I am having a hard time finding answers to these (2) questions in the new darktable manual 3.4 and hope someone can help.
When images are imported into darktable, are they stored somewhere other than where they were imported from, or is there another location that darktable stores the images? I thought when you import them, you are using them directly from where you imported them from. E.G an SD card, directory on a hard drive etc. This way no extra space is being used by duplicating them. Lightroom duplicates the images when you import which then takes up more space on the hard drive.
When you delete an image from darkatble, I assume you are deleting it just from darktable and not your hard drive. Is this correct?
There is a local copies option, which works a bit different, but I don’t think you are talking about that. Just in case: local copies
Half correct, depending.
In lighttable you have the remove and the delete option. The remove option deletes the entry for this photo from the database not the HD, the delete button deletes it from disk. There are options in the preferences that can be en/disabled to give you a warning when it is about to do this.
EDIT: I just read @kofa’s answer and I forgot about importing them from camera. I use Rapid Photo Downloader to transfer my images, so they are always on my HD before a RAW editor accesses them. Doesn’t make the rest of my answer incorrect though
I’d make no sense to leave them on the SD card, which one often formats in the camera.
When you import from the file system, no copy is made.
When you import from a camera (which is a separate operation), they are actually copied to the hard disk.
I never use darktable’s import from camera functionality, I copy the files over using a file manager (I always create a directory named like 2020-06-20-Hoch-Ybrig, so I have the file manager open anyway).
Just for clarity its not really an import. So your image stays intact and in the same location. However an entry is created in a database that tracks your images and a thumbnail is created in a folder called mipmaps directory in the system files…this is an old video but it demonstrates the nuts and bolts… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGpbiXFcxZ8.
This is why you need to be careful. If you import files in DT and then delete or rename them in your file system then you will see skulls displayed as the thumbnail and that entry will be broken in DT. If you do that you need to get it to search to restore try and this.
I download all of my images onto my hard drive first then import them into darktable. Just using SD card as an example of where you could download from.
Nope, it’s not (edit: turns out it can be either)
Unless the topic starter specifically mentions a darktable version I’m always going to assume that they are on the latest stable version (3.4 as of December).
I just checked: If your darktable version has it labeled as trash then you must be on a rather old version. The furthest back I’m able to check atm is 3.2.1 which also labels it as delete.
EDIT: I learned something today! See István’s reply below for the definitive answer.
This reminds me of a bug I reported last year. Checking today it’s still present. If you select some images in lighttable then press the delete key, but your mouse happens to be hovering over a different image, than it’s that image which is removed, not your selection.
Various people have reported this and related matters, issues 4558, 5895, 5984, 5987 but they’ve been closed. I think issue 6025 now covers these, but it’s gone very quiet.
(edit: turns out it can be either)
