Backup database

KevinG

I have a lot of faces recognised, is there a way to back up the database, all pictures are backed up, but I would like to have faces, locations etc data backed up.

Andrey

KevinG thank you for starting this important topic! I think this discussion will be useful for many users. I will try to split my answer on sections to give in-depth understanding.

Location of Tonfotos database and its backup

Tonfotos stores its internal database on following locations:

Windows: C:/Users/<UserName>/AppData/Roaming/tonfotos
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/tonfotos

This directory stores both database, as well as configuration of Tonfotos (locations of photos, UI settings, etc.)

If you are already using some sort of backup application for your PC or backup using built-in Windows tools, then it typically backs up contents of AppData/Roaming by default, as this is where most of application settings are stored. TimeMachine on Mac does backup ~/Library/Application Support contents automatically.

Faces data location

Information about people on photos is stored in two places: in Tonfotos database, as well as at location of photos themselves in the form of tonfotos.ini files. This solves two problems at the same time:

If you backup only your photo archive, but do not backup rest of your PC data, all data about faces assigned to people will be saved anyway. In case of PC crash, you will be able to reinstall Tonfotos, and it will pick up information about people from .ini files during initial scan, and you will not need to go thru markup process once again
In case you store your archive on shared folder or external drive, you can work with this archive from two different PC’s, and information about people on photos will be kept in sync between two (or more) instances of Tonfotos. So you can start working on your PC and (after regular archive rescan) can pick up from there on your MacBook or Linux PC.

Albums data

As of 0.9.20, albums data is only stored in Tonfotos database.

Locations data

Tonfotos uses location data which is stored in metadata of photo and video files. It does store in in database too for convenience, but this data is being reconstructed from original files during scan.

Andrey

KevinG so, going back to your question, all you need to do is to make sure your backup application backs up *.ini files together with photos and videos, not ignores them.

scedric

Hi, I really like the way you handle the faces data location compared to Digikam. In fact I am looking for an alternative to Digikam since it messed up the photo import and the folder/photo dates are all mixed up.
Anyway, with Tonfotos if a photo with face tags is moved from one folder to another, how do you handle the ini files updates?

Andrey

scedric this depends on how exactly you move photos. If you move whole folders - obviously ini files get moved along. If you pick individual files in explorer and move them somewhere else - Tonfotos cannot do anything about that.

In future Tonfotos will have internal “move files” feature, that will properly handle ini files, it is just not yet completely implemented.

E.s.e.

Andrey O SEA QUE: SI CORTAMOS Y PEGAMOS EL JPG ENTRE CARPETAS, ESOS ROSTROS QUEDAN SIN RECOCERSE ??

scedric

Thank you Andrey for the reply. Since the ini is a text file I would be able to write a python script to move the picture and update the ini file as well.

Andrey

scedric sure. It’s actually a JSON file with pretty straightforward structure. However, Tonfotos is being constantly developed, so I am sure in future all that will not be needed, as this will be supported out of the box.

scedric

amazing!

leonardoa

On the topic of faces data stored on tonfotos.ini file inside the folder along with the photos, what happens if I move some of the photos in that folder to a different folder? Does it mean that I need to force scan the folders to update the face information in the .ini file?

Andrey

leonardoa if you move photos using Tonfotos (Control+M) then all necessary .ini files will get updated too. If you move files by any other means, application will consider those as new files and you will have to recognise faces again.

leonardoa

Hmm…ok. So I need to be careful when I’m moving the photos around my collection.
So, if I were to move images outside of the app, how will the app trigger face recognition? Does it check for new files each time you start the app? I thought I saw an option somewhere to say ‘scan new files’ or something similar, but I can’t seem to find it.

Andrey

leonardoa if I were to move images outside of the app, how will the app trigger face recognition?

It will not.

leonardoa Does it check for new files each time you start the app?

Actually, not only at the start of the app, it does it from time to time even if the app is open.

leonardoa I thought I saw an option somewhere to say ‘scan new files’ or something similar

Its in the folder’s context menu (in the left panel). Right click on the folder and it will be there.

Andrey

E.s.e. I you move files using Tonfotos (like Control+M for example), then it will keep all the faces. However, if you move outside Tonfotos, such as using File Explorer, then for Tonfotos it will like old file was removed and new file appeared. Faces will not be assigned by default, you will have to confirm people again on that photo.

As to backup, the most precious thing is you photos. So there is no debate about that, you have to think about regular backups. Otherwise you may end up losing it, either by hardware failure, or by human mistake. So A is mandatory.

B is optional, it will help you to avoid several hours of scanning in case our OS crash or application failure.

E.s.e.

RESUMIDO BACK UP:
A) COPIAR LAS CARPETAS CON LOS ARCHIVOS MULTIMEDIA + tonfotos.ini
O
B) RESGUARDAR ESTAS CARPETAS:
Windows: C:/Users/<UserName>/AppData/Roaming/tonfotos
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/tonfotos

O AMBAS COPIAS

E.s.e.

si…yo ohe cortado y pegado con windows… pero ya no recuerdo en que carpetas, cual es el mejro metodo para reescanear rostros ?
ademas , te he enviado un mail recien por el serial.. que me he olvidade de liberar la licencia antes de formatear

E.s.e.

AL SABER ESTO DE MOVER ARCHIVOS POR FUERA DE TONFOTOS, Y QUE LOS *.INI NO SE ACTUALIZAN, LOS BORRARE A TODOS Y EMEPZARE TODO DE NUEVO.
RECIEN HE DESISTALADO PARA REUTILIZAR LA LICENCIA (GRACIAS POR EL MAIL)
TENGOLSO ARCHIVOS DE BACKUP DE TONFOTOS, PUEDO RESCATAR ALGUNO DE ESTOS PARA TENER LOS NOMBRES ASIGNADOS DE LAS PERSONAS..O SEA.. SOLO NOMBRES…QUIZAS RELACIONES. QUE AL MOMENTO DE ESCANEAR YA ESTEN ELEGIBLES EN LA LISTA PARA SER ASIGNADOS?

ESTA ES UNA DE LAS SITUACIONES POR LA QUE QUISIERA QUE LA INFO SE GUARDE EN METADATOS COMO HACIA PICASA..CREO QUE DA MAS LIBERTAD DE ACCION

Andrey

E.s.e. AL SABER ESTO DE MOVER ARCHIVOS POR FUERA DE TONFOTOS, Y QUE LOS *.INI NO SE ACTUALIZAN, LOS BORRARE A TODOS Y EMEPZARE TODO DE NUEVO.
RECIEN HE DESISTALADO PARA REUTILIZAR LA LICENCIA (GRACIAS POR EL MAIL)
TENGOLSO ARCHIVOS DE BACKUP DE TONFOTOS, PUEDO RESCATAR ALGUNO DE ESTOS PARA TENER LOS NOMBRES ASIGNADOS DE LAS PERSONAS..O SEA.. SOLO NOMBRES…QUIZAS RELACIONES. QUE AL MOMENTO DE ESCANEAR YA ESTEN ELEGIBLES EN LA LISTA PARA SER ASIGNADOS?

I would suggest instead of messing with ini files, just confirm faces again. This should not take that long, and this is much safer approach.

Relationships are stored in dossier file. Did you turn storing dossier file before reformating your PC?

ESTA ES UNA DE LAS SITUACIONES POR LA QUE QUISIERA QUE LA INFO SE GUARDE EN METADATOS COMO HACIA PICASA..CREO QUE DA MAS LIBERTAD DE ACCION

Unfortunately, it is not that easy as it may seem. XMP format is too poor and is not suitable for data synchronisation, so ini files are still necessary. However, we do have plans for storing this information to metadata, but that is just for better connectivity for other applications.