Images are gone automatically!!!

[UsherBhai]

Hello everyone,,
I don't know what happened or when, but tonight I found that there are whole iMatch folders that used to have 100s of image files in them that are now empty.  The image information in iMatch still exists, but the thumbnail shows that the image is "offline".

I have no idea how many image files are gone, but I can restore them from backup.   I need to know how to search in the iMatch database for all "offline" images so I know which ones I need to restore.

Also, should I just copy the image files from backup into the folder that they were in before?  Or do I need to use some function within iMatch to copy the files from the backup hard drive to my iMatch database folders?

Thanks!

[Mario]

When IMatch reports the files as off-line, it no longer finds them in the file system.

FIRST THING: Make a backup copy of your database: What to Backup?

If you accidentally rescan the folder or a rescan, the data for the off-line files will be removed from the database. If this happens, you can restore your database backup and start over.

To find all off-line files in your database, you can use the File Properties filter in the Filter Panel.
Enable the "Hide off-line files" option and also the "Invert" option. Then select the database node to see all off-line files.
Select them in a File Window and press Ctrl+C. This copies the names of the files into the Windows clipboard. Paste them into Notepad to see them.

Make sure IMatch is NOT RUNNING now.

Recover the deleted files from your backup.
IMatch will then find them again. If the restore changes the "last modified" date and time of the files, IMatch will rescan them automatically.

[ubacher]

Did you check if there was not just some accidental rename or move of the folders outside of Imatch?
Are the missing images in the wastebasket? (which would indicate a real delete took place).

[Aubrey]

Do you know which folder the files were located?
Have you checked using windows explorer that the files are there.?

When I have lost files in my system I use a program called everything to find. It locates all files on all disks.
It's free!
https://filehippo.com/download_everything/
Aubrey.

[UsherBhai]

When IMatch reports the files as off-line, it no longer finds them in the file system.

FIRST THING: Make a backup copy of your database: What to Backup?

If you accidentally rescan the folder or a rescan, the data for the off-line files will be removed from the database. If this happens, you can restore your database backup and start over.

To find all off-line files in your database, you can use the File Properties filter in the Filter Panel.
Enable the "Hide off-line files" tech news free netflix option and also the "Invert" option. Then select the database node to see all off-line files.
Select them in a File Window and press Ctrl+C. This copies the names of the files into the Windows clipboard. Paste them into Notepad to see them.

Make sure IMatch is NOT RUNNING now.

Recover the deleted files from your backup.
IMatch will then find them again. If the restore changes the "last modified" date and time of the files, IMatch will rescan them automatically.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you my issue has been solved,....

[Aubrey]

Good to hear the issue is resolved. It's always a worry when images go missing.

Would you share the solution, so that other users might learn from your experience?

Even if it was a mistake it could be useful.
Thanks
Aubrey.