Backing up to external hard drive

[sansen]

I want to back up my photos to an external hard drive after I have edited them, etc. I am wondering if I will be able to use the Tab feature in PSE 5.0 after the photos have been moved to the external hard drive. How does this work?

[bayhli]

I don't know anything about PSE5 nor very much about external drives, but if you are "backing up" your files to the external drive, you are not actually moving them, just making a copy in case something happens to the hardrive in your computer and you lose them.

Perhaps you do actually want to "store" them on the external drive, in which case this useless response will bump your question back to the top of the forum and be seen by someone who can help! :)

Welcome to the forum!!

[Ward Grant]

Sansen

Welcome to the forum.
I need to show my ignorance as I have not ordered Version 5 yet. Is your "Tab feature" actually "Tag feature." If yes, then I know the answer; I have not seen anything on a Tab feature, but it may be a new part of V5 that I have not seen.

[sansen]

Yes, I meant "Tag." Thank you for responding. This is the first time I have entered a forum & actually written something so I am very happy to hear from anyone.
Sansen

[Ward Grant]

I want to back up my photos to an external hard drive after I have edited them, etc. I am wondering if I will be able to use the Tab feature in PSE 5.0 after the photos have been moved to the external hard drive. How does this work?

Okay, let's see if we can get you started on saving and editing your pictures the way you want.

The easiest way to backup your photos is to do an Elements Backup command. This will copy all your pictures (edited and unedited) and your catalog (which stores your tags, collections and creations). If you needed to get back to these photos (ie a hard drive crash), you would use the Restore command to bring back the photos and catalog. With an external hard drive, it is very easy to do a File>Backup and follow the prompts.

If you are talking about having one copy of your edited file on your C:\drive and one on your D:\ drive:
Make any edits and do a File Save As and be sure Include In Organizer is checked on. Save to the folder and name you want to use on the C:\.
Then repeat File Save As with Include In Organizer checked on and save to the folder and name you want to use on the D:\ drive. You'll have two copies of the same file. You'll just have to remember to save to each drive each time.

Hope this helps. If this is not what you were thinking, please post back and we'll see about getting you the answer you want.

[sansen]

Thanks. I understand how this might work.
I think I might not be using the right terminology being somewhat of a novice at this. I want to move & store my photos on an Ex HD, but I was wondering if they are stored on the Ex HD if I will be able to open PSE &, using the Tags, call up the photos stored on the Ex HD.
I was reading some other threads that seem to use the File>Move command so that might work for me, especially if that would move actual folders.

[Ward Grant]

Using an External Hard Drive for your photos is very common and many users have their images on one. I think I got hung up with the term "edited" photos; I thought you wanted to have a special place for your edited photos vs unedited photos.

I have made posts about using the Move command, which worked well in Version 4. In Version 5, it seems to be somewhat different if you want to move the entire folder structure. I'll be back in a second with a link to a good thread that will walk you through the process.

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/showpost.php?p=169900&postcount=13

[sansen]

Thanks. I appreciate that.