* HDD crash

[sailor842]

don't know if this the correct place but, here goes.
My HDD crashed. lost the program but all of my documents were saved to another drive. Full FH project backups.
I reinstalled the program & restored data. OK so far.

Media shows only as place holders. see image.

How do I restore? do I have to do it one by one? I hope not.

[tatewise]

The crucial question is where were your media files stored (and backed up)?

They can't have been stored in the Project internal Media folder or they would have been included in the FH Project Full Backup and restored with the GEDCOM data.

Your screenshot doesn't show the Media Folder & Filename columns to the right of the Links column.
They specify where FH expects to find your media files on the HDD outside the Project folder.
Can you please supply those Folder & Filename paths and explain why your media files are not stored there?
Have you copied all those media files back from the other backup drive?

If you have copied all those media files back onto the new HDD then try the Tools > External File Links... command and the Auto Repair Links button.

If those media files were on the HDD that crashed, and you did not create an external backup for them such as on OneDrive, then I'm afraid they are all gone.

[sailor842]

The media is on an external drive and was not lost or moved.
I am able to move replacement images to the media folder but they do not link.
I guess that I will have to manually redo the media files.
I did add 2 images and as can be seen they are next to the placeholders.

I did try the auto repair links without results.

How do I backup with media?

[tatewise]

To fix problems like this please focus on the information that I ask for.
Please do not experiment with other alterations to media. It may nake matters worse.

Please be very precise when describing what you have done.
You say you are able to move replacement images to the media folder ~ what media folder is that?
If you still have all the media files then a manual redo is not needed. Just focus on my advice.

Your screenshot doesn't show the Media Folder & Filename columns to the right of the Links column.
They specify where FH expects to find your media files on the HDD outside the Project folder.
Can you please supply those Folder & Filename paths. That is where you must put your media files.

You must copy the media files back from the external drive onto the HDD that replaced the crashed HDD so they are back where they were before the crash.
I assume the replacement HDD has the same drive letter as the crashed HDD had.

I will repeat the above. The Folder & Filename columns of the FH Media Window identify where you must put the media files that you copy from the external drive.

[sailor842]

where do I find the Media Folder & Filename columns. I did remove the 2 pictures from my last screen grab.
Was there a tutorial I should have watched?
BTW: thank you for the help.

[tatewise]

In both your screenshots there is a horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the lefthand pane. Drag it right.
Alternatively, use the central vertical 7 dot grabber and drag that right.
Either will reveal more columns in the Media Records pane.

Otherwise, open the Records Window and on the Media tab there will be the same Folder & Filename columns.

There may be two separate columns for Folder and Filename or they may be combined into one column.

[sailor842]

both file name & folder columns are empty as shown.

I do have a backup from 4 months previous but I don't know if that will be of any help.

[tatewise]

Well, that explains all the broken links and why they cannot be repaired! I wonder how they all got deleted?

In the Project use File > Backup/Restore > Revert to Snapshot... and try reverting to a GEDCOM Snapshot.
Does that recover any Folder or Filename links?

You claimed to have "Full FH project backups."
What form do they take?
They should be compressed files such as FH Project Backup - barnie families - 2024-02-28 2318.fhbak
How many do you have?
They must be restored using File > Backup/Restore > Restore Backup...
Each one will create a different Project with a suffix such as barnie families (2) or barnie families (3) so they can be compared. Do any recover any Folder or Filename links?

[sailor842]

My oldest backup: FH Project Backup - barney_foss 2017 (10) - 2023-08-20 0456. It is a ".fhbak" file. which I installed.

The media results are the same.

[tatewise]

I really do not understand how you ever had any Media images displayed if there are never any File links
Anyway, it is not the oldest backup you need but a more recent backup.

When you say you installed the .fhbak file, do you mean you used File > Backup/Restore > Restore Backup...?

Presumably, Revert to Snapshot is no better and Tools > External File Links... lists nothing at all?

If you cannot find any other backups, including Windows backups, then you will have to manually relink them all.

One last thing to try. Use Windows File Explorer to navigate to the folder and GEDCOM file:
...\Family Historian Projects\barnie families\barnie families.fh_data\barnie families.ged
Right-click barnie families.ged and choose Properties then open the Previous Versions tab.
It may say working on it for a while and may offer some backup versions that you can try.

[sailor842]

It appears I will have to manually re-enter all of my images. That is what I expected.
At least I know which of my ancestors had images attached.

I did revert to my most current back-up and entered an image as though it were a new entry. That did work.
I also see how to remove placeholders.

It's only 570 entries (sigh) but I am the one who caused the problem.

Thanks again for your help....jack

[tatewise]

I suggest you open the Media Window with View All Media and work on one Media record at a time.
Use the View button to disable Thumbnails and show one Picture at a time as illustrated below.
Click on the File name missing link and Manually search for file to navigate to the file.
That will repair each File link without inserting any unnecessary placeholders.

image.png (123.8 KiB) Viewed 325 times

[sailor842]

That will shorten the time needed. only 569 to go. thanks

[sailor842]

Thanks for your help.
I have now re-linked all of the data and have made a new backup.

The question I now have is this: did FH just link a data file and if I move or change a media file will it respond with a lost file indication? (which is what I expect)

Is there a way to make a backup with data AND a copy of all of the media files?

As an aside, when I started to re-link the media files I found that I had a horrible mess. Files scattered all over my HDD's and in some cases 7 or 8 iterations of the same file.
So, having this program fail did (in my case) have an upside.

[tatewise]

What the repair process does is enter the Media file path & name into the File field of the Media Record in the Project database and that is saved with all the other data records.

The actual Media files exist separately in Windows on your HDD. If you move or rename a Media file in Windows, the FH Media Record will indicate a broken link with a large X. You will then have to undergo a similar repair process to fix the File link.

If you plan to make a significant number of Media file changes like that, please ask for advice as there are several alternative methods.

Regarding backups, you should have a generic backup regime for ALL your sensitive files and not just FH data.
To include Media files along with the FH Project Backups then all the Media files must be held within the Project folder structure. Conventionally that is within the Media folder in the <project>.fh_data folder.
See FHUG Knowledge Base Backup and Recovery for details, which include making a backup of all your customisations of Diagrams, Reports, Queries, Facts, Plugins, etc, etc.