Photoshop Elements 2020 Catalog backup confusion

[Lou216]

I bought a new laptop with 2 internal HDs early this year and upgraded to PSE2020.  I think Adobe helped me with moving my Catalog, so I now have a My Catalog-2020-02-03-do not use on my (D:) and also a My Catalog Main 03-13-2020.  I'm guessing that the do not use is the catalog that was saved from my previous PSE11 and the Main is the new catalog after installing PSE2020.

Now I am confused about my Catalog Backups that I have on my (F:) external HD.  I have a MyCatalogBackup(2020-03-16) and when I click on that I get all of my photos.  However, the first 8 icons are "white pages" numbered B0000000.cache; B0000001.xmp; B0000002.xmp; B0000003.json; B0000004.json; B0000005.json; B0000006.dat; B0000007.cached.  Starting with B0000008.jpg are the photos.  The final 2 "white pages" on this list are Backup.tly and catalog.buc.

I have 2 additional Catalog backups, one from 2020-06-29 and the other from 2020-12-24.  These backups do NOT show photos, but just have a list down the screen that are NOT numbered the same as the 2020-03-16 backup.  They start with B0000000.cache, but the rest end with xmp.  Example, B0000001.xmp.  Scrolling down this list (around 30,000), some other extensions are json; avi; JPG; MOV; PNG; HEIC.  The final 2 files on this list are Backup.tly and catalog.buc.

My questions are:

(1)  Does it appear that I am backing up my Catalog correctly?

(2)  I would like to keep 3 backups on my (F:) and then delete the oldest backup when I created a new backup, but I'm afraid to delete the 2020-03-16 backup that has the photos.  Can I delete that backkup?

(3)  When I backup my Catalog, first I go to my (F:) and create a New Folder.  If I backup my catalog today, I will created a New Folder CatalogBackup(2020-12-26).  I direct my backup to that folder.  Is that a problem?

[MichelBParis]

Everything you are describing looks fine.

The backup contains renamed copies of your photo files (those with the JPG; MOV; PNG; HEIC extension).

What makes you think some backups don't contain your photos?

You can browse those renamed files in the Explorer or Finder and even open them in the editor.

You can also check the total size of each backup folder and see if the size is realistic.

[Lou216]

Thanks for the reply, Michael.  First, let me say I'm an old guy and don't know a lot about computers.  What concerns me about the latest backups possibly not having photos, is that my first Catalog backup, that I believe Adobe helped me with, has the thumbnail photos when I open the backup folder.  The later two backups just show lists of files(?), so I was concerned about the backups being different.

Trying to follow your suggestions, in the most recent backup I double-clicked on B0000007.xmp and it opened the Editor screen, but showed no photo.  In the same backup folder, I double-clicked a jpg file and an HEIC file and they both opened their photos.

Not sure what you mean by "You can browse those renamed files in the Explorer or Finder and even open them in the editor."

The CatalogBackup((2020-03-16) is 146GB and CatalogBackup(2020-12-24) is 150GB.  I'm thinking those numbers seem OK.

Michael, maybe my backups are OK, but do you have any idea why my first backup that Adobe walked me through shows the thumbnails when I open the backup folder, but the other 2 backups just show the list of files?