Catalog Back-up - Protecting Catalog on Primary Drive

Report · Sep 19, 2017

Hello:

My entire photo catalog is stored on a 4tB Western Digital (WD) external drive designated as My Book (H:) by Windows 10. I used the Back-Up procedure of Photoshop Elements 15 to back-up the entire catalog to a second, 4tb WD external drive designated as My Book (I:). When the backup completed, instead of folders and the .NEF, .JPEG, and .PSD files, the files on My Book (I:) were changed to .JSON files, the number of files didn't match the primary drive, and the file sizes significantly did not match the 15mb to 75mb files and were reduced to 1mb to 8mb sizes. For example, Mendocino 2011-024.NEF is B0000026.JSON.

Reading Adobe's instructions to back-up and restore photos, it looks like I still have to do go through a Restore operation on the My Book (I:) drive to return the photos to their original form. Questions I have: 1) Will this also restore the folder trees, folders, and files to the original .NEF, .JPEG, and .PSD files; 2) How do I protect the files on the primary My Book (H:) external drive from being changed. I could detach the primary drive when working on the second drive; and, 3) Should I rename the back-up catalog to something like My Book Backup (I:)? All assistance is appreciated.

Mp

Report · Sep 19, 2017

Hi Pqtrths,

Please find below the solutions of the questions:

1) Will this also restore the folder trees, folders, and files to the original .NEF, .JPEG, and .PSD files

Ans: Yes. if you Select "Original location" option and restore, it simply restore all files and folders with same tree structure, in original form(.NEF,.JPEG,.PSD) to the original location where the files were present at the time of backup. The restored

2) How do I protect the files on the primary My Book (H:) external drive from being changed. I could detach the primary drive when working on the second drive

Ans: Once you restore the catalog to primary drive (H) and make some changes in catalog. Then the changes will be applied on the restored catalog i.e on (H) drive. Changes will not be applied on the backup drive i.e (I). So if you keep on working with the drive (I) attached, your backup data remains safe.

3) Should I rename the back-up catalog to something like My Book Backup (I:)?

Ans: There is no need of doing that. Once restore is done, you can eject your external drive, you can rename the catalog of your restored catalog from "Manage catalog" option to differentiate.

Your feedback is really appreciated. kindly revert if in case of any doubt.

Thanks,

Rahul

Report · Sep 19, 2017

Rahul:

Thank you for the reply. However, it didn't quite answer my question. The folder tree, folders, and original photos on the primary (H:) drive were not affected; it is does not need to be restored. My question pertained to correcting or restoring the back-up files on the secondary (I:) drive as well as protecting the originals on the primary (H:) drive. Hope this clarifies my question.

Mp (Pqtrths)

Report · Sep 19, 2017

Hi Mp,

Following are two ways of doing it:

1st Way:

1. Create a new folder in external drive.

2. Restore the backup to the folder created above in external drive with "Restore original folder structure" option checked.

3. Switch to some other catalog because if you eject the drive EO will not be able to find the restored catalog.

With this, catalog get restored to the custom location. All files get restored in original form in the folder. This folder will contain the similar folder structure as of original folder structure and also the catalog folder.

2nd way:

- Better and easy way of protecting your original files and backing up the same. If you

- If you dont want similar folder structure

- You can simply use Copy/Move to removable drive feature(cntrl+shift+o).

- With this you can copy all your catalog data to your external drive in original form. But doing this, only files will be copied but not the folder tree structure

Please revert if something is still unanswered. Your feedback is really appreciated.

Thanks,

Rahul

Report · Sep 21, 2017

Hi Rahul:

Thank you for getting back to me. I'm going to follow 1st Way as described in your post:

1. Create a new folder in external drive.

2. Restore the backup to the folder created above in external drive with "Restore original folder structure" option checked.

3. Switch to some other catalog because if you eject the drive EO will not be able to find the restored catalog.

With this, catalog get restored to the custom location. All files get restored in original form in the folder. This folder will contain the similar folder structure as of original folder structure and also the catalog folder.

Please clarify Item #3: By drive EO are you referring to the primary (H:) drive or to the second (I:) drive? My primary (H:) drive is always connected to my PC; I only connect the secondary (I:) drive when I need to back-up my photo library.

You stated that my feedback is really appreciated. And I appreciate you stating that. I'd like to comment to Adobe on PSE 15, but I will do so only after I gain further experience with this software, understand the correct terms, and use them correctly. I "jumped" from PSE 8 to PSE 15 and genuinely like what this software can do - there are a few tools and functions that I'm still figuring out how they work.

Take care,

Mp

Report · Sep 24, 2017

Rahul:

I followed the instructions and restored the back-up folder, files, and trees on the (I:) external drive, everything went fine and looks fine. However, I lost the original connection to the (H:) primary drive - all information is still there, I just cannot connect to it.

Should I use Elements Reconnect command or right click the (H:) folder icon and follow the Import Media command?

Thank you for your help.

Marion

Report · Sep 24, 2017

Hi mp,

As the Catalog is restored on an external drive and the files are present in the catalog only. You have to select the catalog restored. So to get your catalog and data back just go to "Manage Calaog-> Custom Location" option and select the parent folder of your restored catalog.

So to do this go to "Manage Calaog-> Custom Location" option and select the parent folder of your restored catalog.

Once you select the parent folder of your restored catalog, you will be able to see the catalog you restored, select the catalog. Please refer the screenshot attached.

Kindly revert if still there is any doubt. Your feedback is really appreciated.

Thanks,

Rahul

Report · Sep 25, 2017

Rahul:

Thank you for the reply.

I followed the directions, selecting the primary catalog on the (H): drive - (H:)\All My Photos\NikonPhotos - that Elements has defaulted to since setup, but nothing else happened. After designating (H:)\All My Photos\NikonPhotos, should I then click "New" or "Convert" in the upper right hand corner? This also occurred to me, the primary catalog on the (H:) drive and the backup catalog on the (I:) drive are both called NikonPhotos; should I rename the backup catalog to, for example, Backup NikonPhotos?

Thank you again,

Marion

Report · Sep 20, 2017

Mp,

Some more info:

The organizer backup is a folder.

Any catalog in the organizer is also a folder. That catalog contains a database file (catalog.psexxdb), a thumbnail cache and several other files and subfolders to store creations, face recognition text files among others. You know it does not contain any of your photo files.

Your photo files are stored on folders trees in your disk(s). Let's call that your library.

Important: the organizer backup folder is not a copy of your library, it's not a copy of your catalog folder either. It's an asset to be used ONLY by the Restore function of the organizer. Your media files are renamed as well as all the accessory files in that folder. A file named catalog.tly stores all the information about the way to restore the renamed files to your chosen location and file structure. A backup folder must be 'restored'. If you change something in your original catalog, nothing is changed (synced) in the backup.

When you restore to a new custom destination (computer, drive, folder...) three actions are performed:

- restoring your original library with same folder structure or a simplified one according to your choice

- restoring your catalog folder under the same 'custom' master folder

- updating the location data of your file in the database so that you have no 'missing' or 'disconnected' files. That is something other backup or syncing tools can't do. You would have to use the 'reconnect' command, which is not easy...

If you restore from a more recent Elements version, at the end of the process, you'll be prompted to 'convert' the catalog to the new catalog format.

Pqtrths wrote
Rahul:
Thank you for the reply. However, it didn't quite answer my question. The folder tree, folders, and original photos on the primary (H:) drive were not affected; it is does not need to be restored. My question pertained to correcting or restoring the back-up files on the secondary (I:) drive as well as protecting the originals on the primary (H:) drive. Hope this clarifies my question.
Mp (Pqtrths)

I don't understand 'correcting or restoring the backup files'? Do you mean the backup folder or the restored library?

Report · Sep 21, 2017

Rahul:

> I don't understand 'correcting or restoring the backup files'? Do you mean the backup folder or the restored library? <

Yes, I'm referring to the back-up folder(s) and files on the back-up external drive.

Mp

Report · Sep 21, 2017

Michel:

Thank you for the reply. In addition to stating what I need to do, your reply also described the "inner workings" of PSE 15 with respect to its functions, commands, and procedures. I know very little about how PSE 15 works, and these answers help me to understand its workings better. Note, my PC uses Windows 10.

If I understand correctly what I should do, I must use the Restore function of Elements 15 to restore the back-up of the original library in the second (I:), back-up drive with the same folder structure. Please clarify or further describe what the following terms mean. When you stated:

"- restoring your catalog folder under the same 'custom' master folder,"

Referring to the catalog folder on the primary (H:) drive where the original library is located or on the secondary (I:) drive where the backup is located?

"- updating the location data of your file in the database so that you have no 'missing' or 'disconnected' files," and,

Referring to the primary (H:) drive or the secondary (I:) drive?

" If you restore from a more recent Elements version, at the end of the process, you'll be prompted to 'convert' the catalog to the new catalog."

Referring to the primary (H:) drive or the secondary (I:) drive?

Thank you,

Mp