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dannrendon2
Participant
July 17, 2020
Answered

Problems restoring PSE 2019 catalog with Photoshop Elements 2020

  • July 17, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 2303 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
February 2, 2022
quote

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. 


By @amyvegte

 

Sorry, I just re-read my previous post and realized that I stated the 'M' drive instead of the 'L' drive on which you still have your original photo files trees... I have edited that post, again very sorry!

 

I'll rephrase my answer to cover the common situation when:

- what I call your 'library' (the photo/video folders tree) is on an external drive known with the letter 'L'

- the current catalog folder is NOT on the same 'L' drive; maybe on the default location on C or another drive

- you want to move to a new computer AND at the same time upgrade to a new Elements version.

 

Then you don't need to move or copy the library with the backuup and restore process.

- You need to find the catalog folder from the old computer, menu Help >> System Information. By default, it's a hidden folder under ProgramData, but it can be anywhere else.

- Copy and paste the whole folder (containing the main database catalog.pseXXdb) to the 'L' drive which already contains the library; copy it just under the root drive of 'L', beside (not inside) the master folder of the library.

- [optional] You can check that you can work with the copied catalog folder just like with the original catalog. The simplest way is to double click the 'catalog.pseXXdb' file which will open the organizer with that catalog;  or you can use the catalog manager to navigate to the new location on 'L' and open.

- Now, use the new computer to install the new version of Elements.

- plug in the 'L' drive

- verify that the drive still has the 'L' letter in Windows. Otherwise, use the Windows disk manager to assign the same 'L' letter (see note ***)

- Open the organizer of the new Elements version and choose the 'convert' option in the program manager.

- Navigate to the copied catalog folder and click convert. Wait for the conversion to run totally. A new catalog foldeer is created from the old version one, the old one is renamed with a -1 suffix. The new converted catalog is now available and remembered in the 'custom' location when you use the catalog manager.

- In rare cases, you might have to do another conversion, so don't hurry to delete the old source catalog. It does not take much space.

 

Note ***

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-assign-permanent-drive-letter-windows-10

In the event when the drive does not appear with the letter 'L' in Windows, the converted catalog may work, or seem to work because the internal serial number of  'L' is recognized; I am not sure however that you won't have issues later on for backups for instance.

 

 

 


Thank you! This worked well and the conversion from 13 to 22 went smoothly. My old catalog folder was renamed with a -1 suffix and my new one was created from the old version. I have my pictures stored (and backed up) on an external drive and my catalog folder stored on my hard drive. Is this what is best recommended?

 

Is there any reason you see to keep this old -1 catalog folder? Likewise, is there any reason you see that the old catalog.pse13db (on "L") should be kept?

 

Lastly, am I safe to delete the initial back-up that was put on "M" (the photos and the catalog folder)?

 

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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