Preparing to Transfer Photos to External Drive on a MacBook PRO

[Linda24082828d18p]

I want to transfer my photos to an external hard drive because my scratch disk is full,. But something funny has been going on with my photos for awhile. Even when I import them once, they are imported again and again. I usually don't erase them from my memory card until I make my final edits. 

I'm using a MacBook Pro, Monterey OS and Photoshop Elements  2020. Maybe it will help to look at the screenshot I have attached that lists my folders. Some of folders have no images in them. 

Will this "funny stuff" with the folders affect my transferring images (25 GB) to a hard drive and then later trying to import certain folders to work with them? 

[hatstead]

Try another memory card. If the duplication persists with the other card, perhaps there is a flaw with your computer. 

[Linda24082828d18p]

Thanks. I have a new memory card. I will be using it soon because one memory card is already full.

[Greg_S.]

It would help to figure out what is happening, if you show the Tree View of the My Folders panel.  You are currently in the List View, so we can't see the different paths of the folders with the same name.  Click on the hamburger icon at the top of the panel to make the change.

[Linda24082828d18p]

Here's the Tree View. Folders and their dates and images seem to be correct in general here when compared to List View. 

 

[Linda24082828d18p]

Oops. This is the Tree View,

 

[Greg_S.]

But where are the duplicate folders named 0, 1, and 2?  And do they contain duplicate photos?  (You may need to right-click on the parent folders and select the option to Show All Subfolders.)

[Linda24082828d18p]

The Tree View is in bold. One time when I was in Tree View and selected "Show All Subfolders," some photos came up. Now  they do not. When I scroll down past dated folders, then under"Photo Library" > "Orginals," I see 0, 1, 2, 3, etc. as folders.  Rhey have photos in them, but when I right click, there are no subfolders.

I would like to move on and transfer photos to an external drive. Then I want to delete all photos in the Organizer and then reinstall some of them. I also need to transfer to the Organizer the latest images on my memory card. I erased them in error in the Organizer the first time and my scratch disk is full. 

[MichelBParis]

Hi linda,

The "Tree View" is similar to the folders view of your operating system, but it shows ONLY the files registered in your catalog. That's important to keep it updated rapidly while ignoring any other type of files and even files registered in different catalogs. That view is drawn from the contents of your catalog.

The "show all folders" option is not there to show the same folder tree as your finder, which would require analysing your whole disk(s) and updating the tree to guarantee that changes made outside the organizer be taken into account in real time. If you want to see the Finder tree, use the option to 'reveal in the Finder' instead.

However the "show all folders" can work very fast when it is limited to the subfolders of the currently selected folder. The display is limited to the subfolders and disappears as soon as you move to another master folder.

[Linda24082828d18p]

Interesting. Now when I click on Show All Folders, no subfolders appear, although one time they did.

Now files that were in folders with tags, shown up any place.