Multiple 2025 PSE Catalog Backups to an External Hard Drive

[jeff_3886]

If you make a full catalog backup in PSE 2025 to an external hard drive (call it A), then three weeks later you make another full catalog backup (call it B), how, if at all, does PSE differentiate backup A from backup B in the file structure on the hardrive?

Thanks.

[Greg_S. · Accepted solution]

Each full backup will be treated separately.  Backup B will contain any differences to the catalog that have been generated since the time that Backup A was created.  When you go to restore a backup, you will be asked to navigate to the backup you want to use.

If you are asking whether you can place Backup B on the same external drive as A, the answer is yes, but you need to put it in a separate folder.  Othewise, I believe you will be warned that you are creating a backup in a location that already exists and will be asked whether you want to overwrite it?

The other alternative is to create an incremental backup which will only backup the latest catalog structure and include any new files that have been added to the catalog.

See here for more information.