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[park]

I have changed my thumbnail path (using the instructions in this thread: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=32484.0) so that its on a portable drive with my library files, and music collection.

However, whenever I change library, MC wipes out the thumbnails and starts drawing them all again. Is this just because i changed my thumbnails path, or is it happening with other people too?

[Matt]

We can't reproduce this, even with a relocated thumbnail directory.  Any other tips?

[park]

The only other non-standard behaviour of my setup is that i have set up MC so that the default library is also on the portable drive with the music.

I noticed that when i tried a "Build all thumbnails" in the options, it completed in no time at all, yet when i went into my images viewscheme the hard drive access light went crazy while drawing all the thumbnails, and the video wiewscheme too. If I try to watch a video, it sometimes freezes while MC is drawing all the thumbnails, unless i go to playing now and start the video in full screen mode from there first.

[Matt]

It sounds like perhaps you cloned a library by hand so they don't have unique IDs.  This would cause them to share the same folder under the "Thumbnails" folder, which will cause all sorts of issues.

You could test by erasing your thumbnails folder, then loading each library and viewing some files.  Afterwards you should have two subfolders under the thumbnails folder.

[park]

Thanks Matt. I'll try this and get back to you.

[datdude]

I just realized that this was happening too.

[Alex B]

It seems that only the "Leave" thumbnail exit option can preserve the thumbnails when local libraries are switched. "Erase orphans" deletes them on a library change.

[Matt]

It seems that only the "Leave" thumbnail exit option can preserve the thumbnails when local libraries are switched. "Erase orphans" deletes them on a library change.

I had "Erase orphans" selected for testing.  I still can't reproduce this.

Non unique database IDs is the only thing I can think of that could cause this.  You can test this using the steps listed earlier.

It's also possible there's a state or ordering issue where the thumbnails only get lost if you're in a certain view (or some other case) when switching libraries.

[Alex B]

I experimented with this a bit more. I seem to have two libraries that use the same thumbnail folder and obviously the same ID as you said. When I switched between my main library and an almost empty test library the thumbnail file size reduced from 130 MB to 8 MB.

I think this is a Library Manager problem. I suppose MC does not assign a new ID when libraries are cloned using the internal clone option. Usually I start with a cloned copy of my master library when I make new libraries. Otherwise I would have to create all library fields, view schemes and smartlists from the scratch.

[Alex B]

Actually, you could change the behavior so that each library folder would contain a library specific thumbnail folder. That would resolve the problem and make possible to backup the thumbnails too. It takes quite long time to rebuild the thumbnails when/if needed.

However, in the library backup tool the thumbnail backup should naturally be optional because the thumbnail file size can be very big.

[Matt]

Actually, you could change the behavior so that each library folder would contain a library specific thumbnail folder. That would resolve the problem and make possible to backup the thumbnails too. It takes quite long time to rebuild the thumbnails when/if needed.

However, in the library backup tool the thumbnail backup should naturally be optional because the thumbnail file size can be very big.

It works the way it does for a good reason.  People often keep their libraries on slow network drives.  It's critical that thumbnails live on the fast local drive.  For this reason, thumbnails are always kept in AppData.

We'll look at clone to make sure it issues a new ID.

[Alex B]

It works the way it does for a good reason. People often keep their libraries on slow network drives. It's critical that thumbnails live on the fast local drive. For this reason, thumbnails are always kept in AppData.

It would be a good lesson for those who keep the database on a network drive. In my opinion the MC database folder(s) should never be on a network drive because the access times are inferior even on a wired 1000 Mb LAN.

I suppose most users would not experience any speed or other difference, because they would continue to use the default library in the default location on the C: drive. Those who have several libraries would be probably be happier because thumbnail backups would be easier.

I copy the main database folder including my custom thumbnail location (inside the library folder) between the PCs. Currently my main database folder contains also the thumbnail files for the other libraries and they are needlessly copied. Perhaps I could exclude the other thumbnail folders by modifying the batch file I use.

We'll look at clone to make sure it issues a new ID.

Thanks.


Edit: rephrased

[park]

Just turning off "Erase orphans" seems to have done the trick for me for now.

Regarding the cloning of libraries: I remember that i cloned my original "default" library, so that i could change its path. Ever since, I've just cloned my new "default" library when i make new libraries, so I guess Matt's explanation fits nicely with my situation.

Question: If you fix it in MC so that cloned libraries create different thumbnail folders (different ids), then will i have to delete all my thumbnail folders to force it to happen, or will MC do it automatically?

Thanks for the feedback on this issue.

[glynor]

I copy the main database folder including my custom thumbnail location (inside the library folder) between the PCs. Currently my main database folder contains also the thumbnail files for the other libraries and they are needlessly copied. Perhaps I could exclude the other thumbnail folders by modifying the batch file I use.

My library data copying scripts do that.  It's easy if you use XCOPY to do the copying.  You can use the /EXCLUDE option and specify a text file with keywords to exclude.  Mine excludes thumbnails (and more recently the cache folder too).

That actually begs a question.  Matt, is the Thumbnails folder in the Library Data directory depricated and no longer used?  Can we just delete it?

Also, is there any reason to share the (big) cache directory between machines (using the script copy method, not windows sharing)?

[Alex B]

We'll look at clone to make sure it issues a new ID.

I suppose this is not implimented yet. Correct?

I just cloned a library (I had only one local library in the library manager) and the new library does not use a separate thumbnail folder.

MC 11.1.175