[digiKam-users] Moving items externally while preserving digiKam user info

[Remco Viëtor]

On lundi 5 septembre 2022 23:26:11 CEST Marc Palaus wrote:
> I think the easiest way would be to save the metadata in the pictures
> themselves (or in xmp sidecar files), then move the files using your
> favorite method, and once you are done let Digikam to scan the changes
> during the next startup. Make sure you have checked in the options to
> "Rescan files when modified" and "Clean up metadata from the database
> when rescan files" (Settings/Metadata)
> 
> El 5/9/22 a les 15:47, Sepp A ha escrit:
> > I have a large collection (over 206K items) scattered around in many
> > temporary directories on an external (USB-connected) HDD, that I added
> > with "Settings -> Configure digiKam -> Collections -> Root Album
> > Folders -> Collections on Removable Media".
> > My current database type is SQLite (QSQLite) which is a bit slow
> > sometimes. My setup is digiKam 7.7.0 on Windows 10.
> > 
> > How can I move all the items to new directories without using digiKam
> > and without losing any digiKam info such as tags and labels?
> > By moving the images around, some of them may have to get renamed.
> > Would this cause any problems? How to avoid it?
> > 
> > Outside digiKam, I use TeraCopy to get the files verified after
> > copying. Does digiKam have a built-in fail-safe file verification
> > mechanism for moving images or albums?
> > 
> > Any input would be much appreciated.

Sidecars seem indeed the easiest option. But you have to make sure you always 
treat the image and the sidecar as a unit: 
- moving one, you have to make sure the other ends up in the same location;
- renaming one, you have to make sure the name of the other matches.

But if you don't want to use digikam to do the moving around because the 
database is a bit slow, I'm not sure you are going to win much in the end: you 
still have to get the database up-to-date after all the moving... Although you 
could do that as an overnight unattended operation.