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Move Photoshop Elements to different drive

New Here ,
Feb 24, 2021 Feb 24, 2021

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I have PSE 2020 running on my Dell desktop.  It is installed and running on 'C' Drive which is an SSD but that is getting full so I want to move PSE onto my 'D' drive (on the same computer) which is a HDD and has much more storage space.  How do I do this?

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Community Expert ,
Feb 24, 2021 Feb 24, 2021

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What is the size of your SSD?

You have to consider separately:

- where to store the program itself

- where to store your media files

- where to store the catalogs

- where to choose to set your scratch disks

 

That's only for Elements. There are a number of other things you can set Windows to store on other drives, like OneDrive or Dropbox folders.

 

The most obvious choices are the location of the program (keep on C for simplicity, does not take a big size) and the media fies (never in the SSD, much too big and no advantage at all in speed).

You can store your media files and your catalogs on other internal or even external drives. That's by far the first thing to do.

If you still get enough free space after that, set your preferences to allow the first scratch disk on C for better speed.

 

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/backup-restore-move-catalog-photoshop.html

 

 

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New Here ,
Feb 24, 2021 Feb 24, 2021

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Thank you Michael for your reply.

My SSD 'C' is 250 GB and my HDD 'D' is 1T.
I'm sorry but I don't know what scratch discs are and don't really
understand when you mention media files/catalogues.

Sorry to be so dim

Thank you, Stephen

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Community Expert ,
Feb 24, 2021 Feb 24, 2021

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To begin with, no worry: the size of your SSD is ok if used normaly.

Let's start with media files: they are your photo and video files. You can see them with your Windows Explorer. By default, you find them in the 'Pictures'  Windows folder on disk 'C'. Those photo/video files take the most disk space, and you are going to add more and more photos... Moving them outside of disk 'C' to your other 'D' drive is the solution, not moving the Elements program itself, which does not take much space.

 

About catalogs:

https://helpx.adobe.com/elements-organizer/user-guide.html/elements-organizer/using/welcome.ug.html

Since you ask this question, take the time to use the introduction videos and help files to understand how using the organizer (based on catalogs) can help you; especially to move your photo files from C to D.

 

Before going into step by step description of how to move the files, you have to understand the basics of the organizer and of catalogs. Don't hesitate to ask for more explantions.

 

Don't worry for the scratch disk, they are parts of your disk space reserved to add more RAM memory and speed up editing. If you are curious, in the editor menu, go to the menu Edit >> preferences, performance and you'll see where the first scratch disk is set:  probably on 'C'.

 

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New Here ,
Feb 26, 2021 Feb 26, 2021

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Thanks for your reply. I have a response to my original email from Adobe.
It simply says, *Uninstall and reinstall PSE 2020 on D. *Is this what you
were thinking?

Stephen

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Community Expert ,
Feb 26, 2021 Feb 26, 2021

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I am rather surprised you got an email answer from Adobe. You don't reach Adobe by email, rather from contacting 'customer care' by chat or phone or by sending a private message to a known Adobe staff member in this forum. Beware of scammers!

No, it's true that you can uninstall and reinstall Elements specifying the D drive, but that does not solve at all your disk space problem on C. As already explained, the program itself does not take significant space compared with your photo files and your catalogs. I am not sure either that those who advised you about reinstalling are fully aware on the consequences for catalog management. Some parts of the program and your creations will still be stored on C.  If you uninstall and reinstall, sign out before uninstalling and sign in after the reinstall.

 

 

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New Here ,
Mar 01, 2021 Mar 01, 2021

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Hi Michael,

So as I understand your advice, I think you are saying that I should leave
the PSE software on 'C' but store the photos on 'D', which makes sense.

I looked to see how to get PSE to save photos to 'D' rather then 'C', so
will the following work?

open Organiser
select Edit
select Preferences
select Folders For Saved Files
Change current location from 'C' to 'D'

If this is correct I presume all new photos will be saved to 'D'. Can I
then move all the previously saved photos over from 'C' to 'D' (not sure
how to do this - drag and drop/copy and paste?)

Does this make sense or am I talking rubbish?

Many thanks for your help

Stephen

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Community Expert ,
Mar 01, 2021 Mar 01, 2021

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You are totally right.

- for your description of changing the default location of saved files. I would not specify only the 'D' drive, I would create my own master folder, like D:\my photos.

- you can move existing files from C to D by dragging a folder with its subfolders from one drive to another

- you can use the backup and restore process to move your catalog together with your photo files to the other drive (as a matter of fact, this makes copies, you have to delete the originals after you have tested everything works as expected.

- you can even set the preferences of your downloader to automatically create a date based hierarchy of subfolders named on this template: yyyy mm dd.

My suggestion is to start a new post to get detailed help and docs for each of the above topics.

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New Here ,
Mar 05, 2021 Mar 05, 2021

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Hi Michel,

 

I believe I've done it.  As suggested, I used the backup function to save to my external drive then restored to my 'D' drive.  My photos are now moved over.  I have kept the original copies on 'C' for the moment but I will delete them in the near future if nothing untoward pops up.

Many thanks again for your assistance.

 

Stephen

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