Status of upgrade to OMERO 5? Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2014 11:06:35 +0000 From: Mark Woodbridge <m.woodbridge@imperial.ac.uk> To: French, Paul (PHOT) M W (Photonics) <paul.french@imperial.ac.uk>, Munro, Ian <i.munro@imperial.ac.uk> CC: Butcher, Sarah A <s.butcher@imperial.ac.uk>, Dunsby, Christopher W <christopher.dunsby@imperial.ac.uk>, Alexandrov, Yuriy <y.alexandrov@imperial.ac.uk>, Martin Spitaler <m.spitaler@imperial.ac.uk> Hi all, I am planning to attempt the OMERO 5 upgrade tomorrow morning (the 4th) from 9am, meaning that the system may be unavailable until lunchtime. Please let me know today if this will cause any problems. Thanks, Mark.