Irene Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 Can anyone tell me what the thumbs.db file is/does? I notice it in My Pictures.Thanks. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coreper Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 that is a file which contains data about the thumbnails you see when, in your case, you view the my pictures folder in the "Thumbnails" view mode.it could be that this file contains images, or just the codes for making the thumnails > im not sure about that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Posted March 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 that is a file which contains data about the thumbnails you see when, in your case, you view the my pictures folder in the "Thumbnails" view mode. it could be that this file contains images, or just the codes for making the thumnails > im not sure about thatThanks Coreper. :) I also wondered what would happen if it were deleted. Sometimes there appears to be more than one in any particular folder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 Personally I would leave well alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 All of my picture folders have a thumbs.db associated with them. They are, as has been said, small files containing information about the thumbnail preview pictures you see various programs.I would leave them. Much damage can be caused by deleting files that you have even the slightest uncertainty about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Posted March 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 I wondered, if you had a situation where you deleted all the photos in a particular folder, leaving the thumbs.db file(s), could you then go ahead and delete them also? I suppose what I am saying is, are they related specifically to a certain group of pictures? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Posted March 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 Does anyone think that this is a safe method?.............Resolution for thumbs.db ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 I wondered, if you had a situation where you deleted all the photos in a particular folder, leaving the thumbs.db file(s), could you then go ahead and delete them also? I suppose what I am saying is, are they related specifically to a certain group of pictures? I see no problem with that, I usually delete the whole folder in that situation in any case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coreper Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 the thumbs.db file only works for the files where the thumbnails are made out of [though, sometimes windows messes them up ;) ]so if you would remove the pictures, the content of the thumbs.db file would stay intact, only it wouldnt be showed anymore [since there are no thumbnail previews]so it would be safe to remove the thumbs.db filei hope this answers your question Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Posted March 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 I see no problem with that, I usually delete the whole folder in that situation in any case. That's what I thought, but it's good to have another opinion. so if you would remove the pictures, the content of the thumbs.db file would stay intact, only it wouldnt be showed anymore [since there are no thumbnail previews]so it would be safe to remove the thumbs.db file Thanks Coreper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cozofdeath Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 I'm sure this post isn't need by now but you can delete it as much as you want. It will get replaced within seconds and it should cause no harm if you delete it. As Coreper says its cached thumbnails. Anything thats cached is basically a copy created to speed loading times or something in that fashion and can almost always be deleted. This is very similar to the prefetch topic. I don't know a lot about thumbs.db files but this is what I have found. Hope it helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Man Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 I'm sure this post isn't need by now but you can delete it as much as you want. It will get replaced within seconds and it should cause no harm if you delete it. As Coreper says its cached thumbnails. Anything thats cached is basically a copy created to speed loading times or something in that fashion and can almost always be deleted. This is very similar to the prefetch topic. I don't know a lot about thumbs.db files but this is what I have found. Hope it helps!Bingo. Thumbs.db is Microsoft's way of caching thumbnail images of any image or movie file in a folder. The idea behind creating a thumbnail cache is to improve the speed of displaying thumbnails the next time you open the folder by caching a set of thumbnails for the image and video files in the folder. If you haven't seen this file in your folders previously it's likely you didn't have Show hidden files and folders enabled. Deleting the Thumbs.db file simply deletes that cache, which is regenerated the next time you view the folder contents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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