Too late to convert 3.6 DB ?

[DaweP]

Hello,
I need to convert one (recently discovered) old IMatch 3.6 database to a new one, usable under current IMatch. I found that the current version no longer supports the conversion. So I used a different PC, installed older 32-bit IMatch version (that enables conversion), run the conversion (message of success appeared) and obtained *.imb5 file.
This file can be opened in that older (32-bit) IMatch version. All seems fine.
However, if I want to open in in the current IMatch, the databasu "upgrade" starts, but then it fails and this message appears (see the attached file).


I should not that the converted DB was not protected by any password, so I do not understand the 'permission' issue.
Is there any chance I can open the database?
Thanks,
David

[Mario]

Converting a database does not really help that much.
IMatch 2021 has to recreate thumbnails, reread all files to get metadata etc.

You are usually as fast or faster by just creating a new database in IMatch 2021 and then drop in the same files you had in the old database. If you want to move over categories and/or properties, export them in IMatch 3 to a file and import that file into IMatch 2021 after all images have been indexed.

There is a historical document that describes this. See section 4.1.

[DaweP]

OK, thank you for the tip, Mario.
David

[Mario]

If you export/import categories, keep in mind that many of the categories IMatch used 10 years ago are no longer necessary in the current versions.

I recommend to do some cleanup in the imported category tree.