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Vixlo 0.1

The card is not safe to format

When an import ends, its last panel says whether the card is safe to format. Vixlo says so only when every file on the card, not only the photographs, has two independently verified copies on two different drives, and no part of the card went unread. Anything less and the panel says what is missing. Vixlo never formats a card itself. Endings where a copy failed or the import stopped are on An import that stopped or did not verify.

Every file copied, and no second copy​

The title reads Import complete and the message Every file was copied and checksum-verified. Add a second independent copy before erasing the card. When the card also held files the library already had, it reads Every new file was copied and checksum-verified, and the 10 already in the library were found there unchanged. Add a second independent copy before erasing the card.

Nothing went wrong. The library is whole; the claim about the card is not made because no backup was chosen. On the Review this import sheet, Backup — a separate drive read Not chosen. Choose a folder on a different drive there before you press Start import, and the import makes the second copy as it goes.

For a card you already imported without a backup, scan it into the same library again with a backup chosen. Start import counts the files the library already holds, the import checks each one's copy and copies it to the backup, and when every file has its two copies the title reads Import complete — safe to format. Scanning a card again has the steps and the full sentence.

Files that are not photographs​

Vixlo copies photographs: RAW, JPEG and HEIC. Video, XMP files that sit beside photographs on the card and every other kind of file stay there, and while any of them is only on the card, the card is not safe to format. The panel names them by kind, with the XMP files as sidecar files, for example 3 videos and 2 other files on the card were not copied — copy them yourself before formatting the card.

The finished import panel reading Import complete, with the sentence naming the videos and other files that were not copied.

They count wherever they are on the card, not only in DCIM: a Sony or Panasonic body's clips under PRIVATE and a camera's own catalogue files are named too. What counts as the card has the rule, the few files it leaves out and what "the card" means for a folder that is not on a card.

With a backup chosen, the message opens Every photograph reached two independently verified copies, but the card is not safe to format. Without one it opens Every photograph was copied and checksum-verified. and ends Add a second independent copy before erasing the card. Copy the clips and the other files off the card yourself, in the Finder; Vixlo does not copy them or check your copy.

In Vixlo 0.1

Copying those files yourself does not change what the panel says. Vixlo cannot record your copy, so the next scan lists them again as not copied, and a card that holds any file Vixlo does not copy never reads safe to format. That includes a camera's own catalogue files. Copy them, open the copies to check them, and decide on your own judgement whether to format.

Part of the card could not be read​

The review shows a row headed Part of the card could not be read before anything is copied, and the last panel carries the same sentence, for example Part of the card could not be read (1 folder and 2 files) — nothing there has a copy, so the card is not safe to format. The Mac could not list a folder or read a file, so what is there was never seen. The photographs the scan could read are imported as usual, and the panel says so. With a backup chosen and every file copied to it, it opens Every photograph the scan could read reached two independently verified copies, but the card is not safe to format. and then gives the sentence about the unread part. Without one it opens Every photograph the scan could read was copied and checksum-verified., gives the same sentence, and ends Add a second independent copy before erasing the card.

Reseat the card or try another reader or port, then scan it again with a backup chosen. If the row is gone from the review, the files already in the library are checked and copied to the backup, and the panel can read safe to format. If the same part cannot be read again, keep the card. What counts as the card has the rule.

Frames that still point at the card​

The panel can end with 2 frames an earlier version of Vixlo catalogued on this card do not match the photographs now at their places (capture time, camera and settings), so they were not merged: they keep your decisions and still point at the card. It is about frames an earlier build of Vixlo catalogued on a card, not the files you just imported, and it does not withhold safe to format. Most often those frames came from a different card mounted at the same place. If you still have that card, scan it into this library to bring them inside; Scanning a card again says how.

Closing the sheet before the end​

Continue to culling puts the copied photographs into the library's catalog. Close and Esc leave without doing that.

  • A new library, and Cancel. If you press Cancel on Review this import, Close on Couldn't scan that source, or Esc, before any photograph has been copied, Vixlo takes back the library the wizard just made: it leaves the launch screen, and its folder is removed if it is still the empty one Vixlo laid down. A folder with anything else in it is never touched. Make the library again to start over. Once a photograph has been copied in, closing a sheet never forgets a library.
  • Close instead of Continue to culling. The copies are in the library's Originals folder but not in its catalog, so they do not show on the cull page. For a library made with Create library, its row on the launch screen reads No photographs yet with an Add photographs button.

A library row on the launch screen reading No photographs yet, with the Add photographs button.

Nothing is lost. To bring the copies in:

  • Scan the same card again and press Continue to culling this time. A file already in Originals with the same bytes is recognised as the same file, verified again, and joins the catalog.
  • Or rebuild the index. With the library closed, open the More menu on its row and choose Rebuild the index…. It reads Originals into the catalog and works with the card gone. It keeps decisions, ratings, labels and adjustments but not favourites or the undo history; Rebuilding the index has the list.