PSE16 install on Surface Pro bolluxed.

[PackerBacker]

I have decades of photos and have used PSE for years but I really messed up when I moved to my Surface Pro. What I have now is multiple catalogs and copies of files on my C: drive, some on my installed SD card on the Surface and some on not one but two different external hard drives. To make a bad situation worse, as I have switched cameras over the years, I have photos of different things with the same file name. That was not a problem when they were on my previous laptop with a huge internal HDD since they were in separate subdirectories but moving them to the Surface Pro has made that a problem as well. So, I need to clean things up. 
I need to store the files on an external drive because as awesome as the Surface Pro is, it does not have a large hard drive. 

here is what I propose to do:

1.  Move all photos from Surface C: drive to (temporary) third external hdd replicating existing directory structure. 
2.  Move all photos from each existing external hard drives to (temporary) third external drive.  I will keep each drives photos in a separate directory to avoid overwriting duplicates. 

This should give me a single location for all my photos, right?

3.  Delete all existing catalogs. (Remember that space is a premium)

4.  Define largest (2Tb) external HDD as file import location in PSE16.

Now, what is the best way to import all those files so Adobe will create its own directory structure based on the pjoto's date the photo was taken?  This should be the same as the file date.   I think that if I just import using "From files and folders..." PSE will NOT store them in the new external HDD but rather just bring them into the catalog, right?  How do I get it done?

The only good news in this is that I don't think I have lost any photos!

if there is, a better way to do this, I am willing to scrap my plan for a better one. 

[Greg_S.]

Why do you have multiple catalogs?  Do you need them all?

The best way to move a catalog from one computer to another is to do a backup and restore.  That way you can backup your (most recent master?) catalog which will collect all of your photos wherever they are stored on your old computer and then restore them to your new computer on whichever drive, internal or external, you desire.

So, do you still have the old computer that you can backup?

[PackerBacker]

Thanks for the quick reply but note that I am not trying to move a catalog but rather the actual photos from the 3 existing locations to a single location that can rbe accessed through a single catalog.  

The reason for the multiple catalogs is that I have made several attempts to make this transition and have not yet been successful.  In fact, my previous attempts have been pretty much monumentally unsuccessful!

[Greg_S.]

I think you may have a misconception about what the Organizer does.  The only time the Organizer has anything to do with storing files on your hard drives (and creating a structure for them) is either when you create a backup and restore of the catalog, or when your import files from a temporary storage device like a memory card or camera via the Adobe Photo Downloader (APD).  When you import files from a hard drive, either internal OR external, the files generally remain where they are stored and the Organizer simply creates a database of where they are located.  Now, I have had a situation where a portable external drive behaved like a memory card and files could be imported and stored via the APD.  However, I believe that can only happen if you set up the drive to use a Windows Autoplay option to open the Organizer when the drive is first connected.

So, do you have an available "master" catalog that includes all of the images that you want to use on your new computer?  If so, I recommend that you use it to backup the catalog and restore it to your largest external hard drive.  The backup will contain a copy of all the photos in your catalog and you can have a (small) amount of control over how the restored folders are structured.