Skip to main content
J
janie0D4C
Participant
November 13, 2020
Question

Accidentally deleted a large number of photos. Can see them in Catalog, but not find them on C drive

  • November 13, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 307 views

In a fit of frustration recently ("Scratch Drive is full") I unintentionally deleted thousands of photos.

I can still see many of them on my Catalog page, but the link is broken. No files to be found.

If I can see them, it would seem that they are still present on my hard drive.

I've tried everything to recreate the link, but can't find the files.

 

Can someone help?

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
November 13, 2020

I imagine the catalog has a small preview of each file. Doesn't mean you still have the file. Sounds like you need to use your backups. (You do make backups, right?) You might have to add them to the catalog again, but not if you restore to the same location.

MichelBParis
MichelBParis
Legend
November 13, 2020

@Test Screen Name 

In an organizer catalog, the 'previews' of the catalog files are stored in a sqlite database file, called 'thumb.5.cache'.

As I explained above:

"What you are seeing when browsing your catalog are small thumbnails (max 360 x 240 pixels) stored in the thumbnail cache in the catalog folder. They are not stored as image formats (only binary objects) and the only way to recover them is to take screenshots from the organizer display."

Here is a screenshot of the 'thumbnail_data_table:

 

As you can see, there is no image file, only a binary object. The other table shows the dimensions of the image in pixels.

The only known way to display the thumbnail is from the organizer. You can show it full screen and take a screnshot, but it will be very fuzzy due to the 360 x 240 pixel size.

 

So, you are right, the only hope would be to restore a backup (unless recovering from the waste basket is still available).

@janie0D4C 

With a bit of luck, some images may still be on your photo cards?

    MichelBParis
    MichelBParis
    Legend
    November 13, 2020

    The most urgent step is to look in your waste basket to see if you find at least some of the deleted files. If you can undelete them from there, the links will work again.

    What you are seeing when browsing your catalog are small thumbnails (max 360 x 240 pixels) stored in the thumbnail cache in the catalog folder. They are not stored as image formats (only binary objects) and the only way to recover them is to take screenshots from the organizer display.

    Otherwise, the only solution is to restore from backups.

     

    About your lack of disk space, the situation is sadly more common today with very small SSD drives on laptops. If that is the case, you'll have to consider storing your data on a different drive (external USB drive mainly). That includes your photo files library and even your catalog. As discussed in two current discussions, storing the photos in the Cloud via OneDrive or similar is not a solution.

    (The scratch disk can't be on an external drive).

    You'll get more targetted advice if you give some info about your hardware (menu Help >> System Info of the organizer).

      Firefly Community Gallery
      Adobe Firefly

      Remix with Firefly Community Gallery

      Thousands of free creations to fall in love with and remix in Firefly.

      Explore now
      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices