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Post by needmorelite on Jan 8, 2022 20:41:14 GMT
Pse13 combine 3 catalogs into 1
I have a New computer loaded with pse 22, an old computer with pse 13 and 40k photos. I have many disconnected photos from over the years. First off, when a catalog is backed up to an external HD I assume the photos are copied to the drive along with all their tags, drive locations, etc. On my old computer pse 13 resides on the C: drive and my photos are usually stored on E: drive. Now, when I go to restore my catalog on the new computer with pse 22 I have a C: & D: drive both 2tb. I am thinking I would have the program on C: and the photo files on the D: drive. Since my photo files will come from an E: drive and everything points to them being there when they are restored to the new computer with only a D: drive, will they adjust somehow and still have their tags, etc. Also, I have ended up with 3 catalogs on my old program from crashes and recoveries, can they be combined into one catalog before moving to new computer?
Thanks Terry
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stinson
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 251 
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by stinson on Jan 8, 2022 23:54:45 GMT
There are a number of Adobe Help articles on Catalogs. At the bottom of this one there are links to a few others. Seems like you might use Reconnect Missing Files to have the Catalog find the new locations. That may be all you need. I didn’t see anything off hand about merging catalogs though, yet I did see this story. |
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stinson
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 251
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by stinson on Jan 8, 2022 23:59:50 GMT
And here is a specific article on Moving the Catalog. Another thing I see is that it seems that Photoshop or Lightroom can merge catalogs. Not sure if this will work, but you could try it. Even if you just get the program for a month. Make sure you have backups first. |
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Post by fotofrank on Jan 9, 2022 1:56:51 GMT
Hi Terry,
If you did a full back in Bridge/Organizer you should be good. So it depends on what, when and where you did a backup.
If some of your old catalogs in Bridge/Origanizer crashed - I'm not sure why you would want to merge them into a good Catalog. You may want to check the Catalog Manager in Bridge/Organizer to see what is available for creating a new catalog at your new disk location.
The full version of Photoshop does not have a Catalog built-in, it also uses Bridge/Organizer.
While Lightroom is based on a Catalog it is a totally different catalog from the format that Bridge/Organizer has or uses. You cannot use Lightroom to merge/combine Bridge/Organizer catalog.
Some of the documentation states that you cannot merge Bridge/Organizer catalogs.
Good Luck with your adventure to PSE 22 and the new computer.
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Post by BuckSkin on Jan 9, 2022 4:54:54 GMT
Before such an endeavor, make certain you have all of your files backed up --- NOT via any Organizer or Catalog --- but actual physical copies on a separate HDD.
Although I do not use the Organizer, my next move would be to use the Organizer command to Write All Metadata to Files; this will write any tags, comments, captions, and etc. into the files themselves; thus, if something goes haywire, all of this information is not lost in some database.
In fact, I would probably do this Write Metadata command prior to the first step above; thus, this data would be saved/protected as well.
I would definitely hang onto the old computer and leave everything on it as well; it is a simple process to LAN network connect any and all of your computers into a home network where you can move, copy, and retrieve files from one machine to another without ever leaving your chair.
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Post by michelb on Jan 9, 2022 9:05:00 GMT
Technically, there is no feature in the organizer to 'merge' different catalogs contrary to what you can do in Lightroom. Here is an old and still valid link to the faqs by John R Ellis:
So, have a look at what is suggested by John R Ellis and also by Buckskin.
My personal workflow would be:
To write all metadata to files in each catalog before the backup
To be sure to keep the more recent backup folder for each catalog for safety. Then I would look for the most important catalog to which I want to add the smaller ones I'd locate the catalog folder (menu Help >> system info of the organizer) I would copy it with a new name to start with to keep the original unchanged.
Now, the idea is to 'import' the files referenced in the other catalogs in that new catalog. The tags, ratings and captions would be recovered but not albums, stacks or version sets. The problem is that your catalogs may overlap: some files being already in several catalogs. Importing should skip duplicates. The other problem is if the files in the catalogs to be imported are not in a separate folder tree that you can select for import. In which case, the simple but slow solution would be to use that catalog and do the classical backup and restore to a temporary drive/folder from which you could import selectively.
As a result, you would have a single new catalog referencing all the files in the original catalogs, with all their tags, captions and more, but without albums, version sets etc (grouping info). Nothing will have been changed in the files themselves apart from 'writing' metadata to tags. You'll be able to backup and restore everything in a new drive, partition or master folder without changing anything to your original situation.
The link by John R Ellis gives tips to recover more from albums and keyword hierarchies, but the general idea is the same.
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Post by BuckSkin on Jan 9, 2022 9:49:51 GMT
I would definitely hang onto the old computer and leave everything on it as well; it is a simple process to LAN network connect any and all of your computers into a home network where you can move, copy, and retrieve files from one machine to another without ever leaving your chair. I will also add that having a second machine is frequently a life-saver when your other machine acts up and needs troubleshooting; you can get on the spare machine, access the internet, and search for a solution. |
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Post by needmorelite on Jan 9, 2022 20:53:00 GMT
Thanks for all the help on looking at this issue. I will hang on to the old computer for sure as I am always looking for another source of irritation to make my day. It will be a few days before I get back on this project, but I'll let you know how it ends up.
Thanks again,
BuckSkin, like you tag about 24 exposure
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