Excluded external library files are still deleted when trash is emptied

[DracoC77]

The bug

After creating some folders I meant to exclude from the Immich with a wildcard, I forgot to add the exclusion rule to the external library settings before scanning and realized I had accidentally imported files I didn't mean to.

I then added the exclusion rule and re-scanned my external libraries, and the files in the excluded folders were moved to the trash with the "assets no longer available" warning message... so far so good...

When I went to the trash to remove all of the dangling files that were in my excluded folder, I got worried that when I emptied the trash, it would still delete all of these files (instead of leaving the files in the external library folders alone). Sure enough, after emptying the trash on all the files that had the "assets no longer available" warnings, all of the files in those folders were deleted as well.

A bit of a corner case scenario, but may need to consider how to handle excluded directories AFTER a scan has aleady been done on those directories

The OS that Immich Server is running on

Docker in Unraid

Version of Immich Server

v1.121.0

Version of Immich Mobile App

n/a

Platform with the issue

• Server
• Web
• Mobile

Your docker-compose.yml content

n/a

Your .env content

n/a

Reproduction steps

1. Scan an external library path with a folder meant for excluded files
2. Add exclusion criteria for that folder
3. Re-scan external library with new exclusion criteria
4. Go to trash and empty trash on assets in the excluded folder
5. (Check folder that immich as deleted the files in folder)
   ...

Relevant log output

No response

Additional information

No response

[tsvetkovv]

Thank you for the warning! I encountered the same use case and fortunately saw your post before proceeding. Here's my workaround

1. Scan an external library path with a folder meant for excluded files
2. Ensure your trash bin is empty
3. Re-scan the external library with the new exclusion criteria
4. Verify that the trash is populated with the excluded files
5. Modify docker-compose.yml: Add :ro (read-only) flag to the mounted volume with external library
6. Restart Docker containers:

   docker compose down
   docker compose up -d

7. Sanity Check: Remove something from the trash and verify if it persists in the external library
8. You'll need to select and remove files individually as the "Empty Trash" button is non-functional in this scenario
9. Remove ro from the docker-compose and restart containers

[pvonahsen]

I think i had the same issue.
Added a folder to an external library, then decided to put the folder in a seperate external library, and deleted the duplicates from Immich. Now, (when the trash was deleted automatically) I just lost 16.000+ files.

[avwuff]

This just bit me in the ass also. Immich should never, ever delete files from external libraries -- what a crazy idea.

[DracoC77]

This just bit me in the ass also. Immich should never, ever delete files from external libraries -- what a crazy idea.

Personally I like that Immich can manipulate external libraries as I use it to cull pictures from my library.

Maybe the default docker compose documentation should recommend :ro argument for read only as a default for most users unless they are sure they are ok with the risk of quirks like these?

Also continuing to find and close these corner cases will be important too!

[per-review]

I just discovered this too by accident (but missed this issue and reported a duplicate #20372, sorry!).

Could the job deleting photos from external libraries be made to respect the exclude patterns already set?

[ayalavalva]

This is absolutely INSANE. This should not be considered normal behavior, and it needs to be changed immediately. Adding an exclusion path to a library and rescanning it should only remove the corresponding Immich assets and database records, and should certainly not delete the photos from the external library.

[cholero00]

What I've noticed is that after "solving" the problem like @tsvetkovv proposed (with my computers web-browser), the later excluded files from the external library remain in the trash on my mobile phone (with same immich-user; on iPhone). Deleting and re-installing the app did not help, so I guess the trash list is on the immich server stored seperately for mobile devices (or even iPhone only).