Moving Photoshop Elements Files from One NAS Drive to Another

Before I do the restore, do I need to delete the existing catalog and files from the old/current NAS drive, or does the 'Restore Catalogue' to 'New location' function, first delete the old location stuff before re-creating in the new location?  I don't want everything twice! 

By @Tim23331070tcea

You say you care about safety, so think about what is a 'move'. It's just a copy followed by a deletion of the original. So to move safely you must be certain that the copy is strictly ok before deleting the source file. In other words, you want both source and copy at the same time, temporarily, until you are sure the copy is good. Then you can safetly delete the original. If the copy is not strictly the same as the original, you don't have twice the same file.

You are mentioning the recommended backup and restore process. Contrary to the title of the tech doc, it does not describe a 'move', it describes a copy. Deleting the source is not covered, it's your job.

The only practical way to know if a backup is good is to restore and to examine the restore to check manually if you don't get errors and can use the files and the catalog as usual. I would never delete the original before checking the restored version. The most frequent risk is that the backup can't be restored at all. So, my advice is to keep the original as well as the backup folder until you have checked.the restore. Of course, for basic safety, you need a valid (tested = restored) backup even if you are using a NAS ?

There is another workflow to move a library to another drive. I don't use NASes, so I mean different drives, external or internal. My guess is that it works the same with NASes.

From the organizer left folders panel in tree mode, you just drag and drop a master folder with all its subfolders to another drive. The organizer does the 'moving' job, copying and deleting with the drag and drop command. Where is the safety? If the process (which can take hours) is interrupted, which happened once to me (power failure), what's your safety? You may end up with a corrupt source and partial copy. In my case, the process was safe enough, the database transaction was reverted, the source was unharmed and I only had to delete the incomplete copy. Useless to say this drag and drop method works well provided you have a good backup beforehand. You can move selectively a folder branch only instead of the whole library.

I suppose you are following this tech doc;

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/backup-restore-move-catalog-photoshop.html

There is a note about 'offline drives': NASs are considered 'offline', not missing if not connected.