Moving Photoshop Elements Images and Catalog to an External Drive
The other day I helped a client move all of her pictures, as well as her catalog from her C drive to a new external drive. The number of pictures in her catalog had grown to about 5,000, and she was concerned that she was running out of disk space. There are a number of ways this can be done, but I chose to do a backup/restore. The added advantage for her of doing it this way was it forced her to back up her catalog, which she had not done recently.
She has PSE 5, but these same steps can be used with any version. She bought two USB 2.0 external hard drives, one for her catalog and images and the second one for her backup files. Before starting, we checked to make sure that the new external drives were formatted using NTFS, and not FAT32. Often external drives come formatted as FAT32 drives to increase their compatibility across various platforms. The problem with this is a FAT32 drive cannot store a file greater than 4 Gb. PSE backup files are generally much larger than this. I believe her backup ended up being about 12-13 Gb.
Here are the steps we followed to move her catalog.
- Reconnect or delete any missing files. Click on File > Reconnect > All Missing Files. If you delete missing files, delete them from the catalog but not the hard drive.
- Click File > Backup. Select Full Backup and click Next.
- Select the external drive where you intend to backup up your catalog and images, eg G:. The default name should be the same name as your catalog. For most people, this will be My Catalog.
- Click on the Browse button and make a new folder. Here is how I name backup folders:
FB My Catalog 5-4-08
This tells me the name of the catalog, the fact that it is a full backup in contrast to an incremental backup, and the date it was created. This new folder should now be in the backup path field. - Click Done to begin the backup.
- Once the backup is complete, click on File > Restore (The wording after Restore varies depending PSE version you are using).
- In the Restore From section of the dialog box, select the drive containing the backup files (G: in our example), click on the Browse button and then navigate to and select the .tly file in the folder you used for your backup.
- In the Restore Files and Catalog to section of the dialog box, select New Location.
- Click on the Browse button and navigate to the External drive on which you are going house your catalog and images, eg F:.
- Make sure you select Restore Original Folder Structure.
- Click Restore.
At the completion of the restore process, your images and tags should all be as you left them. You can quickly verify that they are now on the external drive by checking the properties for a selected image. To complete the relocation, you should change the preferences where images uploaded from your camera are stored, where scanned images will be stored, and where files automatically saved by PSE are saved. Do this by clicking on the following and entering the appropriate location:
Edit > Preferences > Files
Edit > Preferences > Camera or Card Reader
Edit > Preferences > Scanner
Remember, from now on, the My Pictures folder on your C drive will not be where PSE is going to be saving images in the future. As you edit your pictures you will also want to navigate to an appropriate folder on your new external hard drive (again F: in our example) when you do your File Save As… command. Other programs that use the My Pictures folder will continue to look and store images there.
As of right now, your pictures are still located wherever they were on your C drive. Later when you are comfortable that everything got transferred correctly, these can be deleted.
The performance of PSE should not go down much or at all with having your images contained on an external drive. But if you are concerned about that, you could move your images and catalog to a second internal hard drive. The steps above would remain the same.
That’s all for now. Please comment if you have any questions, thoughts or experiences to share.
Until next time,
Don
June 6, 2008 at 6:34 pm
[...] final he encontrado la forma gracias a esta web en inglés, pero no he encontrado instrucciones en español, asi que ahi [...]
June 6, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Hi Don,
Thanks for the post. It is exactly what I was trying to do, and its amazing how simple it looks when you know how to do it.
Anyway this is to let you know that I have used it and translated it to Spanish as I couldnt find a similar one in my blog´s language. I have trackbacked you but I am not too sure whether its worked.
Thanks a lot.
Arroyero
PD Just noticed this reads as the typical Spam comment. Hope its not filtered out!
June 9, 2008 at 1:07 am
[...] on Moving Photoshop Elements Catalogs In my May 5th blog entry, I described one way to move your Photoshop Elements Catalog and photos to an external hard drive. [...]
June 23, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Hi Don,
I tried your approach using PE 3.0. Both the catalog and the photo files restored to the external drive (f:). However, the links to the photos were still pointing to my c: drive–when I selected a photo in PE and checked the properties, the path to all of the photos was still to my c: drive (even though the photo files did restore to the f: drive).
I had to delete all of the photo files from the f: drive (while leaving the folder structure) and then manually use the MOVE command (for each folder) to move the photos from the c: drive to the f: drive. Since I had quite a large number of folders, the moving process took a good bit of time.
Any suggestions for the next time I restore to a new location?
Also, what if I connect 2 external hard drives (one hard drive with the PE photos and catalog files and a second hard drive to use for a backup)? What if the backup hard drive is desginated as the “f:” drive and the hard drive with the PE photos and catalog is designated as the “e:” drive (all of the links to the photo files currently point to the f: drive)? Is there a way to dynamically change the drive letter for PE 3.0 to find the catalog and photo files?
Thank you in advance.
July 2, 2008 at 7:56 am
Hi Don,
When I back up the Elements 6 catalogue, the backup seems to include a lot of large jpg and cr2 files. So does the catalogue only include meta data and thumbnails, or also the actual photos themselves?
I already back up the originals to an external hd, and really only want to back up the catalogue (meta data - categories, tags, star ratings, etc) too.
Do you know where Elements 6 actually saves the original catalogue, or if it is stored as many files in many locations?
Thanks
July 2, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Andrew,
When you use the Backup command of PSE, your images and all of the tags etc that you generated using PSE are included in the backup folder.
All of your images are renumbered sequentially beginning with the letter “B”. There are two additional files in the backup folder, backup.tly and catalog.buc (the large file). These two files are used to put everything back together when you use the Restore command.
I hope this helps somewhat.
Don
July 2, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Andrew,
I forgot to address your second question. The catalog file ends with the extension, .psedb. Its default location is different for Win XP and Vista.
For example, in Win XP you should find it in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\Catalogs, I believe.
Probably the best way to find your particular Catalog is to search on the extension.
On Vista it is different.
I hope this helps somewhat.
Don
July 4, 2008 at 12:02 am
Thanks Don, that answers my questions. I guess the best way then for me to backup the meta data then is to copy catalog.psedb and thumb.5.cache, or just the whole catalog directory to my external hd with the backup copies of all my images. If I use PS backup I will end up with 2 copies of the originals, one copy having names starting with “B” and I don’t really need this.
Andrew
July 4, 2008 at 12:59 am
Andrew,
I guess I wasn’t clear. When you use the PSE Backup command followed by the PSE Restore command (if ever needed), that is all that is needed. You do not need to back up your pictures separately.
I may not totally understand what you are backing up, but I think there is a good possibility if you tried to restore the pieces you refer to, you could end up with images that are disconnected.
That is, after you restore everything (depending upon how you did it, and if you backed up everything used by PSE) the thumbnails might be visible in the Organizer, but as soon as you try to edit one, PSE would be unable to find it. Or you may have lost your Creation projects. I think there are other files than those you mentioned that are needed by PSE to properly reconstruct the Catalog.
Using the Backup/Restore combination ensures that the Catalog will be properly reconstructed. I have had multiple clients have that very thing happen after their computer expert reconstructs the person’s PC disk structure after a crash or upgrade. The pictures are there but the Catalog cannot find them.
Here is a suggestion. go to the Adobe User Forums and search through the entries regarding backing up the PSE Catalog and images. You will find that many people do not like the Backup/Restore combination as I do. They back up PSE independently like you do. There you can check which files must be backed up and then restored from the very knowledgeable users that frequent the forums there.
For myself, I prefer the PSE Backup/Restore combination. It has saved me on more than one occasion.
FWIW
Don S.
July 5, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Brian,
I do not have an explanation for you as to why you had to manually Move all of your pictures to the F: drive. I do know that there have been changes/improvements to the Organizer since PSE 3. I have used the technique on more recent versions beginning with PSE 4 without experiencing your problem. I am stumped. I am glad you had the wherewithal to get things sorted out.
You may want to check with the many knowledgeable people who are active on the Adobe PSE Users Forum. I am sure that someone there will be able to provide an approach the next time you want to move your images.
Regarding your question on using one external drive for your catalog/pictures and a separate external drive for your backup, it is being done by others. However, I believe they are using later versions than PSE 3. Windows redefines drive letters on occasion. With PSE 3 this can create problems. Beginning with PSE 5 or PSE 6, Adobe changed how PSE keeps the specific disk drives straight, by changing to the embedded disk drive serial number to identify each drive. There have been discussions on the User Forum addressing this issue.
By the way, here is the link to the Adobe PSE User Forum that discusses technical issues.
July 5, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I forgot to embed the Adobe User Forum link. Here it is:
http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.eeb4f8b/
July 8, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Don, I have looked all over Adobe and google for the answer to this question:
Is there a step by step description on how to move my 15,000 photos in PSE 3 on a WinXP to a Vista computer with PSE 5?
I backed up PSE3 on three disks and restored to PSE5. Vista PSE5 requested and accepted disc #3, including tags, but rejected #1 and #2.
I installed PSE3 on the Vista but temorarily lost my DVD drive because PSE3/Vista are incompatible.
Suggestions would be helpful and appreciated. Thanks. Terry.
July 9, 2008 at 2:20 am
Terry,
First, I don’t have any answer as to why only CD #3 was the only CD accepted. I am extremely surprised that you were able to backup a catalog with 15K pictures onto only three CDs. That is barely 2 Gb. My catalog has about 19K pictures and it takes 80+ Gb to do a full backup of the catalog. Something does not sound right to me.
If I were you, I would make another full backup on PSE 3, but make the backup to an external hard drive. I believe PSE 3 will allow that.
Regarding running PSE 5 on Vista, make sure that you have downloaded the PSE 5 patch from Adobe making the program PSE 5.02 I believe. That is the only way that PSE 5 is going to run properly in all respects on Vista.
Assuming you still have your Win XP PC, install PSE 5 on that machine. Then try to restore your PSE 3 catalog to PSE 5 there. If you are successful doing that, then make a backup on PSE 5 as installed on your Win XP PC.
Use this backup to restore to PSE 5.02 on your Vista PC. Also, I assume that you have Reconnected any misinng images before you made any backup.
Assuming you have not posted your question there yet, I would definitely seek the help of the experts who frequent the Adobe Users Forum.
Good luck,
Don
July 9, 2008 at 4:19 am
Don, thanks for your quick and helpful reply.
1. My “three discs” were DVDs, not CDs, for a total of about 11 Gb for 15k pics. I think I have a lot of small-file pics, cartoons, etc that don’t swell the catalog. After I got a successful burn to each DVD, I verified as the dialog box recommended.
2. I am considering exploring your suggestion of backing up PSE 3 to an external drive. Are you suggesting a full backup and then connect the external drive to the Vista/PSE 5 computer for a restore? I have an ex dr on the WinXP now, but it’s nearly full. This gives me a reason to get a new one.
3. I don’t know anything about PSE 5.02. My program disk says “Windows Vista/XP. I’m thinking that’s all I needed, plus I did not see anything on the net about 5.02 in my searching. That will be one of the first things I take care of.
4. I do have my WinXP. That’s where PSE 3 is located. Your suggestion of loading 5.0 there and working from that angle sounds like a possibility.
5. I connected all missing images before backup.
6. In my searching, I found the Adobe Users Forum but I wasn’t much impressed with what I saw. I will have to give it another look. Maybe I missed some potential there.
Thanks very much for all the suggestions and info. Got a lot of approaches to pursue.
Terry