How to Load 6000 ECW tiles or images to Raster catalog as raster datasets?

[PoovalingaGanesh]

Dear All,

I have 6000 ECW images with total file size of 50GB.
I created new File geodatabases with managed and then added ~5 ECW raster datasets into raster catalog. It consumed huge memory size. Why this is happening and I could not to handle the size of the data if added more than 100 images in this case.
I know, if I load raster dataset in unmanaged FGDB it is easier to load and would not consume memory as well.
I would like to load raster dataset to raster catalog as same file size of ECW and retain the format also becasue ECW properies have less size. Is it possible?
Note: My client says that do not mosaic the datasets.
Help me I want to report to client as soon as possible.

Thanks in advance
Dr. B.Poovalinga Ganesh

[JeffreySwain]

No is the short answer.  By making the raster catalog managed, you are importing the ECW into the geodatabase. This will expand the ECW to its full size before the ECW compression. You can try cranking the compression on the raster catalog down, but you will most likely not like the result visually to maintain the file size savings. If you want another ECW based on the 6000 rasters, then I suggest investing in ER Mapper and then merge the ECWs there and export as another ECW.

Mosaic datasets would be a much better option for this workflow, but as your client is probably using a non Esri product to utilize the ECWs this will not work.