What Are the Critical Files in 2018 My Catalog Folder?

[Ralph McMurphy]

Hello. I'm trying to understand exactly which files are critical for backing up the Photoshop 2018 Catalog folder "My Catalog".

With Lightroom, all the critical metadata (keywords, etc.) are backed up into a single file. I have my backup software back this catalog every week which is named "Lightroom Catalog.lrcat".

When I look into "My Catalog" folder, which is located in "C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs\My Catalog\" I see many, many files. I'm assuming the "catalog.pse16db" is the most critical database file. However, I see other files as well, including "backupCt.dat", "collstatus.dat", "eventsstatus.dat", "face.thumb.9.cache", among others, and tons of json files. Do I really need to back up the entire My Catalog folder, or just the "catalog.pse16db" file? In a "disaster" I don't mind recreating previews, etc., but I would like to be able to recover the catalog with assigned keywords intact.

Thanks for reading.

[MichelBParis]

You are right.

"in case of disaster"........

- The safest method is the organizer backup (saves - media files - catalog - links to media in the catalog). Takes time, but the best not only for restoring but also for migrating.

- Saving the whole catalog folder. Maybe zipping to a folder in a synced Dropbox, OneDrive or similar synced folder. Or like me, using a Windows SyncToy or similar to another external drive. Very fast. Restoring or moving often require file reconnection or search for errors, optimizing... Necessary if you are using an external backup solution (in that case, rather include the catalog path in your procedure).

- Saving the main sqlite database, catalog.pse16db. Still faster and easier.  If it's to go back to an earlier backup, may work with some glitches (not in sync with other catalog components). What is nowhere documented is that you can even use it as 'light' catalog backup to restore the main data from your catalog.

* you create a new empty catalog folder somewhere

* paste the catalog.pse16db

* double click that file to open the organizer with that 'mini' catalog.

You'll recover your tags and hierarchies, albums, captions, notes, stacks, version sets.

The thumbnails will be recreated (be patient)

You'll lose your face recognition, visual similarity, the 'previews' for older files imported from CD/DVDs and more.

The process may help when other troubleshooting steps don't work in case of faulty backup or restore. Since it's not documented, I can't guarantee it will work forever.

Thumbnails: they are stored in another sqlite database: thumb.5.cache.

json or xml files are for face recognition, visual similarity...

[Ralph McMurphy · Accepted solution]

MichelBParis...exactly what I was looking for...thank you very much