Join 2 databases?

MacGuyver

Hello, I have Tonfotos set up on two different computers with 2 sperate photo libraries that I want to combine. There are many faces already ID’d on each.

I would like to combine both sets of folders into one single directory, but in this case I of course I have 2 separate .tonfotos.ini files which need the data combined.

Is there an easy way to combine the facial data into a single tonfotos.ini? One idea I had was to move them into separate directories first, and then move the files from one of the directories to the other, using Tonfotos so that I only ended up with a single Tonfotos.ini photo. Would that work?

Many thanks!

One more question - If I lose one of the Tonfotos.ini files, is it not the case that the facial data has been written to the JPG files themselves, that it would be easy for Tonfotos to recreate all this info, or is that an oversimplifcation?

Andrey

MacGuyver First let me clarify, those photo libraries have different photos, not just two copies of the same photo set? If yes, then this is how I would do that. I would create shared archive, preferrable on NAS, but external drive that you can move between PC’s would also work. So I would move my archive from one PC to that drive completley, and then connected it to second one, index it and only then would start adding new photos from second archive, using either Control+M or F6 funcitons. Both functions will merge ini files in the process.

To move archive, you can move its root folder in Explorer, then go to Library settings and change the missing path to new one.

MacGuyver One more question - If I lose one of the Tonfotos.ini files, is it not the case that the facial data has been written to the JPG files themselves, that it would be easy for Tonfotos to recreate all this info, or is that an oversimplifcation?

If you did not write faces into metadata and deleted ini files, data is still contained in Tonfotos internal database. ini file will be automatically reconstructed during next indexing. However, that is only assuming the file did not move and remains where it was.

MacGuyver

Thank you for this info. Yes, these photo libraries do in fact have different photos, although some of the people are the same, which is why I want to combine the databases.

What if I did in fact write faces into the metadata? Would that still allow me to recover the face data if indeed the Tonfotos.ini file AND the database was corrupted?

Andrey

MacGuyver What if I did in fact write faces into the metadata? Would that still allow me to recover the face data if indeed the Tonfotos.ini file AND the database was corrupted?

Yes, that is the idea.

MacGuyver

Let me explain why I’m asking…

Tonfotos has been acting very slow lately despite a blazing fast machine, plenty of RAM and a fast GPU. I realize now that I have too many photos in some folders (some have over 25,000). I tried to move files within Tonfotos using CTRL M but even after working all night, it only moved a small percentage.

Assuming that I have written the face data into the metadata correctly, would I be able to instead move my photos into smaller directories using Windows explorer? What would happen to all my face data in those photos once I booted up Tonfotos and both my ini file and database were no longer in sync in terms of where those photos were now located? Or would Tonfotos simply re-link this information once it discovered them in the new subfolders?

Andrey

MacGuyver Or would Tonfotos simply re-link this information once it discovered them in the new subfolders?

No, any movements outside program will be treated as old file deleted and then new one added.

I think that Control+M aproach is too manual in your case. Did you consider using F6 instead? It is completley automated. It can also take time, that will not be your time, that will be CPU time. You can leave it for a night, for example.

Stig

You need to move the files within Tonfotos for it to update their new location.
Click folder, click CTRL+M and then move a folder to another location.

I have tried to move stuff around, and Tonfotos will then sync and remove all the files and folders that are not located there.. so its a 1-1 sync which is nice. But I miss the possibility to move stuff and tell the program where the new files are..
All faces are picked up again when scanning, but it takes time, thats why I’m very positive to making a backup of the database for easier restore of all files and folders and skip the rescan. (rescan can be done in background when the program is in idle mode..)

MacGuyver

Thank you, Stig and Andrey. Great info and good to know that I should avoid moving files with the OS unless I want long wait times for the rescan (assuming I selected writing face data into the Metadata)

Andrey, in addition to CTRL M, I did try F6 as well and I do like how it works in the background, but as these photos have dates that go back 10 years, it will end up creating so many arbitrary subfolders, and I’m not sure if that’s what I want. So I think I will try to move into subfolders on my own, within Tonfotos, and will avoid folders with more than 10K photos going forward.

Stig

MacGuyver
F6 - would be nice if it was modified sligthly. Like I would like it to take all photos in a folder AND subfolders, and put it into “Year-Month -Describing text” where the describing text is the original folder name.I think this would be easily to navigate and not creating tons of pr.day folders.

Andrey

Stig Year-Month -Describing text

Yep, this improvement is one of the most demanded. However, it is very complicated. Requires program to UNDERSTAND what you meant by your existing strucure. Anyway, I have that in plans.