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View Full Version : Ugh Moving Files Please Help

sandking
August 20th, 2009, 03:46 PM
Here's the background:

I am setting up a home server (Pentium 4 PC) to be able to store all my picture files and videos. The reason is because our house is small and we use our laptops for everything plus when we go away we always take one laptop with us to download all the pictures. I'm an avid beginning photographer and shoot in RAW so the files are large and since we just had our first child if I miss judge the setting slightly I can do much more with the RAW file. Currently my laptop only has an 80 GB HD (new laptop comes this week with 500 GB HD) so I have to connect an external HD everytime I want to view/edit my pictures. My wife is getting tired of keeping it out on the coffee table and I'm tired of putting it away every night.

My thought was to drop a 1TB HD into the Server (running XP Pro) to house all the files, then when we are away (usually there's internet service) I can FTP the days files right home so they are safe and backedup. At home I can access that drive through the local network as if it's the laptops own HD. In addition I'll be able to access my pictures from anywhere so if for example I'm at my parents and they want a copy/original picture of the baby I can remote desktop right into the server and drop it onto their pc.

That being said, I have everything up and running in terms of the server. I have a 1 TB and a 500 GB internal HD, and can use my externals once everything is moved over to backup the server each week.

The problem I'm having is moving the files from the external drive to the new internal drive in the server. I've researched the topic here and looked over the links to Adobe's recommended method but still am having issues. What did I do wrong? Here are my steps:

1. Opened Elements Organizer

2. Under the folder location view I found the new HD, right clicked and created a New Folder and renamed it

3. Found the My Pictures folder where all 20k pictures are currently located (didn't open it to see the subfolders), chose it and dragged it into the folder created above (it ran all night long)

This morning I got the Elements (Not Responding) message so I shut it down. I opened the new folder in Windows Explorer and about 2/3 of the files were there. I then opened Elements Organizer and I could see the new HD but none of the folders in it. Thought I did something wrong so I tried again but only dragging one subfolder over, but still couldn't get it as a subfolder.

What am I doing wrong? At this point I feel like moving it in Windows Explorer, uninstalling Elements and reinstalling pointing to the new location. Secondly what I found interesting is it seems like the files that did make it over the night before were copied there, not moved because they still reside on the orginal external HD.

I've reformated the internal HD and will try again tonight if some folks can help me out. Sorry for the long winded question, but I thought I'd give as much info as possible. Thanks in advance :). BTW I plan on keeping the catalog on the HD of the laptop and only the files on the server.
Juergen D
August 20th, 2009, 04:05 PM
One thought is to have the EHD connected to the Laptop when moving the files to the Server...

Juergen
dj_paige
August 20th, 2009, 05:19 PM
First, it would help if you tell us what version of PSE and what operating system.

Deleting the catalog and then re-importing the photos is almost never a good idea, as you lose lots of information by doing this. It should be a last resort, and we are not at that point yet. Uninstalling/reinstalling will not solve catalog problems.

If you are looking at the photos in Folder Location View, and they don't seem to all be there, this might be a bug in PSE (depending on what version of PSE your are using); your photos are all there, you just have to view them in thumbnail view instead of Folder Location View.

For more details on using PSE on a network, please read this:
http://www.johnrellis.com/psedbtool/photoshopelements-6-7-faq.htm#_Storing_the_catalog
johnrellis
August 20th, 2009, 05:38 PM
In addition to the questions Paige asked, provide more details about:


I tried again but only dragging one subfolder over, but still couldn't get it as a subfolder.

What happens when you drag the folder from the external hard drive (attached to the local computer) to the network drive?

1. After you click on the source folder and drag it to the network drive, does the cursor change to an arrow with a plus-sign below it?
2. As you hover over the network folder, does the cursor change to a circle-slash, or does it stay as an arrow with a plus-sign?
3. When your drop the folder on the network drive, is there a status window saying that it's started the move?
4. Are there error messages?
sandking
August 20th, 2009, 10:15 PM
Sorry I'm running PSE 7 and both the laptop and server/pc are running XP Pro. The external drive is already connected via USB to the server/pc with the new internal 1TB HD. I'm running the PSE 7 on the laptop and the external drive is visible through "My Network Places" in the PSE 7 Organizer and linked properly. Last week before I set up the server/pc the external drive was directly connected to the laptop running PSE 7, then I moved it to the server, and fixed the broken links so that the catalog which is on the laptop knows where the files now are.
sandking
August 20th, 2009, 10:27 PM
I checked that link and I think I am doing everything right. The catalog is stored on my laptop, the actual files are located currently on an external HD connected via USB to the server/pc. The server/pc is direct wired to the wireless router and opening individual files to edit this way isn't that slow.

I don't think the connection of the laptop should really matter for moving the files though since the external HD and the new internal are on the same machine. I'm just using PSE 7 and the laptop to move the files so it recognizes the new location. If I do it through "My Computer" it runs as fast as if it were directly connected since the original location and new connection are the same machine. The laptop and PSE 7 should only be giving the command to move the files.
sandking
August 20th, 2009, 11:07 PM
First, it would help if you tell us what version of PSE and what operating system.

Deleting the catalog and then re-importing the photos is almost never a good idea, as you lose lots of information by doing this. It should be a last resort, and we are not at that point yet. Uninstalling/reinstalling will not solve catalog problems.

If you are looking at the photos in Folder Location View, and they don't seem to all be there, this might be a bug in PSE (depending on what version of PSE your are using); your photos are all there, you just have to view them in thumbnail view instead of Folder Location View.

For more details on using PSE on a network, please read this:
http://www.johnrellis.com/psedbtool/photoshopelements-6-7-faq.htm#_Storing_the_catalog

Here is a screen shot of my organizer and what I want to do. The first is before I open up the subfolders of where the files are currently located:
johnrellis
August 21st, 2009, 10:41 AM
Unfortunately, the forum software reduced the resolution of your screen shots, and there are important details I can't read. Could you repost the full-resolution shots at www.pixentral.com (http://www.pixentral.com) (free) and post the links here?

Also, the answers to my previous questions would help diagnose what is going wrong.
sandking
August 21st, 2009, 03:07 PM
In addition to the questions Paige asked, provide more details about:


What happens when you drag the folder from the external hard drive (attached to the local computer) to the network drive?

1. After you click on the source folder and drag it to the network drive, does the cursor change to an arrow with a plus-sign below it?

Yes

2. As you hover over the network folder, does the cursor change to a circle-slash, or does it stay as an arrow with a plus-sign?

Stays with the arrow and plus-sign.

3. When your drop the folder on the network drive, is there a status window saying that it's started the move?

Yes

4. Are there error messages?

Below is the screen shot of the error message.


Here's the background. The internal HDs on the server/pc are the M:\ and N:\. The external drives are the H:\ and G:\ All my pictures are located on the H:\August 07\My Pictures directory and I'd like to create a folder on N:\ to move all the My Pictures folders to.

Here are the screen shots.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f362/craigslist34/Elements/ScreenShot1copy.jpg (http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f362/craigslist34/Elements/ScreenShot1copy.jpg)

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f362/craigslist34/Elements/ScreenShot2copy.jpg

Here is the error message:

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f362/craigslist34/Elements/ScreenShot3copy.jpg (http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f362/craigslist34/Elements/ScreenShot3copy.jpg)

What I don't understand is the following.

1. I mapped the network drives for the internal HD on the server/pc and the External attached to the same server/pc. In the Organizers folder view, one shows up under "My Computer" (the N:) and the External shows up under "My Network Places" (//Connie)?

2. While yesterday I was able to "right" click the N: drive under "My Computer" and add a "New Folder", it's not selectable?

3. The H:\ drive shows up in both the "My Computer" and "My Network Places" area, but I can't even open up the H:\ that is located on "My Computer"?
johnrellis
August 22nd, 2009, 10:06 AM
The screen shots are very helpful, thanks.

I suspect you've tripped over one of several bugs in PSE's handling of network drives. In PSE 6, Adobe redesigned how PSE handles drives, and frankly, they made a mess of it, and they didn't fix any of the problems in PSE 7.

To verify what's going on with your catalog, download and run the "psedbtool" utility:

http://www.johnrellis.com/psedbtool/#_Downloading,_Installing,_and

Copy and paste the contents of the results here. I'm hopeful it will be apparent what's going on and how to work around the issue.
sandking
August 22nd, 2009, 11:28 PM
Thanks John for the link. I was sooo frustrated because there were some folders that didn't show any thumbnail images but they were in there that I said screw it and deleted the entire catalog (mind you it wasn't a big deal since I haven't retagged anything since I reformated my HD last week), and created a new one. On the back end I moved all the files form the external to the internal on the server/pc through windows explorer and then when I created a new catalog pointed to the new drive.

What made me finally give up was even when I tried to repair the catalog it would say there were no errors or the files already existed. I figured since I'm getting my new laptop next week and will install Elements 7 on it (as this will be my entertainment laptop) I might as well create a clean catalog so I can back it up and bring it to the new machine next week. Then I'll spend a few weeks going through the 22k files and tagging them with keywords, etc.

Thanks again for the help. Hopefully setting up the new laptop won't be this difficult...