database disk image is malformed (0) (0)

[wgimblet]

First of all I'll explain how I access by photos through Photo Supreme in case this is the cause of the problem. I have my photos, Photo Supreme and database files on my desktop PC upstairs. Over the last two weeks I have started to categorize these photos and have managed to get through 6000 of the 12000 photos for the first category of 'people'.
I am doing this downstairs on the laptop. I simply shared the folder \\GIMBLETT-DT2\Users\Wayne-DT2\AppData\Local\IDimager Systems, Inc\Catalog on the desktop so that I could access it on the laptop.

I simply assigned the categories to the photos on the laptop and if I wanted to delete any, I would assign a star rating of 1.

At the end of the evening I would go upstairs to the desktop and 'syn all out-of-sync images' and also display all 1 star rated photos to delete.

All has been going well until last night. I sync'ed on the desktop and deleted 43 1-star rated photos from database and hard disk.

I have now gone back onto the laptop and it is showing that I still have 43 1-star rated photos. If I click on the star rating column down the left hand side, firstly a message pops up saying "database disk image is malformed (0) (0)" and when I say "OK" it only displays 3 photos.

This message is now popping up on both the desktop and the laptop at various times.

Can I do anything to recover this situation?

[Hert]

Hello,

First try to compact the database on the desktop. I hope that will fix your database. If not, check, after compacting the database and shutting down the application(!!), if there are journal files in the catalog folder and if so, delete those.

Also, it is very high risk to use the database over a network. Reason is that even the smallest glitch in the network performance can corrupt the database.

Hert

[wgimblet]

Thanks for your fast responce Hert.

Things are not looking good at the moment. I compacted the Catalog database succesfully and then tried to compact the Thumbnail database and the software has now sat there for over half an hour 'Not responding'. Is it safe to kill the process?

[Hert]

Compacting is a single command and the database has to finish it before PSU gets control again. Due to Windows's poor ghosting implementation it then thinks that the application is stalled. Don't kill it but wait for it to finish. The thumbnails database can be very large.

I'm happy to read that the catalog database compacted without issues. Things look good.

Hert

[wgimblet]

Left it compacting overnight with a message in the morning saying it had been succesful.

On starting up Photo Supreme I still get an initial pop-up box stating "database disk image is malformed (0) (0)"

Clicking "OK" and the program fires up.

The one star rating down the left hand side still says that I have 43 photos rated at this level. When I click on it only 3 photos are displayed.
When I select all three and 'delete from database and disk' the following message still pops up database disk image is malformed (0)"

Is there anything further that I can do to recover from this situation?

[Hert]

When you compact the catalog database (no need to compact the massive thumbs database) then the database is verified and should be ok. Are you getting this error on the desktop? For now, prevent using the network connected laptop.
First try to compact the catalog database again. Then fire up PSU on the desktop and see if you get this error.

Hert

[wgimblet]

Hi Hert, I am only using the desktop to try to resolve the problem.

Okay, I have just compacted the catalog database (this is very quick, less than a second) on the desktop and appears to be succesful

Restart PSU - Error message "database disk image is malformed (0)" is now not popping up at start-up

It still thinks I have 43 one star rated photos and the error message pops up if I click on them.

The error message also pops up if I try to un-assign an already assigned catalog category. It will let me assign new categories without the message but then does not appear to sync the photo (orange dot remains in thumbnail)

[Hert]

Less than a second really doesn't sound right.

Try to install the freeware tool SQLite Expert Personal and open the database there. Does that succeed?

Hert

[wgimblet]

Yes, it opened in SQLite Expert Personal. Not sure what I'm looking at but opened with no error messages.

[Hert]

Great. Now try to vacuum the database in the databases tab (can't verify it now because I'm not behind my PC)

Hert

[wgimblet]

It gives me an error - database disk image is malformed.

[Hert]

I think your database is corrupt. Did you synchronize your metadata to the files?

[wgimblet]

I always went back to the desktop at the end of each evening and ~sync'ed all out-of-sync images" and in preferences it is set to automatically write out catalog changes to the image file. Is this what you meant?

[Hert]

Yes. Ok in that case you'll be able to recreate most of your catalog.

First backup your current database (just in case)
Then delete the catalog file (not the backup of course)
Then start PSU and open preferences
There set the sync-read setting to also read the ICS schema
Now import a folder (try a smaller one first)
Wait for it to finish

Does that look promising?

Hert

[wgimblet]

Running the backup and a message is popping up - Integrity check of your catalog database failed. Clicking 'OK' to try again.

It appears to have created a copy of idimager.thumbs.db but not the idimager.cat.db. It is also now showing a message - "Verification of the backup files failed. Please try again.

If I continue to the next stage of deleting the catalog file, are you refering to idimager.cat.db, idimager.thumbs.db or both?