Hey hey - do any of you savvy ACDSee users know how to transfer your database files from one computer to another?
Is this for a new computer? I normally run a database backup, specifying the name and location so I can easily find it. Then I copy the backup to my new computer and then after installing acdsee run a restore the database from the backup. You might need to do a little bit database management afterwards just in case the disk drive names are different.
@bestcee @Karen @Angela Toucan - I'm sorry to bother you during MOC, but my database has crashed. I tried restoring my backup, but it wiped out ALL my keywords/categories! (I almost cried.) It looks like I'm going to have to start all over again. Is there a way I can prevent this from happening again???? Should I tag my products with keywords? categories? Change over to Bridge? Any advice would be appreciated.
@DivaMom96 - as well as a back up the best thing you can do is embed the metadata into the files. I doubt it will fix the immediate issue but potentially prevent losing all your tagging details in the future. You might find some info that could be of use on a thread I did awhile back especially the first few posts that @janedee put up https://the-lilypad.com/forum/threads/gutted-acdsee.77512/
I totally get your pain, I've had issues more than once I hate to admit it so now everytime I exit ACDSee it embeds the metadata.....now all I need to do is get better at more regular backups of the database
Switching to Bridge is totally a "your decision" kind of thing. Personally, I don't like how much resources it takes because I often leave both Lightroom and Photoshop CC running when I scrap, and Bridge is one more RAM sucker. I embed my metadata upon exit, like Jennifer does. I've noticed that attaches to the files, and everything else can see it (assuming they can read the xml file or the metadata file). I noticed that when I add something that had the metadata embedded, ACDSee recognizes those keywords and adds them to my list. I think it recognizes the categories too, but I can't remember. I also have a reminder to backup my database once a week, on Mondays. Usually, if I do a ton of tagging, I will back it up, but if not, at least I'm not losing more than 1 week of work. Do you have an online backup? Like Backblaze or something? Is it possible the database is stored there? I know I've recovered Photoshop brushes and such from there, along with other random backend files. Other than that? I don't know how to help. I'm so sorry!
I will check Backblaze again tonight. I don't think that the tags were embedded, so that may be the issue. It's OK - probably time to clean everything out of my products folders, anyway. I didn't know about embedding, so that will save me a lot of headache in the future. I agree about Bridge, and that's why I stopped using it years ago. Thank you for your reply!
I did not know about embedding the metadata! Thank you; since it looks like I'll have to start from scratch, I'll do that as I go.
I'm so sorry that this happened to you. I sure wish I could help, but I don't use ACDSee.... I had it eons ago, like before I even did digital scrapbooking, but I've just relied on good old Windows Explorer to see my stash. It's definitely not perfect, but I'm too lazy to go back and tag my stash at least point. I'm glad you learned about the metadata now though, so you'll be good moving forward!