How to start from scratch

[KimAbel]

Hello Mario

Today I have trouble opening my database. I have tried deleting the database settings file and then tried opening, but without luck. I have also tried opening one of my backups from a couple of days back, but this also refuses to open. The error message says :

An error [17 201] occured while opening the database C:\Bildearkiver\IMatch 5 test\BildebaseIMatch5test.imd5 - Probably the database file is locked by another application or you don't have sufficient permissions to open the file. The error message gives more information about the actual error.

I have had a few strange bugs during the testing and has been using the same database almost from day one. So I thought I should try to start over again from scratch and create a new database in case there is something wrong with my database. Something that is left from the early testing periode.

My question then is: what should I do to start from scratch?

Is it enough to delete the old database and database settings file and create a new one, or is there other files on my disc that I should remove?

Perhaps a uninstall of IM5 from my computer is neccessary?

Kim

[Richard]

Perhaps a uninstall of IM5 from my computer is neccessary?

Hi Kim,

I doubt that it is necessary to uninstall IMatch 5 but I would do it anyway. It would not take long.

[Mario]

An un-install of IMatch won't be necessary.

Deleting the database (the .IMD5 file) deletes the database and all associated data. Use the Database menu > Tools > Delete Database command in IMatch for convenience. This will also delete the cache files for that database.

Deleting the PTS file (or starting IMatch while holding down <CTRL> and then choosing "Delete all settings") will remove all settings and configuration options of IMatch.

The error message you are seeing can be caused because another application has the database open or locked, or there is a problem with the security settings. You did not attach a log file so I can only guess...

[KimAbel]

I have now created a new database from scratch. I have added my one folder with all my photos (many subfolders) and IM has read the metadata from all 56000 files. But when IM is starting to "Adding and updating files" the program stops responding several times. I can stop the program as normal, but when I start IM5 again I have to do a new rescan and IM5 stops again after a little while. I cant find any logfile on my c-station when searching for "IMATCH5_LOG.txt"! Is there any other place I should look for the log file?

The attatchment show the Info & Activity panel. The counter has stopped and is not progressing. The screenshot is from a rescan of one of the subfolders.

Kim

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Mario]

stops responding several times.

You mean that the background processing does not start or pauses, but not that IMatch becomes unresponsive, right?

You can always access the log file via the Help > Support > View Application Logfile  menu. There are also commands to copy the log etc.

To find the log, open the TEMP folder on your system via the special %TEMP% token. See the help for details, just search for log file.

After adding the files, what else did you do?
Did you just let IMatch progress or did you browse folders etc?
There are many operations which (temporarily) cause the update queue to pause in order to give the user interface precedence. We'll have to find out which of these operations most likely causes the update queue to pause forever on your system. The more info you can give me, the better...

[KimAbel]

You mean that the background processing does not start or pauses, but not that IMatch becomes unresponsive, right?

Yes. IM is not unresponsive. The background prosess has started, but after a while in the "Adding and updating files" the counter stops and IM is not adding any more photos (the counter stays in this ex on 10 of 14835)(Im not sure if IM actually is adding files even though the counter has stopped). I can browse folders.

I will try accessing the log file from the help menu the next time IM is stopping. Right now IM is reading metadata from my 56746 files for the x time (after my earlier restarts).

To find the log, open the TEMP folder on your system via the special %TEMP% token. See the help for details, just search for log file.

Then I should have found it after my search on c! I will instead try the help menu.

The only thing I have done after adding the folder is to browse.

I will give you more clues the next time IM is stopping.

Kim

[KimAbel]

Now the Info and activity panel has freezed for the last 2-3 hours. The same text has been standing there all this time. Se the attatchment.

When I open the logfile I can see that IM is working, but I dont know if IM is doing what it should do. Since the info in the Info and activity panel is standing still it is easy to draw the conclusion that IM has frosen.

I have not touched IM since I restarted the program and executed the rescan. I have only opened the log file from the help menu.

What should I do? Shall I let IM continue or shut it down?

In these links you can download the logfile. The first one is from a couple of hours ago when I saw that IM did not progress any more. The last one is from now.


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12694628/IMATCH5_LOG.zip

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12694628/imatch_log20131029.zip

Kim

[attachment deleted by admin]

[KimAbel]

Eight hours later the situation is still the same! No change in the "Adding and updating files" panel. The counter in the "Media and folders" panel/view may have changed from ca 56000 to 24379 files in my main folder, but I am not sure. The counter says 0 in many of the folders. (See the attatchment).

Kim

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Mario]

When you close and re-open the database, the processing will continue.
I will download your log files over the next couple of days and see if I can find a hint.

[KimAbel]

When I close the program and re-open it nothing happens. Entries in Queue says 0. Im back to where I started before the rescan (at least the counter in the media and folders panel goes back to start.

Se attatchment and compare the two screenshots! The last one is from after the restart.

Kim

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Ferdinand]

I wonder if there's an image that ExifTool can't read.  Normally you'd get a warning to this effect, but perhaps not in this case. 

[KimAbel]

I wonder if there's an image that ExifTool can't read.  Normally you'd get a warning to this effect, but perhaps not in this case.

Yes, I would think so to, but I get the same result when updating only one of my subfolders (with more subfolders). Then I guess I have many files which stops my import!

I have tried some of my folders which dont have any subfolder and they are imported as normal (so far).

Kim

[Mario]

Very strange.
The first thing IMatch is doing when you add files to a database is to add the core file records. This is the phase where the wait dialog is showing and you can't do anything else. When this is done, all other operations are done in the background. So even if the queue would stop of some of the files cannot be processed or IMatch crashes or whatever, the base file records are save.

This is also true for the processing queue. When importing files, IMatch adds "read metadata for this file", "read thumbnail, produce cache, read other data" and "update search engine index for this file" records to the queue. The queue is stored inside the database. This allows IMatch to stop processing and re-start the next time when it is started.

What puzzles me is that the one screen shot shows a database with 66.693 files, and the other screen shot (with 0 entries in the queue) shows 24.377 files. Two different databases, or the same database at different stages?

Did you add more folders to the database while it was processing other folders still in the background (this would of course be OK and should not case problems). I'm just wondering about the different file count (for the same folder count).

[KimAbel]

What puzzles me is that the one screen shot shows a database with 66.693 files, and the other screen shot (with 0 entries in the queue) shows 24.377 files. Two different databases, or the same database at different stages?

Both screenshots are from the same database. The last one (24377 files) is from after I have shut down IM and restarted it again. The shutdown went as normal and without any warnings. As you can see the last screenshot shows that my database is back to "scratch" (the stage I had come to after several earlier restarts). The first (66693 files) shows my database at the time IM freezed (2-3 hour before the last screenshot).

Did you add more folders to the database while it was processing other folders still in the background (this would of course be OK and should not case problems). I'm just wondering about the different file count (for the same folder count).

I have not added any folders during the import. I havent touched the program except for getting the log file from the help menu.

I have now tried a rescan on several of my subfolders and as long as the "adding an updating files" goes uninterupted I have not encountered any problem (so far). I tried to shut down IM during the update (adding an updating files) of my 2013 folder with 6501 photos and the program shut down as normal. But when I started the program again IM did not resume the "adding an updating files" prosedure. I had to do a rescan to do that. And now the total number of files shown for 2013 is 4881 files instead of 6501!

Update: The 2013 folder has also stopped responding after a little while!

Kim

[KimAbel]

I deleted my database again and this time I did a full uninstall of IM5. Last time I just deleted the database, database settings file and the cache.

I then created a new database, but did not activate versioning before import as I did the last time. The import of my 56 thousand photos went fine and was completed in 13 hours. I have now a fresh database, but there are some customizing of panels and settings to do before I am ready with my database:-)

The only strange thing is that I have gotten 23950 files with a yelllow pen! I tested writeback on a few of those and the pen disappears so I have started writeback on all of them. 4 hours and 30 minutes counting down for that prosess.

Hopefully some of my problems are gone with this new database :-)

Kim

[Mario]

The yellow pen can show up after importing, that's normal.
If you let IMatch produce XMP keywords by mapping existing keywords, this process may generate "new" IPTC keywords and this marks the file as being pending. Or other metadata is updated during the import, e.g by running a metadata template.

If you point the mouse cursor at the pen, the tooltip shows the data which needs to be updated in the file. Did you try that? What does it show?

[KimAbel]

I have not made any choices about mapping keywords, but this is perhaps a default value?

When I hold the cursor over the pen it shows keywords and sometimes credit.

Kim

[Mario]

, but this is perhaps a default value?

Yes. By default, IMatch follows the MWG rules to synchronize metadata between XMP and IPTC/EXIF/GPS.
If your file contain IPTC keywords, these will be imported according to the options you have chosen under Edit > Preferences > Metadata.
If you use the defaults, the flat IPTC keywords will be mapped (using your thesaurus) to hierarchical keywords and then back to flat IPTC keywords and XMP subjects. Depending on what's in your files, this may produce new or different IPTC keywords. And if this happens the file will be flagged.

Also, if IPTC or EXIF data is imported into XMP, the XMP record will be considered as updated (because the file has not yet any XMP record, or the XMP record in the file is different from the XMP IMatch has produced). IMatch produces a very 'rich' XMP record which is fully MWG compliant.

[KimAbel]

HELP!!!!

I just came home and found that the metadata writeback for the 23950 files was finished. I then switched from the collection view to the media and folder view. IM then crashed and told me that a crash dump file was produced. After I pressed ok the program shut down and my pc shut down.

After a restart I tried to open my database again, but now it wont open. The same error message appears that I had in my initial post in this thread.

In this link you can find the log for the initial crash (I guess):

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12694628/IMATCH5_LOG_BACKUP.zip

In this link you can see the logfile when I try to open IM again:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12694628/IMATCH5_LOG_wont_open.TXT

I hope this can be solved without running through a new import of all my pictures!

Kim