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A
Al_Cof WSFL
Known Participant
December 16, 2016
Question

Alternate Backup for Organizer

  • December 16, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 1484 views

i"m using PSE 15 on an iMac (macOS 10.12). I've been using PSE for 5+ years, but never Organizer. I used iPhoto to organize my photos, but Apple has stopped supporting iPhoto in favor of Photos which has no link to PSE to edit photos. I decided to bite the bullet and migrate everything (200+K photos) to Organizer. Things are progressing, so it is time to run some backups. I have successfully created full and incremental backups of some of my catalogs.  I have two concerns about backup. First I don't like being asked to run a backup when I open a catalog. I usually want to start editing photos and would run a backup occasionally during my editing project. Second, even though I'm writing my backup to an external hard drive, the backup gave each picture a unique name not related to the real picture name. I have faith it would get restored with the original  name, but for other reasons I would like to have the original name. (Is this a bug?)

After all that, my question is can I use an app like ChronoSync to backup my photos and the Organizer's catalog directory and create files that could be used to recover a catalog? Would backing up /Users/alan/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Elements Organizer gather the necessary files? The main reason for this approach would to be able to regularly schedule backups to run during off hours.

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1 reply

MichelBParis
MichelBParis
Legend
December 17, 2016

Using the backup from the organizer or from another backup solution:

That's an old question:

Photoshop Elements 6/7/8 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Using the external solution as you suggest has strong advantages: it's easer and much faster for incremental backups.

The drawback is that it will restore both catalog and media files library correctly on the same original location, but if you restore on another computer or drive, the links in the catalog to the location of the files will be lost. All your files in the catalog will be shown as 'missing', and you'll have to use the 'reconnect' function, which is not easy.

So, a good solution would be to use your external backup solution as described in your post, and the organizer backup when you want to migrate to another computer.

First I don't like being asked to run a backup when I open a catalog.

Turn off that warning in the Edit >> preferences menu.

Second, even though I'm writing my backup to an external hard drive, the backup gave each picture a unique name not related to the real picture name. I have faith it would get restored with the original name, but for other reasons I would like to have the original name. (Is this a bug?)

No worry, the files will be restored with their original names (stored both in the catalog and in the backup.tly file). That's necessary to keep all your files in the same 'flat' backup folder to avoid filename duplication.

A
Al_Cof WSFLAuthor
Known Participant
December 18, 2016

Thank you for your response. I'm more confident that the alternate backup solution will work. I hope I won't need a new computer for 5+ yrs, but will remember your advice if I do migrate to another computer.

I changed the preference.

The comment about the backup files having a unique name is contrary to what Adobe's document "Elements Organizers Help/ Backup or Restore a Catalog". According to the document, files written to a CD/DVD or external drive should keep the original name. However, as you stated, there is a benefit to the unique name if you are migrating to another computer.

Thanks again.

MichelBParis
MichelBParis
Legend
December 18, 2016

alanc29886605 wrote:

The comment about the backup files having a unique name is contrary to what Adobe's document "Elements Organizers Help/ Backup or Restore a Catalog". According to the document, files written to a CD/DVD or external drive should keep the original name. However, as you stated, there is a benefit to the unique name if you are migrating to another computer.

Thanks again.

Where do you see that? Maybe an outdated help file?

Elements Organizer Help | Backup or restore catalogs

What is written is:

"If you back up to a folder on your computer’s internal hard drive, Elements Organizer renames the files with alphanumeric codes. This renaming prevents multiple files with the same name in the same backup folder. However, Elements Organizer restores the names when you restore the files."

I think this help file needs to be corrected.

Why?

- Whether you back up to a folder on any of your internal hard drives or any external USB ones, the files in the backup folder will be renamed.

- practically nobody still uses CD/DVDs for backup now. I have never tried, but I doubt that the files would keep their original names.

- The contents of a backup folder are independent of the media they are stored on. You can move or copy the catalog folders as you want

I'd like to stress for other users with the same question, that it is important to know how to find the folder containing the catalog to include it in your own backup solution. Menu Help >> System Information, as you have found.

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