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Mike Woodford
Participant
February 15, 2017
Question

Photoshop Elements 13 catalog, following a wiped C:drive

  • February 15, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 730 views

I encountered an MS update issue that necessitated a fresh install of Win10, thus wiping my C: drive.

1) Prior to the C:drive wipe: My photos were on an extra 1.5Tb drive, with a drive letter that I forget now (let's call it Z:). The PSE13 catalog referred to that drive and file structure (approx. 24,000 images). No problems. I backed-up my PSE13 catalog through the standard PSE13 dialogue - in fact it was backed-up over time with a Full followed by three Incrementals.

2) After the C:drive wipe: (Win10 had installed OK on C:). The extra 1.5Tb drive had to be re-linked as a foreign drive resulting in a change in drive letter to E:. PSE13 reinstalled OK. But now I have my photos on the 1.5Tb drive (with a new drive letter, i.e. not the original location), and an empty catalog.

How should I use the PSE13 Catalog Restore dialog, to simply reinstate my backed-up catalog, but to refer to the new location of the original photos and file structure? I simply need to continue life with the original files in the original file structure on the 1.5Tb drive with the catalog pointing to the correct place, and all my ratings, labels etc preserved.

There may be an embarrassingly simple answer to this - I hope so!

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

S
Adobe Employee
shraddhaj3923389
Adobe Employee
February 15, 2017

Hi,

Trying to explain first what restoring does: When you restore a catalog that has been backed up, the contents of the backup catalog are recreated on your computer.


As mentioned by you, you have backup and all the media in your hard-disk but its volume name is changed and so we can not restore catalog at original location. Here what we have to do is, restore your catalog at new location in hard-disk(which will create a new copy of files at the path given) and then we will copy the catalog from hard-disk and place it in your local computer.

Here are the steps to be followed:

1. Rename the root folder directory where all media is place(say it was Pictures rename it to Pictures_old). And create a new folder with name Pictures

2. Launch Organizer, Go to Files->Restore Catalog.

3. Choose backyp.tly file from the path your backup was created

4. Under Restore files and catalog-> Choose new location>click on browse to specify the path >Go to hard-disk volume, choose folder Picture(newly created folder) from hard-disk.

5. Check the option for "Restore Original Folder Structure" so that in new folder original hierarchy remain maintained.

6. Now click on Restore button.

Note:

If you selected Restore From CD/DVD, Elements Organizer prompts you if more than one disc is required to restore a catalog. Follow the onscreen instructions, which differ depending on whether you’re restoring a single backup set or a single backup set plus one or more incremental back ups.

1. After Restore is completed properly, please check all your files and settings are up.

2. Also compare the size of folder(should be of same as of the old media root folder, in our case it is Pictures) inside newly created Pictures with Pictures_old to make sure all media are restored properly.

3. Now go to Restored folder on hard-disk. You will find a folder name as the name of catalog you can see in Organizer.

4. Copy that whole folder, go to C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs and Paste the folder. Relaunch EO

5. Go to Files->Catalog manager-> Choose All user option-> You will see your catalog which you pasted in step 4

6. Double click on catalog to launch. Now this catalog is on your local disk and files are back on Hard-disk.

7. After you check your all files and catalog details you can remove the catalog folder(just the catalog which you copied earlier in Step 4) from from hard-disk.

8. Also you can delete the media files folder which we asked you to rename because now you have all the files recreated after restoring in New folder. (Before deleting make sure size of older media folder is same as new one(just to confirm all files are restored properly).

Enjoy Photoshop Elements,

Shraddha

    M
    Mike WoodfordAuthor
    Participant
    February 18, 2017

    thank you very much for such a prompt and thorough response Shraddha; I will digest it and act on it today.

    MichelBParis
    MichelBParis
    Legend
    February 20, 2017

    Thanks MichelParis for your suggestion.

    Hi Mike,

    The suggestion from MichelParis is an advance level thing which I do not recommend for now.

    Before tweaking your catalog I would recommend to create a copy of your catalog at a safe location. For this go to Organize-> Help->System Info-> Copy Catalog path. Go to catalog path copy the whole catalog and save it.

    As you say you want to redirect to the original location  of media instead of restored location , for this please follow below steps:

    1. Go to Edit-> Preferences->Files and make sure the option to "Automatically search for and reconnect missing files" is checked, if not check it and hit OK. Quit EO
    2. Now go to restored media location, rename the root folder location to some new name.
    3. Launch EO, Go to Files->Import->Files and Folder and import select a single folder which is present in organizer and import it(reimporting will not lose your organization, your tags and structure will remain the same)
    4. Now check if all the files are imported properly without creating a duplicate file for same. And also check the path is now the original folder not the restored old one
    5. If this works properly, please import your other folders in same way one by one.

    Please get back to me if there are other queries.

    Enjoy Photoshop Elements,
    Shraddha


    shraddhaj3923389  wrote

    Thanks MichelParis for your suggestion.

    Hi Mike,

    The suggestion from MichelParis is an advance level thing which I do not recommend for now.

    Before tweaking your catalog I would recommend to create a copy of your catalog at a safe location.

    I agree, but note that in that particular case, you don't tweak the database. You just have a look into it to find what the letter drive was.

    Alternatively, you could:

    - Use the 'trial and error' method by using Windows by changing the letter drive of the external drive until the files are seen as connected.

    - provide a link to your 'catalog.buc' in Dropbox or similar for someone to tell you the letter drive.

    I repeat:

    That means that if you can retrieve the letter drive stored in the catalog, you simply assign the same letter when you plug in to the new computer (this is made in Windows). No need to backup/restore, that's the common way to share the library between two computers, provided the catalog folder is also on the same external drive.

    Another preventive step you can do beside full backups:

    The catalog folder is much smaller than the media file trees. It can be copied easily and quickly as an additional safety.

    I use Windows SyncToy to sync my catalogs main folder to an external drive after each editing session; just under one minute to sync a dozen of catalog folders. Synching the media folders for a library of 500 GB takes about 3 minutes.

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