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Participating Frequently
June 9, 2020
Question

Move the catalog location from one internal hard drive to another

  • June 9, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 1298 views

The current location of my catalogs (Elements 2019 Organizer) is on Drive C:, which is unfortunately full.

How can I safely transfer the catalog location to my new 6TB internal hard drive U: ?

Thanks for your help!

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

ankitd
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
June 10, 2020

Hi,

 

If you want to just move the catalog and not the media imported in the catalog you can use the Move Catalog option in the Catalog Manager. Please do the following steps:

1. Open File Menu. Select "Manage Catalogs".

2. In the opened dialog, select the "Custom Location" radio button and then click on the Browse button next to it.

3. Select the location you want to move your catalog to and click Ok.

4. Now Select "Catalogs Accessible By All Users", select the catalog you want to move and click on the Move button.

5. In the opened dialog, select the last option "Custom Location" and click on Ok.

This will move the catalog to your selected location.

 

Thanks! 

Participating Frequently
June 10, 2020

Hi ankitd,

thanks for your answer.

I need to move the catalogs and the media from driveC: to drive U:.

I didn't find a possibility in the program yet and I would appreciate your help.

Thanks,

Kathrin

Known Participant
June 9, 2020

Assuming you are using Windows and really mean the catalog and NOT the Media, all you need to do is go to Windows File Explorer and do a copy-and-paste of the Catalog folder (along with all its subfolders) to your U: Drive (I say copy instead of cut and paste as a safety measure - you don't want to delete the old copy until of the catalog until you verify it works in it's new location). Once it is copied to U:, open EO, go to File > Manage Catalogs, click on the Custom Location radio button and browse to the new location on your U: drive. Once the catalog copy shows in the lower pane, hilight it and click on Open. You should now be working from the catalog in its new location. Once you are satisfied it is OK you can delete the original via File Manager.

 

Note that doing this will 'only' free up a few GB from your C: drive. Perhaps since the media takes up a LOT more space than the catalog, you have both the catalog and media on C: and want to move both to U:? In that case, you can't do it via copy and paste from Windows File Manager. If you want to do that you will have to do an EO backup/restore, which is a whole different animal.

 

Bob

MichelBParis
Legend
June 9, 2020

Bob,

You said:

"If you want to do that you will have to do an EO backup/restore, which is a whole different animal."

As a matter of fact, that different animal has only advantages for me... and many other users.

- nothing simpler: simply a backup and restore on an external USB drive. No need to be acquainted with networks.

- once the restore is done, you can use the external USB drive alternatively by just plugging it on any computer with the same (licensed) PSE version. Only requisite, you can't work at the same time on the same catalog. Everything is available as soon as the USB drive is plugged in.

- you start with an original library and catalog, you have a full backup available plus the working library/catalog on the external drive. Ideally, the backup folder is on a different external drive as the one holding the restore. You are safe.

- speed: if you use USB3 external drives, you won't notice a speed difference provided you have enough RAM. 

- Size: the USB external drive isvery small. 

- Price: most affordable solution compared with NAS.

- NASs are not safer, they also need backups. They are not supposed to be moved between different locations. You can't simply take with your a small USB drive to work between two or more desktops or laptops on different locations like me. Cloud sharing solutions are better in this respect. but they don't either offer the ability to edit the same catalog by different users at the same time.

- The only expected advantage of NAS would be the ability to edit the same catalog at the same time from different computers. The organizer has never been built for multiusers access, and I am curious to know if someone has been able to manage that.

- The psychological issue with NAS today is that they are promoted by IT people when returning home. I simply observe that today, your wife and children do prefer sharing on the "Cloud" rather than being under the control of the 'home network and catalogs administrator'. However, Cloud solutions don't either offer the ability to edit the same catalog by different users at the same time.

 

 

 

Participating Frequently
June 10, 2020

Hi Michel

thank you for your answer. 

My problem is not a backup or multiuser problem. I have everything backed up twice. What I need is a suggestion how I can transfer the catalogs and the media safely from drive C: to drive U: another without loosing any data.

Drive U: will be used for Photoshop Elements only and iswill be backed up to another internal and one external drive.

Where in the programm can I transfer the catalogs and the media to another drive?

Thanks

Kathrin