Collections are suddenly gone in DK

[Michael Hamilton]

On Mon, 22 Sep 2025, Thomas wrote:
> Before I open images using the import tool: what will happen to those
> images?
>
> I fear I will make a mess by importing images that are already imported?
>
>
> Would it make sense to try to restore the digikam.db and other db files
> from an earlier backup? Mind you, this is already restore from backup. I
> just restored from the latest backup. Perhaps I should go further back?
>

Many years ago I resorted to restoring an older db backup (under Linux). 
That went OK.  Would it hurt to try again?  You could take yet another
preventative backup before experimenting.  Yet another backup if the
experiment works out OK, then see how things go.

Although I have seen no further problems, I now have a precautionary
script that backs up my digikam database on login each day.  I don't 
start digikam until the backup reports it is complete.  I make several
of these going back a few days.  It is these "offline" backups that are 
included in my offline/offsite backups to create an either longer
generational history.  The database and images are both on NVME
(two different ones) which means both backups and scanning are 
pretty fast (for 1TB of images).

Michael

>
> BR
>
> Thomas
>
> On 20/09/2025 16.45, Maik Qualmann wrote:
> > Please try opening the images in the import tool.
> > You should only see folders, not images, in the file dialog. But it
> > might be another problem with file dialogs in macOS.
> >
> > Maik
> >
> > Am Samstag, 20. September 2025, 16:31:57 Mitteleuropäische Sommerzeit
> > schrieb
> >
> > Thomas:
> >> Yes, I can navigate to the folder from DK import > Add Images dialog.
> >> It looks like this:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Note: the individual files are gray, so I cannot select them. But I
> >> seem to be able to open the folder.
> >>
> >> So it seems to me that DK has proper access?
> >>
> >> On 20/09/2025 16.18, Maik Qualmann wrote:
> >>> Have you perhaps set ignored folders (tab under Collection
> >>> Settings)? Otherwise, digiKam simply doesn't have read permissions
> >>> to this folder. Can
> >>> you open this folder in the import tool via Import -> Add Images
> >>> (please don't actually import the folder this way)?
> >>>
> >>> Maik
> >>>
> >>> Am Samstag, 20. September 2025, 16:09:56 Mitteleuropäische
> >>> Sommerzeit schrieb>
> >>>
> >>> Thomas:
> >>>> I tried playing around with the db.
> >>>>
> >>>> I ran this query:
> >>>>
> >>>> echo "SELECT * FROM Albums WHERE  relativepath LIKE '/2024/%'" |
> >>>> sqlite3 ~/Pictures/digikam4.db
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> It returns lots of entries.
> >>>>
> >>>> I then ran:
> >>>>
> >>>> echo "SELECT * FROM Albums WHERE  relativepath LIKE '/2025/%'" |
> >>>> sqlite3 ~/Pictures/digikam4.db
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> It returns zero entries.
> >>>>
> >>>> So clearly, DK is not picking up my photos...
> >>>>
> >>>> When I browse the folders, though, the pictures are there.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> How to troubleshoot this further?
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> BR
> >>>>
> >>>> Thomas
> >>>>
> >>>> On 14/09/2025 19.14, Maik Qualmann wrote:
> >>>>> The problem is, even if digiKam couldn't read the collection for
> >>>>> some reason, the root album names should still be displayed. But
> >>>>> you don't have them, right?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Your log doesn't show any anomalies or error messages from the
> >>>>> database. But I can only imagine some kind of database problem.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> If you haven’t already, please try the digiKam-8.8.0 pre-release
> >>>>> version from here:https://files.kde.org/digikam/
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Maik
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Am Sonntag, 14. September 2025, 19:05:00 Mitteleuropäische
> >>>>> Sommerzeit schrieb>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Thomas:
> >>>>>> Hi,
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> This is Apple Silicon M3.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> MacOS version 15.6.1.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> The volumes are mounted. I can ls the contents from a terminal
> >>>>>> and I can
> >>>>>> open the images int he Finder file browser.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I will check Apple Console app although, I am not sure what to
> >>>>>> look for?
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> BR
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Thomas
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On 14/09/2025 04.06, Gilles Caulier wrote:
> >>>>>>> Hi,
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Right it's MacOS. Which version ? Arm or Intel.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Perhaps the disk is unmounted by the system ? Did you see
> >>>>>>> something abnormal in the system log (Apple Console
> >>>>>>> Application)?
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Best regards
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Gilles Caulier
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Le sam. 13 sept. 2025 à 14:57, Thomas<sdktda at gmail.com> a écrit :
> >>>>>>>> On 12/09/2025 17.52, Gilles Caulier wrote:
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> I'm 99% sure that something in your Windows installation locks
> >>>>>>>> the database or the application or the file system. This
> >>>>>>>> introduces giant time latency in the program. This can be the
> >>>>>>>> Windows update running in
> >>>>>>>> background, an antivirus, or a malfunction with your hardware.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Another issue can be the file path scheme name in your
> >>>>>>>> collection which cause dysfunction, eg. no latin1 char encoding
> >>>>>>>> for ex, even if digiKam supports UTF8 and the application
> >>>>>>>> manifest for Windows sets these properties at run time.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> In my office we switch from WIN10 to WIN11 progressively on all
> >>>>>>>> desktop computers, and we sometimes see troubles with file
> >>>>>>>> paths when we use company applications (where WIN10 has no
> >>>>>>>> problem for a very long time). This is difficult to investigate
> >>>>>>>> and to reproduce. This is
> >>>>>>>> especially true with the network file systems but not with all
> >>>>>>>> users. The reason is not clear...
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> This is macOS - not Windows.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> I don't think something is locking my files and I have tried
> >>>>>>>> over multiple restarts.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> I will try to see if I can figure out how to see which files
> >>>>>>>> are locked
> >>>>>>>> on macOS.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> There is no antivirus.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Also, all files on this file system should be plain ascii
> >>>>>>>> compatible as
> >>>>>>>> I
> >>>>>>>> ensure files only have names in the set "A-Za-z0-9._, -()+"
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Any ideas how to troubleshoot this further?