Disconnected files are in Recycle Bin PSE 7 - Vista 64

Question

I am getting disconnected files and am wondering what I'm doing wrong. These are files I only access through PSE7, never Windows Explorer. I'm not changing their location or names. What I think may be happening is after I edit a photo, I have been unstacking them and deleting the original -- and also deleting it from my hard drive. I only want to keep the edited version. I just need someone to confirm that's what's happening. I used an old version previously that gave me the option of "replace original with edited". PSE7 doesn't do that, I think. But I don't need two versions out there on my hard drive, only the edited. How do I get rid of the original safely? These disconnected files appear to be in my recycle bin and I can figure out how to get them back, just want to know what I'm doing wrong. "Watched folders" is confusing to me, as it only pops up when I go off to another catalog (I have many), so I don't want those photos from another catalog brought in there. Also, can someone tell me if there is a maximum number of pictures allowed in a catalog? Thank you!

Answer 1

Mary,
When PSE 7 modifies the metadata (captions, notes, dates/times, etc.) of a file, it often places a copy of the original in the Recycle Bin:
http://www.johnrellis.com/psedbtool/photoshopelements-6-7-faq.htm#_Photos_appear_in
This is normal, and you can feel free to empty the Recycle Bin at any time.
Your procedure for getting rid of the original version of an edited photo is fine: Save the edited photo in a version set, then delete the original from within PSE. Nothing untoward should happen.
> I am getting disconnected files and am wondering what I'm doing wrong. These are files I only access through PSE7, never Windows Explorer.
Do the Organizers thumbnails of these files have a yellow question mark in their corner? And does File > Reconnect > All Missing bring up a list of these files? (I want to verify that they are indeed disconnected.)
> Now when I'm in my "recipes" catalog, it shows a picture from my "grandma's old photos" catalog, with the recipe caption that I orignally assigned in the "recipes" catalog. I can understand that the caption may stay with the catalog, but can't figure why there are three different photos with the same file name. I'm afraid to scan any more until I get an answer. I scan a lot of pictures and am going through all my family's historical pictures. These are all going into a "scanned photos" folder and the file name is assigned by either PSE or the scanner.
What is the precise workflow you are using to scan? It appears you are doing File > Get Photos And Videos > From Scanner?
> I scan a lot of pictures and am going through all my family's historical pictures. These are all going into a "scanned photos" folder and the file name is assigned by either PSE or the scanner. Is there a way to tell PSE that I want subfolders separated by date? I have Epson V500 Scanner, if that helps.
The File > Get Photos And Videos > From Scanner command places all scanned images into the Pictures\Adobe\Scanned Photos folder. But it assigns a unique name to each file and it wont overwrite an existing file. (I just used the command to scan a photo, and PSE gave it the name Scanned Photos\Image1.jpg; I then scanned a photo into a second catalog, and PSE gave it the name Scanned Photos\Image1-1.jpg. ) You can change the folder it uses for scanned images via Edit > Preferences > Scanner. Using a different folder for each catalog may help you organizationally, but it shouldnt have any effect on the problems youre encountering.
For one of the photos that has the same name in two different catalogs, what does the Properties pane show as the full folder location and name in each of the two catalogs?