External Seagate Expansion Disk

[HBarrison]

My external hard disk of 3TB, used only for photographs and shows all 203 folders.  All, when clicked, show as being empty.  Yet, in the disk manager the properties indicate the full size of the data being used is 1.79 TB.  Even more strange, PSE works perfectly on the <c> drive and shows a path to each of my 30,000 pictures directly to the external drive designated as <e> and there are no kissing pictures after querying Reconnect All.  I have checked that there is no hidden files and all on the drive are available.

Background - this drive and setup has been used for years on a Dell XPS 27 and lastly ran on Windows 10 (64 bits). Motherboard recently died and I replaced it with a new Dell XPS 27, also running on Windows 10.  I used a PSE Recovery File to get the catalog up and running and was successful.  Then I wanted to copy a specific photo from my Drive E and it was empty, but, PSE is still working.  What am I doing wrong????   Disk Manager indicates that I still have 34% free space on the drive, that it is healthy and that it is a Primary Partition.  How can the computer indicate data as taking up space but at the same time is hiding it from actual use.  Does PSE need to be tweaked or is it a Windows issue????  I also edited a photo and it was a success so PSE could not be working on a ghost!

[cz35895897 · Accepted solution]

I had a similar situation. In my case the external drive contained duplicates of files I already had on C:. You can test for this by trying to import one of the directories on the external drive. If it is a duplicate, you will get a a note to that effect. The external directory will show as empty in PSE, but explorer will show the files. You can also edit or add a file to the external drive with another software, and try the import again. ONLY that one file will import. There are ways of doing two catalogs, but as some experts on this forum point out, that is wrought with other perils. Bottom line IMHO I think its doing what it is supposed to be doing.

[HBarrison]

The new computer was entirely rebuilt because of a corrupted OS.  It ids only 2 weeks old too.  After I wrote the query I kept looking at my file structure and PSE.  What I noticed in my E Drive was another folder called My Catalog..  I then looked at PSE once more and noticed that it was missing my most recent photo folders.  With much anxiety I opened up the folder and clicked on the "catalog" that happened to have a date after I picked up the rebuilt computer and after I conducted a Restore procedure and up came a new catalog with a few more photos and the missing folders, from my recent trip to Antarctica - so I was aware that it was a different catalog. There is nothing on C Drive that contains any photos and the E Drive still has the the 1.8TB but the 203 folders have no photos showing.  PSE also continues to concur with No Missing Files and I also did a test Edit and it took and that photo had to go somewhere.   Do I need to move the E Drive Catalog Data base to the same External Drive that contains the PSE Backup and do another Restore???

[HBarrison]

Below is the file structure of PS16 PSE Organizer found in C Drive - something went wrong with the Restore and I have no idea how to fix it.  The dates coincide with my most recent Restore operation when I brought the computer home.

[HBarrison]

PS - I did check and no photos were found on the C Drive

[HBarrison]

And the below is the only suspect files within the Adobe PSE Backup folder on my G Drive

[cz35895897]

In editor go to open recent file, and open your edited file.

Then go to save as dialog, this will show you the path where the catalog thinks your photos are.

Did you run a duplicate file check from the OS or another utility? I think its only PSE that thinks there are no files on E: because it may think they are elsewhere. Windows shows something in those directories, correct?

Then I would consider to:

1. Write all the metadata to files

2. Place all your files in an area where you want either external drive or internal. Use the organizer, it will only show unique files

3. Create a new catalog based on that location

4. Stop using the old catalog.

5. Backup the catalog to external drive.

Also wait to see if MichelBParis will join the discussion, I consider him the guru of all things Catalog relatated

[HBarrison]

As a remindder, I use PSE 16 on a Windows 10 computer.

After reviewing/using the great suggestions in this Forum and after several months getting my new computer set up having restored my catalog and saved all my photos, I am ready for some summer Photo Trips and editing. 

My thought is to perform 2 backups - the first into a folder on C Drive and then the next in my external drive, a 4 Tb WD Passport.  Any suggestion on what folder I should use on C Drive?  I plan on using the WD backup software on a very regular time frame and limit that drive to my photos that are all resident on an external Seagate drive and the PSE backup that will be transferred from the C drive.

Any comments/suggestions to this plan???

[MichelBParis]

I have been away from the forum for some time and I did not read this discussion before.

I have no idea why the organizer does not show the files when browsing the folder panel.

Could be a very mysterious PSE bug... or something as simple as not ticking the category 'photo' in the menu to display by media type.

Anyway, I don't think there is something corrupt in your case.

It's important to keep in mind that the catalog is a folder.such as the one you are showing in post #3. The wole folder can be moved practically everywhere else, even on another drive.

It's also important not to mix catalog folders and backup folders. Those backup folders contain files like those shown in post #5.

My thought is to perform 2 backups - the first into a folder on C Drive and then the next in my external drive, a 4 Tb WD Passport.

Good.

Any suggestion on what folder I should use on C Drive?

It's your choice, but name the folder in a clear way to remember it's a backup.

As explained above, your catalog folder(s) can be where you want. You move or copy them from the Explorer. The catalog manager is only able to move catalogs from a 'custom' location to the default (hidden) location in the C:\ProgramData.

Keep us informed of your progress, and check that your two backup folders are identical.

[HBarrison]

Thanks -