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dan_63
Participant
May 3, 2020
Answered

Question on Elements Organizer Catalogs

  • May 3, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 623 views

Hi - I am new to Elements Orgaizer 2020 with Windows 10.  I managed to import about 60k pictures and videos into it that reside on an external backup drive.  It took about a week and has now completed analyzing faces.  Now I want to backup.  I have a couple questions:

 

1. What exactly gets backed up?  The catalog file that resides in "C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs" that supposedly contains all the tags?  Or does that stuff as well as ALL the media on the external backup get backed up also?  It seem like it does all the media also because the estimated size of the backup was over 700G.  If it does do all the media, is there a way to make it only back up the catalog file and not all the media?

 

2.  All my media resides on an external backup.  I have 2 other external backups that essentially have the same files and file structure.  If that's the case, can I plug any one of the other external backup drives in when using the catalog as long as it's the same drive letter?  ....or will the catalog file that took a week to create ONLY work with the external backup drive that I used when I created it?

 

Thank you very much for any help!

 

Dan

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Greg_S.

1.  Yes, not only does the catalog folder with all the tag and face recognition get backed up, but so does all the media files.  If you want to back up just the catalog folder, simply copy or zip it to a new location, using Windows File Explorer.

 

2.  If the external drives are "clones" of each other, then the catalog should be able to find the files if the external drive is mapped to the same drive letter. All of the catalog information should reside on your system drive.

However, if you do any editing of your media files using one drive's media files, the other drive will no longer be in synch, and you will lose any edits you have made.  When you plug in the second drive, the edited files may become "missing".  So, before you use the second drive, you should synch it using a utility designed for that purpose. 

1 reply

Greg_S.
Community Expert
Greg_S.Community ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
May 3, 2020

1.  Yes, not only does the catalog folder with all the tag and face recognition get backed up, but so does all the media files.  If you want to back up just the catalog folder, simply copy or zip it to a new location, using Windows File Explorer.

 

2.  If the external drives are "clones" of each other, then the catalog should be able to find the files if the external drive is mapped to the same drive letter. All of the catalog information should reside on your system drive.

However, if you do any editing of your media files using one drive's media files, the other drive will no longer be in synch, and you will lose any edits you have made.  When you plug in the second drive, the edited files may become "missing".  So, before you use the second drive, you should synch it using a utility designed for that purpose. 

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