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IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0002481GeoSetterImage Datapublic2023-02-12 13:41
Reporterzava Assigned ToFriedemann  
PrioritynormalSeverityminorReproducibilityN/A
Status resolvedResolutionfixed 
Product Version4.0.41 beta 
Target VersionFixed in Version 
Summary0002481: What are _original image files?
DescriptionSince recent GS versions, I notice that files appear in the image folder named after the image file but with "_original" appended and no extension, such as
"imagefilename.jpg" along with "imagefilename_original"
It appears it is GS creating them after any image manipulation (assignment of coordinates etc).
I have checked that they are in fact image files themselves, and by adding an appropriate extension (such as .jpg) they can be viewed normally with any program.
They may be just some kind of leftover backup created when making changes, but I guess they should be removed once the operation is completed (otherwise you just consume a lot of disk space with "unknown" and unusable files that one is actually unaware of).
No such files seemed to appear with older versions of GS.
Is GS actually producing these files? What is the purpose of these files? Does it make sense to automatically erase them after change is done? Otherwise, they should be somehow accessible from the program (such as some kind of undo?)
TagsNo tags attached.

Activities

WilfriedB

2023-02-10 11:46

reporter   ~0004569

@zava it is not GeoSetter but ExifTool which creates the "_original" files under the covers. Recently, that is with any of the 4.0 Beta versions, it did not happen to me, but long time ago, after "something unexpected" happened, for example, the disk was not writeable or not available for a short time.
Just in case, here is a discussion on the forum for ExifTool on that topic: https://exiftool.org/forum/index.php?topic=5514.0

WilfriedB

2023-02-10 12:01

reporter   ~0004570

One more thing @zava: Did you check "Overwrite Original File when Saving Changes" under Settings->File Options ?

zava

2023-02-10 13:17

reporter   ~0004572

Thank you WilfriedB,
"overwrite original file" is not currently set. I cannot say how it was in the past years of use or if/when this changed, but NOW it was not set, although it makes sense that I had it set in the past.
I did set it and apparently an _original file was not created after a test edit.
But if so, how is it that changes were indeed (over)written in the original file?
Anyway, maybe it was just that simple?!

Thank you!

WilfriedB

2023-02-10 14:00

reporter   ~0004574

@zava not sure I understand your question correctly "But if so, how is it that changes were indeed (over)written in the original file?", but long ago, I did have situations where GeoSetter and/or ExifTool did crash while attempting to update files. After that, I did not find my file, but there was one with a different extension and after renaming it to .jpg it revealed my original image.
I'm not sure, but I believe even though ExifTool says "overwrite" in reality it creates a copy and than deletes the original. This certainly discussed somewhere in the ExifTool forum.

dydxdx

2023-02-10 15:15

reporter   ~0004575

Thanks @zava for bringing this up, and @WilfriedB for the background, and pointing out where the option setting is located. I found it very useful.

WilfriedB

2023-02-10 16:38

reporter   ~0004576

Thanks for the feedback @dydxdx good to hear! :)

ThunderBoy

2023-02-11 10:35

reporter   ~0004578

@zava @dydxdx It also happened to me when we were saving changes to the files and in the meantime our electricity was turned off a couple of times. I found some files corrupted (incomplete write). I had to delete them because exiftool was already throwing error messages when I did. I couldn't find the original files anymore. They were lost. As @WilfriedB wrote check the settings for each file type: Files > Settings > File Options and for each file the entry: Overwrite Original File when Saving Changes.

zava

2023-02-11 13:01

reporter   ~0004579

Thank you all,
most of what you wrote makes sense, but I must poin that in my case the _original files seemed to appear even when there was no crash and the regular files were appropriately modified with new values,
Seems exif did male safe copies, but then omitted to delete them...
Apparently, checking "overwrite" seems to remind Exif to delete...

xyzzy

2023-02-11 15:21

reporter   ~0004587

Exiftool does not work directly on files but on a copy by adding "_exiftool_tmp" to the file extension.
It keeps a copy of the original by default by appending "_original" to the extension.
This version is kept unless you add "-overwrite_original" on the command line.
What GeoSetter must surely do if the "Overwrite Original File when Saving Changes" box is checked.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2023-02-10 11:31 zava New Issue
2023-02-10 11:46 WilfriedB Note Added: 0004569
2023-02-10 12:01 WilfriedB Note Added: 0004570
2023-02-10 13:17 zava Note Added: 0004572
2023-02-10 14:00 WilfriedB Note Added: 0004574
2023-02-10 15:15 dydxdx Note Added: 0004575
2023-02-10 16:38 WilfriedB Note Added: 0004576
2023-02-11 10:35 ThunderBoy Note Added: 0004578
2023-02-11 13:01 zava Note Added: 0004579
2023-02-11 15:21 xyzzy Note Added: 0004587
2023-02-12 13:40 Friedemann Assigned To => Friedemann
2023-02-12 13:40 Friedemann Status new => assigned
2023-02-12 13:41 Friedemann Status assigned => resolved
2023-02-12 13:41 Friedemann Resolution open => fixed