Wrong Volume Serial # Problem

Question

How can I extract the vol serial number for a photo from the catalog.pse7db database? My problem arose from copying the contents of an earlier external hard drive to a newer larger one and then disposing of the first one. Later, when I used Photoshop Elements 7, I found all my photos to be offline. Since the drive letter is the same as it was when the photos were originally cataloged, I presume the problem originates because the new external drive has a different volume serial number. Since the old drive is gone and I can't get the serial number from it, I thought I would change the volume serial number on the new drive to match what is in the database.

Answer 1

I've made some changes to the catalog database but not this specific type of change.  It should work.  I would recommend making a backup of the catalog directories before you attempt to do this...  Also, be aware I don't have PsE7, just PsE8 and 9.  I there might be some slight differences in the instructions below.
Make backup!
Download sqlite3 and install it.
Add a photo to your new drive.
Open PsE and add the photo to your catalog.  This creates a new entry in the catalog for the new volume.
Close PsE.
Open a command prompt
Change the directory to where your catalog resides (i.e. cd \<directory>)
Rename the catalog
  rename catalog.pse7db catalog.pse7db.old
Dump the catalog to a text file by typing the following
  <path to sqlite3>\sqlite3 catalog.pse7db.old .dump > catalog.pse7db.txt
Open the catalog with a good text editor (WordPad may be sufficent but Notepad will not work as it does not handle linefeeds correctly)
Search for the line INSERT INTO "volume_table"
You will see something like this...
INSERT INTO "volume_table" VALUES(2,'database relative','amoc:database_relative_volume','','database_relative_drive');
INSERT INTO "volume_table" VALUES(1514,'MyVolume','1234567890','G:','builtin_drive');
INSERT INTO "volume_table" VALUES(1515,'MyNewVolume','2222222222','G:','builtin_drive');
INSERT INTO "volume_table" ...
The "builtin_drive" entries are the interesting ones.  One entry will be your old drive and one will be your new drive.  The volume name is the second parameter.  The serial number is the third parameter.  You may have additional entries for your local drives as well but these should be indicated by the fourth parameter.
Switch the volume name and serial numbers ('MyVolume' <-> 'MyNewVolume' and '1234567890' <-> '222222222') in the two lines which you have identified to be the external drives.
Save the file and exit the editor.
Create a new catalog
  <path to sqlite3>\sqlite3 catalog.pse7db < catalog.pse7db.txt
Open PsE and see what you get.
Remember to remove the photo you added earlier to create the volume as this should photo should show offline.