Hi Sebastian, please ignore my last post about how to change file_column.rb, I''m using a different strategy this time: now I have my photo model set this way: require ''RMagick'' class Photo < ActiveRecord::Base file_column :image, :thumb before_validation :resize_image private def resize_image @magick_image = Magick::Image::read(image).first l = @magick_image.change_geometry(''250>x250>'') do |w, h, img| img.resize(w, h) end l.write(image) self.thumb = @magick_image.change_geometry(''100>x100>'') do | w, h, img| img.resize(w, h) end end end the resize for the main image works fine, but when trying to do the same for the thumb field, I get undefined method `size'' for #<Magick::Image:0x7c1feec> /lib/file_column.rb:139:in `thumb='' /lib/file_column.rb:129:in `thumb='' /app/models/photo.rb:19:in `resize_image'' /app/controllers/photo_controller.rb:29:in `upload'' script/server:49 i''m a little confused as for why I have to use l.write(image) instead of just doing self.image = @magick_image , and I figure that for the same reason self.thumb = @magick_image also doesn''t work... but when I try l.write(thumb), i get nothing, not even errors :P hope I''m making sense here... thanks Oliver