How to load catalog on new computer without backup

[camerafun18]

My old Win7 computer crashed, but the hard drive still works so I have all the original photo and catalog files.  I never did a backup within PSE8 because I manually backed up the photos and catalog directory.

My new Win10 computer has a solid state drive (SSD) for the "C" drive, and the hard drive for data is now "D", where I copied all of the photos to.

I will buy PSE2019, but how should I proceed so that my tags, star ratings, and keyword captions are preserved?  I've searched forums and other help, but most of that info is to recover backups made within adobe.

So I have these changes to navigate: move from PSE8 to PSE 2019, Win7 to Win10, previous files on C drive are now on D drive, and user path structure is different!

Thank you!

[MichelBParis]

camerafun18  wrote

My old Win7 computer crashed, but the hard drive still works so I have all the original photo and catalog files.  I never did a backup within PSE8 because I manually backed up the photos and catalog directory.

That's good but what about the links in the database in the catalog folder?

So I have these changes to navigate: move from PSE8 to PSE 2019, Win7 to Win10, previous files on C drive are now on D drive, and user path structure is different!

Yes, only the backup/restore process is recommended for that reason. Backing up like you did is good (I do it myself) but it does not take care of the drive identification (drive letter AND internal drive serial number). So, the recommended method is really the best and most flexible way.

Move Elements Organizer catalog

Does it mean that there are no other ways to keep the links?

1 - you can use the menu option to 'reconnect' all files. Good luck! that will probably work after a lot of efforts to relink different folder branches.

2 - From the old computer, you can move the whole pictures folder tree by drag and drop to a new master folder in an external drive. Then you can move the catalog folder to the same external drive. It's enough to plug the external drive to the new computer and to use the moved catalog folder. You can do the same 'move' to any other drive from the new computer. Obviously, the process is not simpler or faster than the backup/restore process. It can help for users who have issues creating a sound backup. In your case, the copy you have already made on your D drive is useless.

Other tips:

- find the location of your catalog folder: menu Help >> System Information

- By default the catalog folder is a hidden folder, you have to set the explorer to show hidden files and folders

- you can copy or move the catalog folders elsewhere ('custom' location)

- the organizer lets you move 'custom' location catalog folders to the default location. Not the reverse: use the explorer for that.

[Greg_S.]

In addition to Michel's advice, I would point out that upgrading from PSE 8 to 2019 will require the catalog to be converted.  Also, there have been many changes in the structure of the Organizer since version 8 and there are many more auto-analysis features such as Smart Tags.  For this reason, and depending on the number of media in your catalog, there are a couple of other approaches you may want to take.

First, if using Michel's suggestions, I would get PSE 8 up and running with your catalog before installing PSE 2019.  That way, everything should convert over when upgrading to 2019.

Second, I would consider starting a new catalog in 2019 and importing all your media from the current folder structure on your new computer.  You will be given the opportunity to import all keyword tags existing in your photos and they will show up in the new catalog as imported keyword tags.  If you have a large and complex keyword tag structure, it is possible to export that structure from the old catalog to the new catalog and you can then "map" the imported tags to the old tag structure at the time of import.  If you are interested in this approach, we can give more instructions.

[MichelBParis]

Greg_S.  wrote

Second, I would consider starting a new catalog in 2019 and importing all your media from the current folder structure on your new computer.  You will be given the opportunity to import all keyword tags existing in your photos and they will show up in the new catalog as imported keyword tags.

Warning.

Re-importing should only be a last resort process if you can't do otherwise (lost original catalog folder and no valid backup).

The reason is that even if you have "written metadata to tags" before reimporting you are sure to lose:

- all albums

- all stacks and version sets

- the albums hierarchy

- the tags hierarchy

- the creations

The other 'automatic' features can be recreated from scratch just like the thumbnail cache (takes time). The above features need to be recreated manually (you can't recreate version sets).

If you have a large and complex keyword tag structure, it is possible to export that structure from the old catalog to the new catalog and you can then "map" the imported tags to the old tag structure at the time of import.  If you are interested in this approach, we can give more instructions.

Yes, it's possible to save the albums hierarchy as well as the tags hierarchy in text files and to restore the empty hierarchies (without the albums or tags) in an empty catalog before re-importing. But you don't have to if you use the backup/restore method or the media folder tree move by drag and drop in the folders panel.