Synchronize catalog in two computers

[TomasCrespo]

Hello boys, Im happy to found this forum, thanks fot it

This is my proble: I have all my photos in my laptop, I download from my camera to my laptop with elements 7, but I also have a HTC (Home Theatre Computer) connected to my LCD TV. I want, periodically, copy all NEW photos from my laptop to my desktop HTPC.

Now, when I want to update my HTPC, I must make a COMPLETE backup from my latop and restore it in my HTPC.

Is there any procedure to copy only the new photos from laptop to HTPC?

Thanks

[johnrellis]

Tomas,

There is no easy way to keep two PSE catalogs synchronized. A couple thoughts about your situation:

- Do you need PSE on your HTPC? To view my photos on my big-screen TV, I use File > Export to export the desired photos from PSE to a folder that iTunes can then sync with my Apple TV. Perhaps you can do something similar with the software for your HTPC?

- If you really want PSE on your HTPC, you could use these steps:
a. On the laptop, use PSE’s Display > Import Batch to identify your most recently imported photos.
b. Select those photos and do File > Export to export copies, which you then move to your HTPC. The Export command will also write metadata (tags, dates, captions, etc.) into the exported photos.
c. On the HTPC in PSE, import those photos. PSE will ask if you want to import the tags in those photos – you do.
There are a number of problems with the second method. See this FAQ for more details:

http://www.johnrellis.com/psedbtool/photoshopelements-6-7-faq.htm#_Merging_Catalogs

[TomasCrespo]

Thanks very much for your reply. The export method, would create floders? or put all exported photos into a unique folder? I think only one folder.

You give me a good idea: Really I need PSE on my HTPC????

NO !!

I only want the photos in my HTPC with its tags. Vista Media Center sort the photos by tags. Then, I only need to select all the photos and tell PSE "Write metatags info on files". Now, to synchronize the two computers I must use Microsoft SyncToy 2.0 (this software only copy the new files or modified between two folders)

This is a good solution for this particular case, but my wife and my sister-in-law also want to take all my photos in their computers, and now PSE is essential. In this case I could use Microsoft SyncToy also, bun I also need to copy the catalog files and DB files. What files must I copy? only My catalog.psa (340 MB)? or I need to copy more files?

PD: I know that I will have problems with directory structure, but I try to maintain the same structure in all computers or make a "reconnect my photos"

Thanks a lot, I have learned from your webpage that tag hierarchycan be saved to an xml file. Thanks again

[johnrellis]

In Elements 7, catalogs end with ".pse7db", not ".psa". You'd want to copy the entire catalog folder (containing the .pse7db file), which you can find by doing Help > System Info. Even if you preserve the exact locations of all the copied photos (e.g. c:\users\tomas\pictures\p1.jpg must be in that same path on the destination computer), PSE 7 may not be able to find them (you'll have to try). This is because PSE 7 relies first on the serial number of the hard drive. It has heuristics to use the drive letter if it can't find the serial number, but those heuristics are somewhat unpredictable.