PSE 2022 freezes when trying to backup

@WesJ4370443 said:  If I copy the catalog folder to an external hard drive is that equivalent of using the PSE backup process? Could, for example, I use the moved catalog to restore the catalog on the computer with the picture folders (and original catalog)?

Yes, the copied catalog can be copied back to the original drive.  In fact, there is no need to move it.  You can navigate to the external drive in the File>Manage Catalogs dialog and it will work from there.  In fact, this is a good test of whether the copy is a good backup.

@WesJ4370443 said:  What utility do you use to move and organize our photos? I have photos in multiple locations on my hard drive, although most are in sub-folders under a one parent folder. I'd like to move everything into one master folder while retaining the subfolders that identify the original source.

I use Folder Match. I believe it will allow you to do what you want.

One other word of caution.  If you want to move the original catalog media, you should only do so within the Organizer.

Unfortunately, this is not an unusual situation.  Yesterday,  I happened to try a backup of just the catalog structure on Elements 2024 and had the same result as you.  My catalog is large and the catalog folder is over 25 GB.  So, I know it takes a long time to perform a backup.  But Elements took well over an hour just to calculate the size of the backup.  (Windows File Explorer took about a minute to figure out the size of the folder.)

If you want to try the Elements backup option again, you should go to Find>All missing files and either reconnect or delete any files that are missing from your catalog.  You should also perform a Repair and Optimize operation from File>Manage Catalogs.

My personal recommendation is to use other backup options.  For the catalog, all you need do is copy the catalog folder to another location.  Since my catalog is so large, I zip the folder before moving it to another drive.  I have found that, even taking into account the time it takes to compress and uncompress the folder, the speed of moving a single large file between drives is much faster than moving (in my case) hundreds of thousands of tiny json and xmp files.

As for the media itself, I generally have my photos stored under a single parent folder which I can then copy and paste to another drive.  I then use a utility to synchronize/update the files between the original media and the backup copies.