Problems converting *imd4 on Win10?

[mauvia]

I have a brand new PC with Windows 10. On my old PC I had a (say) MyOldDB.imd4 database of photos (made with Imatch 3.6). I made a backup on an external HD and  now I installed on the new PC the latest version (trial, for now) of Imatch5.5.

Installation fine, no problem.

First of all, when I tried to click  on the "Convert database" tool NOTHING (absolutely nothing) happened: no dialogue, no windows, no action..... I tried many times  but no results. Then, I was able to navigate within windows explorer to the old .imd4 file and I right clicked on it to be opened with "Imatch database converter". And it worked (old db, target db etc.). I can see the new database and the old categories and the thumbnails. Of course I have to relocate the media files, I know. I tried with one folder and it worked. However, if I want to see the metadata associated to a picture and I click on the upper right panel I only see a black background with an "updating" written on top of it which NEVER goes away (well, I mean after 30 minutes). On the thumbnail itself on the upper left corner I see that the updating process is going on but it never, never stops.

Is this normal? I guess not, but it is not nice. Is there something to be fixed with respect to windows 10?

I need help, also in order to decide if I can trust buying the new version.

Cheers
Maurizio

[Mario]

After the database converter has finished, IMatch 5 needs to scan each file and import the metadata. Depending on how many files your database has, the machine performance etc. this can take some time, hours even. Open the Info & Activity Panel (View > Panels > Info & Activity) if it is not already open to check the progress. The IMatch status bar also indicates ongoing background operations in the lower right.

See the help for the database converter in the IMatch help system for details on this step, which it is required etc.

By now, the process should have completed. If it runs into an error, please provide the log files the database converter creates (their names and locations are mentioned in the help) and the IMatch log file (Help menu > Support > ...).

Since the release of IMatch in June 2014 (18 month ago!) many users have successfully converted their old IMatch 3 databases to IMatch 5. IMatch 5 is truly a trustworthy software.

[mauvia]

Thanks for your quick reply. However....

The relocated files in my new db are not so many (only one directory, 1500 pics approx.) (all other files are offline and so Imatch should not find them) and updating never stops. However, once I told I match to rescan the only relocated directory  I could start seeing the metadata in some pictures (which are in the relocated directory, of course....). What I mean is that in all of the thumbnails the upper left corner now shows a red shield (no longer the symbol related with the updating process) but, except for a few pics, I do not see any metadata. However, if I open my pic in windows and right click on it I can always see a list of metadata (shutter speed, lens opening etc.) but not in Imatch. I see metadata in Imatch only for a few pictures.
In some cases I see metadata in one picture and no metadata in a picture which (I know for sure) was taken after a few minutes with the same camera, same settings etc. (both have metadata from what I can read in windows explorer).

More precisely, when I click on a thumbnail I see on the bottom bar "Retrieving metadata from database...."  for maybe one/two seconds and then most of the times nothing in the metadata panel and, sometimes, the data itself.

I gave a look at the Info&Activity Panel but I do not see anything meaningful in it (to me).

Moreover, it is still not clear to me why if I click on Database>Database Tools> Database Converter nothing happens (no dialog etc.). In any case I think this is either wrong or not consistent , even if as I mentioned before I found a  workaround in windows explorer by  opening the old db there with the converter tool.

Thanks
Maurizio

[Mario]

I understand that your database contains many off-line files?
IMatch will of course always retry to load the data for these files, because they will be marked as "pending metadata load" in the database. IMatch will in the background check for these files, and if they are on-line, read the metadata. I think when you bring the files on-line, IMatch will read the metadata and complete the conversion process of the database.

The "red" symbol, do you mean the read-only icon? This is shown when a file is marked read-only on disk. It has nothing to do with reading metadata. But the "reload" icon and the read-only icon share their place. Since you did not include a log file, I'm totally unable to tell anything more. If IMatch fails to read or import metadata for some of your files, the log file would tell me what the problem is. Usually it's damaged metadata, file permission problems or similar.

See log file in the IMatch help for information about the IMatch log file, where to find it, how to copy it etc. Switch it to debug logging (Help > Support > ) and let IMatch run for a while. Then close IMatch, ZIP the log and attach to your post.

[mauvia]

Thanks. I attach two log files.

Cheers
Maurizio

[attachment deleted by admin]

[mauvia]

Yes, I confirm, for the moment in my DB most files are offline.

M.

[Mario]

What did you do in the IMatch sessions for which you attached the log files?
Both look like a normal IMatch start, some idle time (IMatch doing only a little background processing) and then IMatch is shut-down. Some metadata is loaded from the database (filling a file window, probably) and then IMatch is closed again. No files are processed etc. Only one warning because you have no spelling dictionary installed.

Please do this:

Start IMatch.
Let it sit for maybe two minutes so all startup background operations are finished and IMatch switches to it's normal operation mode.
Then click/select a file in a file window for which no metadata is visible in the Metadata Panel. The file must be on-line and accessible.
Press <Shift>+<Ctrl>+<F5> to open the advanced rescan options. Select the "force update" option.
IMatch then rescans the file, re-creates the thumbnail, reloads the metadata via ExifTool etc.
This should bring the metadata into the database, or at least log errors or warnings which give us some more info about what's wrong.
Attach the log from that session.

[mauvia]

Two inputs:

The trick <Shift>+<Ctrl>+<F5> to open the advanced rescan options and then select the "force update" option did work. Now everything seems to be fine with metadata.

I also created from scratch a new small db for testing with only online files (the same which were online in the db which had problems) and of course I could see the metadata from the beginning.

To you the conclusions.

Cheers and thanks
Maurizio

PS: I have now seen in the documentation that running the db converter tool from within Imatch5.5 should result in a warning telling me to close Imatch5.5 etc. On my windows 10 machine I do not see that, still. Just to help.

M.

[Mario]

I understand that the problem is solved after manually rescanning the files?


I will check the DBC message box.