Photoshop Elements 13 catalog, following a wiped C:drive

[Mike Woodford]

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!

[shraddhaj3923389]

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

[Mike Woodford]

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

[Mike Woodford]

Dear Shraddha,  thanks again.

I have this situation, and in case I can avoid a further restore (an enormous, time-consuming process with 24k entries), I ask you please:

I did run a restore of the catalog to a new location. This was successful (apart from hundreds of thumbnails that would not refresh without manually selecting them and hitting "update thumbnail", which is fine).

So:

My original photos & file structure remain unchanged on the "extra" 1.5Tb drive (E:) in folder Pictures2; this is 777Gb. The PSE13 catalog represents only a subset of those files/folders, therefore the restored version of Pictures2 (on D:) is only 491Gb (purely the 24,000 images in the catalog, folder structure preserved).

I need the restored catalog to be "re-directed" or "re-pointed" from the restored data/folder structure on D: to the original data/folder structure on E:.

I cannot overwrite/delete my original photos & file structure because I must retain that extra data and files at all costs (represents years of work), and it would be impractical to trawl through and reinstate all the many files/data and subfolders into a restored version.

If the catalog cannot be "repointed" in the above way, what is the best way to retain my data AND keep my catalog please?

Perhaps the following approach would work:

1. Rename original photos & file structure on the "extra" 1.5Tb drive (E:) to "old"
2. Restore catalog to the "extra" 1.5Tb drive (E:) as per the original root and filename
3. Rename the restored Pictures folder to "keep"
4. Rename original photos & file structure on the "extra" 1.5Tb drive (E:) back to their original names
5. Refresh all thumbnails in PSE13

Many thanks in advance, and for your trouble!  ( - :

Mike W.

[MichelBParis]

Mike,

The solution provided by Shraddha is of course the 'politically correct' one, that's why I did not try to suggest the slightly 'techy' way implying a small edit in directly in the catalog database.

But first, a few notes about your situation.

When you are using an external drive for the library, the catalog stores the information about your external drive with a letter (you don't recall which, but you can find it...) AND the internal serial number of the external drive. The latter is not lost in your case.

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.

To retrieve the letter drive:

- browse the backup folder you have used to do the restore. There is a file named catalog.buc which is a simple renamed copy of the catalog.pse13db database file. You need an sqlite utility to have a look at the 'volume_table'. Once you recover the letter, you use Windows to assign the correct letter to the external drive.

- So, if you install an sqlite utility like the sqlite manager found as an option of Firefox or http://fishcodelib.com/Database.htm

Database .NET - An Intuitive Multiple Database Manager

you can find your letter in the table 'Volume table'

In your case, you'll find your drive with the type 'removable_drive'.

Then you change the letter drive of your external drive back to the original.

How To Change a Drive Letter (Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP)

Now, when you open your restored catalog, everything should point to the original external drive instead of to the restored one.

(You could use the same utilility to edit the present letter drive in that table, but I would not edit that database without a copy of the database for safety.)

Other tip:

In your case, you have a restored catalog folder in your D: drive. It can be copied or moved elsewhere from Windows, or to the default location on C: from the catalog manager of the organizer. That folder is the whole folder containing the catalog.pse13db.

Edit:

The above solution is possible because you have already restored the catalog according to the advice by Shraddha.

[shraddhaj3923389]

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

[MichelBParis]

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.