External Hard Drive Woes

I just the other day moved my 130+ gig. iTunes music folder to a portable external drive. I changed the itunes music folder location in the advanced prefrence, and restarted iTunes. Now, an apparently random, but quite sizable number, of songs won't play because of the exclamation point stating that the original file cannot be found. I know I could just re-import them all, but I would lose an extensive playlist library, as well as all of my import dates, ratings, and play counts. Is there any way to get itunes to recognize the files, or am I doomed to either "Find Song" for 10,000 songs, or have to lose all that info?

It would be wonderful if some way was invented to do track-file re-association automatically, but I figure it isn't easy..
Check http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/scripts07.php?page=4 for iTunes Track CPR v1.3 and some of the other scripts that do similar things.

Similar Messages

External Hard Drive woes (possibly Time Machine related)

Hello everyone,
I am using one of the partitions on my WD My Passport for Mac (1 TB) partitioned into two sepaprate partions (both Mac OS Extended Journaled) of 500 GB each as my backup disk for Time Machine.
Now, Time Machine seems to work fine on it for some time. However, after a period of time (~5 hours) time machine stops working. Here are the relevant logs.
2/2/12 5:35:26.221 AM com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup
2/2/12 5:35:26.424 AM com.apple.backupd: Backing up to: /Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb
2/2/12 5:35:27.351 AM com.apple.backupd: 2.52 GB required (including padding), 243.30 GB available
2/2/12 5:35:39.920 AM com.apple.backupd: Copied 1408 files (49.3 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
2/2/12 5:35:40.073 AM com.apple.backupd: 2.46 GB required (including padding), 243.25 GB available
2/2/12 5:35:43.099 AM com.apple.backupd: Copied 876 files (199 bytes) from volume Macintosh HD.
2/2/12 5:35:43.631 AM com.apple.backupd: Starting post-backup thinning
2/2/12 5:35:43.631 AM com.apple.backupd: No post-back up thinning needed: no expired backups exist
2/2/12 5:35:43.655 AM com.apple.backupd: Backup completed successfully.
2/2/12 6:35:26.125 AM com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup
2/2/12 6:35:26.379 AM com.apple.backupd: Backing up to: /Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb
2/2/12 6:37:30.081 AM com.apple.backupd: Error: (-50) Creating directory 2012-02-02-063730.inProgress
2/2/12 6:37:30.081 AM com.apple.backupd: Failed to make snapshot container.
2/2/12 6:37:43.118 AM com.apple.backupd: Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly size:37
2/2/12 6:37:53.131 AM com.apple.backupd: Backup failed with error: 2
2/2/12 7:35:25.953 AM com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup
2/2/12 7:35:26.129 AM com.apple.backupd: Backing up to: /Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb
2/2/12 7:35:26.190 AM com.apple.backupd: Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly size:37
2/2/12 7:35:26.192 AM com.apple.backupd: Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly size:37
2/2/12 7:35:36.207 AM com.apple.backupd: Backup failed with error: 2
2/2/12 8:35:25.847 AM com.apple.backupd: Starting standard backup
2/2/12 8:35:26.020 AM com.apple.backupd: Backing up to: /Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb
2/2/12 8:35:26.076 AM com.apple.backupd: Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly size:37
2/2/12 8:35:26.078 AM com.apple.backupd: Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.HostUUID path:/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly size:37
2/2/12 8:35:36.091 AM com.apple.backupd: Backup failed with error: 2
When this happens, the Hard Drive makes beeping noises (each time Time Machine tries to access it). It refuses to unmount, and Disk Utility refuses to either verify or repair the hard drive. Forcibly unplugging the hard drive and replugging it does not help either. It makes beeping noises for about half a minute and then goes quiet. However, neither is it mounted nor is it visible in the disk utility.
The only way I have managed to fix this is to plug the hard drive in another mac, where it mounts without any problem. I then run disk utility to verify the hard drive (on that mac) and then when I replug the drive to my laptop, it works. Until it breaks again.
The only other "error" related to my external hard drive that I have found in system logs is also pasted below:
2/2/12 12:50:07.161 AM com.apple.backupd: Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 "The file “objects.nib” couldn’t be opened." UserInfo=0x7f9097807460 {NSURL=file://localhost/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh%20HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/ar.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/ar.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f9097833650 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Not a directory"}
2/2/12 12:50:07.289 AM com.apple.backupd: Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 "The file “objects.nib” couldn’t be opened." UserInfo=0x7f9097096050 {NSURL=file://localhost/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh%20HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/hu.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/hu.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f9097095f40 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Not a directory"}
2/2/12 12:50:07.294 AM com.apple.backupd: Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 "The file “objects.nib” couldn’t be opened." UserInfo=0x7f9097359940 {NSURL=file://localhost/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh%20HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/ko.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/ko.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f90973598e0 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Not a directory"}
2/2/12 12:50:07.313 AM com.apple.backupd: Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 "The file “objects.nib” couldn’t be opened." UserInfo=0x7f909772fc90 {NSURL=file://localhost/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh%20HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/sv.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/sv.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f909772bcc0 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Not a directory"}
2/2/12 12:50:07.326 AM com.apple.backupd: Error (256): fetching properties: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 "The file “objects.nib” couldn’t be opened." UserInfo=0x7f909709b6f0 {NSURL=file://localhost/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh%20HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/zh_CN.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSFilePath=/Volumes/Mridanga/Backups.backupdb/googly/2012-02-01-222347/Macintosh HD/System/Library/ColorPickers/NSColorPickerWheel.colorPicker/Resources/zh_CN.lproj/NSColorPickerWheel.nib/objects.nib, NSUnderlyingError=0x7f9097095e30 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Not a directory"}
I don't know what the problem is, but I would like to be able to use an external. I also have another external plugged in my computer (NTFS, and I have NTFS write enabled via http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/) and that hard drive works perfectly. Also, the problem was there before I enabled NTFS write so nothing was harmed in enabling NTFS write.
System Info
OS X 10.7.3 (problem existed with 10.7.2) as well
RAM: 8 GB
Macbook Pro 15" (i7 2.2 GHz, 2011 model)

OSX is having trouble reading or writing to the drive. That's usually hardware (the drive, port, or cable).
Try different ports, cables, and combinations of the two (a plug that works fine in one port may not make good contact in a different one).
Be sure it's connected directly to your Mac -- no hubs or daisy chains, and not a port on your keyboard.
Also, what Partition Map Scheme does the drive have? (Check via Disk Utility - select the top line for the drive -- it should show at the lower right.)

More external hard drive woes.

Hi all,
I'm using an old Seagate U Series 5 (30GB) that I harvested out of an older computer along with an external hard drive enclosure. It's been initialized and formatted to HFS+ and is at the moment completely empty. However, when I try to transfer large files or large amounts of files (more than around 800MB), it stops at anywhere from 400MB to 1.2GB through and just keeps on displaying the progress bar with whatever estimated time it had left before. Nothing short of unplugging the drive will cancel the operation. This has actually happened with a different hard drive (even older, though) and I've used two different kinds of enclosures. Any ideas?

Shutting down your Mac without properly ejecting your drive (put icion in trash) can fry an external drive. I know, I did it! Maybe you'll have some luck with my tips.
Thought you could use this info about getting FireWire to work!
First, you should always Repair Permissions in Disk Utility before and after any update; I would do that now. If you installed your update with FireWire plugged in, your Mac may not recognize it anymore.
Try resetting your FireWire ports by disconnecting all FW devices, shut down your Mac and unplug it from AC power (wall socket) for 30 minutes. plug it back in and try FW.
If that still didn't get it Zap the PRAM. While restarting Mac hold down the following key combo Command-Option-P-R. Keep holding those keys down till you hear the second start-up chime, then release.
For those of you with Macs that are not PowerBooks or iBooks, a bad internal battery can cause FireWire to not be recognized, so make sure it's good! Also, here is Apple doc.#88338 on getting FireWire to work.
Here's some more FW tips.
 Cheers! DALE

ESATA external hard drive woes under Bootcamp

Hi everyone,
I have just taken delivery of a early 2009 MBPro 17 inch and a WD MyBook USB/eSATA/Firewire external HD.
I am trying to use the MyBook with eSATA in bootcamp with a generic expresscard that utilises the Silcon Image Sil3132 chip. I'm only wanting to use it as a single drive with no RAID. The drive shows up and works fine when booting into Leopard but under bootcamp it is nowhere to be seen in explorer. I have installed the ATA controller driver and in control panel it shows up as it's own "app" (and even tells me theres a WD drive attached to it). It also shows up in Device Manager under SCSI/RAID controllers as "Silicon Image SIL 3132 Softraid 5 controller.
In the device info panel this is what i see:
Available controllers: SIL 3132 revision 1
Location: PCI bus 6 device 0
IRQ number: 5 (0x5)
Device location: Channel 1 Target 1
Type: Disk Drive
Model: WD My Book
Firmware revision: 01.00A01
Serial number: blah blah
ATA version: ATA/ATAPI-6
Current transfer mode: Ultra DMA mode 6
Host link speed: Generation 2 (3.0gb/s)
Device link speed: Generation 2 (3.0gb/s)
Look Ahead: Unsupported
Write Cache: enabled
But as for gaining access to the drive in Explorer, it isn't recognised.
Am i missing something here?
I am really stuck with this, so if anyone can help i'd be very grateful.
Cheers
John

Where / how can i find that information?
When i "get info" in Leopard it just says it's formatted as "Windows NT File System"
It came formatted as FAT32 but i reformatted in NTFS. Leopard has read and write access thanks to Paragon.
Windows on the other hand can see it if it's plugged into the USB socket, but not under eSATA.
I was wondering maybe that the express card slot might not be fully supported under Bootcamp, meaning no matter what you plug into it the thing won't ever work properly?
The express card is an unnamed generic one with this chip: SiI3132 - PCI Express (1x) to 2 Port SATA300
Drivers are here..supposedly: http://www.siliconimage.com/support/searchresults.aspx?pid=32&cat=3&os=4

IPhoto/external hard drive woes

I use a WD external drive to store my iPhoto library. iPhoto has lost the link to the library (I assume through a non-ejected disconnect), but also doesn't prompt me to find the library when I open iPhoto. I can get it to prompt find library by renaming the library it creates, but when I select the correct iPhoto library from my external drive, I can't click ok! It's positively nonsensical... I can create new libraries, I can select other folders, just not the correct one. Do I need to create a new library and just reimport everything?? How much data would I lose that way? Completely bizarre.

I can get it to prompt find library by renaming the library it creates, but ... I can't click ok!
The one thing you don't describe having done is moving the "com.apple.iPhoto.plist" file to the trash. Include that step with the above and you should be able to click "OK".

Iomega external hard drive either 'not found' by Time Machine or is now in 'read only' format

I don't know what's going on with my iomega external hard drive. Sometimes the HD is recognised by the computer; other times it isn't; if it isn't I can restore to an earlier back up via Time Machine app; but it's like the disk isn't writable.
Ten days ago, I had trouble backing up my iMac using Time Machine. After turning it off and restarting my external hard drive, it backed up successfully.
However, today I am trying to back up my files, and TM tells me it can't find the external hard drive. Nothing has changed -- I have been out of town this past week -- but somehow my HD now seems to be in 'read only' format. It does turn on, and I could restore my computer to an earlier back up.
"Mac OS X can't repair the disk. You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can't save changes to files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can."
Annoyingly, despite my HD not showing in Finder or on my Desktop (as it usually does), when I simply turn it off I get that warning message "The disk was not ejected properly".
Have tried verifying and repairing using Disk Utility, to no avail.
Am prompted to reformat but I don't have a good understanding of what this means and how to do it. I'm guessing this would wipe the disk clean and I'd have to create the initial back up image all over again -- I'm reluctant to do this since this HD is my only back up and if it all goes tits up I'll be up that famous creek without a paddle.
Thoughts, suggestions, input all welcome and deeply appreciated -- thank you!

fzgy wrote:
"Mac OS X can't repair the disk. You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can't save changes to files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can."
It's possible a heavy-duty 3rd-party disk repair app can fix it, but they're expensive (DiskWarrior is about $100), and there's no guarantee it can do it.
Am prompted to reformat but I don't have a good understanding of what this means and how to do it.
That will erase it. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #5.
It sounds very much like the disk is beginning to fail, although it's possible there's a bad port, cable, connection or power supply (if it has its own).
I'd suggest getting a new one, and using it for your Time Machine backups; once you have a good backup there, reformat the old one (and select Security Options to write zeros to the whole drive -- if that fails, you know the drive is toast). Use it for secondary backups, per FAQ #27. If it has failed, get a second new one for secondary backups.

Back up using time machine and external hard drive

Hello,
I am having a difficult time deciding the best way to back up important documents.
I have:
1TB internal hard drive
3 TB external hard drive and
1TB external hard drive
I currently have about 1TB worth of data to be stored, but that will increase to about 1.5TB once I get a bunch of stuff off the HD camera's hard drive. I would like to keep my internal hard drive somewhat free to keep the computer running fast, but also want to make sure I am properly backed up.
Should I put ALL (or nearly all) of the files on the 3 TB external hard drive, and have time machine back that up and not worry about the rest? I'm a little weary about putting all of the files on one device even if it is backed up by TM.
If I do this, do I need to back up the 3 TB external drive in addition to using TM?
Thanks!

iMac11,2
OS X 10.6.8

How can I use one external hard drive for both Time Machine and iPhoto Library?

I have been using a 1 TG LaCie external hard drive for Time Machine backups. My (older) Mac has 160 GB and is almost full. I would like to move my iPhoto Library to the external hard drive, but I've heard Time Machine doesn't share one space well. Should I
1. create another partition (but will this erase what I've already saved) with Disk Utility? *I am running Snow Leopard*
2. create another volume to use for iPhoto, and if so, should the two volumes be of equal size?
3. leave it with one partition and move the iPhoto Library to the same partition with Time Machine back ups?
I know I don't need the entire 1 TG for back up of 160 GBs. Please advise the best path to take. Thank you!

You are getting incorrect information from your ASP. If you look at drive specifications the heat generated is no different for high vs low capacity drives.
I have upgraded the internal drive in my iMac 2007 with a 3TB Hitachi drive without any heat issues or other problems.
Larger hard drives have higher density platters so to access any given amount data the drives travel a shorter distance. Higher capacity drives should therefore run cooler than lower density drives because the drive spends less time spinning to access data.

I need to delete a lot of duplicates on iPhoto. I just bought my MacBook Pro and was so excited I downloaded my external hard drive without thinking through the process. I now realize I had my photos doubled up. So I actually have the same library twice.

Hello All!
I am so excited about my new computer and I didn't know that my external hard drive had so many pictures duplicated on it. So I downloaded the entire hard drive. I thought iPhoto was going to be my answer, and now after reading a lot of discussions, it seems I have royally screwed up. Please help me fix this problem. I am a computer novice. An even more Mac novice. I need very simple directions. I would just start over with iPhoto, but I downloaded my digital camera with brand new photos on iPhoto and also downloaded my digital camera software on my new MacBookPro. I am afraid if I "start over" with iPhoto I will lose my digital camera pictures. I bought the Mac to finally get my pictures straight, and look at the mess I have made. I had AVG PC cleanup and used that program last night to delete duplicates from my PC. I also used it to delete duplicates from my external hard drive. I omega. I know, I know, too late huh? But I am teachable. And I now have my external hard drive fixed. But now, my question to the community is how to fix my new Mac, and my iPhoto.
Thanks,

SweetThunder73 wrote:
When you say to remove the photos out of the iPhoto folder, then import the clean single copies, I am understanding that the "original" file that the decloner was run against is now the "clean" single copies?
Ok, you've got iPhoto Library that you have imported everything into, you can't delete the iPhoto Library and start over because you have only one copy of some pictures in there, combined with a lot of duplicates.
You want all the duplicates out, but it will take you ages to do it by hand.
What you do is.
1: Right click on the iPhoto Library and "Show Package Contents"
2: You will see a folder called Originals, these are all your original photo's, copy this folder to a external drive someplace, it's your backup.
3: Select the Originals folder again and from the Finder Menu > File > Duplicate.
4: Now you will have a OriginalsCopy folder, move that OriginalsCopy folder onto the desktop area out of the iPhoto Library folder. Close the iPhoto Library folder/window.
5: Download the Decloner software and install it, use it to find all the "real" duplicates, via it's content on the OriginalsCopy folder.
6: From the Finder menu > New Folder, now send the duplicate files to that folder, so all that is left in the OriginalsCopy folder is 1 copy of your pictures, minus all the duplicates which are now in New Folder.
7: Open iPhoto and remove all your pictures in there. The iPhoto Library will update to become empty.
8: Now import the pictures from the OriginalsCopy folder, these will now have only one copy of each picture.
9: Open your New Folder, from the Edit menu > Select All and
10 From the Finder > File Menu > Open With > Preview.
Now you have one copy in your iPhoto Library and the duplicates in a New Folder opened with Preview which you can compare to make sure.
Make as many backups of your pictures as you think you need during this prcess, but eventually you only want 1 picture of all you have in the iPhoto Library.
Some pictures may be the same thing but a little smaller etc., these obviously are not duplicates, and you can weed those out by hand in iPhoto.
Good Luck.

IPod cannot be synced because external hard drive could not be read

I moved my music folder to an external hard drive to create space on my laptop, and changed the location under Preferences / Advanced. Since I did this, my iPod trys to automatically sync but gives the error message "The iPoD "[name]" cannot be synced. The disk could not be read from or written to." The external hard drive is on and working. Is there some reason that the iPod will not sync with this external hard drive? What do I need to do to fix it? Thanks, Bill

First question, since you made
the change, can you still play your music from within
iTunes?
Patrick
Sorry for the delay in answering as I have been traveling. Yes, I can play music from iTunes. The music is located on my external hard drive. iTunes software is on my laptop, and the music library points to the music folder on my external hard drive.
Thanks, Bill
Dell Laptop Windows XP

My external hard drive is no longer recognized by my Mac

I have used Time Machine and a WD external hard drive to back up my computer for several years. Now, when I connect the hard drive, the drive lights up as though it's working, but the connection does not appear on my Mac -- the external hard drive is not listed in Device (in Finder). Any suggestions?

power feed issues and data appearance/disappearance are both symptoms of the SATA bridge card,..arguably the most failing modern computer component made.
throwing more power to the drive wont fix that.
SATA bridge card as found inside all USB HD devices which has an extremely high failure rate.
Inside a USB hard drive, containing the HD and SATA card
Countless 1000s of good external hard drives are thrown away each year because the owner thought the HD was bad when it fact it was the SATA bridge card which had failed. This card is removed in a matter of mere second once an external USB HD is cracked open from its plastic casing to reveal the bare HD and the attached SATA card which attaches between the HD and the USB cable.
quick and easy option is to crack open the WD USB drive, and remove the SATA card, and put the WD drive into a new enclosure ($20)
HOWEVER, if its an OLD WD drive, the SATA interface is permanently attached to the HD and the OP is "out of luck".

My WD external hard drive is no longer show up on my computer-it no longer recognizes it.

I have a WD external hard drive for sometime that I have been using to backup my computer and generally keep some of my bigger things on it(such as degital copies of movies). But suddenly one day my computer won't recognize my external hard drive when I went to plug it in. The light on it that is on when it is plugged in is on when I do plug it in, yet I can't actually find and acess my external hard drive. I don't know whats wrong and how to fix it so I can continue using my hard drive.

dead sata bridge card. very common problem.
see all about it here:
Your dead external hard drive is likely fine! Great hope for your 'faulty' external HD
verify HD on another Mac however, if same, dead SATA card most likely

Since last leopard update, i can no longer see my external hard drive

After last leopard update my external hard drive is no longer visible on the desktop, tried connecting to the laptop but this has also had the same update and the same problem, any ideas??

Open Disk Utility, select the External Hard Drives first icon in the list of Drives, click the Repair Disk button.
Dennis

I have moved all my songs onto a new external hard drive but it has wiped my iPod clean. Although when I connect my iPod it's starts teh process of sync'ing - so many songs in I get a pop up advising the siong could not be read or written to?

I have moved all my itunes onto a new external hard drive to free up space. It has wiped my ipod clean! I can still see the itunes on the new hard drive so I restored my iPod and tried to sync. Although when I connect my iPod it's in the process of syncing, so many songs in I get a pop up saying could not copy to my iPod as xyz song title could not be read or written. I click ok for this pop up to dissapear and then another pop up appears saying could not coyp to iPod because of unknown error.!!! Help I'm going crazy.

Did you go into iTunes to change the location of your media files? if not you will need to go into iTunes and click on preference and select the advance tab then click the iTunes Media folder location. Select the location of your on external hard drive.

PSE 8 - Archive on external hard drive including captions and tags

I started my above discussion some time ago with Mark and due to the lateness in my responding the case appears to have been closed. However I am hoping that someone can comment on my intended course of action, see below, based on his suggestions?
Just recapping having successfully migrated my Photoshop Album 2 catalog including captions across to PSE 8 and now my objective is to move my entire PSE 8 catalog to an external hard drive leaving only thumbnail view to remain. Obviously I am anxious to avoid any catastrophe and therefore would appreciate comment on the correctness of the steps involved. I have arrived at these by simply modifying Mark's original steps. Please correct where necessary.
1) Connect my external hard drive where I want to copy the files too. Make sure I can 'see' it in Explorer
2) Open Photoshop Elements 8; click the Organize button on the Welcome screen
3) Displayed in my welcome screen is my entire catalog with each album matching in title and file (photo) content to the folder title and file (photo) content in the folder location displayed to the left of screen.
4) Go to the File menu, and select 'Write Keyboard Tag and Propertise Info to Photo'. In my case most but not all files (photos only) will have tag and caption data. Rather than attempting to select the files that I wish to embed tag and caption metadata does Organiser have a global 'search and embed instruction' so that when it gets a 'match' on .jpg number it will embed automatically?
5) After completion, I go to the File menu, and select 'Copy/Move to Removable Disk...' click the MOVE button to move the files from their current location to my nominated external hard drive.
6) Click the Next button, and select the external drive in order to copy the files to the drive.
Can you confirm?
* On completion of the above steps my external hard drive will allow access to full resolution versions of the file from Photoshop Elements including any existing caption or tag data organised identically to my PSE 8 catalog (only one catalog)?
* Am I correct in assuming that also all original photos from my laptop will be removed and if not can be deleted given their existence on my external hard drive?
* Is the data which now resides on the external hard drive capable of being read on any other PC which may not have Elements software?
Neil

I have 2 laptops an aging Dell and new HP. I have successfully followed your
instruction and deleted 1 & 2 below on both.
The Dell PSE 8 now has:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\PSE 8 (240Mb)
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Elements Organizer 8.0 (502Mb)
C:\Program Files\Adobe\PhotoshopElements_8_WWEFDJ.EXE (1.17Gb)
C:\Program Files\Adobe\ PhotoshopElements_8_WWEFDJ.7Z (1.06Gb)
Giving a total of 2,972Gb
The HP PSE 8 has:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\PSE 8 (240Mb)
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Elements Organizer 8.0 (502Mb)
C:\Program Files\Adobe\PhotoshopElements_8_WWEFDJ.EXE (1.17Gb)
C:\Program Files\Adobe\ PhotoshopElements_8_WWEFDJ.7Z (1.06Gb)
But a total of 3,894 and I am unable to identify where the additional 1Gb
resides. In Documents & Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Elements
Organizer is 120Mb. I have attempted to delete this but lost the catalog in
the process so had to restore from the Recycle bin and it now appears to
have reconnected correctly. Frankly I can live with these large file sizes
but would like an opinion on their potential adverse impact at sometime in
the future.
I am not sure whether I need to start a new thread for "Are there any known
bugs in PSE 8 surrounding the burning of discs" I have attempted to burn
onto a new CD-RW my slideshow. The process of burning appeared to work but
the written to CD does not play on the DVD. I have also saved the slideshow
as a PDF. I can't recall exactly how but in selecting an incorrect option I
no longer have visibility of projects in 'Folder View'. The projects are a
single slideshow and PDF copy of the same. How do I regain visibility?
Neil

External Hard Drive Woes

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for