I’ve deleted the database(s) a few times and re-indexed my photo structure containing a total of about 25’000 image files. Different versions of DPL take different amounts of time.
- DPL v2: 25-30 minutes (measured over several runs)
- DPL v3: 25-30 minutes (measured over several runs)
- DPL v4: Several hours (measured once, never bothered to repeat)
In order to get a fresh database in DPL4, I go through the following steps
- Delete DPL v4 database files
- Backup DPL v3 database, wait until DPL launches again, quit DPL v3
- Delete DPL v3 database
- Launch DPL v3 and let it index the photo structure from its root folder (<30 minutes)
- Copy the DPL v3 database file over to where the DPL v4 usually resides
- Rename the DPL v3 database so that it looks like a DPL v4 database
- Launch DPL v4
When DPL v4 is launched, it reconfigures the database within 2 minutes.
When I then search in DPL v4, I find all files (of the photo structure) with DPL v4 search.
I cannot be sure if the “migration” works losslessly, but I’m not ready to wait until DPL v4 has indexed the structure. If there is a difference, it has not been significant yet.
Note that DPL is not my prod system. I use LrC to manage my photos.