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dannrendon2
Participant
July 17, 2020
Answered

Problems restoring PSE 2019 catalog with Photoshop Elements 2020

  • July 17, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 2305 views

I am a long-time user of PSE. I have thousands of photos, all annotated. I would really hate to lose all this data.

 

Previously I had PSE 2019, but it became unusable when I updated to MacOS Catalina. Before I updated, I did a full catalog backup to an external disk.

 

My photos are on the Mac’s internal disk in a sub-folder, organized into a folder structure that makes sense to me. This structure had not changed from pre-Catalina installation. I restored these photo folders and files from other backups.

 

I installed PSE 2020 just today & did a catalog restore from the external disk. I should mention that I am using a custom location for the catalog.

 

The first time I tried the restore, I neglected to select “Restore original folder structure”. It restored the catalog data successfully, but flattened out the folder structure so now I had duplicate folders (with duplicate files) in the top level, as well as lower in the folder structure. For example, if I had photos in “~/myPictures/myTravels/EuropeTrip/Madrid”, the catalog restoration created a new folder with the same photos in “~/myPictures/Madrid”. The catalog pointed to the new folder, not the original folder.

 

This was unacceptable. So I tried again. I renamed the newly created catalog folders so that PSE would think there was no catalog. I did the restore again, this time requesting that it restore the original folder structure. This time it created an entirely new folder structure, duplicating the entire file path (from root) within my pictures folder. Using the example above, I now have “~/myPictures/Users/myName/myPictures/myTravels/EuropeTrip/Madrid”. Again I have duplicate folders with duplicated photos in the wrong place.

 

What did I do wrong? How do I get the catalog restored and pointing to the existing files in the existing folder structure?

 

Are these the only options: restore folders in a flattened folder structure or duplicate my entire user folder under my photos folder?

 

Is there some way to just move the folders back into their correct place?

 

Is there some way to just restore the catalog without restoring the photos?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer MichelBParis

The short answer is that what you should have done when installing PSE2020 is to simply accept the message asking you to 'convert' the previous catalog. A restore from a full backup is not needed. The conversion means the old catalog is read and all its contents are recovered in a new catalog in the latest database format. If you miss that opportunity, it's still possible to do the conversion from the catalog manager of PSE2020. The conversion process is much faster than a backup followed by a restore and nothing is altered in your 'custom' media folders tree.

 

Now, I assume the restored catalog is working normally and your problem is the (unused) duplicates created in your last attempts. You have your own 'custom' master folder, which is good. The most obvious way in your case seems to create a new custom master folder and restore there with the original folder structure and then to use the Finder to delete everything under the old custom master folder. Or, if you don't have enough diskspace, you delete first and restore after.

 

 

2 replies

MichelBParis
MichelBParis
Legend
July 18, 2020

Is there some way to just move the folders back into their correct place?

The problem is to delete selectively the duplicate subfolders.

Is there some way to just restore the catalog without restoring the photos?

In your case, you need simply to convert the catalog. Generally you can always copy or move the whole catalog folder somewhere else, even in a new drive, partition or master folder. The contents are not changed. The location of the catalog is given by the menu Help >> system infomation.

J
Jade Stevens
Participant
September 15, 2020

Hi Michel,

 

1. We had to replace our ancient MacBook Pro with a new MacBook Air. After a successful migration, we upgraded our Elements 15 to Elements 2020. The installation was successful except for:

 

1. We had three catalogs on the old MBPro E15 version. Only one of the 3 moved over to E2020. Have tried to follow directions from the support pages to restore the other two but to no avail. We have all the previous photos and back-ups stored on a dedicated external hard drive and it appeared that the E2020 found one of the three catalogs. 

 

2. One restore catalog file attempt indicates that at least one of the two missing catalogs exists already. We don't know how to reconnect that catalog so Elements Organizer recognizes it. Any ideas besides calling tech support and wait for hours?

 

We're in our 70's and it's quite challenging to navigate all the changes, the tech language, etc. We only purchased Elements 2020 September 4 or 5 and have not been able to do it despite many attempts to find support. I also purchased a second Elements 2020 for my own laptop but I've been so absorbed in getting my husband's program working to start the great reorganizing of my own files on Elements 2020.  Any advice is so appreciated. 

 

Jade

 

 

amyvegte
amyvegte
Inspiring
January 14, 2022
quote

 The restore on custom location has succeeded and when I posted last night that was my intent; to use the catalog folder on "M", however running PSE22 on "M" has proven to be extremely slow, so I did a backup catalog structure overnight onto my hard drive "C" and am running PSE22 from that location now. It is running smoother and is not stuck rendering/hanging. I'll keep my catalog here "C", but I still need to deal with the duplicate folder structure & catalog on "M" that I created during the backup and restore process. I'd like to get my folder structure pulling from or pointed to "L" which is the preferred drive and the drive I'd been using to save my files. I'm fine with leaving the catalog location on "C".  

 

By @amyvegte

You can move or copy a catalog folder to another location, that does not change the links in the database. Generally, the speed difference for the location of the catalog folder is not really noticeable, so I prefer to keep it in the same external drive as the photo files tree.

You should probably forget what you have done and start with the recommended way in your situation where you don't want to move you photo files, but you want to 'convert' your catalog to the new version.

Let's say you have installed PSE2022 and you have the 'M' drive 'L' drive [edited] plugged in. What is missing? the catalog on the old computer. The catalog folder is probably on the hidden default location on C drive. Menu Help >> System Info to find the folder.

So, just copy the whole folder and paste it on the 'L' drive just under the root drive, beside your photo files tree. Then, the catalog manager of PSE2022 organizer will be able to find it and convert it. The converted catalog will be on 'M'. You can move ir copy it to the default C drive location to see if that makes a speed difference, which I doubt.

 

Note that there is no simple way to update a catalog to point to a different drive. The catalog does not trust drive letters, it works on internal drive identifications. Only fiddling within the sqlite database will be able to update the drive identification provided the paths are exactly the same on both drives.

 

The above solution (catalog folder copy plus conversion) is much faster than a backup and restore and it does not change anything to your photo files or original catalog folder.

 

 


Before I do what you have recommended, I wanted to ask and see if I could copy the whole catalog folder (catalog.pse16) and paste it on the 'L' drive just under the root drive instead? Would the converted catalog then point to 'L' instead of 'M'?  If not, I'll still do what you've recommended above. 

 

 

MichelBParis
MichelBParisCorrect answer
Legend
July 18, 2020

The short answer is that what you should have done when installing PSE2020 is to simply accept the message asking you to 'convert' the previous catalog. A restore from a full backup is not needed. The conversion means the old catalog is read and all its contents are recovered in a new catalog in the latest database format. If you miss that opportunity, it's still possible to do the conversion from the catalog manager of PSE2020. The conversion process is much faster than a backup followed by a restore and nothing is altered in your 'custom' media folders tree.

 

Now, I assume the restored catalog is working normally and your problem is the (unused) duplicates created in your last attempts. You have your own 'custom' master folder, which is good. The most obvious way in your case seems to create a new custom master folder and restore there with the original folder structure and then to use the Finder to delete everything under the old custom master folder. Or, if you don't have enough diskspace, you delete first and restore after.

 

 

D
dannrendon2Author
Participant
July 19, 2020

You called it. I renamed the current master folder to hide it. I then restored the old master folder from my backup, including the last used catalog from PSE 2019 (which I neglected to do before, not knowing exactly where it was). I was able to  convert that catalog to PSE 2020 and all is well. Notes & data & images in place with no duplicates. Now I just need to bring the restored master folder up to date. It's missing some recent files. But that definitely beats hunting down & deleting duplicates.

 

Thanks for the great info. I now understand under the PSE hood better.

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