Memory card shows old thumbnail pics

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

In article <3a8na1F6abfjuU1@individual.net>, some guy <nospam@spam.com> wrote:
>My memory card frequently shows old thumbnail images yet when I open
>them they are the new ones that have replaced the old ones. I tried
>refreshing the Windows Explorer folder to no avail. If I modify the
>picture in any way the thumbnail shows the most recent version OK. What
>can I do to get the thumbnails to always display the most recent picture
>short of modifying them?

Well ... which program are you using to view the photos? (I
guess "Windows Explorer" based on one of your comments. But the
thumbnails are a function of the program you are using, not the CF card
itself. (Though the CF card *might* get the thumbnails written onto it
by the program. However, I would guess that it uses a local disk
directory of the thumbnails, instead of one in the CF card, since what I
think you said is that the images whose thumbnails are showing up have
*never* been on that CF card.

I don't use Windows for anything that I can do with other
systems, but I will describe what unix "xv" does about thumbnails.

When you enter the directory with the images, and hit the
"Update" button at the bottom of the window, it scans the current
images, and puts thumbnails in a subdirectory called ".xview". (Any
file or directory whose name starts with a '.' will not show up in a
directory listing, unless you add the "-a" (all) option, or unless
you are running "ls" as root, the superuser.)

Whenever you use xv itself to move images elsewhere, it
deletes the local thumbnail and creates one in the ".xview" directory of
where you are moving it.

However -- if you delete or move the images with another program
(e.g. command line operation), that other program knows nothing about
the ".xview" directory, so the thumbnails remain there.

But -- next time you fire up xv, it compares the thumbnails to
the images currently in the directory, and those which do not have
thumbnails get shown simply as a rectangle with "JPG" or "GIF" or
whatever in it until you refresh the thumbnails. So -- it never shows
stale thumbnails.

However, my camera assigns sequential numbers to the filenames,
so there is no chance of duplication anyway -- at least until I reset
the counter at the beginning of the year. (But a previous camera kept
reusing the filenames, and that did not create problems.)

So -- I would suggest that you either have to find the file or
directory which stores the thumbnails and delete it (it may be a hidden
file or directory, just as the ".xview" directory that xv creates is
hidden from the default directory listing format).

Obviously, if the thumbnails were getting stored on the CF card
itself, the solution would be to not just delete images from the card,
but to reformat it before taking new shots.

Good Luck,
DoN.
--
Email: <dnichols@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
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Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

>> My memory card frequently shows old thumbnail images yet when I open
>> them they are the new ones that have replaced the old ones. I tried
>> refreshing the Windows Explorer folder to no avail. If I modify the
>> picture in any way the thumbnail shows the most recent version OK.
>> What can I do to get the thumbnails to always display the most
>> recent picture short of modifying them?
>
> I suspect you're viewing the images directly on the memory card,
> rather than copying them to a folder on your hard drive.

Yes. Using a Dazzle USB card reader.

> This means
> that Windows Explorer is writing a hidden file (called Thumbs.db, I
> believe) for the thumbnails directly onto your memory card.

Yes.

> You're also, presumably, using the setting on your camera that
> re-starts image numbering every time you change cards, rather than
> continuing
> from where you left off.

Yes.

> This means that your camera is writing a
> file with the same name as one of your earlier files, but with new
> contents. But it doesn't know anything about the thumbnail database,
> so it just leaves the old thumbnail there.
>
> If you just delete the Thumbs.db file it will be re-created
> correctly from the most recent images.

Sounds logical. I'll try it. Thanks.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

> Or just switch of the creation of the Thumbs.db file in die Folder's
> Tools/Options menu...

Couldn't find it. Using Win 2000 Pro. Is it under File Types? Nothing
in there for .db files that I could see.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

> Sorry... I'm thinking of Win XP... It allows you to not create the
> Thumbs.db file in the Tools/Folder Options menu item under the View
> tab. One of those advanced settings. Not sure why 2000 would do it.

Well I just deleted the Thumbs.db file and poof - all the pics are the
latest. Thanks. Works perfect.