How do I know if my back up to a external hard drive has worked?

Hi,
I have completed a back up of my Elements12 catalog to a external hard drive but when I try to view them they have been saved in all sorts of different ways.Some of them are GOM media files which will not open at all.
Some say SYNCDB or CACHE or PREF files which tell me I need an app to open,others are XML Documents which just show lists of data.The list goes on...
Everything opened OK in the Elements program but how can I find out whether or not it has backed everything up if I cannot open or access these files that Elements has copied to my hard drive?
I am completely lost.Before I had elements I just copied my photo and video folder to my ext hard drive and everything worked,no messages saying this file needs an app or that video file cannot be opened!
Help

The most important thing to understand is that Organizer backups are not simple copies and that they can only be used by the restore function of the Organizer.
ianm5737231 a écrit:
Hi,
I have completed a back up of my Elements12 catalog to a external hard drive but when I try to view them they have been saved in all sorts of different ways.Some of them are GOM media files which will not open at all.
Some say SYNCDB or CACHE or PREF files which tell me I need an app to open,others are XML Documents which just show lists of data.The list goes on...
Everything opened OK in the Elements program but how can I find out whether or not it has backed everything up if I cannot open or access these files that Elements has copied to my hard drive?
So, the simple answer is that you are expected to see the message at the end of the process stating that the backup has been successful.
If you are skeptical, I am afraid the only 100% way is to do a restore and see if everything is ok.
One thing I always do (and recommend) is to see if you can find a file named 'backup.tly'. It's the last created and contains everything necessary to restore your catalog and your picture files, even if you choose to restore on another location.
I am completely lost.Before I had elements I just copied my photo and video folder to my ext hard drive and everything worked,no messages saying this file needs an app or that video file cannot be opened!
You can have a copy of your pictures folders, but that's not enough. You should also have a copy of your catalog folders (location : menu Help/system info). And if you restore to another computer, that's not enough either : all your files will be shown as disconnected... good luck with the reconnection process. Believe me, use the organizer backup/restore system, at least when you want to migrate to another computer, drive or OS!
Since we are never too sure about backups, a good solution is to use your prefered copy or sync system regularly AND to do full organizer backups periodically or when you want to upgrade.

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