PSE 4 Catalog Conversion To PSE 9

[BobWard]

I know there have been several discussions regarding catalog conversions. Plus, I have read the Help topic on this issue, but I may have a unique situation to deal with.

I have PSE 4. Several years ago, it would no longer let me do back-ups, i.e., everytime I would try to do a backup in PSE 4, it would give me a "write to file error" and stop. So all of these years I have resorted to doing manual backups of both my catalog file and my photo file to an external hard drive. So I have current copies of both those files on my external hard drive.

I just installed PSE 9 on a new WIN7 64 bit laptop, the install went fine. So now it is time to get my old PSE 4 catalog and photo files converted over to PSE 9 on the new laptop. Getting the catalog converted over sounds fairly simple, i.e., I just find the PSE 4 back-up catalog file on my external hard drive and tell the program to do the conversion.

My big concern is the photo file. The old catalog is probably looking for the photos at a certain location that may not be the same location as where the photo back-up file was stored on my external hard drive. I plan to have both the converted catalog and photo files saved to my internal drive on the new laptop.

I was hoping the following procedure might work:

1. Open PSE 9 and tell it to convert the PSE 4 back-up catalog on the external hard drive that I have with me while on vacation.

2. Copy my back-up photo file to a new directory on my laptop.

3. Open PSE 9 and tell it to "reconnect" all the photos by pointing it to the new directory where I have copied my back-up photo file.

Does this approach sound ok?

I realize it will probably take a lot of time to reconnect 4000 photos, but I thought I could point it to the new photo directory and just let it run all day to do the reconnect.

I am on vacation so I do not have access to the desk top computer that I run PSE 4 from, I just have my new laptop (with PSE 9) and the back-up external drive that has my PSE 4 back-up catalog and photo files.

Bob

[George Tyndall]

I am on vacation so I do not have access to the desk top computer that I run PSE 4 from, I just have my new laptop (with PSE 9) and the back-up external drive that has my PSE 4 back-up catalog and photo files.

Bob, why not leave the PSE4 catalog on your desktop alone, and also do not move any of the photos on the external HDD, then create a new PSE9 catalog with your laptop from those same photos?

Once you've created the new PSE9 catalog on the external HDD, back it and the photos up to a second external HDD.

Install only the PSE9 program, but not the catalog, on the laptop. (I myself have have PSE4 and PSE9 -- plus PSE7 -- catalogs.)

[BobWard]

Thanks for the comments George.

1. How do you install only PSE 9 but not a catalog? I thought a catalog was created by default during the install process.

2. I was planning on keeping PSE 4 on my desktop, so that will not be deleted until the desk top dies.

3. The desk top runs PSE 4 off a dedicated external hard drive that I do not have with me on vacation. What I have with me is the new laptop with a fresh PSE 9 install and my back-up external hard drive that I use to back-up the dedicated external hard drive that I run PSE 4 from on my desk top.

4. So I am trying to find a way to my get my back-up PSE 4 catalog and photo files running on the new laptop with PSE 9. All the file information is here with me, it is just a matter of figuring out how to get it all connected and in-sync on the laptop.

5, So, do you think the process I proposed earlier (doing a reconnect) would work? Guess I could always try it and if it does not work, I have not lost anything but time, which I have plenty of at the moment.

Bob

[JohnnyO]

Bob,

It sounds like you used PSE4 to backup your catalog onto your external drive. if this is the case this is good.

Just use PSE9 on your laptop to restore the catalog and it will restore the photos as well.

The only problem that may happen, is that PSE9 may not be able to import a PSE4 catalog. If this is the case, just install PSE4 on your laptop and restore the catalog from PSE4.Then you can use PSE9 to convert the catalog.

[BobWard]

Johnny,

As I indicated in my original post, I do not have a PSE4 back-up file that was created by PSE4, i.e., I get a "write to file" error every time I try to use the PSE4 back-up utility. My work-around for this problem was to manually copy the "catalog.psa" file and my photo file directory to a 2nd external hard drive. So that 2nd external hard drive is what I have with me on vacation. As a result, the PSE "Restore" function is not available to me, nor has it been for several years.

Unfortunately, Adobe was never able to provide any info on what triggers the "write to file error" when attempting a back-up using the PSE back-up utility. This is a documented problem that many PSE users have reported. Since the reason for the error message has never been resolved, a lot of us have been left with no other way to back-up our work except to do manual back-ups as I describe above.

I was always afraid that the day of reckoning would come when I did an upgrade and had to convert my catalog file to a new PSE version. The day has finally arrived. So I need to find some way to make the manually backed up PSE4 catalog and photo files get back in-sync on the new PSE9 installation. I would have hoped that Adobe would have offered a little more flexibility in converting catalogs and photo files for folks like me who do not have access to the PSE back-up function, but I have not found the solution yet. I would have thought that one could simply open the catalog database file and assign a new path to the photo files, but it does not look like that is an option at this point.

So I need to figure out how to make my manually backed-up files compatible with PSE 9. Otherwise, I am stuck with PSE4 for as long as my desktop continues to run. If I cannot find a solution to this problem, then I will lose all my descriptive information assigned to my 4000 plus photos that I currently have in my PSE4 catalog when I can no longer run PSE 4 on future operating systems.

So I am open to any other suggestions.

Bob

[JohnnyO]

try to repair the catalog then try to back it up again.

If that doesn't rork I think it can stil be done.

Just make sure when you ciopy the photos to your lap top that they have the exact same directery structure as on your desktop. That should work.

[BobWard]

I have tried the "repair catalog" option several times over the last few years. It does not solve the problem of being able to create a back-up with the PSE back-up utility.

The photo file back-up on my 2nd external hard drive is an exact copy of the photo directory that PSE 4 uses from my desk top. So there should be no descrepancies regarding file structure. The problem is that when I convert the back-up "catalog.psa" file to PSE9 format, it is going to lose the path to my photo file.

So the only thing I can think of is to do a "reconnect" once I have the catalog file converted to PSE9. I will copy the back-up photo directory onto the laptop as well, so I am hoping that when I tell the new PSE9 catalog to "reconnect", I can just point it to the new photo directory and it will find all my photos and sync everything back together.

Bob

[George Tyndall]

How do you install only PSE 9 but not a catalog? I thought a catalog was created by default during the install process.

When you install PSE9 on your laptop, it will create the default catalog, My Catalog, on your C Drive. I prefer to have the catalog -- plus all the media that it keeps track of -- on an external HDD that I keep backed up to a second external HDD. The advantage of this method is a) you don't lose your Catalog if your C Drive crashes b) there is no need to used Adobe's cumbersome method for backing up the Catalog which, as you've discovered, sometimes fails.

To ignore the default catalog, My Catalog, on the C Drive and instead create your new catalog on your external HDD, in PSE9 go to File>Catalog to open the Catalog Manager dialog. Click Browse and select the external HDD. Click New and name the new Catalog. PSE9 will create a folder on the external HDD in which you will find an icon named Catalog.

To open the empty Catalog that you have just created, either a) highlight it in the Catalog Manager window and click Open or b) click on the Catalog icon on the external HDD. Note that, if you use the latter method (b), you bypass the PSE9 Welcome screen and will not be logged on to Photoshop.com

Go to File>Get Photos and Videos and then tag, create albums, etc., as desired. Preferably, all the media that the Catalog will manage will be on that same external HDD.

Once you have completed the new Catalog, back the external HDD to a second external HDD (I use SmartSyncPro 3). Run the backup program as often as you desire. (SSP3 will make backups even of open files, i.e., even open Catalogs).

If ever your first HDD crashes, simply click on the Catalog icon on the second external HDD and -- Voila! -- you've instantly recovered your Catalog and all the media that it manages. (Clicking on the Catalog icon on any external HDD will open the PSE9 Organizer just as clicking on a MSW document on any external HDD will open the version of MSW that created it.) When you click on Catalog, your Organizer will be as current as the last time you ran your backup program, which is why I suggest running it often.

P.S. A slightly simpler method is to use the Catalog Manager to Move My Catalog from the C Drive to the external HDD, however, for me the above is the preferred method, for the following reason: If no external HDD is attached to your laptop, PSE9 will still open using My Catalog on the C Drive.

P.P.S. When I import images from my camera, I do not delete them from the camera's memory until I've ascertained that I've got them safely ensconced, using SSP3, on both external HDDs.

[BobWard]

Thanks George.

As far as getting the old PSE4 catalog converted to PSE9 on the new laptop, it still looks like my only option is to use the "reconnect" feature once the catalog has been sucessfully converted to PSE9 format. I will copy my photo directory to the laptop as well and then when I initiate the "reconnect" feature from the converted PSE9 catalog, I will just point it to the photo directory and let it rip for untold hours.

So far, no one has said that will not work.

Once I get back home I will probably move the catalog (and photos) to an external eSata hard drive. I will also be putting PSE9 on a new desktop that I just ordered, which I will also run from an external drive.

Bob

[BobWard]

Well, my approach seemed to work. The back-up PSE4 catalog converted successfully to PSE9. I then copied my back-up photo directory to the laptop, I opened PSE9, selected the newly converted catalog and activated the automatic "RECONNECT" option. It ran for about 45 minutes and reconnected about 90% of my photos. I had to manually reconnect the remaining 412 photos.

It is all done now. So it looks like I have made the transition to PSE9 successfully, without having to use the PSE4 Restore utility.

Thanks for all the comments.

Bob