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DVPowell

Exhibit Path changed on new hard drive

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Well, I thought the file structure on my new hard drive was identical to my old one; but it turns out not to be the case. On my old drive my exhibits were in two folders:

 

C:\Documents and Settings\IBM User\My Docs\second site images

 

and

 

C:\Documents and Settings\IBM User\My Docs\second site text

 

Now, I discover my new hard drive has this structure:

 

C:\Documents and Settings\Diana Powell\My Docs\ second site images

and the same for the text folder

 

Naturally, TMG and hence Second Site can't find my images.

 

I tried running Validate File Integrity in TMG, ticked "look for missing external exhibits" and identified the two folders where they are now located. But after running VFI I just got a message saying there were no problems found. I wish :mellow:

 

Is it time to get PathWiz or is there a way within TMG or Second site to correct the pathways?

 

Thanks to all

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If you ran VFI with the two correct paths in the search, each image path should have been corrected. This didn't work? I have tested this extensively and have never seen it not work correctly. The message at the end of the VFI run has nothing to do with the exhibit search.

 

It helps to disable thumbnails when checking exhibit paths since thumbnails hide what is going on.

 

In any event, the external exhibits option of VFI should take care of your changed paths if each exhibit has a unique name and you entered the two paths where the exhibits currently reside.

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Jim, it doesn't seem to have worked. I went back and did it several times, making sure the 2 correct paths were listed in the box. When VFI runs it zips through the "searching exhibit files" part so fast you almost miss it.

 

I deleted the thumbnails, but I'm still not seeing the correct pathway when I look at properties for any of the exhibits and if I click on an exhibit I get the file not found message, also showing the old pathway.

 

Can you think of anything I might be doing wrong?

 

Thanks

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Diana,

 

I think the paths shown in the Exhibit Properties window may not be accurate in all cases. Anyway, I suggest you use TMG Utlity's Verify Exhibit Paths feature to confirm whether or not the VFI process worked.

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John, I ran Verify Exhibit Paths and got 381 entries similiar to this:

 

*NOT FOUND: Carpenter, Margaret (Ryburn), Event 31787 S2ImageExhibit P1=#2298 (Image) c:\Documents and Settings\IBM USER\My Documents\secondsite-images\ryburn\carpenter-margaret-ann-ryburn.jpg

 

And... even more frustrating, somehow I've also managed to lose all 3 of my .sdf files. I know they were in their proper place earlier as I was working with Second Site. Can you think of anything I might have done that deleted them without my realizing it?

 

I do have a back up copy of the 3 .sdf files. Is there any reason not to copy them back to the folder where they belong?

 

I'm still puzzled as to what I'm missing with VFI. The ONLY difference in the new and old file structure is that the folder that used to be called IBM USER is now called Diana Powell. I'm not sure why the computer "guru" changed it when he built my new drive and I can't ask until next week - maybe I can just rename it.

 

One other question: In TMG, under Preferences.Options.Current Project.Advanced is a box for Exhibit Folder. I have that as:

 

C:\Documents and Settings\Diana Powell\My Documents

 

I had been under the assumption that this was a place to designate your default storage spot for images added in TMG. Since I use 2 folders (images and text) I had ended the path with "My Docs". Could that have anything to do with my problem with VFI?

 

John and Jim, thanks for trying to help me with this and Happy Holidays to you both!

 

Diana

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Well, I thought the file structure on my new hard drive was identical to my old one; but it turns out not to be the case. 

Diana-

Is it possible that you reinstalled an older version of TMG to kick things off, and that the version you used does not recognize the file format of certain images?

 

Is it possible that you have edited certain images in a new Photo Editor application, or that you accidentally saved some of them them in a format of jpg that TMG does not recognize?

Good luck,

John

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. . . . . or is it possible that your jpg file associations are incorrect in Windows Explorer because you have not reinstalled your Photo Editor App?

 

. . . . . .or that TMG's internal photo search is looking for a particular Photo Editor as host server, and it is missing? Don't know how that is implemented on TMG, but . . . .

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I discovered why TMG's Validate File Integrity wasn't locating my missing exhibits.

 

The short answer: User Error

The full answer:

 

In my original post I stated that the 2 new pathways I entered in VMI's search field looked like this:

 

C:\Documents and Settings\Diana Powell\My Documents\second-site images

 

What I didn't mention (this is embarrassing) is that the second-site images folder contained subfolders. As soon as I reentered the complete pathways, including each subfolder, and reran VMI the process worked perfectly.

 

Can I blame this on trying to wrap presents, cook and work on TMG all at the same time?

 

I still don't know how or why I also lost my Second Site .sdf files, but I'll ask John about that at a later date. In the meantime I've restored them from a backup.

 

Thanks again to everyone who responded to my plea for help. I think I'll stay away from multi-tasking for awhile

 

Diana

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