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rjmac72
Participant
October 15, 2019
Question

Elements Catalog POST upgrading to Macintosh OS Catalina

  • October 15, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 164 views

I'm running Photoshop Elements 18 on an iMac and recently went through the MACOS Catalina upgrade from the prior release.  My main photo library was defined at the root level of the iMacs hardrive and my Elements catalog was built off of that folder location (many sub leveles of folders with photos).   As part of the MACOS Catalina, Apple has introduced a new restriction where only authorized operating systems folders can be stored in the root of the hard drive.  The migration process moves the now unauthorized folders from the root to a new folder:  /USERS/SHARED/Relocated Items/Security.  And here's the key, you can not define any files/folders at the root level of the drive.  

So here's my delema.  My Elements catalog basically is looking for all of the cataloged photos starting with a folder in the root of the hard drive.  That folder is no longer there and can not be put back.  So my catalog of over 49,000 photos is broken and I'm not sure if there's any way to correct the internal pointers?   

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    3 replies

    MichelBParis
    MichelBParis
    Legend
    October 15, 2019

    For a Windows user like me, it seems extremely dangerous to:

    - first to migrate to a new OS version without checking if it will support old applications, that's what I have always read from expert Mac users (but the risk also exists for Windows users). I have also been impressed at the number of posts about warnings about the consequences of the new Catalina. Difficult to believe so many Mac users were not warned.

    - Secondly, I can't imagine users can plunge into a drastically new system without backing up the media files and the catalog. That should be obvious for all organizer users, but too many users think that they can do without it.

     

    From your description of the new limitations, I can see how that may be critical for the applications themselves, but I believe that for catalogs and media file trees, that just means that they should be in authorized locations. That means practically anywhere except the reserved locations. That means the catalog should also be on 'custom' location where you want. That can be in a dedicated master folder or even in an external drive. For instance, moving both media library and catalog folder on an external drive before the OS update. If you miss that, a full backup made before the update will restore them where you want after the update.

    As mentioned by 99jon, the update to PSE2020 should work for the catalog conversion, that's what you should verify. If you can create a 2020 version catalog, even from a PSE trial version, this should enable you to test the full backup and restore process if you later want to store your library and catalog on custom location.

     

     

    99jon
    99jon
    Legend
    October 15, 2019

    The catalogue file will be untouched. So it should be possible to upgrade, if not automatic;  using the Organizer menu:

    File >> Manage Catalogues

    R
    rjmac72Author
    Participant
    October 15, 2019
    Not sure why I would ugrade starting off with a broken catalog? The current catalog is no longer operative not based on a 32/64 bit issue but based on the "FORCED" relocation of the underlying directory/image files by the Catalina Conversion. Note that this is only an issue if you have catalogged folders and files defined at the root level of the macintsoh hard drive.
    99jon
    99jon
    Legend
    October 15, 2019

    If you upgrade to PSE 2020 it should convert your previous catalogue. Apple has been pushing out messages for some time regarding the incompatibility of 32 bit apps.  While Elements has been a 64 bit app for some time, installation, licencing and uninstall have been handled by 32 bit apps.

     

    Try PSE 2020 Free for 30 Days

    R
    rjmac72Author
    Participant
    October 15, 2019
    Thank for the info but the 32/64 bit architecture isn't the issue I'm dealing with. It's the forced physical relocation of my photo library (which is referenced in the internal Elements catalog pointers) by the MACOS Catalina upgrade, to a new location. So when elements attempts to find a photo using those now obsolete file paths, it can't locate the photo. As an aside, my plan was to upgrade to Elements 2020 shortly after going to Catalina however this issue has put a stop to it.
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