Backup - low disk space

[Mad or Nomad]

Hi, I'm running PSE 15 and recently upgraded (?) to 2020. In order to achieve this I'm attempting to do a full backup in PSE 15 before an upgrade to 2020 version. I have a couple of older backups which worked sucessfully going back to May this year but obviously I would like the latest photo's etc included. When doing the backup in PSE 15, I get the error message along the line of 'Your system is low on disk space and backup cannot continue. Free up disk space".....or very similar. However I'm running a multi disk system roughly as follows: System Disk C: drive 50 Gb free. Catalogue located on F: Drive : 250Gb free and backup located on H drive: 247Gb Free.

Question: which drive do I need to find more space on?

[Greg_S.]

I think the backup creates some temporary files on your C: drive.  Where are your media files located and how much space do they take up?  Do you have any video files in your catalog?  If so, have they been scene detected?  That can create multiple copies of the video files in the backup and can cause some problems.

BTW, while it is always good practice to create backups, it is not required to convert your catalog for a newer version of the program.

[MichelBParis]

I think the first thing to do is to estimate the final size of the backup folder as suggested by Greg.

The backup process calculates that size and displays it when you have followed the preparatory steps of the backup, just after you have selected your drive and entered the destination folder.

You can compare with the size of your media files on your F: drive. I think that your catalog (with the database) may still be on C: while your library (the media files tree) is on F:

The steps to show you the free space and catalog size should be enough to prevent you from trying a backup with insufficient free size. In your case, selecting the H: drive should not trigger the error message is the needed space is slightly lower than the available 247 GB.

If the estimated necessary free space is bigger than that, your only choice would be to use another, bigger, external drive.

To check if you may be in a special case as suggested by Greg, please state:

- the catalog location and size (menu Help >> system information)

- the estimated necessary size for the backup folder

- the type of your H: drive (internal or external)

[MOC52]

I am having this same problem but it is on a MAC computer. When trying to backup the catoalog (PSE17 - 2019 version) the backup size is 267GB. In the past (on a WinPC) I never needed free space matching the backup size. I changed the location of the CACHE to an external drive with 687GB free but still got the same problem.

Thank you for considering this issue.