In my initial post to the community I included a screenshot of what I was seeing when I went to clear my cache. I am wondering which cache to clear? Do I clear everything under Common or one of the specific folders under that (Media Cache, Media Cache Files, or Peak Files)?    I read in another discussion post that the only cache file that you may want to delete is the thumbnail cache in your catalog (thumb.5.cache) and that it could be found from the Help menu in the organizer, section System Info.   What about clearing the media cache?   I'm also curious if others have found that by clearing the cache, you have better performance? ... View more

@Greg_S. I haven't been told I need to in order to import .heic files, but I'm hoping it'll help. It typically imports them but occasionally will give me an error in the uploader - not sure why. Refreshing my thumbnails could take a bit, but I could let it run overnight. The other reason I wanted to clear the cache: 1. Hoping Elements will run a little faster and populate some thumbnails that I have an image in but appear as a broken thumbnail file. 2. Hoping to free up a little space  3. Get rid of any junk in the there I don't need   If you've not done it but would make a recommendation, which files should I clean out (Media Cache, Media Cache Files, or Peak Files)? ... View more

@Greg_S. ok, thanks! ... View more

I tested your theory and I am able to drag/drop a thumbnail into the reply box on this forum (using Microsoft Edge; Chrome doesn't work). Disappointing that it's not likely compatible between Adobe and Mpix, but thank you for walking me through it. I appreciate your knowledge and help. ... View more

@Greg_S. I mentioned that I needed to give myself admin priveledges to be able to install Camera Raw version 15. Do you recommend I set my security priveledges back (they were at 'read' and 'read & execute') or is it recommended or okay to 'allow all' under Properties | Security?  ... View more

@Greg_S. your advice has been so valuable and I have been able to restore many old photos. Thank you so much! I have a couple of follow up questions from this process. 1. Before I did any restore processes, I zipped and then copied my catalog file from my internal C drive to a hard drive, unzipped it, and had it available in case anything went wrong. Thankfully the restores went well and I didn't need to use it. My question is, should I keep this catalog file on my external drive (Elements is still backing up to the original location on my 'C')?  Where is the recommeneded location to keep the cataloge file? 2. I restored a half a dozen TLY Files and I believe I saved one of the TLY Files incorrectly because now when I open my drive I have thousands of Bxxx.XMP files which have to populate before I can access any folders. My question is, can I move these .XMP files, can I delete them, do I need to delete the Restore Backup and do it again? (I have provided a couple of screenshots of what my folder tree looks like) 3. Do I need to keep any of the Restore Backups if I got what I needed from working through that process? 4. Do I need to keep any of the Backup.tly files if I got what I needed from the restore process? ... View more

I did as you mentioned and held onto the files longer, but I am still getting the same result. I attached a couple of pictures of what it looks like on my end. When I select the thumbnail I get a red circle with a line through it, but when I drag those thumbnails over to an album, the cursor changes to a plus sign and I'm able to drop the thumbnails into the album. However, when I try to drag these same thumbnails over to the Mpix upload area and drop them, nothing populates. I did reach out to Mpix and over the last week we've tried different steps and everything is working on their end. Their tech support believes it is something on Adobe's end. Are there any admin priveledges or settings I need to change? ... View more

Thank you ... View more

I'm following you, yes - thank you. That worked and I was able to get a batch of .raw files in editor all changed from 16 bit to 8 bit without having to do one at a time.  ... View more

Thank you Greg, I was able to find the setting as you explained. I am able to make changes in the quick edit without getting the pop-up, however, I am still having to acknowledge the pop-up with any additional filters or edits done in guided or or expert. Am I missing a step?   Also, is there a way to batch files after import from 16 to 8 bit? ... View more

I was running 14.1 but thanks to your archive.org link I was able to get this installed (after having to give myself admin priveledges) and can now upload the .raw files from my Canon L6. I am having a new issue in the editor, however. I am getting a pop up that says, "Could not perform the requested action because Photoshop Elements provides only limted support for files with 16 bit color depth. Do you want to convert the image to 8 bit?" I'm getting this pop up with any edit I try to make. Whether I convert to 8 bit or not, my edits are not taking place. When I click the 'undo' button, it does undo the action taken, although no change was made. If I do not click to convert the depth, I get a nonfunctional icon that appears where the functional icon would normally appear. Any idea on what might have happened with the Plug-In being installed? ... View more

I have PSE2022 and recently got a Canon R6. I am unable to upload my raw files even after following the instructions above and rebooting Elements. When I'm in Elements Editor and navigate to the file to open, it shows in the drop down that .CR3 is supported, however I'm still getting this message -  "Could not complete your request because it is not the right kind of document." ... View more

Will PSE2022 update in the same way. I, too, just purchased a Canon R6 and my raw files are not uploading into Elements. ... View more

Yes, I have a date range of those I know were lost, and those files were in folder location by date. ... View more

How would you suggest I complete the other Restore catalog processes since I do have more saved backups from over the years. Do you recommend I look through one restored catalog at a time? Any other workflow process that you would recommend? Should I restore all of them to a new location (being the same new location for all)? ... View more

@Greg_S. said Please explain what you mean when you say your L and M drives are set up as redundant drives. Are they set up as a RAID drive? And if so, what kind of RAID? If this is not a RAID configuration, how are you keeping the drives in sync?   I have a NAS with two redundant drives. They are set up as Synology Hybrid RAID (SNH). Below is a link describing what SNH is. The 'L' and 'M' drives don't refer to any actual physical drives. They're just drive letters that are virtually mapped to my NAS. So all they do is provide me a way to access the files on my NAS. I haven't run into any performance issues, but what should I be watching for? https://kb.synology.com/vi-vn/DSM/tutorial/What_is_Synology_Hybrid_RAID_SHR   @amyvegte said:  Since I’m wanting to recover the actual images, do I need to get those from the .tly files instead? I have multiples of those on my external HDD/L drive.   A .tly file is a very small file that contains imortant information about the backup.  So, yes, if you have any hopes of recovering the lost files from a backup, you must restore these backups.   So that I understand, is the .tly files the file that contains the photos that get restored? The .psedb20 has only the catalog information store (i.e. tags, face rec, etc) and the same with the .buc file?   I've completed the first RESTORE and CONVERT backup and it was sucessful. I have several more backups I could also restore to check for missing photos. For the sake of the workflow process, I'm wondering if it would make sense to do all of the restore backups and then once they are all completed, through File Explorer copy/drag the file structures into the individual folders (this would allow me the opportunity to avoid copying over any duplicate files), and from there look at just one full file structure and do the bulk import from that? ... View more

1. I agree on the extraordinary amount of time it took! I did NOT copy any of my photos; only the My Catalog folder. Could it be because the zipped folder was being extracted from my external HDD/NAS which I have on another level of my home? Below I have explained better the drive letters I use.    I went to the PSE2022 default location for My Catalog on my internal HDD/C drive and zipped that folder, copied the zipped folder to my external HDD/L drive (I have two external HDD on my NAS that have been set up as redundant drives - I treat the 2 drives as just one External HDD although one is named L and the other M).  Below is a hierarachy of my internal HDD/C drive. It still appears this way. I have not deleted anything.   Below is what is inside the unzipped folder I copied over from my internal drive/C drive to my external HDD/NAS      I'm wondering if I need to do the FULL BACKUP through the organizer and then re-do what I've just completed doing (which was zipping the catalog file, moving it, and unzipping it)? IIRC, the whole point of this exercise was to A. Restore an old backup to see whether some lost photos could be recovered, and B.  Make sure you have complete backups of your full catalog so that you can easily recover from a failed hard drive. If you make a full backup, you will have both the photos and catalog to restore.  This is different than simply copying the catalog folder.   Personally, I do not use the Organizer's backup facility because it is too slow and prone to error.  I therefore, keep copies of the catalog folder on different drives (using the zip/unzip process) to speed the copying.  I also copy my photos to different drives and use a utility to keep the photos synced between the drives.  I keep the folder structure the same.  So, in the event of a hard drive failure, I can simply open the copied catalog and rename the drive letter of the copied photos drive so that the catalog will think they are in the same location as the failed drive.  I have just run out of room on my media drive and am waiting for a new much larger drive to be delivered.  I will then copy the old photos to the new drive and give that new drive the same drive letter as the old one.   Correct, that is my goal and I was copying over the My Catalog folder from my internal C to my external L in case something went wrong. I have not made a full backup copy of My Catalog for quite some time now. I have also found the Organizer’s backup too slow. I instead have two external drives (L & M) that I have in a NAS. I have L & M set up as redundant drives. I save all of my photos to the external drive L and do the occasional ‘auto backup’ when exiting PSE (which I understand only backs up the database files and is being done to the default location on my internal C drive (I’ve got a copy of that database on my external L drive now after this process). I can access all drives on my computer. I, too, keep my folder structure the same (using Year < Month < Day file structure) and have done the copy and reassign drive letter process. I have made full backups over the years but since moving my photos onto the external L drive and setting up the redundancy, I have not done a full backup. Should I be doing a full backup so I’ve got both the photos and catalog or keep doing what I’m doing? 2. I found several different catalog files on my computer (.pse20db, .psedb, .pse13db). Is it possible I might be able to retrieve old photos lost from a failed drive from previous catalogs? If it is possible, how do I go about using these .pse files and should they be used in a particular order? Do the different catalog files found all need to be converted? The catalog files are presumably within catalog folders.  These are the main database files. The number within the file name denotes which version created the catalog.  From Elements 2018 to Elements 2023, the numbers skipped the dates.  So, in your case, the file catalog.pse20db was created by Elements 2022.  The numbers now follow the calendar years. It is unlikely that these old catalogs will help you find the missing files, since the photos are probably in a different location than when the catalog was in use.  But if the full catalog folder is available, you might be able to use the technique I mentioned previously and take a snapshot of the single image view thumbnail of what will be a missing file in the Organizer. In order to open the catalog, in your current version of the program, go to File>Manage Catalogs and click the Convert button.  You will then navigate to the catalog folder and the old catalog should then be listed.  Select the catalog and click the Convert button in the navigation dialog.  The catalog will be converted to that version and a copy of the old catalog will be saved. Ok, I think I understand what you’re explaining. I’m not quite following what you mean when you say ‘the catalog files are presumably within catalog folders’ – are you saying that each of these .psedb contain only database files? If so, then perhaps these catalog files are no longer pertinent as I have done upgrades over the years and previously converted them (at least I think I have; hard to remember). Is there any harm in re-converting them to check out what you previously mentioned and take snapshots of single images? Guessing that they can then be deleted from my internal C drive or is it important to keep these? Since I’m wanting to recover the actual images, do I need to get those from the .tly files instead? I have multiples of those on my external HDD/L drive. 3. I have images named B000XXX, etc in 'My Catalog'. What did I do wrong in previous RESTORE processes to get these low quality images in 'My Catalog' and is it still possible to find/retrieve the higher quality version of images if they are still on my computer? Files named with a B00 prefix are the backup copies of the original files in the backed up catalogs.  If these are old files, perhaps they were not high resolution to begin with.  The old files were high resolution files to begin with. Is there a way to get the actual original files back or am I stuck with the backup copies? Are these backup copies what is contained in the .tly files? Can I try to retore the .tly files and would that overwrite these B00 backup copies? 4. I've found multiple .tyl files on my computer. I didn't name these well (some I did; others not). I'd like to see if I have photos I've lost from the hard drive fail years ago in any of these .tyl BackUps. Can I do a RESTORE of all these .tyl files? Do they have to be done in a certain order (I have 14 dating back to 2008)?  Yes, you can restore every backup you have made to see whether it contains the lost photos.  But, make sure that you are not overwriting any files.  I think I would start at the latest and work my way backwards.  If you always had your photos in a single catalog, any missing photos will be in the backup you created just before the hard drive crash. Ok, and this brings me back to the full circle of what I’m hoping to do to find some of these old files. First, I have had multiple catalogs in the past. That is no longer the case, but in the past, I had several catalogs I worked inside of – found the initial workflow logic to be a nuisance and went back to having it all in one catalog. This is where I get anxious with the PSE program. How do I stay away from overwriting any of the files? You said I can do the restore of these .tyl backups  inside my current ‘My Catalog’ and that it will not mess up my current ‘My Catalog’ but recommended I move my database file to an external drive which I did (that was the 3wk process of zipping, moving, and extracting). I’m wondering if I should do some type of full back up or if what I’m doing, as described above, is adequate and won’t cause loss of tags, etc, etc? 5. I have a second catalog 'My Catalog 1'. Should I try to do a Backup and RESTORE of this catalog into 'My Catalog' (the one I'm currently using) to see if there are ay missing photos I can retrieve on it ('My Catalog 1')? This doesn't make any sense.  You should open the My Catalog 1 (using File>Manage Catalogs).  If necessary, the catalog will be converted to your current version of Elements.  If the lost files show up in the catalog, they will appear as missing (unless the lost files were stored in a second location that Catalog1 is looking at).  If the lost files are missing here, there is no point in backing up the catalog to find them. Should I just delete the ‘My Catalog 1’? Any reason to keep it? 6. Can two seperate catalogs in the organizer be merged into one? No. Ok, thank you!   I'm also including a screenshot of my PSE2022 System Information, the old .tyl files and .buc files I've fund on my external L drive in case that helps. I do not have as many .buc files as .tyl files, and I'm guessing that will also be an issue with retriving these lost images?   ... View more

Hello, the process of zipping the 'My Catalog' folder from my computer HD, copying it over to my external NAS drive, and unzipping it onto my extral drive has finally completed itself (taking 3 weeks). Now that it's over there, I've been re-reading the next steps. I stopped at this step as I wanted to clarify something here as well as understand some processes better: 1. I'm wondering if what I just spent time doing has moved my entire catalog in case of any issues during this process? Upon exiting PSE22, I occasionally do the "auto backup" of my catalog structure which always pops up when exiting the program. I realize that this does not back up any photos/videos. I have these photos/videos stored on my external HD. I'm wondering if I need to do the FULL BACKUP through the organizer and then re-do what I've just completed doing (which was zipping the catalog file, moving it, and unzipping it)? 2. I found several different catalog files on my computer (.pse20db, .psedb, .pse13db). Is it possible I might be able to retrieve old photos lost from a failed drive from previous catalogs? If it is possible, how do I go about using these .pse files and should they be used in a particular order? Do the different catalog files found all need to be converted? 3.  I have images named B000XXX, etc in 'My Catalog'. What did I do wrong in previous RESTORE processes to get these low quality images in 'My Catalog' and is it still possible to find/retrieve the higher quality version of images if they are still on my computer? 4. I've found multiple .tyl files on my computer. I didn't name these well (some I did; others not). I'd like to see if I have photos I've lost from the hard drive fail years ago in any of these .tyl BackUps. Can I do a RESTORE of all these .tyl files? Do they have to be done in a certain order (I have 14 dating back to 2008)?  5. I have a second catalog 'My Catalog 1'. Should I try to do a Backup and RESTORE of this catalog into 'My Catalog' (the one I'm currently using) to see if there are ay missing photos I can retrieve on it ('My Catalog 1')? 6. Can two seperate catalogs in the organizer be merged into one? ... View more

Greg, first thank you for your continued help. I could not do this alone - you are such a valuable resource in this community!   Ok, this is what I've done: In 'My Catalog' I've reconnected all missing files (there were none). I've repaired and optimized 'My Catalog' (no problems but repaired anyway). I've backed up my program and closed it. I checked my hard drive for enough free space (we're good here) and then went through Windows File Explorer on my hard drive to the Catalogs folder default location (confirmed through Help>System Info) and right clicked on 'My Catalog' folder and told it to create a Zip folder under the "Compress to" option. Once the 'My Catalog Zip' is created, I will copy that file to my external drive (use NAS for this).   Once that file is copied over, I will delete the 'My Catalog Zip' created on my hard drive. I'll then reopen PSE and use my current 2022 version of Elements to perform the restoration of the catalog, working through the prompts of Restoring ‘My Catalog’ to a New Computer via the burned DVDs I found (and in the order they were burned). This procedure found in this HelpX article you provided. I’ll use the third option listed (restore to new location with original folder structure). These DVDs (backed up on a prior version of Elements) will be converted to the current version of Elements. I’m planning to put this on my external drive (NAS). I have all my photos on my NAS and since they’ll be coming off my DVDs, they will be restored to a different location than what they were originally stored on.   When I open Elements 2022, ‘My Catalog’ will open by default and will have all my current files visible and available to me. I will not need to create a new catalog for the restoration of my backup before beginning the Restoring (I hope I have that right that I can work right inside of ‘My Catalog’ for this step), and nothing will be overwritten if I select a new location for the restored catalog (planning on restoring to external NAS). The restored catalog is an entirely separate catalog from my current catalog (‘My Catalog’). The restoration aids my getting back the lost photos. The DVDs will be stored in the new location on the external NAS and can be imported into my latest catalog (‘My Catalog’). The backup will restore a copy of my old catalog in its condition at the time it was backed up. Once the photos are restored (and I should not have any duplicates imported), I will bulk import them into my existing ‘My Catalog’ (I have a backup of my current ‘My Catalog’ if something goes astray). I still question this part as I don’t fully understand how I will bulk import a catalog that is restoring to the catalog I want to bulk import into. Once I restore the backup, I should be able to identify which folders contain the missing files (I organize by date) and will be able to import these missing photos into my current catalog ‘My Catalog’. Will I somehow do this import via the “Tree View” and if I have blank folders that contain photos that should be in the catalog, I will right-click on them and select Import Media to import any files that are not already in the catalog?   After all of this has been completed and I move the imported files under the date structure I have, I believe I will want to do another backup through Elements to my Program Data’s default location (which, if I understand correctly happens automatically as I close my Elements program and select the backup prompt). If this is all correct and once I’m finished, are there any files I’ve created that can be deleted? Should I be able to delete the new “restored to” location for the backup I created during this process?   Please correct ANY mis-steps I have outlined above. I do not plan to move forward until I’m certain of what I’m about to do. Honestly, makes me very nervous. ... View more

Below is a screenshot of my Windows folders. I am running Windows 11. I did reconnect all missing files prior to the attempted backup, however I did not to the Repair and Optimize. That has now been completed on "My Catalog". I will run these on the "My Catalog 1 Old Version" next. ... View more

Also, this is what My Catalog and My Catalog 1 Old Version properties look like. Should I copy both? ... View more

I had started the backup with the Elements Backup feather before receiving your last message but it has since aborted at 7% after 4 days of running, so I will try to do it as you mentioned above instead. I currently have all of my photos on an external drive and my current catalog folder on my hard drive (I've copied my system information below and am wondering if you see anything in the information that I should take note of or clean up).  Also, do you recommend I back up my current catalog folder to an external drive since it's currently on my computer's drive? What about my photos? Should I back those up to my computer hard drive since they are already on an external drive?  I've not done a zipped folder before. I don't suppose you can walk me through that?   One thing I want to mention since I'll be backing things up differently is that I am not entirely sure if I have all of my photos on my external drive. Some may be on my computer's hard drive. I've always wondered if there is a way to check the photo locations of my files (other than looking at each one individually)? I've not done a zipped folder before. I don't suppose you can walk me through that? I could look it up on Google too.  ... View more

I work on searching up a service, thank you.   Just to be sure, restoring this old DVD backup (it's probably 8 years old) into my existing 'My Catalog' of over 300k images isn't going to overwrite the work I've done over the past years or bring my current 'My Catalog' back to a state of 2015? I do organize by date.    I will get a back up of my current catalog started. ... View more

Greg, I still have the crashed drive and would love to try a service to retrieve the photos. If you have any you could recommend, I would grately appreciate it.   Thank you for your reply! This give me hope! Would you recommend I create a new catalog before beginning this process? I would then have 3 catalogs which is fine but just checking if I should proceed with a fresh catalog? And to be sure I'm at the right stop, is the below image pointing to where I should begin?   If this works for me, my next step according to what you have above is to bulk import them into my existing catalog. Is there something online that takes me through this process?   If this all works, the second catalog will not be of importance to me. I've only kept it in case I can ever retrieve these files. I appreciate your final thoughts on if my old catalog contains thumbnail previews. I will certainly consider this! I am so hopeful! Thank you for your reply!  ... View more

I should also state that over the years I have upgraded to new versions of PSE, I have replaced my computer twice (thus a couple of hard drives later), and I have moved images from being stored on my C drive and external hard drives (that have failed and froze) over to a Disk Station where everything I have is now secure. Also, over the years I went from using multiple Catalogs to one catalog (called My Catalog). I do have another Catalog inside of PSE 2021 called 'My Catalog 1 old version'. I'm not sure if I did the full back up while using this Catalog or some other Catalog now no longer there. I feel confident working inside of 'My Catalog' but I don't know what to do with 'My Catalog 1 old version' and furthermore don't know if I should be trying to access the Full Catalog Restore DVD's that I believe might hold some of the images I lost years ago. Or maybe I need to create a new Catalog to restore these DVD's to? I don't know if that is even a possibility. I just don't want to mess anything up and I clearly don't understand the complexity of the PSE program I'm using. If anyone knows how to help me, I will really need a step by step of what I should do. Thank you to whoever might be able to help me. ... View more

I did the complete backup. ... View more