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Can I access photoshop elements from multiple devices?

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
August 15, 2020
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I work in two different locations seasonally. If I download photoshop elements can I access it on up to 4 different devices in two different locations?

How to

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MichelBParis

Legend

@Neb1

Where to store your catalog folder and your photo/media files 'externally'?

I did not mean on a SD card nor on a USB stick, even if that would work for a small library. It's the same for the external media to be used for backups: the most used solution apart from Cloud or Network is to use a small external USB drive (conventional or SSD).

For instance, a 50€ conventional drive for 1 TB is all I need for my 800 GB library.

- for safety, I need to store my backup folder on a different device than on the one with the mater library. I have a separate USB drive for that. Otherwise, I could use Cloud or network solutions.

- I need a different USB drive to store the current catalog folder and the media files folders externally and plug it alternatively. I have chosen an SSD external drive which is a bit more expensive, but smaller and easier to carry with a laptop. I don't really see the difference in speed because what is important here is your RAM size and your scratch disk choice.

How to get what I call your 'library' (media/photo/video files folders) together from your main desktop to the external drive?

Do a full backup to a new backup folder, logically on the separate external USB drive reserved for that purpose. If you don't have such an external drive, create a dedicated folder on your desktop if you have enough space.

- Do a restore from that backup folder to the final common/shared external drive, in custom location. My advice is to create a master folder just under the root of the drive. Now, keep in mind that you have not moved, but copied/replicated the catalog/library on your desktop. It's still there and can be kept as a kind of backup, knowing that both that there is no 'Sync' no 'update' of one from the other. Or you can delete the original catalog/library to recover disk space.

- Be sure to set Windows to recognize the shared external drive with the same letter.

What's the advantage of sharing alternatively the same catalog and files over 'syncing'?

None of the alternative syncing solutions you have stated in your previous posts do work for me. I assume it's generally true for other users, but I am not competent enough to find a way to make them work.

I don't know myself of any way to 'sync' two installations in real time. Doing a full backup and restore is possible, but in my case, that requires many hours of night processing and twice the time of a simple full backup.

Real 'syncing' apps have the advantage of monitoring the state of each file in both catalog locations and to update only what is needed. For instance, just after 'duplicating/copying' the catalog and files to the shared external drive, both installations are 'in sync' for the file folders but what about the catalog folders?

The restore has fortunatelly updated the links in the shared catalog, allowing management of the shared files, but that means that the updated catalog folder is different from the original one. If you try to 'sync' both catalog folders, you get the same result as copying one catalog folder. For instance, you want to 'sync' the shared catalog after an editing session on the shared installation. If you sync or copy the updated catalog to the desktop, all links will refer to the media files on the shared drive, not on your desktop (even if you have synced the media files themselves). As explained earlier, the difference between the updated and original catalog is in the 'volume_table' of the main sqlite database, catalog.pseXXdb.

Let's consider the situation just after 'replicating' the catalog/library to the shared drive and performing an editing session on the shared drive.

- The original desktop version works as before, ignoring the updates.

- The share version is updated.

Where can a syncing software help now ?

Syncing the media files for my 800 GB files requires only several minutes (not hours) to update the original files on the desktop. Excellent backup for the files themselves.

For the catalog syncing the catalog folder itself will work... with all links to the files pointing to the shared drive. No problem if the shared drive is plugged in, but what if it is no longer available?

So the requirement here would be to update the 'volume_table' in the database to be able to use the synced catalog with the synced back files on the desktop.

Neb1

Known Participant

@Neb1
Where to store your catalog folder and your photo/media files 'externally'?
I did not mean on a SD card nor on a USB stick, even if that would work for a small library. It's the same for the external media to be used for backups: the most used solution apart from Cloud or Network is to use a small external USB drive (conventional or SSD).
For instance, a 50€ conventional drive for 1 TB is all I need for my 800 GB library.
- for safety, I need to store my backup folder on a different device than on the one with the mater library. I have a separate USB drive for that. Otherwise, I could use Cloud or network solutions.
- I need a different USB drive to store the current catalog folder and the media files folders externally and plug it alternatively. I have chosen an SSD external drive which is a bit more expensive, but smaller and easier to carry with a laptop. I don't really see the difference in speed because what is important here is your RAM size and your scratch disk choice.
By @MichelBParis

Of course, an external hard drive can also be an option for some users. For me personally, it is a ok option for at home, but a very bad option for travelling. For me, it is very important to put my laptop on my lap, without power supply cord and external drives etc. and read-write access the lib. Hence, my choice for a micro SD card.

Am I right, that the only drawbacks compared to an external hard drive is the price tag and maybe reliability (covered by higher backup frequency as described in my first posting ("More focus on backups needed as external storages appear to have a higher failure rate and are easier lost (encrypt the storage).").

How to get what I call your 'library' (media/photo/video files folders) together from your main desktop to the external drive?
Do a full backup to a new backup folder, logically on the separate external USB drive reserved for that purpose. If you don't have such an external drive, create a dedicated folder on your desktop if you have enough space.
- Do a restore from that backup folder to the final common/shared external drive, in custom location. My advice is to create a master folder just under the root of the drive. Now, keep in mind that you have not moved, but copied/replicated the catalog/library on your desktop. It's still there and can be kept as a kind of backup, knowing that both that there is no 'Sync' no 'update' of one from the other. Or you can delete the original catalog/library to recover disk space.
- Be sure to set Windows to recognize the shared external drive with the same letter.
By @MichelBParis

Thank you, I think this is clear.

If you sync or copy the updated catalog to the desktop, all links will refer to the media files on the shared drive, not on your desktop (even if you have synced the media files themselves). As explained earlier, the difference between the updated and original catalog is in the 'volume_table' of the main sqlite database, catalog.pseXXdb.
By @MichelBParis

Gotcha, my proposal is just the other way round: Not modifying the colume table in the catalog, but giving both PCs the same "internal serial number" / "volume ID" of their hard drives (cf. this thread, of course care has to be taken whether any other application would be confused by this in the same as Elements would be; I think after a clean install of the OS would be a good point in time to change the serial number of the hard drive), as well as same drive letter and volume name. The catalog should then work on both volumes, shouldn't it?

I think, the tricky part is catalog modifications on both laptops, especially those triggered automatically by Elements, if there are any? If not, I think it should be manageable to not edit the catalog from the second laptop before having synced the first one.

So I would assume that syncing conflicts of the catalogs are likely to appear sooner than later - can anybody confirm or wipe away this concern?

MichelBParis

Legend

@Neb1

Where to store your catalog folder and your photo/media files 'externally'?

I did not mean on a SD card nor on a USB stick, even if that would work for a small library. It's the same for the external media to be used for backups: the most used solution apart from Cloud or Network is to use a small external USB drive (conventional or SSD).

For instance, a 50€ conventional drive for 1 TB is all I need for my 800 GB library.

- for safety, I need to store my backup folder on a different device than on the one with the mater library. I have a separate USB drive for that. Otherwise, I could use Cloud or network solutions.

- I need a different USB drive to store the current catalog folder and the media files folders externally and plug it alternatively. I have chosen an SSD external drive which is a bit more expensive, but smaller and easier to carry with a laptop. I don't really see the difference in speed because what is important here is your RAM size and your scratch disk choice.
By @MichelBParis

Of course, an external hard drive can also be an option for some users. For me personally, it is a ok option for at home, but a very bad option for travelling. For me, it is very important to put my laptop on my lap, without power supply cord and external drives etc. and read-write access the lib. Hence, my choice for a micro SD card.

Am I right, that the only drawbacks compared to an external hard drive is the price tag and maybe reliability (covered by higher backup frequency as described in my first posting ("More focus on backups needed as external storages appear to have a higher failure rate and are easier lost (encrypt the storage).").

How to get what I call your 'library' (media/photo/video files folders) together from your main desktop to the external drive?

I have very rarely seen organizer users using anything else than external drives except for very small libraries. Also, my advice is to avoid USB sticks or cards as backup media: I have seen mysterious problems arising later linked with the description of the volume. Those sticks or cards are considered 'removable_media', not 'builtin_drives', and that seemed to make backups fail afterwards.

I have also seen recently on the Lightroom forum that travelling pros did 'paste' the very thin SSD external drive on the back of their laptops. Not necessary for me, I mainly switch between desktops. I have never had an external drive failure, but I know that it should happen some day and I rely on a number of other disks as backups (or 'syncs'...)

george.cummings1

Participant

Greetings I understand the concept for external drive for Elements organizer on two devices.

I think there are some tricks to make sure it stays synced.

My main goal

Desktop or laptop adding photos

And tags

that I only need to tag one system

and if external is plugged into the other system all newly tagged added photos will be available with their respective tags on the other system when I move the external drive to the laptop or desktop.

MichelBParis

Legend

Greetings I understand the concept for external drive for Elements organizer on two devices.

I think there are some tricks to make sure it stays synced.

My main goal

Desktop or laptop adding photos

And tags

that I only need to tag one system

and if external is plugged into the other system all newly tagged added photos will be available with their respective tags on the other system when I move the external drive to the laptop or desktop.

By @george.cummings1

To be precise, there is no 'syncing' in the process. Your catalog and photo/video files are always updated and available to the computer to which the drive is presently plugged in.

'Syncing' would mean that a copy of the catalog and files would be updated when you plug in the external drive. If you want to keep copy of the catalog and the photos updated in two computers, the solution offered by the organizer is to backup the catalog of the first computer to the external drive and to restore it on the second computer. That takes time, but that's a valid choice if you change computers only a couple of times in a year.

Real 'syncing' with external tools like Microsoft Synctoy is a different matter. Let's say you start with a backup and restore from the main computer to the external drive. The external syncing tool is apt to update the photo/video files as well as the catalog folder on the second computer. That works well and much faster than a backup/restore, but there is a trap: the 'synced' catalog folder does not point to the files in the new computer, it still points on those on the first computer. All files are 'disconnected' and reconnecting a whole library is hardly possible in the organizer (it would be easy with Lightroom). You would have to fiddle into the database with an sql utility.

The 'syncing' problem would be the same with a Cloud solution like Dropbox or OneDrive instead of an external drive. No problem to sync the photo files, same problem with the catalog folder.

Neb1

Known Participant

Hi all,

I would like to take on this topic again trying a deep analysis of the options at hand. I am in the same situation as described: A large workstation laptop at home and as very small laptop for travelling; of course with both I would like to be able to use / work on my photo library.

1. Built-in support: There seems to be no convenient built-in solution for this requirement within in Elements, so only workarounds are possible. The backup/restore function comes closest, but is definitely not meant to be used on a day-by-day-basis.

2. External storage (e. g. USB stick or micro SD card), as mentioned by @MichelBParis:

(a) Advantages: Pretty straight forward solution, no internet connection / sync necessary.

(b) Disadvantages:

(i) Additional hardware component, i. e. bulky if it is a USB stick (compared to an online/sync solution), requires a free USB port or a card slot and additional invest is needed (significant compared to Elements licence cost especially if photo lib is several hundred GB).

(ii) If forgotten at home, no chance of working when travelling.

(iii) More focus on backups needed as external storages appear to have a higher failure rate and are easier lost (encrypt the storage).

(iv) Performance loss compared to working on the internal SSD.
(v) Path name on both devices needs to be identical, if only catalog ist stored on the external storage.

3. A proper synctool:

(a) Advantages: Pretty convenient solution.

(b) Disadvantages:

(i) Absolute paths need to be 100% the same (incl. drive letter) for both PCs.

(ii) Broadband Internet connection required for updates.

(iii) Working at the same time on the catalog can be dangerous (e. g. workstation at home is working through facial recognition of 10'000 photos after vacation and during next day travel I would like to modify some photos).

4. NAS / online storage (cloud)

(a) Advantages: Pretty convenient solution.

(b) Disadvantages:

(i) Own infrastructure / costly (again, compared to Elements licence costs when coming close to a 1 TB lib) 3rd party solutions needed.

(ii) Broadband Internet connection required for updates.

5. Remote desktop connection:

(a) Disadvantages:

(i) Compression of the screen content does not seem to be adequate for digital image processing.

(ii) Both computers need to be running all the time.

(iii) Broadband Internet connection required.

My questions:

I. Sync solution: @MichelBParis: I noticed your "trap: the 'synced' catalog folder does not point to the files in the new computer, it still points on those on the first computer". I think, the synced catalog contains absolute paths (starting with C/D/E:\...) but does not contain any identifier of the PC itself. Given the absolute paths on both laptops are 100% identical, this trap should not be present, should it?

II. Sync solution: Which synctool do you think is most suited here (MS Synctoy seems to discontinued, in my eyes a solution to be put in place now shouldn't rely on legacy tools)?

III. Cloud: Would Elements work at all if catalog and media were stored in e. g. OneDrive?

IV: Anything else worth to mention in this context that is not listed here?

V: Which one would you finally recommend?

Many thanks in advance for your support!

MichelBParis

Legend

Download:

The PSE software is available to be installed and run on a computer (no other types of devices such as tablets).

You get the installer file either by download (only solution from Adobe directly) or on a DVD (from big Web resellers).

Licence

The license is for a single user.

Install

The installer, download or DVD can install the software itself on any number of computers.

Activation

To be able to run a given computer, you have to 'activate' the link with the licensing server from the menu Help >> sign in.
You are allowed to 'activate' two computers, typically a desktop and a laptop at the same time, but you should not use them at the same time (single user license)

If you have already activated two computers and want to activate a third one, you have to deactivate (menu Help >> Sign out) one of the already activated computers.

So, the answer is that you can have your four computers with the program installed with your downloaded or DVD installer.

You can have two of those activated at the same time.

You can switch the activation for two computers in the same location.

But you are not allowed to use or let other users use two activated computers at the same time.

Sharing of your media and catalogs:

You can backup and restore your catalogs and media from the organizer, which allows keeping copies on various computers as well as allowing to migrate your data and organization from one computer to a new one.

In your case (just like me), I would store the catalog AND media files on an external drive which I can plug in to any activated computer without having to do anything else.

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