gdvmlv
New Forum Member
Posts: 2 
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Post by gdvmlv on Sept 24, 2016 0:54:11 GMT
I need help creating a catalog back-up and how to do it on PSE 14. I store my photos on an external hard drive which is backed up on a second external hdd. I want to create a back-up to my PSE catalog but I do want to copy all of the photos as they are already backed-up on the second external hdd. Can I create a back-up that does not re-copy my photos but has all my keywords, albums and events in case I ever need to restore my catalog? If this can be done, what steps do I need to take?
Thanks for your help!
gary
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Post by BuckSkin on Sept 24, 2016 8:56:40 GMT
I cannot speak for E14; however, there are commands in E7 that allow a few different options for catalog back-up.
There are those on this site that are far better equipped to answer your questions, but I will share what little I know.
If you have been using the command to write the key-word tags into the file's metadata, then all of your tagging will remain with the image files regardless of whatever happens to the catalog.
You can preserve your key-word tag collection into a file and store as many copies as you want on external drives; you can then load all of the tags into a different version of Elements on a different computer, or as many computers as you wish.
I am fairly certain that there are two ways to back-up a catalog; one way duplicates everything specific to the catalog, including all tags, albums, and such, plus the folder structure, and ALL images associated with the catalog; the other way, which requires hardly any storage at all, does not duplicate the images.
Those much smarter than me will be along with better information.
I see this is your first posting; welcome to the site !
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Fauxtoto
Established Forum Member
Quebec, Canada
Posts: 440
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by Fauxtoto on Sept 24, 2016 10:32:17 GMT
Hi gdvmlv. Sorry I cannot help you in finding a way to back-up your PSE 14 catalog without re-copying your photos. Sorry also I cannot resist the friendly temptation to add that I am not convinced it would be such a great idea to do so, or at least, to only do so. Keeping an updated formal back-up as recommended by the program editor can be seen as a must, especially for a person like me who does not know much about computers. If ever needed, I suppose you have better chances to be able to restore your catalog by using a back-up that has been performed accordingly to Adobe's instructions and recommendations. The back-up is compressed, so it should not take that much space. Besides a major crash or the total lost of your computer :-(, there are many reasons why you could want to restore your catalog. Even in the course of happy endings such as when the time comes to reinstall your current PSE version on a brand new shiny computer or upgrade it to a most excellent new version :-).
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Post by BuckSkin on Sept 24, 2016 14:07:00 GMT
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Post by Andy on Sept 24, 2016 18:49:59 GMT
Hi Gary - welcome to the forum! You can do what you want, you just have to locate the directory where the PSE catalog is stored. The default locations can be found within this KB article: helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/common-catalog-issues-upgrade-elements.html. You could copy the contents of the directory to your backup location. Note that this might not be the best way to do the backup. It will work if you need to only restore the primary catalog. However, if there is any change to the files on the USB drive or which drive letter is used, then there is the risk the catalog will lose track of where the original files are. Backing up the catalog and the files is the safest way to avoid issues in the future. |
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gdvmlv
New Forum Member
Posts: 2
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Post by gdvmlv on Sept 24, 2016 23:17:12 GMT
Thanks everyone for your help and assistance. greatly appreciated!
Gary
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