Known Participant

Question

Catalog Restore

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
November 21, 2017
2 replies
1858 views

I just restored my catalog onto my new computer and upgraded to Photoshop 2019. I did select to restore my original folder locations. I noticed that my old pictures folder stored 6613 files and 277 folders and my now Pictures folder only shows 6121 files and 245 folders. I checked a couple of folders and there were fewer files than before. Do you know why there are fewer files in my new Pictures folder.

Also, is there a chat support option for 2018?

This topic has been closed for replies.

J

jenniferlauferAuthor

Known Participant

Thank you. Here are my answers to your questions above:

Yes I have a backup.

Yes my old computer stills works with my old Elements and catalog.

I believe I only have one drive on my new computer (and old computer for that matter). I also have an external drive.

Yes, I have plenty of space on both my computer and external drive for a temporary duplication of my photo files.

I can't think of any compelling reasons to keep all of my photos under the default PICTURES folder, particularly if I can avoid this complexity of restoring the catalog without missing hundreds of photos that were on my computer before.

Thank you and I'll await for you to recommend an appropriate workflow for transferring/restoring my catalog and all of my photos.

MichelBParis

Legend

jenniferlaufer wrote
Thank you. Here are my answers to your questions above:
Yes I have a backup.
Yes my old computer stills works with my old Elements and catalog.
I believe I only have one drive on my new computer (and old computer for that matter). I also have an external drive.
Yes, I have plenty of space on both my computer and external drive for a temporary duplication of my photo files.
I can't think of any compelling reasons to keep all of my photos under the default PICTURES folder, particularly if I can avoid this complexity of restoring the catalog without missing hundreds of photos that were on my computer before.
Thank you and I'll await for you to recommend an appropriate workflow for transferring/restoring my catalog and all of my photos.

I would wait to delete the new folders created on the new drive from the previous restore. Better to be sure you have a correct new restore before that.

- plug in the external drive with your previous backup folder to the new computer.

- Create a new master folder on the new computer, just under the 'C:\' root directory; for instance C:\MyPhotos.

- start the organizer on the new computer, and choose 'Restore', select your folder on the external drive as the backup source, select the options to restore on custom destination (not 'original' one) and navigate to the C:\MyPhotos folder as the destination, select the option to keep the original folder structure.

- Start the restore process.

All the files in your original catalog should be restored with the same picture folder tree, and the catalog will be converted

The catalog folder should also be restored under the C:\MyPhotos master folder.

To open the new catalog, you can:

- use the catalog manager and browse to the new catalog location (in 'custom' location, not 'catalogs accessible to all users')

- or simply double click on the catalog.pse16db file to open the organizer with that catalog.

If everything goes well, use your explorer to compare the newly restored structure with the structure of your first attempt. No risk at that point to delete the folders which now are now duplicated.

Tip:

With a 'custom' master folder like this, use your preferences in the organizer to specify the new folders to be used for storing downloaded or scanned pictures. When you'll import new files they will go there.

J

jenniferlauferAuthor

Known Participant

Hi Michael,

See my questions in CAPS below. Thank you.

Pam

MichelBParis

Legend

jenniferlaufer wrote
I just restored my catalog onto my new computer and upgraded to Photoshop 2019. I did select to restore my original folder locations. I noticed that my old pictures folder stored 6613 files and 277 folders and my now Pictures folder only shows 6121 files and 245 folders. I checked a couple of folders and there were fewer files than before. Do you know why there are fewer files in my new Pictures folder.

The restored catalog restores the files present in your catalog, not all the media files in your Pictures folder.

The number of files in your Pictures folder will be different from the number of items shown in the organizer.

A more relevant way to check the difference would be to compare the number of items in the catalog, before and after restore.

A possible reason for having less files than before in the converted catalog than in the in original one would be that some media format are no longer supported in newer versions (.ai, .pdf, jpeg2000...) as well as old format projects.

To check the number of items by media type:

Select all your items in the browsing space

In the Information panel on the right, you should see the number of items by type.

I just restored my catalog onto my new computer and upgraded to Photoshop
2019. I did select to restore my original folder locations.

If you restore to a new computer and choose your original folder structure, only the files present in your catalog will be there. Not other kinds of photos stored there by other applications. You may also have duplicates which the organizer has filtered at import time when importing from files or folders.

Also, is there a chat support option for 2018?

Yes, but that is mainly for installation and licensing. Generally you get better answers in this forum for 'how to' questions (Adobe Staff does also help here).

J

jenniferlauferAuthor

Known Participant

OK. Thanks for clarifying that. I’m sure there were some PDF files, etc. that were not restored that I would like to keep. Given that, is this an OK process?

1. Delete the folders on my new computer that appeared after the catalog restore. They are found under C:/Users/laufe/Pictures: Camera Roll, My New Catalog, My New Catalog 2, ProgramData, Saved Pictures, Users/Pam (includes folders Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Videos-these are not my Documents, Pictures, etc. folders that appear under Users/laufe)

2. Move My Pictures folder from my old computer to my new computer

3. Redo catalog restore onto my new computer (the catalog is saved on my external drive as before)

Should I check to restore to original folder locations if I do it this way?

MichelBParis

Legend

jenniferlaufer wrote
OK. Thanks for clarifying that. I’m sure there were some PDF files, etc. that were not restored that I would like to keep. Given that, is this an OK process?

1.     Delete the folders on my new computer that appeared after the catalog restore. They are found under C:/Users/laufe/Pictures: Camera Roll, My New Catalog, My New Catalog 2, ProgramData, Saved Pictures, Users/Pam (includes folders Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Videos-these are not my Documents, Pictures, etc. folders that appear under Users/laufe)
2.     Move My Pictures folder from my old computer to my new computer
3.     Redo catalog restore onto my new computer (the catalog is saved on my external drive as before)
Should I check to restore to original folder locations if I do it this way?

I would be very prudent to delete as described... many of the folders you are mentioning were not created by the restore process and I don't know of any simple way to roll back to the situation before the present restore.

I have always taken great care NOT to store my photo files in the default PICTURES folder.

- I want my photo files to be situated in a different drive or partition than the main one which contains my Windows and all programs. You could use a master folder named differently, JenniferPhotos for instance. In case of problems with the main drive, I don't lose my photos. I don't want other programs to store photo files under my own master 'library'.

- I want my main catalog to cover all the files under that master folder.

- I don't like the way Windows stores that PICTURES folder under a complicated path in your user folder. It's so much simpler if the master folder is directly under the root folder of the other drive or partition.

- Some Windows users are also confused about the fact that you can get the real path to your users library or you can go there by a shortcut. Some think that the files and folders are duplicated. If you migrate to another computer via the backup and restore process and choose a 'custom' location as described above, you get a complex path with user subfolders holding no image files. Same thing if you simpy want to create a copy of the files and the catalog on an external drive for sharing with another computer.

A few questions before trying to advise for a safe workflow:

- You still have the backup you did use for the transfer?

- I suppose your old computer is still working with your old Elements version and its catalog.

- Is your computer drive the only internal one, or do you have different partitions?

- Do you have enough disk space to store a temporary duplication of your photo files? External drive are ok, preferably different from the backup drive.

- Do you see any compelling reason to keep your photo files in the default PICTURES folder?

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded