WhereIsIt Portable

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on March 21, 2011

WhereIsIt Portable is a simple database tool for cataloging, searching, and accessing your computer media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, audio CDs, disk drives, floppies, network drives, or any media that Windows recognizes as a drive, even those not currently attached to your system. So if you have CD-ROMs full of archived data or a terabyte's worth of movies on a removable hard drive, you can find what you need quickly with WhereIsIt instead of accessing and searching each archived disk separately. Since it's completely portable, it will run from thumbdrives and other removable storage devices on any Windows machine.

We started with WhereIsIt Portable by creating catalogs of our media and data via a simple, wizard-based process. The New Catalog pop-up let us choose a blank catalog or one based on a template or other catalog; we chose a blank archive, which appeared in the left-hand Catalogs and Categories panel. Having created and named our catalog, we added data by clicking Disk Image and making our selections from the set-up dialog, which offered options for Folder Limitations, Active Plugins, and Troubleshooting in addition to settings for compressed files, CRC codes, and other parameters. WhereIsIt doesn't back up or archive data; it just catalogs where it's stored, so it works very quickly. We found that it's a good idea to gather up all your CD-ROMS, floppies, and other stored data before you start cataloging and do it all at once, if possible. It's easy to search, add, remove, and edit entries and whole catalogs, add pictures, configure Lending and Borrowing disks, and more from the well-designed toolbar. Clicking the WhereIsIt icon opens an Explorer-like start panel giving access to basic controls, recently accessed catalogs, and other useful items.

If you've been through a PC or two and saved your data in each upgrade, your stuff may be scattered across several drives and disks. Use WhereIsIt Portable to catalog it all, though, and you'll be able to locate that file of vacation photos or the copy of that warranty registration form you remember saving, and without loading, searching, and removing each disk in the future. Just be sure you don't lose track of the disks themselves!