IAN JULIAN wrote:

 

I have backed up 60,000 from Organizer to an external hard-drive.  I have installed Elements on another laptop and wonder how if and how I can connect Organizer to this external hard-drive, so I do not have to put the pictures into this secondary laptop's C drive.  Thanks.

Was it a backup made by the Organizer or a copy made from other softwares ?

If it was an Organizer backup, you have to use the 'restore' function.

If you want the restore to be on an external hard drive, you simply choose 'custom location' and point to a new folder you create for receiving the restore. Adobe does not recommend restoring on the same external drive as the one containing the backup, but it can be done. That's far from ideal for speed, restoring to another drive is much better, and that leaves your backup safely on the other drive.

I don't know why the restore to 'original' location did not work.

IAN JULIAN wrote:

 

I am nort sure whaat you mean by a 'Custom location'.

 

When you restore, you are asked if you want to restore to original location or somewhere else. If you choose original location, the catalog itself will be restored in the default location -- the catalog is a whole folder containing the database : catalog.psexxdb and other files and subfolders -- whereas if you choose another location, for instance a new master folder, the catalog will be restored there together with the restored pictures files. To find this catalog in the catalog manager, you'll have to choose the option 'custom location' and browse to the restored catalog folder.

When you want to restore to a new location, create the master folder (give it a new name which will be the new catalog name). Then be sure to give access to all users so that you have no problem with read/write permissions. You can choose to keep the original folder structure or not -- I would keep it myself.

Once the catalog is restored, you can choose to move it back to the default location instead of custom location, that moves only the catalog, not the picture files. To move a catalog, it must not be active, so select another one or create an empty new one.

By the way, which is your version of PSE ?