Adding metadata to files

[Arokh]

Hi

I want to build a "Database" on video files and
I want to know if the video file is still on hdd or not (User deleted/moved it).

So I need a reliable source to identify the files.
Since filename changes are often the case,
its not unlikely that two video files have the same size and
hashing them takes to long for a quick checkup.

So I thought I could use the meta-data I can enter into almost every file.
(Under WinXP if you rightclick a file -> properties -> Summary Tab)

But it seems that I wont work with avi files since the textboxes are grayed out.

If somebody knows about how to use those datafields please let me know,
since I have a few questions like:
Are those fields a Filesystem (NTFS) feature or are they embedded in the file itself?
If it is a filesystem feature does other filesystems like FAT also support it?
How do I add data to those fields in VB .NET?

Or, is there another/better solution for what Im trying to achive?

 

[PlausiblyDamp]

Often the information presented depends on the file type itself - certain file types define their own metadata (i.e. jpegs have exif tags).

NTFS does offer something called Alternate Data Streams - these are a way of attaching additional data to a file, however this requires the file resides on an NTFS volume as the information will be lost if the file is moved to something like FAT (or backed up with a non-ADS aware backup solution).

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/06/01/NETMatters/default.aspx has a useful little article on how search for and read them, adding support for writing probably isnt that difficult.