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ericz58478426
New Participant
March 3, 2018
Question

How to Restore Photoshop Elements without tly file?

  • March 3, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 419 views

I'm trying to restore my PS Elements 13 data from a computer that just died to a new computer.  I have religiously run Second Copy automatically daily for years to an external drive including the "My Photos" directory which of course includes the my catalog files and the all of my photos.  Unfortunately, I had not run a catalog backup within PSE.  Is there any way to move the catalog to the new computer?

I was thinking maybe I could simply overwrite the data on my new computer with the old computer (if that were even possible to work).  Unfortunately, to make things a little more challenging, my old computer had a very large single C: volume, the new computer has a smaller C: volume SSDD and a large 😧 volume.  My Photos is larger that the SSDD C: volume.   so the paths wouldn't be the same even if I could simply replace the catalog files (if that were to even work).

I even tried plugging in my old C: drive (7+ years old) into the new computer, but with the SSDD built into the mother board, I couldn't figure out how to force the new computer to boot to the old drive (it seems to be alive).  I figured if I could do that, maybe I could get lucky and run a backup that way ... no such luck there either.

Thanks so much for any ideas.

- Eric

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1 reply

MichelBParis
MichelBParis
Community Expert
March 3, 2018

ericz58478426  wrote

I'm trying to restore my PS Elements 13 data from a computer that just died to a new computer.  I have religiously run Second Copy automatically daily for years to an external drive including the "My Photos" directory which of course includes the my catalog files and the all of my photos.

- Eric

Sorry, the catalog folder is NOT by default in the "My Photos" directory.

You can locate that catalog from the menu Help >> System information of the organizer. It's on a hidden folder in your user folder in the  C: drive. If you have plugged in your old C: drive in your computer, you'll find the catalog folder by searching a catalog.pse13db file.

That folder can be moved or copied elsewhere without changing its contents. As you are expecting, the links in the catalog will be wrong. Even if you have restored the My Photos folders exactly the same in another computer, the drive will be identified with a new drive letter AND possibly a new drive internal number.

For more advice, could you say how you would like the media files to be restored?

- on your D: drive? You can use the Windows explorer to recreate the My Photos folder tree, but the links will be broken.

- on your old C: drive now plugged in under a new drive letter? That drive can be plugged in internally or in an external USB enclosure.

They are already there, but the links in the catalog are broken.

To 'reconnect' your files, see:

Photoshop Elements (PSE) knowledge base.

Choosing the best catalog location: You can keep it on any drive which is called under 'custom' location. Theoretically it's best in the SSD drive if there is enough space. It is even ok in an external USB drive if you have enough RAM.

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