dKam 6.0.0 Error opening db; dKam trying to reconnect

Software digiKam
1

Everything was fine last night. I used digiKam 6.0.0 for 4 hours with no problems, then closed the program for the night. This morning, it can’t connect to the database on my portable drive.

  1. Using Windows 10
  2. The portable drive isn’t corrupted. I can open the photos in other programs.

What do I need to do? Thanks.

2

Go to the terminal and try to launch digiKam. Paste the terminal output here.

3

I’m so sorry, but what is “the terminal output” and where would I find it? Thanks for your patience!

4

Also, perhaps I didn’t wait long enough? I closed the error message after 10 minutes, so should I have waited longer?

5

Does digiKam provide any message when you start it?

6

Upon clicking the digikam icon to start the app, only the error message comes up:
Digikam%20error

7

Are the *.db files there?
They might be in your system “Pictures” folder.

8

I see them in my C drive Pictures folder. I don’t see anything on my portable F drive, though:

Digikam%20error
Digikam%20error1136×645 98.3 KB

9

Oh wow! You helped me solve the problem! After writing, “The db’s are on my C drive,” I realized, “But my current pictures are on my E drive, and the E drive is missing from the This PC list.” I rebooted the computer, the E drive reappeared with a bunch of digiKam dbs, and for some reason, that makes digiKam work normally again with my portable F drive.

Thanks for your patience with this non-technical person. I am very grateful for steering me in the right direction.

10

I am glad your issue has been resolved.
Please note that digiKam database and digiKam Collections are two different things.
The database is the *.db files.
The collections are your actual pictures.
It is recommended to host the database files on the fastest drive, e.g. SSD if you have one. Having them on an external drive probably isn’t that bad but make sure you don’t keep the database on a remote storage (on the network).
Collections however can be stored anywhere - on the local drive, on a USB storage, on a remote drive, etc.

11

Thank you, Andrius, more good info from you. You have a talent for explaining basics so that non-techies can understand the necessary fundamentals.

Your tip about looking at the C drive Pictures folder set off a chain reaction of clues:

  1. I noticed that yes, there were db files there.
  2. It took a while to notice, but none of my current pictures were there – strange!
  3. Those db file dates were not current – also strange! (They were from last year when I first sampled digiKam, but gave up because I didn’t understand cataloging yet.)
  4. I remembered my current pictures are on my SSD E drive, & perhaps that’s where the current db files were. Also, good to learn there are no db files on the portable F drive (where I keep photo archives).

So rebooting connected to the E drive, digiKam fired up properly, and upon checking, yes I did instruct digiKam to put the db files on the E drive. My techie son said to be on guard for future E drive failure or failing motherboard. So I spent the day backing up all pictures to a second portable drive, & will make a habit to back up the digiKam db files too.

Thanks very much. I learned a lot!

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12

Please be careful with the *.db files. If you don’t write metadata into JPGs and/or .xmp sidecar files andif you lose the database files you will lose all your tags, descriptions, etc.

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