Restoration of PSE15 Catalog

[Jrdnole1986]

Hi All,

I had PSE15 installed on the C drive of my desktop computer, with the Catalog on the C drive and the photo images themselves on a different internal drive, D. The C drive crashed, and I had a new Internal C drive installed, along with a new installation of Windows 10.  I subsequently reinstalled PSE15.  I did back up my catalog on a third internal hard drive, F, before the original C drive crashed. So, the D and F drives were unaffected. To summarize, the original photo images remain on the D drive, and the backed up Catalog is on the F drive. When I reinstalled the PSE15 application, a new, empty Catalog was created.  My questions are:

1.  When the Catalog is backed up by PSE15, is both the Catalog and full sized images backed up, or are the images only thumb nails of the originals?.

2. In order to restore a backed up Catalog, which files are needed? I have both a .buc file and .tly file.

3. If I restore the backed up Catalog through the reinstalled PSE15 application, will it reinstall what will essentially be duplicates of all of my images, which are still on my D drive.  I really only need the Catalog containing all the tags, etc.

I will probably upgrade to PSE 2019, but I would like to solve this issue first.  I really don't have time to go back and redo tags and the face recognition on 20,000 + photos.

Thanks.

Jon

[arshla jindal · Accepted solution]

Hi Jon,

Please find the responses to your queries below:

1.  When the Catalog is backed up by PSE15, is both the Catalog and full sized images backed up, or are the images only thumb nails of the originals?.

Upon backing up any catalog, the original images also form the part of backup folder. This ensures that if you are restoring your catalog at any other PC from this backup, the images also get transferred to that PC.

2. In order to restore a backed up Catalog, which files are needed? I have both a .buc file and .tly file.

When you select the "Restore From" location in restore dialog, you need to select the .tly file. Find more information at - Back up or restore catalogs in Elements Organizer 2018

3. If I restore the backed up Catalog through the reinstalled PSE15 application, will it reinstall what will essentially be duplicates of all of my images, which are still on my D drive.  I really only need the Catalog containing all the tags, etc.

Yes, on restoring the catalog, your Drive D data  (images) would be again created in the folder which you would select at "Restore Files and Catalog to" section of Restore dialog. Though this data would have all tags organization attached to it.

This is designed behavior of restore.

When you plan to upgrade to Elements 2019, this duplication would not happen, as then you can use the convert catalog functionality to convert your previous version catalog to PSE 2019 catalog. Conversion migrates the catalogs and its tags organization, reusing the same media from their original location.

Let me know in case you've further queries.

Thanks.

[MichelBParis]

Jrdnole1986  wrote

3. If I restore the backed up Catalog through the reinstalled PSE15 application, will it reinstall what will essentially be duplicates of all of my images, which are still on my D drive.  I really only need the Catalog containing all the tags, etc.

To add to arshla jindal​ precise answer about the correct and 'as designed' procedure, you can still state your original master folder as the restoration location. Then, you'll have to state somewhere if you want to skip or overwrite the originals. No duplication, but I don't like this myself. It would be better (if there is enough diskspace) to restore to a new master folder and delete the old folder tree when you are sure everything is ok. Of course, the restore would work if you delete before...

The 'as design' process' is not the only possibility, but you can't extract (recreate) a complete catalog folder from the backup while ignoring the media files.

It may be useful to know that you can create a new minimal catalog folder with only a renamed copy of the 'catalog.buc' file to 'catalog.pse15db'.

You'll get a working catalog with the main database, without features like face recognition, but with all tags, captions and albums.

The alternative (or complementary) solutions are based on external backup or syncing of both your image folder tree(s) and of your catalog folders.

Catalog folders can be moved or copied where you want.

If you had stored your catalog folder in the same D drive as the photo files, you would not have needed any restore process.

[Jrdnole1986]

Hi Michel,

Thank you for your help with this issue. Regarding your comment about renaming the 'catalog.buc' file to 'catalog.pse15db'. Where do I place the renamed folder on my C drive, given that the reinstalled PSE15 has already created a 'my catalog' file? Also, I understand from your message that using the renamed catalog file will retain everything but face recognition. Is that correct? Just curious-do you know why the face recognition wouldn't be restored by renaming and using the catalog.buc file?

Jon

[MichelBParis]

Jrdnole1986  wrote

Hi Michel,

Thank you for your help with this issue. Regarding your comment about renaming the 'catalog.buc' file to 'catalog.pse15db'. Where do I place the renamed folder on my C drive, given that the reinstalled PSE15 has already created a 'my catalog' file? Also, I understand from your message that using the renamed catalog file will retain everything but face recognition. Is that correct? Just curious-do you know why the face recognition wouldn't be restored by renaming and using the catalog.buc file?

Jon

You create a new folder elsewhere with a new folder name (which will become the folder name).

To activate that new catalog while opening the organizer, you double click on the catalog.pse15db file.

The new 'minimal' catalog will retain the information stored in the main sqlite database, not in other components in the catalog folder. If you have a look at the components in that folder, some are dedicated to face recognition, visual similiarity etc. They won't be recreated. The thumbnail cache will be recreated from scratch. Of course, that minimal catalog is only useful if the 'restore' function does not work for some reason. What is important for me is recovered: tags, albums, captions, tags and album hierarchies, stacks, version sets, ratings.

The default catalogs folders location is hidden. You find it from the menu Help >> System Information.

[Jrdnole1986]

Hi Michel,

I located the backup.tly file on my F drive. The backed up images/thumbnails are also on that drive.  As I mentioned earlier, the original images are still on my other internal drive, D. I went to 'File' and selected ''Restore Catalog'.  I selected 'Restore From Hard Drive and browsed to F:\Backup.tly . I then selected 'Restore Files and Catalog to New Location'.  I made new Folders 'named My Restored catalog' on three different hard drives (F, H and I) and selected that folder as the  'New Location' one drive at a time. I also selected 'Restore Original Folder Structure' for each restoration. For each attempted restoration, I got a popup box which mentioned 'You are restoring from an incremental backup, and that it will require a total of 13 backup disks from 13 backup sessions. 'Click ok to continue if you have these 13 disks ready.' I am almost positive that I only did a single full backup last year, and the backup up was done to my internal 'F' drive. There is only one 'Backup.tly file on that drive. In any event, when I select 'Ok', it starts to prepare the restore process but quickly gives me the following message:

'Folder already Exists

One or more folders already exist with the same name as the folders being restored. To combine the contents with the existing folders, click ok. To specify a different location, click cancel.'

At this point, I cancel the restoration process. The last external drive I tried to restore the backup to, my 'I' drive, definitely does not have any of the same folders as the backup folders to be restored. However, I still get the above message.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Jon

[MichelBParis]

Jon,

I made new Folders 'named My Restored catalog' on three different hard drives (F, H and I) and selected that folder as the  'New Location' one drive at a time. I also selected 'Restore Original Folder Structure' for each restoration.

I don't follow you. If you have a backup of a catalog pointing to several drives at the same time, the restore will be written on a single master folder of a single drive. The restore will consider each different source drive as a different folder. You only have to restore to a single drive and master folder, and the different source drives will appear as different children folders of that master folder.

For each attempted restoration, I got a popup box which mentioned 'You are restoring from an incremental backup, and that it will require a total of 13 backup disks from 13 backup sessions. 'Click ok to continue if you have these 13 disks ready.' I am almost positive that I only did a single full backup last year, and the backup up was done to my internal 'F' drive. There is only one 'Backup.tly file on that drive.

The restore proces understands you want to restore everything three times on three different drives. You can restore a catalog on as many drives or master folders as you want, but you are not going to do a restore which will separate the output into different drives.

What I don't understand is why the restore process thinks you have a set of incremental backups instead of a single full backup.

I am not fond of incremental backups in the organizer. They are not intuitive at all and not very fast. They have advantages only if you understand how they work, which is to start with the latest backup and to restore from the newest to the oldest one. Each incremental backup folder has exactly the same structure as a full backup. Each one includes a catalog.buc which is a copy of the catalog.pseXXdb file at the time of the incremental backup. Say you have 12 monthly incremental backups, you can restore your library and catalog to the state at any of the 12 months.

My advice is to only trust the process when you have tested it yourself.

'Folder already Exists

One or more folders already exist with the same name as the folders being restored. To combine the contents with the existing folders, click ok. To specify a different location, click cancel.'

That is normal if you restore on the original location. I would click ok. That would update or add new files without deleting files no longer in the catalog.

[Jrdnole1986]

Thank you, Arshla. This information is very helpful.

Jon

[Jrdnole1986]

I was not clear.  I first tried the restore as described above (and by you) on one internal hard drive, F.  I received the message about folder or folders already existing.  I tried the same restore process but chose instead to restore to a newly created catalog folder on the next internal hard drive, H.  I received the same message about existing folders.  Finally, I tried to restore to a different, external hard drive, I.  The same message appeared.  I do not understand what the message about existing folders existing on the destination drives means.  They clearly are not. on the destination drives.

[Jrdnole1986]

Because the Backup.tly and Catalog.Buc files are on F drive, I can see why there might have been issues regarding existing folders when I tried to backup to a new folder I created (My Restored Catalog) on the F drive.  However, the same issue is happening when I try to restore using the original folder structure to either of the other two hard drives (H and I), neither of which contain the catalog folders when I try to restore the catalog from the catalog backup located on the F drive to either of those two drives.  Just to emphasize, I am not trying to split the restored catalog among three drives. I merely tried to repeat the restoration using  a different hard drive after I kept receiving the 'folders already exist' message because I don't see how this could be the case, at least not for drives H and I.

[MichelBParis]

Thanks for the clarification, now I understand why you tried the restore on other drives.

The only trap I can see would be if you specify the master folder on the new drive as the root folder. You must create a new master folder of your own, just under the root drive, "MyNewPhotos" or similar.

Otherwise, I don't see what can be wrong.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if you don't cancel the restore and let the process combine folders in one of your drives without the old library.

[Jrdnole1986]

Hi Michel,

Thanks for your further response.  Last night I located my 'My Catalog' folder from the previous version of the application (PSE14).  I converted the catalog in PSE15 and, at least so far, it appears to be working with all images etc restored as they appeared before.

I am thinking about upgrading to PSE2019 (and perhaps PE2019).  Do you have recommendations on this?  I have seen some people posting issues with the new version being slow, etc.

[MichelBParis]

I am thinking about upgrading to PSE2019 (and perhaps PE2019).  Do you have recommendations on this?  I have seen some people posting issues with the new version being slow, etc.

It's true that there are a number of complaints about the speed with PSE2019. There has been as many for previous versions... But this time, some users have abnormal slowness while their older versions are faster.

Adobe says that version 2019 is faster.

My own experience: with a low spec computer with only 6GB RAM, I was very disappointed, even without enabling the smart automatic features. On my present computer, 8GB, it's really faster. Both computers are in Windows 10 (1803).

Did you notice that the system requirements are no longer 4GB, but 4GB, 8GB recommended?

I think that's crucial. The problem is that those who complain rarely specify their hardware specs. A number of features like face recognition, smart agging and autocreations  require a lot of computer power, at least in the initial indexing phases.

Also, there were a number of complaints with previous versions about real slowness with very strong hardware configs. It seems that it's not the case with version 2019.

That's my own experience. I can only judge from the posts in this forum and in the Adobe feedback forum. For the moment, I am happier with PSE2019 than with the bugs in all previous versions.

Introducing new automatic features requires more power and memory which will also greatly help those who don't use those features. I don't use face recognition nor auto-creations, but the 'smart tagging' in the organizer is helpful for me.

[Jrdnole1986]

I intended to mark all of the above answers as correct, but I am unable to do so.  How does this work?

[MichelBParis]

Jrdnole1986  wrote

I intended to mark all of the above answers as correct, but I am unable to do so.  How does this work?

Here is how that works:

- The original poster or a moderator can click on a single answer to mark/unmark it as correct.

- Anybody can mark any answer as 'helpful' (many posts can be helpful).

What is important for those who browse to find an answer in multiple posts is to find posts which have been marked as answered. It's also important for volunteers or staff member to concentrate their efforts on non answered questions.