Help Getting Organized

Even if PSE4 is a very old version created on a different database engine (Microsoft Access instead of Sqlite), it's still possible to convert the pse4 catalog to the new version 15 format.

First, how you want to organize (by folder structure) is absolutely not the way the Organizer, Lightroom or other database management software do work. They store all the information in catalog built around a database. You assign keywords, categories, ratings, you group by stacks, version sets, albums. The result is a neat display of library with far more powerful tool to retrieve any kind of selected items. The above tool can also work like the Explorer or Finder to physically move files in your OS browser, but that's independent. If you want only to get a 'tidy' look folder tree, you only have to work like in Explorer, but within the Explorer or Lightroom or...
You can move a whole folder tree or only branches in the Folders panel on the left. Simply don't move branches or files like this from the Explorer/Finder: you'll lose the links in the catalog.

The second requirement is to migrate from pse4 to pse15.
You could use the pse4 to reshape your folder tree before migrating. Or you could first migrate to pse15 and use pse15 for that task.

The recommended way to migrate to a new computer:
helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/backup-restore-move-catalog-photoshop.html

Whether you want to reshape your folder tree in pse4 or later in pse15, that solution is not only the safer one, but it handles moving the library to the new 'custom' location on the external drive as well as the conversion of the old catalog to the new pse15 format; that way, all your keywording and organization will be recovered. Note that conversion from pse4 in a 64-bits computer requires special procedure described in the above link.
If you don't care for a total conversion of the catalog, but if you are simply happy to recover keywords, don't forget to 'Write metadata to files' in pse4 first. Instead of converting the catalog, which does not require any new 'import' of media files, you import in a new empty pse15 catalog and the keywords and captions are recovered; NOT the collections (now called albums), stacks, version sets...

Please ask for more details.

Yes, if you don't think that the information in your PSE4 catalog is not really important, you can organize your folder tree from the explorer or finder and import them later in the catalog of PSE15.
If you think that the keywords and captions you may have already assigned to your files should be kept, use the option to 'write metadata to files' in PSE4 before starting your moves. The information stored in the catalog will be copied to the media files themselves.

My two cents worth will probably only serve to confuse you; but, I think I understand what you are wanting to accomplish.

The absolute two best things I use to finally get a sensible handle on our image storage structure are the free programs DIM (Digital Image Mover) and FastStone; I download the image files from the card-reader and rename and sort by date into a temporary folder using DIM; then, I move these date-sorted files into my personally created date-organized folder tree; then, I view and cull through them using FastStone; all of this before the Organizer ever sees them.

I also use DIM to rename and date files that are already in the system.

File name  CanonT5_12-Aug-2013_042  makes a lot more sense to me than IMG_4781

I know most of this can be done using strictly the Organizer, but I find my method much quicker and less "bulky"


However you accomplish it, I have found that strict organization by date-taken and using the date-taken as the file's name has really improved our image file organization.

The reason I move the renamed/date-sorted images into a dated folder tree of my own creation, instead of leaving them in the dated folders created by the software of your choice (DIM in my case), is that most of these programs are far too simple in their naming of the dated folders and thus you get Apr, Aug, Dec, Feb, Jan, Jul, Jun, Mar, May, Nov, Oct, Sep, in that order; my folder tree is A_January-2016, B_February-2016, C_March-2016, etc. and makes me feel better.

Also, most of these programs just number the individual day folders, thus you have like-named day folders in every month; I go a bit further by naming my individual day folders something like 03-Jan-2016_Bear, 13-Jan-2016_Big Ice Storm, 15-Jan-2016_Uncle Lester's Birthday, 23-Jan-2016_Big Snow, 26-Jan-2016_Possum, and so forth and so on; two years down the road, this makes more sense to me than simply 3,13,15,23,26


Anyway, that is just something for you to think about. 

Hi first5,

You have already been given really good information from everyone here. So just to reiterate: to delete PSE4 go to your Control Panel, Programs and then Uninstall Programs. Select PSE4 and uninstall.

I went through a similar reorganization of my photos some years ago now. All of my photos reside on an external drive and are sorted by year and then by event/location (so it would look like 2017 > Alaska 12-Aug-2017). I found that this keeps all my photos in line and as my memory associates my photos with events and locations I find this the easiest to work with. Once you have everything sorted, you can then import these into your Organizer. I can't help with that part, as I use LR for that.

Good luck and post back if you need further help.