database troubles
Locked
 
|
Hello I intend to reinstall my system and format my disk. When I will copy my files (and my photos) back on my new system, I want to be sure I will have my digikam stuff just like before (basically, tags and "stars" on photos) Do I just need a copy of the database? (the file digikam4.db?)
and actually, I am having trouble now, because I use the "database migration" tool, in order to make such a copy on another disk (I understood this tool as a copying tool, but I realise now that I must be wrong)? Now when I start digikam, it lost the location of my albums, and try to connect to the database, with no success....
and now it asks me again where my photos are re rebuild everything! How can I tell it to use the database that I have saved? thanks if you can help Samuel
_______________________________________________ Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
|
|
mhh ok, I have progressed a bit by looking at the tables in the database.... I think I have lost my database now. I have the feeling the migration thing created and empty database. Does it make sense? is it what the migration tool is supposed to do? if yes, then I overwrote my database with this empty one... It's the second or third time I loose all my tags and everything in the database with digikam... :-(( very annoying. I find it very confusing. How do you do when you are not an expert in database? How to make a backup of the database??? I think I used in the past such a backup tool (because I have old backups on my disk), but I can't find it anymore...
samuel 2013/1/29 Samuel Ronayette <[hidden email]>
_______________________________________________ Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
|
|
Hi Samuel, obviously it makes more fun programming face-recognition or other useless things, instead of making the database stable. I also often lost tags etc.
Now I use the mysql-database. It is also a good idea that path names keep the same after replacing a hard disk. Volker
Am Dienstag, 29. Januar 2013, 15:54:00 schrieb Samuel Ronayette: mhh ok, I have progressed a bit by looking at the tables in the database.... I think I have lost my database now. I have the feeling the migration thing created and empty database. Does it make sense? is it what the migration tool is supposed to do? if yes, then I overwrote my database with this empty one... It's the second or third time I loose all my tags and everything in the database with digikam... :-(( very annoying. I find it very confusing. How do you do when you are not an expert in database? How to make a backup of the database??? I think I used in the past such a backup tool (because I have old backups on my disk), but I can't find it anymore... samuel 2013/1/29 Samuel Ronayette <[hidden email]> Hello I intend to reinstall my system and format my disk. When I will copy my files (and my photos) back on my new system, I want to be sure I will have my digikam stuff just like before (basically, tags and "stars" on photos) Do I just need a copy of the database? (the file digikam4.db?) and actually, I am having trouble now, because I use the "database migration" tool, in order to make such a copy on another disk (I understood this tool as a copying tool, but I realise now that I must be wrong)? Now when I start digikam, it lost the location of my albums, and try to connect to the database, with no success.... and now it asks me again where my photos are re rebuild everything! How can I tell it to use the database that I have saved? thanks if you can help Samuel _______________________________________________ Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
|
|
Dear Samuel, dear Volker,
the default database is just a simple file (not so for mysql but if you use that, you'll know what you're doing). Make a copy of that database by finding the file digikam4.db and copying it. In case something goes wrong, just replace your database with the backup. There is a caveat: If your new locations are different than your old locations (file paths), digikam will think the photos are gone. For this reason, and to be absolutely sure, I store all my meta info also in the file itself (or the xmp-sidecar file). The downside is that applying a tag to 100s of photos at the same time takes much longer than using just the database. Regards, Christoph On Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 4:05 PM, Volker Henn <[hidden email]> wrote: > Hi Samuel, > > obviously it makes more fun programming face-recognition or other useless > things, instead of making the database stable. I also often lost tags etc. > > > > Now I use the mysql-database. It is also a good idea that path names keep > the same after replacing a hard disk. > > Volker > > > > > > > > Am Dienstag, 29. Januar 2013, 15:54:00 schrieb Samuel Ronayette: > > mhh ok, I have progressed a bit by looking at the tables in the database.... > I think I have lost my database now. I have the feeling the migration thing > created and empty database. Does it make sense? is it what the migration > tool is supposed to do? if yes, then I overwrote my database with this empty > one... > > It's the second or third time I loose all my tags and everything in the > database with digikam... :-(( very annoying. > > I find it very confusing. How do you do when you are not an expert in > database? How to make a backup of the database??? I think I used in the past > such a backup tool (because I have old backups on my disk), but I can't find > it anymore... > > > samuel > > 2013/1/29 Samuel Ronayette <[hidden email]> > > Hello > > > I intend to reinstall my system and format my disk. When I will copy my > files (and my photos) back on my new system, I want to be sure I will have > my digikam stuff just like before (basically, tags and "stars" on photos) Do > I just need a copy of the database? (the file digikam4.db?) > > > and actually, I am having trouble now, because I use the "database > migration" tool, in order to make such a copy on another disk (I understood > this tool as a copying tool, but I realise now that I must be wrong)? Now > when I start digikam, it lost the location of my albums, and try to connect > to the database, with no success.... > > and now it asks me again where my photos are re rebuild everything! How can > I tell it to use the database that I have saved? > > > thanks if you can help > > > Samuel > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Digikam-users mailing list > [hidden email] > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users > -- Christoph Siedentop 0176-399-422-45 _______________________________________________ Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
|
|
In reply to this post by Volker Henn
Tirsdag den 29. januar 2013 16:05:43 skrev Volker Henn: > obviously it makes more fun programming face-recognition or other useless > things, instead of making the database stable. I also often lost tags etc.
I rarely lost tags or other data, after using digikam since 2005 I believe - and when I did, it was my fault, not digikam's.
Since it became possible, I have digikam configured to add all data to the image, either embedded or (for RAW files) in "sidecar" files.
However, moving from pc to pc over the years have worked fine. I unpack a backup of the digikam image directory on the new device, and add that to the digikam collections. Job done.
-- Anders _______________________________________________ Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
|
|
oh yes, I'm convinced I did something wrong, and there is no bug here... but almost each time I fiddle with the database, it goes wrong somehow... What is this "migration tool" I used in the first place? Why it didn't make a copy of my database?
I understand that to make a backup of my database, I just copy the file digikam4.db somewhere else, is that right? (and is that enough to retrieve everything ?) I never heard of this sidecar files, I'll have a look.
Thank you for you answers. Samuel 2013/1/29 Anders Lund <[hidden email]>
_______________________________________________ Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
|
|
On Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 5:08 PM, Samuel Ronayette <[hidden email]> wrote:
> oh yes, I'm convinced I did something wrong, and there is no bug here... but > almost each time I fiddle with the database, it goes wrong somehow... > What is this "migration tool" I used in the first place? Why it didn't make > a copy of my database? This migration tool is not for you! It is for migrating your database from sqlite to mysql. > I understand that to make a backup of my database, I just copy the file > digikam4.db somewhere else, is that right? (and is that enough to retrieve > everything ?) Yes, that is right. > I never heard of this sidecar files, I'll have a look. Normal JPEG images can save most Meta-information (like tags, caption, title) inside the file. However, some meta information can't be saved inside the jpeg file* and also raw files like .NEF can't support all meta information*. Therefore, the data is saved in a different file that has the same name as your image but with .xmp appended. Have a look at saving the meta information inside the image file! (You don't need the sidecar file for that but it won't hurt.) This way, if you loose your database, then the data is also inside the file. *: Not quite true, or at least I am not sure but good enough for the explanation. > > Thank you for you answers. > > Samuel > > 2013/1/29 Anders Lund <[hidden email]> >> >> Tirsdag den 29. januar 2013 16:05:43 skrev Volker Henn: >> >> > obviously it makes more fun programming face-recognition or other >> > useless >> >> > things, instead of making the database stable. I also often lost tags >> > etc. >> >> >> >> I rarely lost tags or other data, after using digikam since 2005 I believe >> - and when I did, it was my fault, not digikam's. >> >> >> >> Since it became possible, I have digikam configured to add all data to the >> image, either embedded or (for RAW files) in "sidecar" files. >> >> >> >> However, moving from pc to pc over the years have worked fine. I unpack a >> backup of the digikam image directory on the new device, and add that to the >> digikam collections. Job done. >> >> >> >> -- >> >> Anders >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Digikam-users mailing list >> [hidden email] >> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Digikam-users mailing list > [hidden email] > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users > -- Christoph Siedentop 0176-399-422-45 _______________________________________________ Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
|
|
In reply to this post by samR
Hi Samuel,
Tirsdag den 29. januar 2013 17:08:22 skrev Samuel Ronayette: > oh yes, I'm convinced I did something wrong, and there is no bug here... > but almost each time I fiddle with the database, it goes wrong somehow...
To me, "fiddle with the database" sounds like asking for trouble! I'd make a backup prior to that for any database.
> What is this "migration tool" I used in the first place? Why it didn't make > a copy of my database?
Maybe you did not set different paths? I never tried it, but AFAICS it is meant to migrate to/from locations and database backends. The tool seems to set both ends of the operation to the same file pr default, which does not look very smart to me.
> I understand that to make a backup of my database, I just copy the file > digikam4.db somewhere else, is that right? (and is that enough to retrieve > everything ?)
Yes, the sqlite file can be backed up by taking a copy. I use a rsync based tool to make backups of the entire directory. This will backup changed and new images, and the database when changed. The tool I use is backintime, but there are more tools, so choose one that you like.
> I never heard of this sidecar files, I'll have a look.
In digikam settings, go to the "Metadata" page, and enable reading and writing to files, along with writing to sidecar files. I use the option to only use sidecar files for readonly images, which includes RAW unless you use the experimental writing option (using digikam 3.0 rc here)
-- Anders _______________________________________________ Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
|
|
Thank you anders, well by "fiddling" I mean that I was actually trying to make such a back up! which I already had actually because I also rsync my folders to another disk, but then I played with this migration tool, and for some reason, I lost everything. I think I used the migration first with the default setting (SQlite --> SQlite and same source and folder destination) then I re-ran it by changing the destination directory (to this back up disk), then for a simple test, recopied the file I just migrated back to my original digikam folder.... but this file (although it is 20.6Mbytes large) seem to be a database with empty tables (but it has the tables for a usual digikam DB, but they are just empty...)
I'll just have to start all over again from the last backup of my digikam DB file I now have (more than a year ago...) ... or just give up... 2013/1/29 Anders Lund <[hidden email]>
_______________________________________________ Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
|
|
Hi Samuel,
Tirsdag den 29. januar 2013 17:49:33 skrev Samuel Ronayette: > Thank you anders, > > well by "fiddling" I mean that I was actually trying to make such a back > up! which I already had actually because I also rsync my folders to another > disk, but then I played with this migration tool, and for some reason, I > lost everything. I think I used the migration first with the default > setting (SQlite --> SQlite and same source and folder destination) then I > re-ran it by changing the destination directory (to this back up disk), > then for a simple test, recopied the file I just migrated back to my > original digikam folder.... but this file (although it is 20.6Mbytes large) > seem to be a database with empty tables (but it has the tables for a usual > digikam DB, but they are just empty...)
Sounds really bad. The tool is probably not meant for backup. I hope the developers read this thread, and consider if the default of using the same source and destination is wise!
> I'll just have to start all over again from the last backup of my digikam > DB file I now have (more than a year ago...) ... or just give up...
Well, your backup should at least contain some of your data, and tagging and annotating is quite hard to do, at least for me, so I'd definately start with that!
In the future, just use a backup tool, and even cp if you want to work on the database.
Good luck restoring :)
-- Anders _______________________________________________ Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
|
|
In reply to this post by Anders Lund
Just my personal comment/opinion On Tue, 29 Jan 2013, Anders Lund wrote: > Since it became possible, I have digikam configured to add all data to the > image, either embedded or (for RAW files) in "sidecar" files. > > However, moving from pc to pc over the years have worked fine. I unpack a > backup of the digikam image directory on the new device, and add that to the > digikam collections. Job done. I totaly agree with Anders. All my metadata are into the images, XMP section, for several reasons : 1. In the past I happened to loose metadata through database losses via Digikam versions changes. I said ito myself « never more » 2. As Anders does, I can restore all on a different machine just by rescanning folders from a backup and rereading metadata from images. Job done, yes :-) 3. Cf. another discussion thread at the moment, « remote digikam acces to server » the problem of collections recognized or not by DK, because the UUID of a drive has changed is solved per se. New collection ? ('cause of new UUID), Ok, go on, scan and read data from images. 4. I don't want to rely on such or such application program, Digikam or other, because metadata requires work and I want to keep this work as long as I keep the images. (10 years, 20 years, more ?) 5. I use other programs that access images metadata, that can handle XMP sections, but are not aware of DK database schemas. (Probably, an important use is when building web albums from images. To be able to index pages, one need to add meta keywords in HTML headers and, to do this, some standard fields as Xmp.DC.subject are required, not a Digikam DB.) The inconvenients with storing matedata into images ? Yes, it's true that DK has more information that can be stored in images metadata. My personal choice was to forget that, because the 5 above reasons are really more important and being able to restore metadata from an images directories tree sounds a major issue to me. Regards, Jean-François _______________________________________________ Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
|
|
Dear Jean-François
I see that you agree to all these database troubles. But since DK sometimes destroys the pictures when rotating or changing the exif-rotation flag, I do nut trust DK in writing these information directly to the image. Also it is not clear to me if 'synchronize' is from database to picture or vice versa. Volker Am Dienstag, 29. Januar 2013, 19:33:23 schrieb Jean-François Rabasse: > Just my personal comment/opinion > > On Tue, 29 Jan 2013, Anders Lund wrote: > > Since it became possible, I have digikam configured to add all data to the > > image, either embedded or (for RAW files) in "sidecar" files. > > > > However, moving from pc to pc over the years have worked fine. I unpack a > > backup of the digikam image directory on the new device, and add that to > > the digikam collections. Job done. > > I totaly agree with Anders. > All my metadata are into the images, XMP section, for several reasons : > > 1. In the past I happened to loose metadata through database losses via > Digikam versions changes. I said ito myself « never more » > 2. As Anders does, I can restore all on a different machine just by > rescanning folders from a backup and rereading metadata from images. > Job done, yes :-) > 3. Cf. another discussion thread at the moment, « remote digikam acces to > server » the problem of collections recognized or not by DK, because > the UUID of a drive has changed is solved per se. > New collection ? ('cause of new UUID), Ok, go on, scan and read data > from images. > 4. I don't want to rely on such or such application program, Digikam or > other, because metadata requires work and I want to keep this work > as long as I keep the images. (10 years, 20 years, more ?) > 5. I use other programs that access images metadata, that can handle > XMP sections, but are not aware of DK database schemas. > (Probably, an important use is when building web albums from images. > To be able to index pages, one need to add meta keywords in HTML > headers and, to do this, some standard fields as Xmp.DC.subject are > required, not a Digikam DB.) > > The inconvenients with storing matedata into images ? > Yes, it's true that DK has more information that can be stored in images > metadata. > My personal choice was to forget that, because the 5 above reasons are > really more important and being able to restore metadata from an images > directories tree sounds a major issue to me. > > > Regards, > Jean-François Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
|
|
On Tue, 29 Jan 2013, Volker Henn wrote: > Dear Jean-François > I see that you agree to all these database troubles. But since DK sometimes > destroys the pictures when rotating or changing the exif-rotation flag, I do > nut trust DK in writing these information directly to the image. > Also it is not clear to me if 'synchronize' is from database to picture or > vice versa. Hello Volker, Well, you're probably right. My opinion is that when using software that handle data, the « risk zero » doesn't exist. Some people have already had text documents distroyed or corrupted when using word processing programs. (I've once lost an image in a stupid way. I was editing with GIMP, during a storm, and had an electrical power failure in all my home. After power back, reboot the computer, run fsck, and the image was lost.) All software have their strenghts and weaknesses and the important thing isn't to expect a software « zero defects, bug free, etc. », but to know its weaknesses. I like using Digikam (I would probably not be on that mail list if not:-) but I'm aware of some problems and just try to pass through. As for images integrity, I try to always be in the situation where a destroyed image is never catastrophic. And this can be achieved with simple workflow : - Remove a SD card from the camera (and put an empty one to have camera ready for next trip). - Create a folder (subdirectory) with SD card content. - If I have no time to start processing, I do a copy on an USB drive. - Start work, edit images, edit metadata, etc. - It's easy to verify, outside Digikam, that images files are correct, via a viewer like Gwenview (reads image data and metadata). When all is correct, and before turning off my computer, I do a copy again of edited images on USB drive, just in case. etc. If an accident destroys an image, I may have lost 1/2 hour work, but the image is still somewhere (USB drive copy or original SD card). That's why I accept the risk because consequences are low. And the advantages are what I listed in my previous e-mail, items 1 to 5. Anyway, I never let a software, Digikam or GIMP or other, handle an image file if I haven't at least one copy somewhere. This is a simple numeric philosophy : if I go for an afternoon photo trip, come back home with, say, 50 images. Probably I will really like 10 of them. But my afternoon (4 or 5 hours) is worth spending 25 seconds to do a backup copy on my local drive and an USB drive :-) And after that I can start Digikam, Gimp, other... Time is precious, images are precious, USB storage is cheap and fast and it's little to pay for security and anti accidents insurance. About synchronization : > Also it is not clear to me if 'synchronize' is from database to > picture or vice versa. Well, it's not always clear. Ideally it should be both ways. From my own experience, synchronization from DB to image (i.e. « Write metadata to file ») makes the image infos reflect the database current state for that image. The reverse isn't true. « Reread metadata from image » updates the DB info correctly with scalar data, e.g. image title or caption/description. But not with tagslists. Tags read from image are added to current tagslist (in the DB) for that image. To reflect a correct state, all tags should be removed in DK, prior to metadata reloading. I remember this issue has been discussed some months ago in a thread « reorganizing tags » or something like that. Regards, Jean-François _______________________________________________ Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
|
|
Dear Jean-François,
thank you for these explanations. In fact, after a shooting with 500...1000 pictures I delete the CF card only after having at least one backup of the hard disk. Most troubles occured in the past when upgrading the Linux system and automatically with that DK. Now I use DK 2.6 since I failed to compile a newer version. DK 2.6 cannot read its own sidecar files and does not reset exif-orientation after rotating as some examples. I try to distinguish between bugs (like above) and missing features or special private wishes. And if I had the chance to select between less bugs and more features, I would select less bugs. Nevertheless I will try to write the metadata into the jpg-files next weekend. Best regards Volker Am Dienstag, 29. Januar 2013, 22:57:22 schrieb Jean-François Rabasse: .... > > All software have their strenghts and weaknesses and the important thing > isn't to expect a software « zero defects, bug free, etc. », but to know > its weaknesses. > _______________________________________________ Digikam-users mailing list [hidden email] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/digikam-users |
| Free forum by Nabble | Edit this page |