What exactly is stored in the backup catalog

[kcdane]

I found the following question on the forum, but did not see that it was answered.

Does the "Backup Catalog" makes a backup of not only the Elements' "Catalog" but also the entire photo library that the Catalog points to?

In other words, do I need to backup the original photos when I back up Photoshop Elements catalog or will Elements restore them?

[MichelBParis]

The organizer backup creates a folder (named according to the catalog name) containing renamed copies of all your images AND a copy of all the assets in your catalog folder. So, you get a copy of both your images and your catalog. There is also a backup.tly files which stores the structure of the image folders to be able to restore them in the computer/drive or master folder you want to restore, keeping the same folder structure.

In very recent versions, there is also an option to backup only the catalog without copies of your images. Of course, that's much faster, but you can't recover your images, only the organization and tags.