Catalog Restore, old version

[helpname22]

This may be obvious, but I've made big mistakes before.... I have PSE12 and some catalogs. Say I do a Backup of a cat in PSE12 and save it. I then convert the PSE12 catalog to PSE2018 and make deletions, edits, etc. Can I later run PSE12, restore the catalog backed up in PSE12, and be back where I left off in PSE12??  All the photos I had before the PSE2018 conversion and deletions? Just, perhaps, a lot of duplicates on the disc?

[MichelBParis · Accepted solution]

helpname22  wrote

This may be obvious, but I've made big mistakes before.... I have PSE12 and some catalogs. Say I do a Backup of a cat in PSE12 and save it. I then convert the PSE12 catalog to PSE2018 and make deletions, edits, etc. Can I later run PSE12, restore the catalog backed up in PSE12, and be back where I left off in PSE12??  All the photos I had before the PSE2018 conversion and deletions? Just, perhaps, a lot of duplicates on the disc?

1 - When you do a backup, the backup folder contains everything to restore the catalog and the media files referenced by the catalog (the photo files not in this catalog are not backed up). From this backup folder, you can restore anything where you want and when you want. You can restore several times if needed.

2 - If you install a newer Elements version on the same computer, the backup and restore is not needed, you can simply convert the catalog, which means a new catalog is created in the new format, the old one is still available to the older Elements version.

3 - What you are doing in a catalog is ignored by other catalogs, whether they are in the same format or not. Same if you migrate to Lightroom: any change in any catalog, Elements or LR,  is ignore by the other ones.

4 - If you want to keep your present catalog and photo files for managing in PSE12, the only way to manage both libraries and catalogs totally independently is to duplicate everything. That's what happens if you do a backup, then a restore on another computer, another drive or another master folder. You can always restore at the same standpoint. You also can convert the same old catalog several times.

5 - You may want to avoid that total duplication while keeping the ability to use either PSE12 or 2018 on the same files to keep PSE12 features missing in 2018 for instance. Then, a middle way could be to:

- make a backup just in case (without restore)

- Do a catalog conversion to the 2018 format

- Work mainly in PSE2018 (especially for new files). Avoid deleting files from disk (only from catalog). Regularly 'write metadata to files' to save the keywords and captions.

- In the PSE12 catalog, check regularly for new files or deleted ones. Anyway, you won't recover stacks, version sets or albums, only keywords, captions and ratings.

[helpname22]

Thank you. As I hoped but I am paranoid about my data. I want to convert the catalog to PSE2018 and then do some major cleanup and reduction on the catalog. But it I screw up, I want to be able to start over...or go back and get what I had.  (An other way is probably to convert, do a backup saved securely, and then go at the catalog. I'll probably do both!)

Thank you for the clear and complete answer.

Regards