PSE 11 incremental backup hangs

[Teresa21]

After restoring my PSE 11 catalog to a new computer, I have no longer been able to complete an incremental backup. I get to the step of "Please wait while previous backup is being loaded" and the application eventually hangs, giving me the option to "Close the program" or "Wait for the program to respond."

I have done a Reconnect of missing files, a Repair, and an Optimize on this catalog but that has not helped.

I did a test of creating a new catalog, adding one photo, doing a full backup, adding another photo, and doing an incremental backup and that incremental backup completed fine.

What else can I do to fix my main catalog so that an incremental backup will process?

[Teresa21]

To clarify, I have done a full backup on this catalog from the new computer. In fact, I have done more than one full backup since I have not been able to do an incremental one.

[MichelBParis]

In my experience, incremental backup in PSE is a false good idea. You expect it to save time, and it does not.

It may be the adequate solution when you want to do regular backups at close intervals and if you want to be able to restore to any of those incremental steps. You need to understand exactly how that works, which is not intuitive, and it's a must to test a set of incremental backups and a restore to check you master the process.

You must understand that you have to create the full backup first, then each incremental one in separate backup folders. Those must be named (by dates) for easy retrieval.

A possible alternative is to use both full backups, say each week or month, and external backups after each editing session. I do use the Microsoft Synctoy after each session. That does not guarantee that after a Synctoy restore all your files will be connected in your catalog, but all your files will be safe and you can use your last full backup to restore and do a reconnect session.

[Teresa21]

Thanks, Michel. "You expect it to save time, and it does not."  That is certainly true!  The effort at trying to fix the incremental backup wastes any time I may have been trying to save by using it!

I do understand how incremental backup is supposed to work, with multiplw folders and all that, and I was able to restore my catalog when moving to this new computer by accessing multiple incremental backups from my previous computer. But perhaps some minor piece of that restore didn't work and explains why the incremental backup no longer works.

I think for now I will resort to doing full backups of the catalog, in conjuction with regular backups of my hard drive, both to external drives.