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I am trying to restore my PSE catalog from old unbootable Win 7 computer to Win 10 computer with PSE 2020 installed. I do have a backup copy of the My Catalog directory with a catalog.pse18db in it, but that won't work, and I can't find a .tly file anywhere. What folder is the .tly file supposed to live in?? I'm totally confused. Keep getting error mesg "The disc drive in drive XX [where my old My Catalog folder is] does not contain a valid backup". Help please!
By @Deborah22460972wr3j
You have a copy of your catalog folder, not a backup of your catalog from the command 'backup' of the organizer;
There is no .tly file in a catalog folder, only in a backup folder containing both the contents of the catalog folder and all your photo files. You have no backup.
Thank you Michel. I do have a Backblaze backup of my old computer before it crashed so maybe I could find the backup folder somewhere?? Can you tell me where I would look for it?
By @Deborah22460972wr3j
I am not familiar with Backblaze, but I assume that that Cloud solution would be able to restore only your image files, not the catalog; if you did not use the organizer command to create a backup on specific folder and drive, no backup folder has been created. The catalog folder is stored in a 'hidden' location in ProgramData. You find its location by using the Help menu in the organizer, option System Info.
I can't remember how recently I backed up PSE so it might be missing more recent stuff, but it would be better than starting from scratch if I can find it. Thanks!! Deb
By @Deborah22460972wr3j
If you did make an organizer backup and you know in which drive (it's generally in an external USB drive), you may search files 'catalog.buc' from the Windows Explorer. The folders containing such files are catalog backups.
Thank you again Michel. Just wanted to let you know that I found the PSE catalog backup by searching for the .tly and catalog.buc files and found I actually had backed up as late as last August, so I was able to restore my Organizer catalog to very current status! Yes I found that folder in my offline hard drive backup, but since I hadn't written down when and where I backed it up, couldn't find it without the clue you gave me. So I am relieved not to have to import thousands of files again.
Just one more question please ... I used to keep all my jpeg files in a folder called C:\Users\my Username\My Photos, and import to PSE from there. After restoring the catalog, I now see the filename path of all restored photos has changed to C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs\My Catalog\Users\my Username\My Photos.
By @Deborah22460972wr3j
My advice has always been to never use the default Windows location for Pictures but to create your own personal master folder (something like 'My images') directly under the master folder of the drive you have chosen. This way you avoid having the multilevels folders hierarchy you are seeing (not a problem in your case, just annoying to browse). You also make backup and management of your images managed by the organizer much clearer and easier. Of course, it's recommended to store the pictures library outside of your master C drive you'll reserve for the operating system and programs; especially if you have a small SSD. You can store your master folder in another internal or external drive. I always use an external USB drive where I also store the catalog folder containing the databases and thumbnail cache. That way, I only have to plug in that drive to either one of my two desktops and I have immediate access to my catalog and photos.
So, I think that the new folder structure you are seeing is the result of choosing the option to restore on 'original location'. That creates unnecessary subfolder steps. Not a big issue. It's even possible to use the left folders panel in tree mode to move by drag and drop a folder with all its subfolders hierarchy to a different master folder and drive to make the folders path shorter and ignore the useless empty folder steps. Or you could try another restore session specifying only the new 'custom' master folder location and uncheck 'keep original folders structure'. If the resulting folder structure is what you expected, you could delete the files created from your first restore.
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