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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteUsually, the image and video files can survive a gallery failure because they are stored separately from the web application. What may disappear is the database or index that records albums, captions, faces, users, search data and file paths. A database backup without the media cannot recreate missing originals, while a media-only copy may leave you with files but little of the organization the gallery provided. A dependable recovery plan therefore protects both layers, keeps copies independent of the gallery host and uses restore instructions for the exact application and version.
What actually exists in a self-hosted gallery
A self-hosted gallery is not one indivisible file. It normally combines original media, an application database or index, and generated support data. Each layer fails differently, so the result of an outage depends on which layer is damaged.
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These are the camera files or uploads: JPEG, HEIC, RAW, PNG, MP4 and other source assets. If the disk, share or object-storage location holding them is still readable, reinstalling the gallery does not inherently erase them. You can often copy those files with normal file-management tools even when the gallery interface is unavailable.
The database or index
The database records information such as the path to each asset, albums, people and places, edits, captions, user accounts and other application-specific metadata. It is the map that makes a folder of files behave like a searchable library. A database dump is not an image backup. Immich’s official documentation states: “Database backups do not contain photos or videos — only metadata.”
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Generated storage and configuration
Many galleries create thumbnails, sidecar files, previews, cache data, configuration files and job state. Losing these items can make a restored installation slower or less complete, but they are not always equivalent to losing the originals. Whether they can be rebuilt depends on the software.
| Layer | What it contains | If it is lost while the others survive |
|---|---|---|
| Original media | Unmodified photos and videos | The gallery may show records with missing assets, but no database can recreate the original pixels or video frames. |
| Database or index | Paths, albums, users and application metadata | Files may remain accessible, but albums, searches and other organization can be missing or incomplete. |
| Storage and configuration | Thumbnails, sidecars, settings and generated data | The app may need to regenerate previews or be reconfigured; recovery capability varies by product. |
Four ways “stops working” can play out
An application crash is not the same event as a failed storage device. Identify the failure before deciding whether your photos are at risk.
The container or server fails, but storage survives
If the host, operating system or application container is broken while the media volume is intact, the originals are usually still where they were. Repair or reinstall the application, then reconnect the existing media and restore the database or index from a backup. Do not format or initialize the media volume during troubleshooting.
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The database or index is lost, but originals survive
You still have the actual pictures and videos, but the gallery’s organization may not return automatically. Immich documents that it does not scan the library folder to reconstruct its database, so a surviving folder alone is not a complete Immich recovery. PhotoPrism documents a different path: with originals available, a rescan can recreate missing sidecars and thumbnails, and some albums or metadata may be recoverable from YAML exports when those automatic exports were enabled.
The originals are lost, but the database survives
The index can still list filenames and metadata, yet it cannot supply the missing image or video content. Immich’s metadata-only database backups make this limitation explicit. Recovery then depends on another media copy, not on the database dump.
Both the database and media are backed up
This is the situation that permits the fullest restoration. Restore the application version specified by its documentation, put the originals back in the expected location, restore the database or index, and regenerate support data only when the guide calls for it. A technically valid backup can still be unusable if the database and files represent incompatible points in time.
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What to include in a real backup
Use the following as a coverage test rather than assuming that an export button represents the whole library.
| Backup component | Why it matters | Minimum question to answer |
|---|---|---|
| Originals | Preserve the irreplaceable photo and video content. | Can I open a copied file without the gallery? |
| Database or index | Preserve paths, albums and application metadata. | Can I restore it into the same application version? |
| Storage folder | Retain thumbnails, sidecars and configuration that may save a lengthy rebuild. | Does this application document the folder as restorable data? |
| Independent destination | Protect against a host, disk, theft, ransomware or operating-system failure. | Is at least one copy outside the gallery machine? |
| Consistent point in time | Keep database paths aligned with the files actually copied. | Were both layers captured in a known order or while writes were paused? |
PhotoPrism’s guidance identifies the originals folder and a copy of the index database as the minimum, and recommends including its storage folder for thumbnails, sidecars and configuration. Immich similarly requires copies of uploaded assets as well as the database. These are application-specific instructions, but the underlying principle applies broadly: a media-only sync and a database-only dump are separate partial backups.
How to make the copy internally consistent
A gallery can write a new upload, thumbnail or metadata row while a backup is running. If the database copy references a file that was not yet copied, or the files contain an asset absent from the database snapshot, restoration can produce missing items or inconsistent records.
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- Pause writes when practical. Immich recommends stopping the server during backup because this gives the database and filesystem a stable point in time. Also pause upload clients and background jobs that can create or modify assets.
- If you cannot stop the service, copy the database first. Immich’s documented fallback order is database first and filesystem second. This order reduces the chance that the backup database refers to files absent from the subsequent media copy.
- Record what was captured. Note the application version, database version, media root, backup date and whether the service was stopped. Keep checksums or file counts where your tools support them.
- Keep more than one destination. Immich recommends a 3-2-1 strategy: three copies, on at least two kinds of storage, with one copy kept elsewhere. An external drive can be one destination, but a single drive is not a complete strategy if it is the only copy.
Immich-specific implications
Immich separates original, unmodified assets from generated content. Its current backup guidance identifies UPLOAD_LOCATION/library, UPLOAD_LOCATION/upload and UPLOAD_LOCATION/profile as critical original-content folders. The exact location can differ in configured or older deployments, so verify the value of UPLOAD_LOCATION in your installation rather than copying those path names blindly.
Immich stores file paths and user metadata in its database and does not scan the library folder to rebuild that database. Consequently, preserving the folders without preserving the database can leave the files present but the gallery’s albums, search and account structure absent. Conversely, an Immich database backup contains metadata only, so restoring it without the corresponding assets creates references to files that are not there.
Check the version before restoring. Immich states that its backup and restore process changed in version 2.5.0. A backup made under an older release should be restored using the manual instructions for that matching version, not by mechanically applying the newest procedure.
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PhotoPrism-specific implications
PhotoPrism’s minimum documented set is the originals folder plus a copy of the index database. Its recommended storage folder holds thumbnails, sidecars and configuration, reducing the amount of work required after a rebuild. If that supporting data is absent but originals remain, the documentation describes a complete rescan to recreate sidecars and thumbnails.
PhotoPrism also documents human-readable YAML exports for photo and album metadata. Those files can help recover some organization if the index database is unavailable, provided automatic backups were not disabled. They are not a replacement database: editing a YAML file does not, by itself, change what the application displays. The database remains the primary metadata store, so use the application’s documented import or restore process after recovering the files.
Recovery procedures by failure type
1. Rebuild after an application or host failure
- Preserve the existing media volume. Make a read-only copy or snapshot before attempting repairs.
- Identify the exact application and version that created the backup.
- Install the documented version in a clean environment without pointing it at an empty directory that could overwrite the originals.
- Restore the media to the path expected by the application, or update the configuration to the restored path.
- Restore the database or index using that version’s official procedure.
- Restore the storage folder when the guide supports it; otherwise allow the application to regenerate thumbnails and sidecars.
- Verify several known albums, the newest uploads, original-resolution downloads and user accounts before declaring the recovery complete.
2. Rebuild after database loss
- Make a safety copy of the surviving originals before scanning or modifying them.
- Restore the database backup if one exists; this is the route most likely to retain the original organization.
- If no database exists, follow the application’s documented indexing or scanning process. Do not assume that every gallery can infer its former albums from folder names.
- For PhotoPrism, check whether YAML exports are available and whether automatic exports had been disabled; use them only through the supported recovery workflow.
- For Immich, plan for a database-level restoration rather than expecting the library folder to repopulate the application automatically.
3. Recover after media loss
- Restore the originals from an independent media copy before importing anything into a new gallery.
- Restore the database or index only after the files are in the paths it expects, unless the application’s guide specifies a different order.
- Compare file counts and sample checksums to detect an incomplete media restore.
- Treat any records that still point to absent files as a media-backup problem; changing database paths cannot recreate the missing content.
Test the plan before an emergency
A backup is only useful if you can restore it. Periodically build a temporary gallery instance or spare host and practice with a subset or a full copy, depending on your risk tolerance. Confirm that the database opens, originals download at full resolution, videos play, albums appear, captions and dates are present, and the application can generate any missing previews. Measure how long the process takes and write down commands, mount points and credentials in a secure runbook. Keep the test environment separate from production so an experiment cannot damage the live library.
Common mistakes that create false confidence
- Backing up only the database: this preserves records, not the image and video bytes.
- Backing up only a media folder: the files may survive while albums, search and user metadata do not.
- Assuming RAID is a backup: redundancy can help with a disk failure but does not provide an independent historical copy or protect against deletion and corruption.
- Copying live data indefinitely: an always-running service can change the database and filesystem during the copy, producing an inconsistent pair.
- Following current instructions for an old backup: version changes, such as Immich’s change in v2.5.0, can make a procedure inappropriate.
- Deleting originals after import: generated thumbnails or a gallery database are not substitutes for the source files.
- Never opening a test restore: an untested archive may be incomplete, unreadable or missing permissions when you finally need it.
A practical decision checklist
- Can you locate the original media root without the gallery interface?
- Do you have a recent database or index backup from the same period as the media copy?
- Are the application’s storage and configuration folders included when the documentation recommends them?
- Is one copy independent of the gallery host and protected from the same failure?
- Do you know whether the service was stopped, or which copy order was used?
- Have you recorded the application version and tested a restore?
- Would you know which albums or metadata might be unrecoverable if the index is missing?
The files themselves are often more resilient than the gallery interface, but resilience is not the same as recoverability. Protect the originals and the database/index as separate assets, capture them consistently, retain an independent copy, and follow the version-specific restore guide. That is what turns a broken self-hosted gallery into a repairable outage rather than a permanent loss of your library’s content or organization.
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