The IMatch database stores all the information about your files, the metadata and other information.
An IMatch database is a normal file on your hard disk which contains all the data IMatch manages for your files. IMatch databases use the .imd5 file extension. The file name of the database is defined by you when you create the database.
IMatch databases do not contain copies of the files you manage with IMatch. IMatch manages your files at their original locations and does not require moving them into the database or some form of repository. All the files stay right where they are because IMatch can work with whatever file system structure you prefer. Whether your files are all on your local hard disk or distributed over multiple drives or servers, IMatch can handle it.
IMatch automatically remembers and opens the last opened database at startup. To open other databases, use the Database menu > Open command.
You should store your database in a separate folder on your local hard disk. IMatch creates temporary files while a database file is open in IMatch. These files are created in the folder containing the IMatch database and are deleted when IMatch is closed.
It is very important that you store your database separate from the files you manage in IMatch.
IMatch monitors the file system to detect changes made to folders managed in the database. IMatch updates the database all the time. If you store the IMatch database in a folder (or sub-folder) or a folder indexed by IMatch, this will generate a huge number of "file system modified" events, which IMatch will try to handle. While doing this, the database will be updated again, which causes new events. IMatch will perform very badly in this situation.
Most users find it best to create a new folder in the root of their hard disk, e.g. as "c:\IMatch Database". Using a separate folder on the top-level makes it easy to backup the database, to set up file system permissions, to exclude the database folder from on-access virus scans etc.
If you plan to share your database with other IMatch users, see the Database Sharing topic for additional information.
All users who need to work with the IMatch database must have read, write and modify access privileges for the folder containing the database. You can configure these privileges in Windows Explorer.
For information on how to configure Windows file system privileges, see the Windows Help.
If IMatch reports that a database is locked or write-protected, there are several things to check:
IMatch databases are pretty safe from being infected by computers virus. But you can never know, so better be safe.
However, a virus checker constantly scanning the database on every access will bring down the performance of IMatch to a crawl.
If you run into performance problems with IMatch (slow database load times, general sluggish performance), you should exclude the folder (!) containing the database from "on-access" virus checks for optimal performance. Excluding the entire folder is important, because IMatch and the database system create short-lived temporary files in that folder all the time.
Let your virus checker scan the database folder at least once per day to be on the safe side.
For information on how to configure your virus checker, please see the documentation accompanying your anti-virus product.
This is a very important topic. Although IMatch databases are rock-solid and employ top-notch security technologies, a database can become corrupted by disk problems, a hard power-failure, network problems, and application errors.
Please take these rules as a guideline:
Following these simple rules will keep your database safe.
See also Database Repair for more info.