Author Topic: Reviving old database and HD paths have changed  (Read 18935 times)

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mellortime

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Reviving old database and HD paths have changed
« on: 2019-05-11 09:47:15 »
I worked on a big photography project 9 years ago, but haven't touched it since. I've got backups of everything but, I've gotten new computers and all the drive paths have changed even though I've got exactly the same file/folder structure beneath.  I can not figure out how to point T+ to the new drive paths.  This is important because the database includes a ton of meta information (annotations) that I need to preserve. I've got the old .txt file export I did, but I can't find the "Import" function within ThumbsPlus - documentation says it should be in Database->Advanced->Import but I don't see it (do I need a diff version of T+?).
Any help appreciated.

Daan van Rooijen

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Re: Reviving old database and HD paths have changed
« Reply #1 on: 2019-05-11 11:48:43 »
I've got backups of everything but, I've gotten new computers and all the drive paths have changed even though I've got exactly the same file/folder structure beneath.

Make sure that the drive volume labels are exactly the same as before, too (for the drives that hold images).

Which version of TP do you have?
« Last Edit: 2019-05-11 11:53:22 by Daan van Rooijen »
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mellortime

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Re: Reviving old database and HD paths have changed
« Reply #2 on: 2019-05-11 18:42:15 »
I'm using TP 10.
Here's a snippet from the txt file that shows what the path should be with the volume labels:
"EH",0x280bf4f8,3,"\\familyhistory\c$","FAT32","JLM History Picture Project\Album 002"

Where the files are currently:
"c:\Users\John\Documents\Mellor\041128 JLM History Photos Backup"

I'm not sure exactly what to change, or how to do it. Is there a way to do that in TP - e.g. can I point to TP to the new top-level folder for the database (in this case change "JLM History Picture Project" to "041128 JLM History Photos Backup") and have it do the redirect or is there some other way?

Also, I don't see an option to import a txt file.  Am I just not seeing it?

Thanks so much for the help!

Daan van Rooijen

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Re: Reviving old database and HD paths have changed
« Reply #3 on: 2019-05-11 20:29:23 »
Do you also still have the older TP version and the *.td4 database that it produced 9 years ago? And are the image files regular JPGs? If so, you could:

1) Re-install that older version of ThumbsPlus in a folder of its own (e.g. C:\TP7 - not under program files).
2) (temporarily) Use Explorer to change the volume label of drive C: to "EH" (without the quotes), which seems to be what it was on the older PC.
3) Re-create the folder C:\JLM History Picture Project
4) Copy the folder and files from the backup to this project folder, such that their structure within that folder is identical to what it was 9 years go.
5) Then (and ONLY then) launch the old TP with the old *.td4 database and see if you can properly browse and view the old images, as well as see their annotations, in the new program folder.

If you can get that working, the next step would be to incorporate the annotations into the image files themselves in the form of IPTC metadata. That would allow TP10 and other software to access it later.

So, that's one possible approach. Alternatively, for instance if all that you have is that exported text file, you can try to import it into TP10 using Database | Advanced | Import, which may or may not work (that part of TP is a bit wonky).  The old volume label and old main folder name no longer exist though, so you could either recreate that old situation (as above) or try to edit the TXT data beforehand (use Search and Replace in a text editor to replace the old label and folder names with the new ones). TP needs the volume labels and paths that were recorded in the database for each thumbnail to be the same as they are in reality, on your current hard drive, or it can't match up the image files with their records in the database.

Quote
I'm not sure exactly what to change, or how to do it.

The order of fields in a TP7 .txt export is:

"Label","Alias","SerialNo","VolType","Connection","Filesystem","Path","FileTime","ThumbTime","FileSize","Checksum","Width","Height","HorizRes","VertRes",
"ColorType","ColorBits","Gamma","ThumbWidth","ThumbHeight","ThumbType","ThumbSize","FileName","Annotation","Keywords"
,"UserFields([0;Original Date/Time;uf_Original_DateTime;12;23])","Galleries"

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Is there a way to do that in TP - e.g. can I point to TP to the new top-level folder for the database (in this case change "JLM History Picture Project" to "041128 JLM History Photos Backup") and have it do the redirect or is there some other way?

Yes, and this would be approach No. 3.  If you keep backups of your database(s), there IS a simple method that lets you re-match orphaned folders in the database (as they're called) with their new equivalents on the harddisk. In that case you won't have to recreate the old situation, nor edit the .txt file - you would just import the old data. Next, you would look up the (greyed-out, orphaned) old folder such as Album 002 in the tree, and drag-and-drop it onto its new location (Album 002 in the new '041128 JLM History Photos Backup' folder) (it helps if you open all relevant folders beforehand). At that point, TP will carry the data from the orphaned old image files over to their same-named brethren in the new folder.

That's usually the easiest method, but you must be sure to keep backups in case anything goes wrong (if you're dealing with tens or hundreds of folders it's easy to drop one at the wrong place). Also before doing this, in TP10, you must make sure that this option is off: "Options | Preferences | Thumbnails | Autoremove Orphans". If you try this, be sure to verify afterwards that all images really have their annotations back.
« Last Edit: 2019-05-11 20:33:03 by Daan van Rooijen »
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mellortime

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Re: Reviving old database and HD paths have changed
« Reply #4 on: 2019-05-12 11:12:37 »
Thank you so much for this info.  I will work on this and report back in a few days.
Again, thank you!

mellortime

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Re: Reviving old database and HD paths have changed
« Reply #5 on: 2019-05-12 12:30:08 »
why can I not see the Import function?  I'm using TP10 and I'm going to Database->Advanced and I don't see it.  The only options I see are Backup, Restore, Move Thumbnails to Files ..., Jpeg Compress ..., Convert TD4 ..., Convert Client/Server ..., Open in MS Access (this option is greyed out).
Could it be that I'm using the "Standard" version?  Also, my version is still a Trial - I purchased a key a couple days ago but haven't received it yet via email.

Daan van Rooijen

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Re: Reviving old database and HD paths have changed
« Reply #6 on: 2019-05-12 13:47:32 »
why can I not see the Import function?

I don't know - it could be for either of the reasons that you cite. Or maybe they removed the import/export commands (I'm using an older v10, build 4001 from July 2015) but I don't see that mentioned in the release notes.
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westdale

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Re: Reviving old database and HD paths have changed
« Reply #7 on: 2019-07-04 08:50:50 »
I hope you don't mind my jumping into this thread. 
I am planning what to do when my NAS drive needs replacing.

The inbuilt help is a little unclear as to what words like 'label' mean and the effects they have.
In your first response, you say "Make sure that the drive volume labels are exactly the same as before,"

From the Volume Properties popup I currently have
Drive X:\  Volume type : Network drive
Label  "xavi$"  ; Serial 261a7d3d  ;  File sys type  NTFS ; Max filename 255; 
Network \\BUFFALO\xavi$
Volume alias is blank.


Q1: is 'label' in the volume properties always just the sharename on the NAS drive?
Q2: is what you refer to as 'drive volume label' the sharename  or is it what Thumbs calls 'Network'?
Q3 : if I move the complete structure with thumbs folders  from \\BUFFALO\xavi$ to \\OTHERDRIVE\xavi$ 
       are there settings of the Preferences
       'Match network volume using share name' and 'ignore network drive labels'
       that will allow me to simply copy over and match Thumbs database to the moved data?
Many thanks

« Last Edit: 2019-07-04 08:59:11 by westdale »

Daan van Rooijen

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Re: Reviving old database and HD paths have changed
« Reply #8 on: 2019-07-04 17:49:44 »
Quote
The inbuilt help is a little unclear as to what words like 'label' mean and the effects they have.

A volume label is a name that you have assigned to a drive. In the DOS days we would use the VOLUME command for that, under Windows it can be set through the drive properties.
 
Quote
In your first response, you say "Make sure that the drive volume labels are exactly the same as before,"

Yes, but that applies to regular local drives, not (necessarily) network drives.

Quote
From the Volume Properties popup I currently have
Drive X:\  Volume type : Network drive
Label  "xavi$"  ; Serial 261a7d3d  ;  File sys type  NTFS ; Max filename 255; 
Network \\BUFFALO\xavi$
Volume alias is blank.

Ordinarily, volume labels are shown here as 'Label', but from this, I guess that ThumbsPlus shows the share name there when it's a network drive (I do not use any network drives here, so cannot verify).

Quote
Q1: is 'label' in the volume properties always just the sharename on the NAS drive?

It might well be (or, maybe it depends on your 'Volume Matching Strategy' settings in options | Preferences | Thumbnails)

Quote
Q2: is what you refer to as 'drive volume label' the sharename  or is it what Thumbs calls 'Network'?

Neither; a volume label is a distinct drive property. However, in the case of network drives, ThumbsPlus can use their share names instead to identify drives.

Quote
Q3 : if I move the complete structure with thumbs folders  from \\BUFFALO\xavi$ to \\OTHERDRIVE\xavi$ 
       are there settings of the Preferences
       'Match network volume using share name' and 'ignore network drive labels'
       that will allow me to simply copy over and match Thumbs database to the moved data?

I think that should work, but there's another problem. When you use a network drive, the server name is also used in the drive identification/matching process. So, you'd have to name the new NAS "BUFFALO" too. OR, you could go into your database using an appropriate tool and change the server and share names into whatever they will be in your new network configuration.

But that is assuming that your current NAS would be replaced by a new one from one moment to the next. If you can just add a new NAS instead, so that both old and new are simultaneously connected, you can use ThumbsPlus to do all the copying of images from old to new and it will automatically copy the thumbnails, keywords, annotations, etc, in the database as it copies the files. Afterwards, you could remove the old NAS, delete all its (then orphaned) thumbnails from the database, and use Compact & Repair to recover the used space in the database.
« Last Edit: 2019-07-04 17:54:22 by Daan van Rooijen »
I'm volunteering as a moderator - I do not work for Cerious Software, Inc.