> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.1archive.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Sources

> Learn how 1Archive indexes hard drives and storage devices as Sources, and how Source Groups let your team organize and control access to physical media.

A Source is 1Archive's representation of a physical storage device (a hard drive, external drive, USB stick, or network-attached volume) that has been indexed and cataloged by the application. When you connect a drive and scan it, 1Archive reads every file on that device and records its name, location, metadata, and a thumbnail preview into your organization's catalog. That catalog persists even after the drive is unplugged, so your whole team can browse, search, and annotate the files whether or not the drive is currently sitting on your desk.

## Connected vs. Disconnected Sources

Every Source in 1Archive is either **connected** or **disconnected** at any given moment.

* **Connected:** the physical drive is plugged in and mounted on the machine running 1Archive. Its files are directly accessible; you can open, export, and work with them in full.
* **Disconnected:** the drive has been removed or is otherwise unreachable. The catalog entry remains, so you can still view thumbnails, read metadata, and search the content, but you cannot open or export the original files until the drive is reconnected.

<Note>
  When you reconnect a drive that was previously scanned, 1Archive automatically
  recognizes it by its volume identifier and restores the connected state
  without requiring a full rescan.
</Note>

## Scanned vs. Unscanned Drives

When 1Archive detects a newly connected drive that it has never seen before, the drive appears in the sidebar as **unscanned**. An unscanned drive is visible to you, but its contents have not yet been read into the catalog.

To make a drive searchable and browsable by your team, you need to **scan** it. Scanning reads every file on the drive, generates previews, extracts metadata, and optionally creates AI image embeddings for semantic search. Once scanning is complete, the drive becomes a fully indexed Source.

<Tip>
  During scan setup you can choose whether to generate image previews, video
  previews, and AI image indexing. Enabling AI image indexing powers AI Image
  Search and facial recognition on that source's content.
</Tip>

## Source Groups

Source Groups are folders that let you organize Sources into a logical hierarchy. A production company might create groups like `2024 Projects`, `Client: Acme Corp`, or `Archive Drives` to keep dozens of Sources manageable. Groups can be nested inside other groups, and a Source can belong to only one group at a time.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Organize by project" icon="folder">
    Group drives by shoot, client, or year so team members can navigate your catalog the same way they think about physical storage.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Nested hierarchy" icon="folder-tree">
    Source Groups can be placed inside other Source Groups, letting you build a multi-level folder structure that mirrors how your team works.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Visibility and Access Control

Each Source Group carries a **visibility** setting that determines which members of your organization can see the sources inside it.

| Visibility     | Who can see it                              |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| **Org**        | Every member of your organization           |
| **Restricted** | Only specific members you explicitly invite |

When a group is set to Restricted, you add individual team members and assign them either **View** or **Edit** permissions. View members can browse and search the sources in that group. Edit members can additionally scan new drives, rename sources, and manage the group's membership.

<Warning>
  Visibility is set on the Source Group, not on individual drives. If you need
  to share only a subset of drives with a collaborator, place those drives in a
  dedicated restricted group.
</Warning>

## Roles and Permissions

Managing Sources requires appropriate permissions within your organization:

* **Owners and Admins** can create, rename, and delete Source Groups, change visibility, and manage group membership.
* **Editors** can scan new drives and rename existing Sources, but cannot create or configure Source Groups.
* **Viewers** have read-only access to any Sources visible to them; they cannot make changes to the catalog structure.

<Info>
  Deleting a Source Group is only possible when the group is empty. Move or
  remove all Sources from a group before deleting it.
</Info>