Restore Catalog in PE 14

Report · May 30, 2017

My old computer crashed. I purchased a new one and reinstalled Photoshop Elements 14. However, I have been unable to restore my catalog.

I tried following the steps to Restore a Catalog, but the system is asking for a .tly file. I cannot find any such files on my backup drives.

According to my notes, when I last did a catalog backup, the files were saved in a file called Photoshop Backup Catalog, Pictures 1. I can find that folder, but there are no .tly files. Instead, I see a cache file of 460,771 KB and a very long list of .xmp, xml and jpg files.

When I try to open the cache file, I am asked if I want to use Photoshop Premier to open it (not Elements). I select that and get a message that says "Could not complete your request because it is not the right kind of document."

I'm very confused and desperate to restore the catalog so I don't have to re-tag tens of thousands of photos.

Please help!

Report · May 30, 2017

Carola200 wrote
My old computer crashed. I purchased a new one and reinstalled Photoshop Elements 14. However, I have been unable to restore my catalog.
I tried following the steps to Restore a Catalog, but the system is asking for a .tly file. I cannot find any such files on my backup drives.
According to my notes, when I last did a catalog backup, the files were saved in a file called Photoshop Backup Catalog, Pictures 1. I can find that folder, but there are no .tly files. Instead, I see a cache file of 460,771 KB and a very long list of .xmp, xml and jpg files.
When I try to open the cache file, I am asked if I want to use Photoshop Premier to open it (not Elements). I select that and get a message that says "Could not complete your request because it is not the right kind of document."
I'm very confused and desperate to restore the catalog so I don't have to re-tag tens of thousands of photos.
Please help!

The backups created by the organizer include indeed "a cache file of 460,771 KB and a very long list of .xmp, xml and jpg files" plus a backup.tly file and a catalog.pse14db. Those last files are the most important. The 'catalog.pse14db' file is the main database storing most of your organization, the 'backup.tly' file is a kind of log to restore all the renamed copies of your photos files with their original names and folder structure. If you don't have it, the backup failed. The big 'cache' file holds the thumbnails and is not necessary since they can be automatically recreated. So, first to a search in your Explorer/Finder to find 'catalog.pse14db' files. That will show you the backup folders of the PSE14 versions.

Can you find such folders and do they have 'backup.tly' files in them?

Report · May 30, 2017

Thanks for trying to help. I can find one catalog.pse14db file. It says it was a modified a few days ago and is 175 KB. When I click to try to open it, nothing happens.

What would cause a backup to not work? It certainly seemed to work.

I had to restore my catalog a few years ago after some computer troubles. Is there any way of retrieving that catalog. It would be old but better than nothing.

Report · May 30, 2017

Found two more catalogs. One was dated 5/4/17 and is 445MB. The other was dated 11/13/2015 and is 111 KB. I can't get either to open.

Report · May 30, 2017

My tags are back!!! Thank you! Finally managed to get one of the catalogs to open with Elements.

Report · May 30, 2017

wrote
My tags are back!!! Thank you! Finally managed to get one of the catalogs to open with Elements.

Great!

Thanks for the feedback.