1Archive works by indexing the contents of physical drives into a persistent catalog. Once a drive is scanned, your whole team can browse, search, and annotate its files, even when the drive is unplugged. This page walks you through connecting a drive for the first time and managing your sources over time.
Connect a drive
Plug in the drive
Connect your external drive, USB stick, or other storage device to the machine running 1Archive. The operating system mounts the drive as usual.
Open the Sources tab
In the sidebar, click the Sources tab. 1Archive automatically detects newly connected drives and lists them at the top of the source tree.
Identify the unscanned drive
Newly detected drives appear with a Scan button and no file count. The drive is visible but its contents have not yet been indexed.
Scan the drive
Click Scan next to the drive name. A dialog appears with scan options:
- Image previews: generate thumbnail and preview images for photos and RAW files.
- Video previews: extract preview clips from video files.
- AI image indexing: analyze each image and video for visual content, powering AI Image Search and facial recognition on this source.
Select the options you need and click Start Scan. Monitor scan progress
A progress bar appears in the sidebar showing the current file count against the total. Scanning runs in the background, you can browse other sources or use search while a scan is in progress.
Enabling AI image indexing significantly increases scan time and requires an
internet connection. If you only need filename search, you can skip this
option and enable it later by rescanning.
What happens after a scan
When the scan completes, the drive becomes a fully indexed Source. Its files appear in the file browser, and the drive is searchable across the entire application. Thumbnails and metadata remain in the catalog even after you unplug the drive, so disconnected sources are still visible and searchable.
When you reconnect a previously scanned drive, 1Archive recognizes it by its volume identifier and restores the connected state automatically, no rescan required unless the drive’s contents have changed.
Create a source group
Source groups are folders that let you organize drives into a logical hierarchy, by client, project, year, or however your team works.
Open the Sources tab
Click the Sources tab in the sidebar to view your source tree.
Create a new folder
Click the + icon or right-click in the source tree and select New Source Group. Enter a name for the group.
Set visibility
Choose a visibility setting for the group:| Setting | Who can see it |
|---|
| Org | Every member of your organization |
| Restricted | Only members you explicitly invite |
Move drives into the group
Drag a source from the tree and drop it onto the group, or right-click the source and choose Move to Group.
Only Owners and Admins can create and configure source groups. Editors can
scan and rename sources, but cannot create groups or manage their membership.
Rename a source or source group
Right-click the source or group name in the sidebar and choose Rename. Type the new name and press Enter. Renaming a source changes only the display name in 1Archive, it does not affect the drive itself or any files on it.
Disconnect vs. delete a source
Disconnecting happens automatically when you physically unplug a drive. The source remains in your catalog with all its metadata and thumbnails intact. Reconnecting the drive restores full access.
Deleting a source permanently removes it from the catalog, including all indexed metadata, thumbnails, and previews associated with that drive. This action cannot be undone.
Deleting a source removes all indexed data for that drive. If you want to
remove a drive from a source group while keeping it in the catalog, move it to
the root level instead of deleting it.
Archived sources
When a source is uploaded to cloud storage (Backblaze B2 or Glacier), it is marked as Archived in the source list. Archived sources remain in your catalog and are still searchable, but the original files now live in the cloud rather than on a local drive.
See Cloud Archive for details on how to archive a source and what the archived status means for your team. 
