Picasa photo viewer trouble shooter how to#
Picasa photo viewer trouble shooter update#

When Picasa tries to access the contents of db3, Windows points Picasa to the actual location of db3 without Picasa actually knowing that it’s been redirected. We can move our db3 folder anywhere we want, and put a symbolic link in its place. Whereas regular shortcuts, take you to another location on your computer, a symbolic link will open the shortcut as if it’s not a shortcut at all. What is a symbolic link?Ī symbolic link is a ‘super shortcut’. The solution instead is to use symbolic links. It is technically possible to change the location of this, but not recommended. The Picasa db3 folder is saved within the LocalAppData folder.

Picasa photo viewer trouble shooter how to#

But with no settings in Picasa to choose the database location, how can I do this (without breaking anything!)? How to move the database The solution therefore was to try and move the db3 folder to my second drive.

Picasa photo viewer trouble shooter update#

It was trying to update the database into a full drive. It would make sense that Picasa was crashing. It was with some help from WinDirStat that I found the problem – the db3 folder was the only data hog I couldn’t account for. This is what apparently happens when your drive is full, and my C drive was full. Contemplating a full reinstall, I headed to Windows Explorer, and noticed that the ‘free space’ bar on the C drive had actually disappeared. Every time I started it, it was sluggish, and crashed within minutes. The other day, Picasa finally gave up on me. My computer’s C drive is only a 120GB SSD, and this space matters. The trouble is that, with large libraries, the database can grow to several gigabytes or even more. This database also saves thumbnails for all the faces found when Picasa scans for faces. Troubleshooting the database (aka I ran out of space!) Open the Run dialog ( Win+R), type %LocalAppData%, and press enter.This data is saved in a folder in your AppData folder, called db3. In order to feel snappy, Picasa uses a database to cache the thumbnails and metadata of all the photos in your library. This article looks at the Picasa database, the problems with it, and how you can move the database anywhere else on your computer. In the background, it uses a database to store information about your library. Picasa is an excellent photo library and batch photo editor.