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✅ 1. How much space digiKam uses

digiKam uses two things on your system:

A. The Database (the “brain”)

This stores:

• Tags

• Keywords

• Ratings

• Face data

• File locations

• Metadata

Size:

• Small to medium library → 200–800 MB

• Big library (100k+ photos) → 1–3 GB

• Extreme library (300k–1M files) → 3–8 GB+

So: the database is not huge compared to your actual photos.

B. Thumbnails / Previews

This is the part that takes more space.

Size estimates:

• 10,000 photos → ~1–2 GB

• 50,000 photos → ~5–8 GB

• 100,000 photos → ~8–15 GB

• 300,000+ photos → ~20–40 GB

Depends on:

• Thumbnail size settings

• If you allow digiKam to make full-size previews

• Image formats (RAW previews are bigger)

Quick math:

Most users end up with 3–12 GB total across database + thumbnails.

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✅ 2. Where you can store that data

You are NOT forced to keep digiKam’s database on your main system drive.

You can put it on:

• Another internal drive

• An external SSD

• A USB hard drive

• A NAS

• A backup drive

• Multiple backup drives (cloned)

This is 100% allowed and is common for large libraries.

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✅ 3. How digiKam’s data is organized (so you can back it up)

Everything important is stored in one folder, containing:

• digikam4.db (main database)

• thumbnails-digikam.db (thumbnails)

• recognition.db (face data)

• similarity.db (image similarity data)

• digiKam/ cache folders

• Any extra preview caches

You simply copy this folder to back it up.

You can keep:

1. Original location (working version)

2. Copy #1 on another internal or external drive

3. Copy #2 on a second external drive (off-site or kept safe)

This means your catalog can be cloned perfectly.

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✅ 4. How to move the database off your main drive (recommended)

Inside digiKam:

Settings → Configure digiKam → Collections → Database
Choose a custom location.

Put it on:

• External SSD

• Secondary internal HDD

• Large external archive drive

digiKam will then store EVERYTHING there.

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⚡ Recommended setup for you (based on your goal: privacy + redundancy)

Option A — Best overall

• Photos stored on external drive #1

• digiKam database stored on external SSD

• Backups on external drive #2

Option B — Maximum safety

• Photos on Drive A

• Database on Drive B

• Everything cloned to Drive C

This protects you from:

• Drive failure

• System crash

• OS reinstall

• Accidental deletion

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