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Lou216
Known Participant
April 12, 2026
Question

Re-name a photo location from E external drive to F on same ext HD

  • April 12, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 139 views

I have PE2022 on Windows 11.  I import my PE2022 photos onto an external HD which I named F.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but I plugged in the F drive, but the laptop named it as E drive and I imported some photos. Now I plug the ext HD in as an F drive and the photos that I downloaded on E drive is part of my photos, but when I double-click on them the app cannot locate the file information. Is there a way for me to change a photo Location from something like F:\Photos\Flowers to E:\Photos\Flowers

 

 

    3 replies

    Phinny
    Phinny
    Legend
    April 16, 2026

    Hi Lou. I’m unable to help you with this so hang in there for Greg’s reply. In the mean time, you may find this analogy useful. I know you remember card catalogs at the library (those many long drawers filled with index cards). These cards told us exactly which shelf we could find our book on. This system is very similar to the job Elements Organizer does. Stay with me here.

    Now, along comes a well intentioned group of library workers who rearrange some/all the books on the library shelves. And with that, as far as the card catalog is concerned, the books are now “lost”. By that I mean they’re all still there somewhere in the library (like your drives and folders) but where?

    It’s interesting that a small number of Organizer users believe that their image files actually live inside Organizer which isn’t true. Your image files will forever remain exactly where they were stored when you first set up Organizer. If you change these locations using Windows File Explorer, your Elements Organizer won’t know where to find them.

      Greg_S.
      Community Expert
      Greg_S.Community Expert
      Community Expert
      April 13, 2026

      There are several options available, but you haven’t told us enough information to make a recommendation.  It’s unclear whether the import was a one time deal or whether you have more than one external drive and you now have files on two different drives.  Nor is it clear whether you still have the original files on a memory card or some other backup or copy.   (I’m not exactly sure what Glenn is suggesting, but I certainly wouldn’t simply import into a new catalog.)

      How many media files do you have in your catalog?  How many separate folders do you have that need this change? If it is only a few, those files are probably showing as missing in your catalog.  If that is the case, simply go to File>Reconnect>All Missing Files.  If any are found, a Search dialog will appear.  Click on the Browse button and the Reconnect Missing Files dialog will appear.  You can then navigate to the correct drive F folder on your computer and reconnect the photo.

       

      Once you connect one file, others in the same folder should be automatically reconnected.  The search will continue and, if you are lucky, the other missing folders will be found and reconnected automatically.  Otherwise, you may have to perform the browse for each folder.

       

      If this doesn’t provide the solution you are looking for, please answer the following questions.

      Do you have any backup or other copy of your photos?

      Is there any reason why you can’t simply change the drive letter of your external drive to F?  (Obviously, this is not an option if you only need to change a few folders that were given the assigned mistaken drive location.)

      And I would also want to know or investigate why your computer changed the drive letter assignment so that the mistake doesn’t happen again.

      L
      Lou216Author
      Known Participant
      April 15, 2026

      Thanks so much for your explanation, Greg_S. I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can. First, let me warn you that I’m 83 years old and not a techy😀

      I have an Ext HD F that has my Catalog and possibly other Catalogs from earlier versions of PE. I also have an  Ext HD G that backs up EXT HD F. (Photoshop for Dummies advised that I do this). Not sure how many photos and videos I have, but probably 20K-30K. I do not plug the External HDs into my laptop unless I want to work with, look at my photos, or backup my F & G Ext HDs. I’m not sure if it happened one time or many times, but I noticed that when I connected the F, it automatically connected as E instead of F. I’m sure that must have happened previously that I didn’t notice, but when I noticed it recently I went to the Disk Management and renamed it to F.

      Now when I double-click on a photo in the F named HD that was probably downloaded when the drive was named E, it cannot find the missing file. When it is doing it’s searching, it doesn’t look through the E information because I have the Ext HD installed as F, not E. Nor can it find a Folder I must have added as the drive was running as E.

      I usually Import my photos and videos from my iPhone and will delete most of them from my iPhone after the Import.

      I have a Backblaze App that I occasionally backup up my F & G. I have never used it to Download any files, so not sure I know how to look for photos I have backed up.

      I have changed the drive back to F, but I can’t see the E files if I double-click the photo. Some “photos” just show as [ ? ] and I think some photos I see, but not the files when I double-click. I wanted to get replies like your’s before I go to Disk Management and re-name the disk from F to E to see what happens.

      At some point I will contact Dell to see if they can find and answer for why the F sometimes installs as E.

      Please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with or re-explain what I have tried to convey. I really appreciate your help!

      Greg_S.
      Community Expert
      Greg_S.Community Expert
      Community Expert
      April 16, 2026

      OK.  I think I understand what happened.

       

      • The first thing you should do is make sure your My Folders panel is in Tree View.  (Right-click on the icon next to the My Folders panel title and make sure that Tree View is checked:
      • Next, in the My Folders Panel, right-click on the F drive icon and select Show All SubFolders from the context menu. 

       

       

      • Next, click on the File>Reconnect>All Missing FIles command:

       

      I suspect that the files that were imported while the external drive was assigned as E will be automatically found and connected.  If not, you can use the Browse dialog to find the folder that is now on the F drive and reconnect the files as described in my earlier post.

       

      There are a couple of other tricks that can be used, but first let me know if the above works.

      Glenn 8675309
      Glenn 8675309
      Legend
      April 13, 2026

      What  I would do:   Tell organizer to look in the  new location, instead of the old location.  Yes, that means reimporting everything into a new catalogue.

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