On reinstallation, 37000 images out of 45000 have no tags

Question

My hard drive with PSE 14 failed earlier this year. I reinstalled the program from my account and restored the catalogue. However out of 45000 images, only 8000 images appear to have retained their tags. Can anyone explain why. I need hardly add that my complex tree was lost too. None of this happened when I upgraded from a much earlier version to PSE14. I have now upgraded to PSE 24 hoping that somehow the information is still somewhere in the catalogue, and that PSE 24 would make a better job of it. Sadly, not.

I don't suppose the information is recoverable. Adobe prompts one to backup the files, but only now do I discover that I should have backed up the tags separately. Adobe never prompts one to do this which is a major fault of the program. After all, backing up the catalogue is a minor issue - it's easy to import the original files again - compared with the loss of the filing system which is catastrophic.

Because my tags have to do with botanical identifications, Adobe's efforts to concentrate on things like face and place analyses are a waste of time for me.

I would like to hear whether anyone has any ideas, and I do hope someone from Adobe is listening too.

MichelBParis · Answer

@barbarak47943978 "Adobe prompts one to backup the files, but only now do I discover that I should have backed up the tags separately".No, Adobe does not prompt that, they prompt to backup the catalog.That means creating a backup folder containing everything to be able to restore everything:- the catalog with all the data- A renamed copy of all your media- The instructions to create a copy of your media and to restore the links in the catalog database to point to the new destination (computer or disk) instead of the old location. That way you have only to restore specifying the new location and if you want to keep the same folders structure. You have nothing to import. the restore cares for everything. In recent PSE versions, there is a new option to restore only the catalog if it's no longer available or is corrupted. That is much faster, but does not restore the files themselves. So, if you still have the backup folder, you always can restore as expected.- specify your new master folder location- chose to keep the folders structure.The restore process will then recreate a copy of all you media folders, recreate the catalog folder and update it to point to the new destination. Finally, if you migrate to a new PSE version it will then prompt you to  convert the database to  the more recent format. You can always try a new attempt at restoring, you can always convert again if you want.  Remenber that by default your tags are endered by default in the catalog, not in the files themselves. You only have to copy the tags to the files by using the shortcut Ctrl W.

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