Deleting Old Catalog.cocatalogdb Files
Hi I am new to this site and happy to be aboard. I have used C1 since 2014 and do not fully understand the backups. Correct me if I am wrong, please, my understanding is that cocatalogdb files do not contain the original images. Rather they conatain adjustments and metadata. What I want to do is delete all the old cocatalogdb files to conserve some storage space. Is there any harm done by deleting all but the most recent backup file? I understand I will not be able to go back to variants from those earlier dates but I do not believe I would need them. I hopefully only need the latest file. Please provide some direction I appreciate the support. Oh, am I correct that the images are stored in the files called Capture One Catalog.cocatalog? Why are the names of the image files and variant files so similar as to cause untold confusion? Thanks again
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Hi,
The catalog doesn't contain your images unless you have a managed catalog. The other alternative (referenced catalog) contains indeed only the adjustments AND the previews. The backuped catalogs don't contain the previews, which take a lot of GB. If you delete your catalog, Capture One will have to rebuild the previews of the images, but only the ones you want to work on.
Robert0 -
You can delete all your backup files and Capture One will still run.
However, they do not take up that much room. I would keep the last 30 days of backup.0 -
Thanks for your thoughtful replies. I am still not clear. Eric says I can delete all my backup files. Before I do that I need to be certain which files to delete. I assume these are the cocatalogdb files? Tenmangu81 says the backedup catalogs don't contain the previews, but if I delete the catalogs C1 will have to rebuild the previews? I am sorry but I don't get that. Please be specific with file names. Thanks for the help again. 0 -
Lets clarify what backup files there are.
Backups inside the Catalog File
A Catalog file isn't a simple file, its actually a bundle - which is a set of folders, which OSX shows, and manipulates, as a single object, a file. Most of us never need look inside a bundle, nor manipulate the objects inside.
You can look inside a Catalog "file" using Finder, by selecting the Catalog "file" and selecting Open Package. This shows the folders and files inside the Catalog file-bundle. here you will see a .cocatalogdb file and possibly some .cocatalogdb.backup files.
Unless you are trying to repair a damaged catalog, don't ever delete this .cocatalogdb file. Even then don't delete it, rename it. This is your working catalog database. The crown jewels, as it were. 😊
You can delete the .cocatalogdb.backup files without impact to normal function of your catalog (I have done it), but if there is only 1 or 2, I wouldn't bother. The marginal cost of magnetic hard drive storage these days is about $0.07 per GB (flash is about 3 or 4 times that); the 20MB .cocatalogdb.backup file inside the catalog on a flash drive is costing me less than a penny to store and provides some risk managment which is worth way more than the cost of storage.
Other Backup .cocatalogdb files
There are other backup files saved somewhere by Capture One, the location is defined in Capture One's preferences menu. here you will find a .cocatalogdb files[/b] stored in folders which are named for the date of the backup.
This is Capture One's regular catalog backup, done according to the schedule defined in Capture One's preferences.
You can delete all of these with no impact to Capture One, except that if you ever have a corrupted catalog file (actually the database is corrupted) then you will have no safety net.
I haven't bothered to clean these up, there's about 30GB of files here (using about $2 worth of hard drive space) that I might do something about someday.0
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