# Re-adding missing uploads to the database

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/re-adding-missing-uploads-to-the-database/152978>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [May 27, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/re-adding-missing-uploads-to-the-database/152978 "2020-05-27T15:42:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 9

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![satonotdead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/satonotdead/32/447830_2.png) [@satonotdead](https://meta.discourse.org/u/satonotdead)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 11:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/re-adding-missing-uploads-to-the-database/152978/9 "2026-03-13T23:44:35Z")

</div>

Okay, I solved it with Claude and a lot of praise. I’m sharing what I did in order to help anyone else with a similar or the same issue.

I’m not sure if that’s the most clever and optimal method to use, just the one that worked for me.

Please be careful and keep in mind that I’m not an expert but a novice always learning.

## The issue (S3 → local filesystem)

After migrating from AWS S3 to local FS, a lot of images displayed as `transparent.png`. The files was always on disk but Discourse couldn’t resolve them.

The root cause was a broken chain:

1. **Posts** with `upload://` short URLs (base62-encoded SHA1).
2. **Database** `uploads` mapping SHA1 → local file path.
3. **Filesystem** storing files named by their SHA1 hash,

The migration moved files to disk correctly, but no `uploads` DB records existed. Without a matching record, Discourse falls back to `transparent.png`.

## The solution (create records and rebake)

```bash
# Enter container
./launcher enter app
rails c

```

**Create missing upload records from orphan files:**

```ruby
dir = Rails.root.join("public", "uploads", "default", "original")
created = 0

Dir.glob(dir.join("**", "*")).select { |f| File.file?(f) }.each do |path|
  sha = File.basename(path, File.extname(path))
  next if Upload.find_by(sha1: sha)

  ext = File.extname(path).delete(".")
  relative = path.sub("#{Rails.root}/public", "")

  u = Upload.new
  u.sha1 = sha
  u.url = relative
  u.original_filename = File.basename(path)
  u.filesize = File.size(path)
  u.extension = ext
  u.user_id = -1
  u.save!(validate: false)

  created += 1
  puts "Created upload #{u.id}: #{sha}"
end

puts "Total created: #{created}"

```

**Rebake posts that reference restored uploads:**

```ruby
fixed_posts = 0

Upload.where(user_id: -1).find_each do |u|
  short = u.short_url
  next unless short

  Post.where("raw LIKE '%upload://%'").find_each do |p|
    urls = p.raw.scan(/upload:\/\/[^\s\]\)]+/)
    urls.each do |url|
      decoded = Upload.sha1_from_short_url(url)
      if decoded == u.sha1
        p.rebake!
        fixed_posts += 1
        puts "Rebaked post #{p.id}"
        break
      end
    end
  end
end

puts "Total rebaked: #{fixed_posts}"

```

**Regenerate missing optimized:**

After fixing the original files, we need to populate the optimized files (1X, 2X, etc).

> _Rake works in discourse container but not in rails console._

```ruby
rake uploads:regenerate_missing_optimized

```

## [OPTIONAL] Still missing optimized

If `rake uploads:regenerate_missing_optimized` did not solve all the file issues and there is still missing files:

```bash
# Enter container
./launcher enter app
rails c

```

```ruby
missing = 0
OptimizedImage.find_each do |oi|
  path = "#{Rails.root}/public#{oi.url}"
  unless File.exist?(path)
    missing += 1
    oi.delete
  end
end
puts "Deleted #{missing} broken optimized records"

```

Then exit rails and run again:

```ruby
rake uploads:regenerate_missing_optimized

```

## Safe rollback (just in case)

All created records use `user_id: -1` and `delete_all` skips callbacks so filesystem files are untouched. To undo:

```ruby
Upload.where(user_id: -1).delete_all

```

> _Previously used `destroy_all` by mistake and it triggered callbacks that moved files to tombstone._
> 
> _Recovered an individual one that I used to test and reframed my approach._

---

_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/re-adding-missing-uploads-to-the-database/152978)._