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Question

Having trouble moving catalog from Windows to Mac. Have to use external SSD due to size.

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
May 15, 2024
4 replies
2363 views

My wife has been a long-time PSE user for years. We're on an old version of PSE - version 2018 (I think Adobe might call it version 16).

The catalog on the Windows laptop is on the C: drive since it's big enough (1TB) but the thing is so slow, it's painful. The Macbook only has a 256GB SSD.

I downloaded a trial version of the newest version of PSE (2024) on both laptops so I could transfer the catalog from Windows to Mac. I have to use an external SSD because the folder created during the backup on the Windows laptop is 300GB.

I'm new to the world of Apple Mac laptop. When the SSD is connected and I go to the folder with the backup catalog that I'm trying to restore, click on the "info" for the folder, it takes MANY minutes for it to tell me the size of the folder. Other folders are very quick. I'm wondering if the real problem might be the SanDisk SSD and/or the connection to the Mac may be what's causing it to be so slow (it takes many hours for the catalog to be restored, and then it never does because it fails with a crash of PSE).

I've been working with Adobe support but have not been able to make any progress. One person said to try a USB drive instead of the external SSD. I don't see what the difference would be (unless there's a problem with the SSD). Another said that you can't put the Catalog on an external drive. Another said it's just not suggested.

I'm lost and am not sure what to do here. Is it possible to get a Windows PSE 2018 version (converted to 2024 version) backed up to an external SSD and then restored onto PSE 2024 on a Macbook Air (using the same SSD as where the catalog is stored, just restored to a different folder than the backup)?

I do have a 512GB USB drive coming via Amazon today and can try to take the SSD backup and restore it on the USB drive.

This topic has been closed for replies.

Jeff Arola

Community Expert

There shouldn't be any Catalog or photos in that particular location, which is the actual Adobe Elements 2024 Organizer application, which like having the pictures in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Elements 2024 Organizer on the windows side.

In the Organizer if you click on Location does it open a Finder windows with that folder shown?

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buffrkhansoAuthor

Known Participant

No, it doesn't open a folder in that location. Instead, when clicking "Location" it goes right to searching for missing file. The part of the path C:/Pictures/Pictures/2023/11-November/ was definitely the path used on the Windows 10 computer.

It seems like I'm so close. I think I just need to remove all those disconnected files.

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buffrkhansoAuthor

Known Participant

Here's what the organizer looks like now with both disconnected files from the restore w/o the photos included and then those that were copied from the Windows over to Mac.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

You must be viewing the Folders panel in List View, not Tree View. Click on the tiny down arrow next to the My Folders heading and click on the View as Tree option.

Since I've gone as far as I can go in helping you, I'm going to ping @Jeff Arola who is far more knowledgeable about Macs than I am. Perhaps he can offer some advice.

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buffrkhansoAuthor

Known Participant

Thanks Greg.

I did make some progress, but created another issue I'm not sure how to fix.

I did a "backup" on the 2024 PSE on Windows 10, but WITHOUT including the photos. I then did a "restore" on the 2024 PSE on the Mac. It appeared the catalog transferred OK, including the albums and projects my wife made. While there weren't any photos included, the albums and projects still showed up. There were photos in the grid, but they were all missing thumbnails, which is understandable because I didn't transfer the photos with them. At least the restore was successful.

I then copied all the photos from the Windows 10 computer and put them in a different folder on the external SSD on the Mac. I can see photos in the grid, but the duplicates from the catalog restore are also shown, and as disconnected. I don't see where these are located on the internal drive of the Mac (and they may not exist) - because I want to just delete them and use the new photos that PSE did find. I basically DOUBLED the amount of photos from 40000 to 80000. It would be nice if there was an easy way to remove the disconnected photos from PSE in one action. I don't see how to do that.

And in the end, I'm hoping that this process will actually get us in business. I wouldn't count on that quite yet.

Is there an easy way to remove all the disconnected photos from the grid/PSE?

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buffrkhansoAuthor

Known Participant

FYI,

PSE says the disconnected photos are at this location shown in the screenshot - Macintosh HD/ .....

While the photos I manually copied over are located in - Portable SSD/Photos/....

Greg_S.

Community Expert

I can explain some of the discrepencies you are seeing.

A full backup of your catalog consists of the media files (the photos) contained in your C:\Pictures folder and the catalog folder which I hope is contained in the C:\My Catalog folder.
The My Catalog folder contains the database file that is at the heart of the Organizer and numerous other files that contain information such as the coordinates of faces that have been face recognized. That folder also contains small thumbnail files that display what you see in the grid. So, the catalog folder can contain at least double the number of photos in your catalog.
If you shoot any raw format photos and have edited them, the Pictures folder will also contain small text files containing the parametric edit information for each such raw file.
Your screenshot shows that the custom location for the My Catalog folder is actually within the My Pictures folder and that the My Catalog folder that is actively being used is that folder, not the one on the root of the C drive. You have not stated how or why that happened. So, it looks like you may have more than one catalog and this may be causing some of the problems you have experienced.

I have seen another recent post where the user has also placed the catalog folder in a Mac Pictures folder. (Perhaps that was another post made by you. I haven't checked.) In any event, I strongly recommend that the My Catalog folder be moved out of the Pictures folder.

I have never used a Mac, and I therefore have no experience in moving a Windows Organizer catalog to the Mac OS. We don't see many questions about that. So, I can't say whether or not you are wasting your time with this project. And I'm sorry that Adobe Support has given you conflicting and IMO some bad advice. But let's see if we can figure out some way to accomplish the task.

Here are some questions I have for you:

Can you confirm whether or not you have a My Catalog folder within the Pictures folder. If so, please give us a screenshot of its contents. We don't need to see all of the contents, but include at least the details for the catalog.pse16db file.
Give us a similar screenshot of the C:\My Catalog folder
What are the differences, if any, in the number of files within each My Catalog folder and the total storage space for each folder.
Can you find a catalog.pse16db file in the Backup folder on your external drive(s). If so, share the details of size and date.

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buffrkhansoAuthor

Known Participant

The catalog on the Windows laptop is in the same top-level folder as the photos. The catalog.pse16db file is 362MB on the hard drive of the Windows laptop. Photos are in sub-folders beneath. That catalog has a last modified date that is very recent. There is an old catalog that was last modified in 2018, so I think I can disregard that one.

This is my wife's Windows (and Mac) computers. I'm not sure why the folder structure is the way it is with the extra /pictures/pictures/ folder.

I've attached some screenshots.

I still don't see the harm in the location of the catalog. Isn't it just space on a hard drive, no matter where it's located?

If I move the catalog out of the top-level of the photos folder, should I do that in the 2018 version of PSE first? Or can that be done from the 2024 trial version? In case this doesn't work and I don't actually purchase PSE, I still want this to work as before in 2018, which we never had a problem with (other than the computer being super-slow overall).

I don't think there will be a catalog.pse16db on the external drive, will there? I did the backup from PSE2024 on to the external drive. Isn't that restore looking for some sort of Tally file?

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buffrkhansoAuthor

Known Participant

I took a chance and moved the PSE 2024 catalog to a different folder on the Windows laptop - at C:\Photoshop Catalogs\Brenda's Catalog\

I still have a restore trying to complete on the Mac from earlier today. I have to let that either finish or fail before I can try a backup/restore from this new catalog location on the Windows Laptop since both the USB drive and External SSD are in use on the Mac right now.

Greg_S.

Community Expert

According to this HelpX article (scroll down to the bottom of the page), you have to convert the old Windows catalog to the newer version on the old machine before transferring the catalog to the Mac machine. It's not clear whether you have done this. (Nor is it clear from the article whether this is required with more recent versions of Elements.)

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buffrkhansoAuthor

Known Participant

Some more info:

On the Windows Laptop, there are 47,626 photos in the catalog. The catalog is stored at C:\Pictures folder. That folder has 150,019 files at 218GB of space. Why so many files over and above the actual photos? Anyway, that's what's being backed up onto the external SSD.

The backup folder has 148,558 files and is 329GB. How can this be when the photos are only 218 GB? And fewer total files. Weird.

I have converted the old 2018 catalog to 2024 on Windows before trying to restore on the 20204 version of PSE on the MAC.

If I'm just wasting my time because this will never work, that's OK. I'd just like to know. I have to believe that someone has tried this before.

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