Trouble importing Album v2 Catalog

[thumbnail22]

Hi Folks,

If any one has worked through this problem? I have been using PS Album v2 for quite some time now—I have about 10,000 photos tagged. I’m trying to import the catalog into PS Elements v5 but the Organizer (or the updater) program crashes. It takes 90 minutes or so and seems to make it anywhere from 80% to 99% of the way and then displays:

"Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library. Runtime error program Photoshop Elements Organizer.exe. This application has requested the runtime to terminate it in an unusual way."

…then the organizer app crashes. The converted catalog is never written to disc. The old Album v2 catalog seems fine. I’ve verified that he catalog seems to be ok, at least with Album v2. I tried many times every method I can think of. No luck. Any ideas?

[Barb O]

"I’ve verified that he catalog seems to be ok, at least with Album v2."

First, You did not say exactly what you did to verify that the Catalog is OK on Album v2. The following sequence will cleanup the PSA 2 Catalog.

Back on PS Album 2, do a

- File > Catalog > Recover
then
- File > Reconnect All Missing Files
then do a second
- File > Catalog > Recover

Second - to understand better exactly what you experienced
"I’m trying to import the catalog into PS Elements v5 but the Organizer (or the updater) program crashes."

I think this is just semantics - you used the word "import" where I expected you to say "upgrade". Now I suspect what happened is that after you installed PSE 5, you started the Organizer and it asked to upgrade your catalog. Is this the sequence that you expereinced? Back in PS Album 2, did you use the default name of My Catalog.psa?

Do go ahead and do the steps that I labelled "First" in this post: they are preparation steps that improve the odds of success in PSE 5. Then after you respond to "second" I should have a better understanding of what happened previously.

[thumbnail22]

Thanks for the steps to try. I did try to "reconnect all missing files", but did not try the "recover" function. I will perform the sequence you suggest tomorrow.

Your assumptions regarding the upgrade sequence are correct. After the first failed attempt to upgrade the catalog, I did rename the catalog file and saved a copy with a different name as well.

Thanks again and I’ll try these. :)

Lee

[thumbnail22]

Ok, I followed the suggested steps from the previous posting. I opened Album 2.0 recovered the catalog, reconnected all missing files, recovered the catalog again (the last two steps went quite quickly). I then opened the Organizer program directly to a blank catalog. I then chose “catalog” and “open” and directed it to the album catalog file. A dialog box stated it would update the catalog from a previous version and append “-1” to the name. About 30 to 45 minutes later, when the small “Converting Catalog” dialog box reached 100% I got the following error.

Microsoft Visual C+ + Runtime Library
Runtime Error! Program: …be\photoshop Elements 5.0\PhotoshopElementsOrganizer.exe
abnormal program termination.

After clicking “ok” to the message the Organizer application lists as “Not Responding” in the task manager. It’s holding on to a lot of RAM space. Total RAM use above physical RAM by 25%. I am able to “end task” without trouble.

I wonder if this is a RAM issue. Perhaps I need more to perform this task—only running on 512 at the moment. (Although I do not have any other apps running while using PSE or Album).

I appreciate the suggestions.

[willpresley]

Well -- just thinking about my experience -- I have Album 3.0 and it updated just fine. Maybe if you download 3.0 and update from v 2.0 -- then try the process it will work. But Memory of 512 really is the low end; I have a gig and everything seems to work OK.

[Barb O]

Willj

do you mean you have Photoshop Album 3 Starter Edition or Photoshop Elements 3?

If you mean, PS Elements 3, I don't think that it can be downloaded any more. And Photoshop Album 3 is a freebee, and the recommendation always seems to be not to install it if you have PS Album 2.

Now PSA 2 to PSE 4 worked on the 2 occasions that I participated in that migration: so I don't think there is any magic about "3". I will think about the Runtime error - but others are also having probelems with folder accesses when upgrading to PSE 5. So it may well be unrelated to the fact that this migration started with PS Album 2.

[willpresley]

Yes -- Album 3.0 Starter Edition -- I lost PSE 3 -- the disk went corrupt -- so I used the Album 3.0 until I could get PSE 5.

I haven't had any problems with PSE 5 -- and have updated the organizer several times already.


Finally got all my pictures back on one computer.

[Barb O]

Ok, I followed the suggested steps from the previous posting. I opened Album 2.0 recovered the catalog, reconnected all missing files, recovered the catalog again (the last two steps went quite quickly). I then opened the Organizer program directly to a blank catalog. I then chose “catalog” and “open” and directed it to the album catalog file. A dialog box stated it would update the catalog from a previous version and append “-1” to the name. About 30 to 45 minutes later, when the small “Converting Catalog” dialog box reached 100% I got the following error.

Microsoft Visual C+ + Runtime Library
Runtime Error! Program: …be\photoshop Elements 5.0\PhotoshopElementsOrganizer.exe
abnormal program termination.

After clicking “ok” to the message the Organizer application lists as “Not Responding” in the task manager. It’s holding on to a lot of RAM space. Total RAM use above physical RAM by 25%. I am able to “end task” without trouble.

I wonder if this is a RAM issue. Perhaps I need more to perform this task—only running on 512 at the moment. (Although I do not have any other apps running while using PSE or Album).

I appreciate the suggestions.

The 512 RAM should be sufficient for what you are currently doing. The Adobe system requirements for PSE 5 are listed as "256MB of RAM (512MB recommended)".

So some questions to help find a lead on what your problem might be -

1- Are you running with Administrator authority ?

2- What files do you have in the following folders :

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Catalogs

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Catalog Folders\My Catalog

(if your catalog name in PS Album 2 was different than the default "My Catalog", substitute your catalog name in this second folder structure)

and

C:\Documents and Settings\Barbara\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\3.0\Organizer

(for this folder structure substitute your Windows User name for "Barbara")

If this folder has a text.log file,
what is the last line of this file and does this file have any error or warning messages?

[thumbnail22]

Still trying…

>So some questions to help find a lead on what
>your problem might be -

>1- Are you running with Administrator authority ?

Yes, user account is in the local admin group.

>2- What files do you have in the following folders :

>C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
>Data\Adobe\Catalogs

One file: My Catalog.psa I opened the file, it is a blank catalog file with a modification date of a few months ago (…until now).

>C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
>Data\Adobe\Catalog Folders\My Catalog

One file named “thumb.5.cache” (153 kb)

I have noticed there are several catalog files and folders. …\adobe\Photoshop Album\Catalogs\My Catalog.psa (which is the active Album catalog)

Also …\adobe\Photoshop Album\Catalogs folders\My Catalog\ which contains three files: “rmf.2.cache” (1kb), “tagstatus.dat” (1 kb), and “tn.4.cache” (214,601kb). There is also another folder with “-tmp” appended to the name that contains the same three, plus a fourth file called “thumb.5.cache” (39,602kb)

>C:\Documents and Settings\Barbara\Application
>Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\3.0\Organizer

I do not have an “Organizer” folder within the “5.0” folder on my computer. Within the C:\Documents and Settings\Lee\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\5.0\... folder are the following: “APDLogs” folder (empty), “Editor” folder (empty), “Flash Galleries” folder (3 sub-folders), “Locale” folder (one sub), “music” folder (mp3 files), “Photo Creations” folder (with subfolders), and a “Slideshow Graphics” folder (many subfolders). Also in this location are two .db3 files “Media Database” (495kb) and ThumbDatabase” (10,498 kb) these two files have modification dates from a few months ago.

However, I did find an “Organizer” folder in the following path: C:\Documents and Settings\Lee\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\Organizer (same level as the 5.0 folder) This folder contains no files, only a “settings” folder and within it is one “contact.xml” file.

>If this folder has a text.log file, what is the
>last line of this file and does this file have
>any error or warning messages?

I did not find any log files in these locations.

I did a full C: drive search for *.log and could not find any log files associated with PSE or Album.

>(if your catalog name in PS Album 2 was
>different than the default "My Catalog",
>substitute your catalog name in this second
>folder structure)

I tried renaming the catalog back to the default “My Catalog” name. I then followed the “recover,” “reconnect,” and “recover,” sequence suggested. Album seems happy, all thumbs appear, files open etc., all-in-all running well.

But, alas, same result when trying to open with PSE 5.0 Organizer.

Question.

Is it possible to upgrade the catalog file on another computer, then transport back and reconnect the files? I could install PSE5 on an other box in case this is some sort of conflict on the current one. Moving all the photos and recreating the same file structure is possible but more difficult but would be last resort.

Thanks for the help, this is tough one.

Lee

[Barb O]

What I would do if I were you is to wait a few days until a couple of days after this holiday weekend. There are other people having similar but not exactly the same problem and there could be a common cause.

It seems to me that you can run on PS Album 2 and that is why I am suggesting to wait and see if any of the other peoples problems are resolved and if that solution will help solve your problem.

In the meantime, I will look at your most recent responses to see if I can find any clues.

[thumbnail22]

Thanks, I'll use Album for the time being and hope someone (at Adobe) creates a path that will solve this issue.

Lee :(

[alpha-wawa]

Hi there,

I had the same problem, and after doing the recover/reconnect/recover, it seems to have worked. Thanks for your help.

Rob

[jberkson]

I'm encountering the same issue when attempting to upgrade from Adobe Photoshop Album 2 to ELEMENts 5.0 (build 20060914.r.77): "Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library: Runtime Error! Program: ...be\Photoshop Elements 5.0\PhotoshopElementsOrganizer.exe abnormal program termination" after processing for ~20 minutes for the conversion of my catalog.

I have around 12k pictures and am trying to convert on WinXP Pro machine with 3 GB RAM. I have tried this before and after the recover - reconnect - recover technique recommended earlier in this post to no avail. Were you ever able to upgrade? Any assistance is GREATLY appreciated.

[20ftsnowman]

I'm trying to upgrade from psa 2.0 to pse 7.0 and have not been successful converting the catalog. I've gone so far as to save my existing album 2.0 catalog with a new name, delete all but one file from this new catalogue and then convert this catalog into pse7.0. Similar to other users, I received the error message:

The conversion operation failed. Try reparing the catalog with the software that created it and retry conversion.

I've read that other users were successfully able to go from psa 2.0 to pse 5.0 and then go from pse 5.0 to 6.0. I'd like to try this same method so as not to loose the tagging on 10,000 plus images. Does anyone know where I could download a trial version of pse 5.0?

Thanks,

[johnrellis]

Did you first do File > Catalog > Recover and File > Reconnect > All Missing in PSA 2?

[Karin Sue]

20ftsnowman,

Often computer magazines and "how to" books come with cds loaded with trial software. Check the library and used book stores if your own and friends' bookshelves don't yield any cds.

[johnrellis]

A followup: I helped 20ftsnowman locate a copy of PSE 5, and he was able to convert from 2 to 5, and then from 5 to 7.

[20ftsnowman]

A followup: I helped 20ftsnowman locate a copy of PSE 5, and he was able to convert from 2 to 5, and then from 5 to 7.

Thanks for your help John. I'll describe my steps below incase someone has a similar problem.

1. I tried the recover, reconnect missing files, and recover again. This did not work.
2. I suspected that I might have a corrupt image in my catalog so I created a new catalog with only one file. I was not able to convert this catalog either.
3. I installed pse5 and upon launching the program it automatically converted my most recent catalog. In this case, it was the catalog with only one image. I was not able to convert any other catalog as the program would crash in microsoft vista. I tried to install the v5 patch from adobe but it would not install on the trial version of the software.
4. I uninstalled pse5
5. I launched psa2 and recovered my original catalog containing all of my images.
6. i reinstalled pse5.
7. Launching pse5 for the first time (again) initiated the catalog conversion process. This time it converted the correct catalog.
8. I ran pse7 and was able to convert the pse5 catalog I converted in step 7. Success!

thanks to all for your help and suggestions.