filesystems - How do I create a searchable backup of all filesnames of a remote drive which is not always connected?

Question

My problem is the following:
I usually backup files (e.g. pictures) on external harddisc drives and the store them away in safe places. In the meantime also on NAS. But I don't want to have them connected and online all the time, for power and security reasons.
If I'm now looking for an old file (e.g. a special jpg from the holiday in April 2004) I would have to connect a few discs and search them for the needed file. To overcome this problem I usually create a recursive dir-dump into a textfile for the whole disc after backup.
This way I can search the filename in the text-file. But there still is a problem if I don't exactly know the file name that I am looking for. I know the Year and month and maybe the camera I was using then, but there must be hundreds of files in this month.

Therefore I would like to create a "dummy"-backup-filesystem with all the filesnames on the harddisc but without the actual data behind it. This way I could click through the folders and see the foldernames and filenames and easily find the respective file.

The question is: How do I create such a filesystem copy with the complete folderstructures but only the filenames and not the data?
I'm working on Linux, Opensuse, but I guess this is not a linux specific question.

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65874075/how-do-i-create-a-searchable-backup-of-all-filesnames-of-a-remote-drive-which-is

Answer 1

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