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boots_9182
Participant
October 24, 2025
Answered

External Backup?

  • October 24, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 228 views

Greetings All,

I will be downloading Photoshop 2025 this weekend to start my graphics journey.  For years, I've worked with Paint Shop Pro, and still have that and PS Elements on my computer.  

My question is; would it be a good idea to have an external back up device for Photoshop?  Once I get some actions, workplace settings ect, I don't want to lose them.  If so, can someone suggest a good backup decvice?

 

 

Thanks In Advance!

Correct answer D Fosse

I assume you have a backup for your files on disk? An external drive is fine for that.

 

Actions can be saved out to .atn files, brushes to .abr files, and so on. Keeping these in a safe place is sound practice. They are then easily reloaded in the application from the respective panel menus.

 

All of this stuff is in your Windows user account, in Users > Your name > Appdata > Roaming > Adobe > Adobe Photoshop (version). Inside is a folder called Adobe Photoshop (version) Settings. You can copy this whole folder if you like. Personally I don't do this, because most problems you might encounter are caused by corrupt preferences, and since you don't know which component, I'd rather rebuild from scratch. I do keep actions/custom scripts saved out, the rest can generally be recreated quickly.

3 replies

davescm
Community Expert
davescmCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 24, 2025

On the subject of backups, if your application, PC set up, and most of all your work files are important to you then you really should devise a back up process for your entire PC. I mention work files as they are the hardest to recreate.

There are many applications available to back up a PC, I use Macrium Reflect X. I have it scheduled to create a full back up once a month, a differential back up once a week (i.e what has changed since the last full back up), and an incremental back up daily (i.e. what has changed since the last back up). That way I can step back to any point in time in the back up set and restore anything from a single file to the entire PC. I use a large external disk for back up and disconnect it except for back up time. Although Reflect encodes its files so that malicious access is in theory prevented, nothing can access them if the back up disk is disconnected.

It really is worth it for peace of mind and fast restoration whether file loss is caused by a system crash, malicious software, or user error. 

Dave


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boots_9182Author
Participant
October 24, 2025

Ah!  Very good, thank you Dave!  This is what I was talking about; although I wasn't very clear...

D Fosse
Community Expert
D FosseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
October 24, 2025

I assume you have a backup for your files on disk? An external drive is fine for that.

 

Actions can be saved out to .atn files, brushes to .abr files, and so on. Keeping these in a safe place is sound practice. They are then easily reloaded in the application from the respective panel menus.

 

All of this stuff is in your Windows user account, in Users > Your name > Appdata > Roaming > Adobe > Adobe Photoshop (version). Inside is a folder called Adobe Photoshop (version) Settings. You can copy this whole folder if you like. Personally I don't do this, because most problems you might encounter are caused by corrupt preferences, and since you don't know which component, I'd rather rebuild from scratch. I do keep actions/custom scripts saved out, the rest can generally be recreated quickly.

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    boots_9182Author
    Participant
    October 24, 2025

    I see your point.  Thanks for the information!

    Ged_Traynor
    Community Expert
    Ged_TraynorCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 24, 2025

    @boots_9182 it's a good idea to have backups, it's really up to you as to where you store the backups, whether it's local, external or the cloud, the important thing is that you're creating backups of your important files

    https://helpx.adobe.com/ie/photoshop/using/preset-migration.html

    This is my system backup process, I even backup my backup 🤣

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      boots_9182Author
      Participant
      October 24, 2025

      LOL...I'm working on that too....so paranoid!  (I already lost a bunch of settings, scripts, ect. by a sad excuse for a technician when I needed computer repair...that was from the many years I worked with Paint Shop Pro).🤬

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