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EvaMI
EvaMI
Known Participant
January 25, 2018
Answered

Organizer catalog to see My Pictures copied to external hard drive

  • January 25, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 5555 views

There are a great many discussions on this forum about using an external hard drive for photo storage. The more I look at them the more confused I become.

On my desktop I have PE 8, Windows 7.

Currently the Organizer catalog is set to use photos in MyPictures for the catalog. Of course, I have too many photos so an external hard drive is the answer.

Today I copied MyPictures to one external hard drive as a backup in case of problems using windows explorer. This takes about 5-6 hours. Then I copied MyPictures again to another external hard drive which is the one I would like Organizer to use. From what I read in the forum this is not the proper way to do this. I'm supposed to do all this within Organizer. Do I need to start all over, deleting the hard drive storage and using the backup and restore method within Organizer? I'm having a hard time understanding how that works and I'm afraid I'll mess it up. I haven't deleted MyPictures from the desktop hard drive yet. And I guess I will have to do that from within Organizer, too?

I guess there is no easy way to tell Organizer to look in a new place and also recover all the tags.

Sorry to ask about an issue that has been discussed many times but I am thoroughly confused.

Thanks.

Eva

      This topic has been closed for replies.
      Correct answer MichelBParis

      Eva,

      Let's go step by step...

      First, you have a big library (media files). Just to compare, your need twice the time I need to do the same copy to an external drive from the Explorer (about 500GB for 70 000 media files). So, it's important to choose an efficient (and safe) method. Your catalog folder is by default stored on the C: drive. You find its location and size from the menu Help >> System information. The catalog folder can be stored (copied or moved) anywhere else (it is shown in 'custom' location in the 'manage catalogs' dialog list); its contents are not changed.

      You understand that the database in the catalog stores the information for drive and path of each item of you library and that the catalog is never aware of changes you are doing outside of the organizer.

      If you use the explorer to move one photo file from you main drive to the external drive, the recording of the drive and path of that item is not updated. The organizer can't find any file at the old location; it shows the file as 'missing' or 'disconnected'. The other pieces of information in the record of the database are still unchanged, exif, tags, thumbnail. You have to tell the organizer to 'reconnect' that is to find the new location and to update the record with the new drive/path. If you know the new location, you can guide the organizer to it and the file will be reconnected. If you don't know, the organizer will start a search comparing the data in the catalog to the data of all other files present on your computer. Just do the test for a single moved photo file and you'll see how long scanning all your files will be...

      If all your library has been moved to a new drive, or even if a folder has been moved, doing the scan for each disconnected file will be much too long if you don't help the search in the 'reconnect' dialog by guiding the scan to the new folder.

      Photoshop Elements (PSE) knowledge base.​

      In your present situation, reconnecting is totally unrealistic. It would mean making all your files 'disconnected' on the master drive first, by deleting them or making them appear as such; for instance in renaming temporarily the master folder. Then the reconnect function will try to reconnect... and that will be too long even if you guide the scan for the new drive.

      Now, what if you use the options of the organizer to move one file or a folder, or even the whole master folder of your library to the external drive? You set the left folders panel to tree view and you drag and drop the master folder to the desired drive. That's all. The organizer uses the explorer routines to move the files to the new location and at the same time, it updates the contents of the catalog. The move by itself takes the same time as your move from the explorer, and the re-indexing adds some time (negligible in fact). Nothing to reconnect. Your files are really 'moved', not 'copied', your master drive is clean. The process can be global, or folder branch by folder branch. The process is really safe, even if you have a problem in the move: I had once a power failure... Nothing lost, the files are not really deleted until the transaction is finished and successful. And you have your safety copy on another external drive. Just let the process run by night; there is no progress bar but the task runs ok even if the task manager says the organizer is not responding.

      Now, let's have a look at the backup and restore process:

      Photoshop Elements (PSE) knowledge base.

      It's the safest process. It does take the same time as your copy process plus the move described above. After the restore, you have the restored folder tree on the external drive, plus a backup allowing restore on any other drive or computer with the links updated. You still have the original folder tree in your main drive. You delete it manually from the explorer when you are ready.

      Just note that you have now a new catalog, also located on the external drive. If you prefer it on the default internal drive, the catalog manager has a 'move' button to move it back to default location.

      1 reply

      MichelBParis
      MichelBParisCorrect answer
      Legend
      January 25, 2018

      Eva,

      Let's go step by step...

      First, you have a big library (media files). Just to compare, your need twice the time I need to do the same copy to an external drive from the Explorer (about 500GB for 70 000 media files). So, it's important to choose an efficient (and safe) method. Your catalog folder is by default stored on the C: drive. You find its location and size from the menu Help >> System information. The catalog folder can be stored (copied or moved) anywhere else (it is shown in 'custom' location in the 'manage catalogs' dialog list); its contents are not changed.

      You understand that the database in the catalog stores the information for drive and path of each item of you library and that the catalog is never aware of changes you are doing outside of the organizer.

      If you use the explorer to move one photo file from you main drive to the external drive, the recording of the drive and path of that item is not updated. The organizer can't find any file at the old location; it shows the file as 'missing' or 'disconnected'. The other pieces of information in the record of the database are still unchanged, exif, tags, thumbnail. You have to tell the organizer to 'reconnect' that is to find the new location and to update the record with the new drive/path. If you know the new location, you can guide the organizer to it and the file will be reconnected. If you don't know, the organizer will start a search comparing the data in the catalog to the data of all other files present on your computer. Just do the test for a single moved photo file and you'll see how long scanning all your files will be...

      If all your library has been moved to a new drive, or even if a folder has been moved, doing the scan for each disconnected file will be much too long if you don't help the search in the 'reconnect' dialog by guiding the scan to the new folder.

      Photoshop Elements (PSE) knowledge base.​

      In your present situation, reconnecting is totally unrealistic. It would mean making all your files 'disconnected' on the master drive first, by deleting them or making them appear as such; for instance in renaming temporarily the master folder. Then the reconnect function will try to reconnect... and that will be too long even if you guide the scan for the new drive.

      Now, what if you use the options of the organizer to move one file or a folder, or even the whole master folder of your library to the external drive? You set the left folders panel to tree view and you drag and drop the master folder to the desired drive. That's all. The organizer uses the explorer routines to move the files to the new location and at the same time, it updates the contents of the catalog. The move by itself takes the same time as your move from the explorer, and the re-indexing adds some time (negligible in fact). Nothing to reconnect. Your files are really 'moved', not 'copied', your master drive is clean. The process can be global, or folder branch by folder branch. The process is really safe, even if you have a problem in the move: I had once a power failure... Nothing lost, the files are not really deleted until the transaction is finished and successful. And you have your safety copy on another external drive. Just let the process run by night; there is no progress bar but the task runs ok even if the task manager says the organizer is not responding.

      Now, let's have a look at the backup and restore process:

      Photoshop Elements (PSE) knowledge base.

      It's the safest process. It does take the same time as your copy process plus the move described above. After the restore, you have the restored folder tree on the external drive, plus a backup allowing restore on any other drive or computer with the links updated. You still have the original folder tree in your main drive. You delete it manually from the explorer when you are ready.

      Just note that you have now a new catalog, also located on the external drive. If you prefer it on the default internal drive, the catalog manager has a 'move' button to move it back to default location.

      EvaMI
      EvaMIAuthor
      Known Participant
      January 25, 2018

      Thank you so much! A bit more clarification needed.

      "After the restore, you have the restored folder tree on the external drive,"

      I assume the restored My Pictures folder tree on the ext. HD "looks" like the one in Windows Explorer? So that I can access a folder or photo to copy or look at with Irfanview or the like? I know better than to delete a photo there because Organizer will scold me with a ? the next time I open Organizer.  I like the fact that this method keeps My Pictures on the desktop HD until I'm sure it's safe to remove it.

      "plus a backup allowing restore on any other drive or computer with the links updated."

      Does that mean an additional My Pictures on the ext. HD? What does that backup look like?

      I am an original version worrywart. I need my photos in two places just in case. What I have been doing for years is copy My Pictures from the desktop HD to an external HD once a month. What will I do once I have migrated to the external HD using Backup and Restore and deleted My Pictures from my desktop? I still need to have the photos in 2 places.

      Would having the catalog on the desktop make Organizer run a bit faster?

      Obviously, I'm having a hard time thinking this process through clearly. Your clear help is very much appreciated.

      Eva

        EvaMI
        EvaMIAuthor
        Known Participant
        January 27, 2018

        I created a new catalog which I named "Family 2011 test".

        I imported the tree corresponding to Family 2011.

        My suggestion was only intended to let you try the backup/rstore process on a small catalog, not to 'import' all your files in a new catalog. If you did try on a small test folder, you can simply delete the test catalog, the test backup folder and the restored test folder tree. Then you do the real complete backup (on your chosen drive) and the restore (on your chosen drive).

        If you imported your whole image folder tree, you can do the same, deleting the test and starting from the backup. However, look at the present situation:

        - when you imported your whole image folder tree, you recovered only the tags and captions you may have 'written to files' before. So chances are that tags are missing; anyway, importing does not recover your albums, stacks or version sets. The backup folder as well as the restored tree don't contain all your organization. Only the backup and restore or the 'convert catalog' process can keep all the information. Importing into an empty catalog may be necessary if the catalog has been lost or just for a test.

        - Even if the correct folder tree is restored and you don't mind losing your albums and more, the backup folder and the restored file tree are on the wrong drives.

        Even if that takes time, I suggest to delete as explained above, then do the backup and restore process paying attention to the destination drives.

        - If you don't delete before, you can do that later if your external drives are big enough, but beware of not mixing up the good and bad folders and naming the backup folder and destination folder with other names.

        - A catalog backup folder may be copied or move elsewhere from the explorer if you want (just like any catalog folder).

        - As explained before, the image folder tree itself must be moved by the organizer itself or restored from a backup and restore process.


        Thanks again!

        I removed the test catalog. I deleted the backup B000 file from the one ext. HD and on the other ext. HD I deleted the file with the photos. So now I'm back to square one and ready to try my luck with the full backup-restore of MyPictures.

        My plan is to put the backup and the photo  folder both on the same 4TB ext. HD. When and if that succeeds, I plan to use explorer to copy MyPictures which still reside on my desktop HD to a different ext. HD which still has room. That way I hope to reduce my worrywart anxiety about possible loss of my photos.

        At that point my photos will still be on the desktop HD and I may need further instruction on how to remove from the internal HD and use PSE from the ext. HD.

        Does this sound reasonable?

        Eva

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