While I am very appreciative of your efforts to help me with a database flush, I have no doubt that any attempt on my part to try this would quickly end in a digital ditch which DXO would quickly walk away from citing my voiding the warranty!
It is disheartening and not a little frustrating that I have purchased a product with so many insoluble (by less than average tech savvy user) problems. Buying into a different edit program is not just some dollars wasted, but the huge amount of time needed to gain a happy workflow. Took a trial period peek at PS this week (which I abandoned a few years ago to take up PL). It in no way resembles anything I recall from the version I left off with . All overtaken by AI supported options. So, start from square one there also.
One last thought. If I totally deleted the DXO folder and downloaded a fresh PL 9.5, would the database be cleared for a fresh start?
Total indexing time currently ranges from 9 to about 18 minutes for an archive of 25k image files, 25k .dop and about 15k .xmp sidecars containing keywords etc..
I measured times with PL 7, 8 and 9 on macOS Sonoma, Sequoia and Tahoe on a 2019 iMac and a 2020 M1 MacBook Air. Currently, indexing is quicker on the iMac than on the MBA, where some runs take 12 hours.
Note that indexing can stop when the Mac goes to sleep. In order to keep it going, set energy saving sliders accordingly or open the terminal and type “Caffeinate” followed by the enter key. To stop the coffee, press ctrl-C when Terminal is the active app.
What I mean by that is that I don’t organise my shots by keywords or metadata, I have them in individual folders in Windows / Explorer and when I want to edit (that set of shots) I navigate PhotoLab to it, wait for it to load everything up and then get to it.
Does the database in any way speed up that process? Is there something I can do to get it to index my overall “Photography” folder directory and all of the individual years contained therein and… presumably benefit from it having done that, rather than loading up whatever folder it is when I come to it in the future?
Maybe: If there’s a database from an earlier version of PL, PL9 will import it. It’s way easier to just delete the database files as mentioned above. But it’s a good idea to let PL make a backup of the DB ahead of trashing the DB files.
IMPORTANT: Everything I do is on Mac. On Win, things might be different, but anyways, it’s your decision to do whatever you do with whatever hard- and software is yours.
CAUTION: Deleting the database (be it just that or with a complete remove/install) can cause loss of edits and metadata if they have not been saved in sidecar files.
PS is completely different from PL. If you’re looking for a pro grade alternative for PL, check out Capture One (kind of $$) and Lightroom Classic. Note that “pro grade” refers to reliably managing images and metadata.
While adding keywords and using refined searches seems superfluous when you’re young, it definitely pays to add keywords and descriptions for later use.