.bak file. Needed?

samlewit

Joined: 2002-10-12
Posts: 37

Posted: Tue, 2002-10-22 04:51

This isn't really a problem, but I couldn't figure any other category to put this in.

I have a LARGE gallery. It seems that all the the album.dat.bak files are taking up a good amount of space. I'm maxxed out with my web hosting service, and searching for things to get rid of. Can I delete or save these .bak files on my local machine? Are they needed? If I delete them, will a new one be made again the next time I change something? Can I turn this off? What are they for?

Thanks
Sam

beckett

Joined: 2002-08-16
Posts: 3474

Posted: Tue, 2002-10-22 06:06

Hi Sam.

I haven't checked with Bharat on this, but I believe the album.dat.bak file evolved out of a tendency for LARGE albums (such as the ones you say you have) to lose the album.dat file entirely in certain cases (read: yikes! :eek. It is also there to make sure that if something goes wrong when the album.dat file is being written back to, you won't be up the proverbial creek.

So the answer is yes, you can probably erase the .bak file, but it'll be regenerated any time you change something in that gallery. You could erase this feature, but I really wouldn't recommend it, as you could fall victim to this magical disappearing act mentioned above.

Also, how huge are your albums? I looked at some big albums in my gallery, and the albums.dat file was only a few hundred kilobytes, comparable to a single large photo. Are you sure this will save space? How about making all of your photos smaller? (I'm working on a small script to do that... let me know if you'd be interested when it's done).

Cheers,
-Beckett (beck@beckettmw.com)

bharat

Joined: 2002-05-21
Posts: 7994

Posted: Tue, 2002-10-22 21:02

Beckett took the words right out of my mouth :smile:

samlewit

Joined: 2002-10-12
Posts: 37

Posted: Wed, 2002-10-23 04:04

Well I guess you're right... just kind of desperate. I count just about a megabyte of .bak files under albums. I've got a 200MB limit and I'm at 198.8.

My images are already too small as it is, so I don't really want to make them any smaller. I guess what would make more sense would be to do get rid of some of my less spectacular photos.

Thanks guys!

Sam

alindeman

Joined: 2002-10-06
Posts: 8194

Posted: Wed, 2002-10-23 15:14

As Beckett said, you can delete it, but I would recommend downloading a local copy to your local harddrive every once in a while, especially after a big update.

samlewit Joined: 2002-10-12 Posts: 37	Posted: Tue, 2002-10-22 04:51
	This isn't really a problem, but I couldn't figure any other category to put this in. I have a LARGE gallery. It seems that all the the album.dat.bak files are taking up a good amount of space. I'm maxxed out with my web hosting service, and searching for things to get rid of. Can I delete or save these .bak files on my local machine? Are they needed? If I delete them, will a new one be made again the next time I change something? Can I turn this off? What are they for? Thanks Sam
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beckett Joined: 2002-08-16 Posts: 3474	Posted: Tue, 2002-10-22 06:06
	Hi Sam. I haven't checked with Bharat on this, but I believe the album.dat.bak file evolved out of a tendency for LARGE albums (such as the ones you say you have) to lose the album.dat file entirely in certain cases (read: yikes! :eek. It is also there to make sure that if something goes wrong when the album.dat file is being written back to, you won't be up the proverbial creek. So the answer is yes, you can probably erase the .bak file, but it'll be regenerated any time you change something in that gallery. You could erase this feature, but I really wouldn't recommend it, as you could fall victim to this magical disappearing act mentioned above. Also, how huge are your albums? I looked at some big albums in my gallery, and the albums.dat file was only a few hundred kilobytes, comparable to a single large photo. Are you sure this will save space? How about making all of your photos smaller? (I'm working on a small script to do that... let me know if you'd be interested when it's done). Cheers, -Beckett (beck@beckettmw.com)

bharat Joined: 2002-05-21 Posts: 7994	Posted: Tue, 2002-10-22 21:02
	Beckett took the words right out of my mouth :smile:

samlewit Joined: 2002-10-12 Posts: 37	Posted: Wed, 2002-10-23 04:04
	Well I guess you're right... just kind of desperate. I count just about a megabyte of .bak files under albums. I've got a 200MB limit and I'm at 198.8. My images are already too small as it is, so I don't really want to make them any smaller. I guess what would make more sense would be to do get rid of some of my less spectacular photos. Thanks guys! Sam

alindeman Joined: 2002-10-06 Posts: 8194	Posted: Wed, 2002-10-23 15:14
	As Beckett said, you can delete it, but I would recommend downloading a local copy to your local harddrive every once in a while, especially after a big update.

.bak file. Needed?

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