athegn
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 136 
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Post by athegn on Apr 19, 2021 15:27:37 GMT
I have had to change the drive letters of most of my HDD/partitions; using Windows 10. One change is that I previously used D:\ drive for my images. Organizer looks for that drive so now when I open Organizer all images are missing.
Note the small physical drive that D:\ was on is now gone. H:\ is a partition on a 4TB drive that holds all my data from two previous PCs; another 4TB holds the onsite the backup
Note I have tried, in Organizer using Folders > Tree view, to move folders from D:\ to H:\ but get a message "A folder with same name already exits at the requested location" Of course it does because I have copied D:\ to H:\ but Organizer does not know this.
I want to do a batch edit so that all images have the path Organizer uses is set to H:\ drive rather than D:\. Is this possible?
Any advice please.
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Post by michelb on Apr 19, 2021 20:24:15 GMT
The short answer is that the organizer does not rely mainly on the letter drives to specify them. It mainly uses the internal serial number found by Windows. (DOS command: Vol x:) Here is a screenshot of the 'volume_table' in the catalog.pseXXdb datatabase:
Apart from editing the sqlite database manually to update the volumes references, the only ways accessible to normal PSE users is to use the recommended migration solution: a full catalog backup followed by a restore on the new drive (or partition, or new master folder) or a 'reconnecting' session which will not work in all circumstances and require a lot of manual guidance.
The organizer can recognize a removable drive which has changed its letter, but it's much safer to have both updated.
On the othe hand, even if you have a strict copy of the folder paths on another physical drive, the organizer will recognize that the files are no longer on the initial drive.
The only external documentation about those drives issues I have found is the help doc of John R Ellis psedbtool software.
Assuming you are acquainted with the sql language and you can find the serial numbers with Windows command lines, you could update your catalog database yourself with an sqlite management tools like Database4.exe.
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athegn
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 136
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Post by athegn on Apr 20, 2021 9:24:37 GMT
Thank you for your reply.
Before I do anything I am ensuring I have full backups of the files. My offsite backup needs upgrading; that will take up most of today.
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athegn
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 136
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Post by athegn on Apr 21, 2021 15:36:35 GMT
Off site backup now robust.
Now to continue correcting Elements Organizer 2019
Question. When I click on Find > All Missing Files I get a dialog box "searching for missing files" this only takes a short time. I doubt it has seaching for all 50K missing files.
What exactly is it doing?
Any advice please?
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athegn
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 136
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Post by athegn on Apr 21, 2021 15:45:58 GMT
I have tried to download John Ellis psedbtool but I guess link so old no longer available at that address. Has anyone a link got a file I could download?
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athegn
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 136
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Post by athegn on Apr 21, 2021 17:40:41 GMT
Have found this; investigating!!
DB Browser (SQLite)
Anyone else used it?
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Post by michelb on Apr 21, 2021 18:41:41 GMT
I have tried to download John Ellis psedbtool but I guess link so old no longer available at that address. Has anyone a link got a file I could download? Here is the link to the help file which contains the download link: Link to the exe: It downloads ok but it is totally useless for versions 9 and more recent. I have mentionned the faq because it gives many useful explanations on the catalog and links to the Windows commands to get the serial numbers of the drives or to assign new serial numbers. You'll need an sql utilty and decimal <> hexadecimal translator.
I am using now:
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athegn
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 136
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Post by athegn on Apr 21, 2021 19:07:49 GMT
Had a hard day, not all to do with Elements. Tomorrow whilst wrapped in blankets, central heating being upgraded, I will try to be brave and expand what I have just done.
I took a copy of catalog.pse17db and amended, in DB Browser (SQLite), one file by replacing the old volume_id (D: was 173) with 1270467 (H: Drive Volume_id). Note when I read the volume_table, in DB Browser (SQLite), I get 1114066568 for H: serial? Vol H: in Windows cmd shows 4267-4E88
However if I look at some files downloaded today to H: drive they show 1270467 as the volume_id.
When I open the amended catalog.pse17db this one file no longer is missing; correctly recorded and will open in Editor.
I will do all my changes on the copy catalog.pse17db and only over write the existing real catalog when I can see that all missing files have been found.
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athegn
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 136
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Post by athegn on Apr 21, 2021 19:14:18 GMT
Thank you for your replies.
I don't think your link to John Ellis's file works or at least it won't for me.
Will also look at portablefreeware. But had SQ Lite as I used it many years ago for something else. My database working is now long behind me; I made a good living with Microsoft Access, before my retirement.
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Post by michelb on Apr 21, 2021 20:49:10 GMT
Had a hard day, not all to do with Elements. Tomorrow whilst wrapped in blankets, central heating being upgraded, I will try to be brave and expand what I have just done. I took a copy of catalog.pse17db and amended, in DB Browser (SQLite), one file by replacing the old volume_id (D: was 173) with 1270467 (H: Drive Volume_id). Note when I read the volume_table, in DB Browser (SQLite), I get 1114066568 for H: serial? Vol H: in Windows cmd shows 4267-4E88 However if I look at some files downloaded today to H: drive they show 1270467 as the volume_id. When I open the amended catalog.pse17db this one file no longer is missing; correctly recorded and will open in Editor. I will do all my changes on the copy catalog.pse17db and only over write the existing real catalog when I can see that all missing files have been found. Indeed, Windows gives the hexadecimal value 4267-4E88 which translates to 1114066568 in decimal in the database. I use the Windows calc tool in programmer mode. The volume_id is automatically assigned by the database and should not be changed. The condition to be able to update simply the volume_table fields is that all the files in given volume are now in a new volume with exactly the same folder structure and the old volume is no longer accessible. There should be no duplication of letter drives or serials on different volumes.
You find the volume where the catalog expects to find the media files. You never touch the volume_id, you change the serial and other fields for the fields of the new drive. The serial must be in decimal.
I have 'synced' external drives as backups via Microsoft syncToy. I copy the catalog folders manually. If needed, it takes a couple of minutes to update the catalog copy to the new drive identifiers and I have a working duplicate of my catalog and library. Syncing and copying the catalog can be done after each editing session in less than half an hour.
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Post by michelb on Apr 21, 2021 21:05:05 GMT
Thank you for your replies. I don't think your link to John Ellis's file works or at least it won't for me. Will also look at portablefreeware. But had SQ Lite as I used it many years ago for something else. My database working is now long behind me; I made a good living with Microsoft Access, before my retirement. I have just tested that I can reinstall psedbtool and run it as before. The exe is a self-extracting zip. It finds my PSE6 and its catalog (not updated...)
The program runs in its DOS windows and saves its results in a plain text file "output.log".
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athegn
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 136
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Post by athegn on Apr 22, 2021 6:55:43 GMT
Sorry I meant that I cannot download the psedbtool. I click on the link but nothing happens. Must be my setup?
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Post by michelb on Apr 22, 2021 7:40:46 GMT
Sorry I meant that I cannot download the psedbtool. I click on the link but nothing happens. Must be my setup? I just click on the link and the psedbtool1.08.exe file (4468 Kb) is immediately there in my downloads folder. No installation program. It's a self extracting zip. You just agree to the installation path and there you have your psedbtool folder, with the exe, bat and log components as well as the htm help file which is the most interesting part. |
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athegn
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 136
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Post by athegn on Apr 22, 2021 12:00:56 GMT
Looks like I am getting worse.
Downloaded portablefreeware. When I tried to opencatalog.pse17db was told cannot probably not a database.
OK tried psetool. Ran the batch file got the Notepad output.log with this message "psedbtool version 1.08" nothing else.
Looked at cmd. says:-
"C:\psedbtool>REM This batch file runs psedbtool to print the volume table and open the results in
C:\psedbtool>REM in Notepad. It should be run from the same folder containing psedbtool.exe.
C:\psedbtool>.\psedbtool.exe -printVolumeTable 1>output.log
Can't find a PSE 6 or 7 catalog.
C:\psedbtool>notepad output.logCan't find a PSE 6 or 7 catalog"
Guess it can't be used on PSE 17.
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Post by michelb on Apr 22, 2021 14:20:15 GMT
Looks like I am getting worse. Downloaded portablefreeware. When I tried to opencatalog.pse17db was told cannot probably not a database. OK tried psetool. Ran the batch file got the Notepad output.log with this message "psedbtool version 1.08" nothing else. Looked at cmd. says:- "C:\psedbtool>REM This batch file runs psedbtool to print the volume table and open the results in C:\psedbtool>REM in Notepad. It should be run from the same folder containing psedbtool.exe. C:\psedbtool>.\psedbtool.exe -printVolumeTable 1>output.log Can't find a PSE 6 or 7 catalog. C:\psedbtool>notepad output.logCan't find a PSE 6 or 7 catalog" Guess it can't be used on PSE 17. As I said above, the last version working with psedbtool is version 8. That's why I have insisted on the fact that the useful piece in this software is the help doc (the htm) which describes the particularities of the catalog and gives useful links for Windows.
About using Dabase4.exe: - Menu File, - connect - sqlite - Open - browse to the catalog.psexxdb - Warning!!! In the search line in the bottom, don't specify 'Sqlite database files, (db...), click the triangle on the right to show 'All files (*.*). This will allow the utility to recognize the catalog databases as sqlite.
That choice is sticky, the next time you open the software, you'll be presented for a list of databases you have previously opened.
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