Gee whiz, Earl, I’m really sorry about the loss of those folders. Unfortunately, it isn’t directly related to either program – Elements or Album. Elements doesn’t store any images. Those are all stored in folders on the hard drive of your computer and become accessible through either the File>Open feature of Elements or the Browser feature. You could completely delete Elements and the images would all stay on your hard drive.
I’ve never used Album but, from your description, it sounds like it handles photos in much the same way as a piece of software I use on my Mac. It doesn’t store them, either, but simply provides a convenient way to organize them so I can quickly find the ones I’m looking for. What really happened is that you deleted the folder of pictures off of your hard drive, and that’s why Album is now saying the source file is missing.
Have you emptied the Recycle Bin yet?! If not, open it up and move them back onto the desktop of your computer.
If you have emptied the Trash Bin, there may be hope, depending on how important it is that you recover those specific folders. Many of us copy our image files/folders to CD or some other kind of external media. Did you?
If you don’t have back up copies, stay away from your computer for a while, except for internet stuff. I don’t use a Win machine, but there is software available for Macs that can occasionally recover items that have been deleted. The trick is to get to them quickly before other information has been saved on top. I’m pretty sure there’s something similar for Win machines. It might not work, but it’s definitely worth trying. I can’t tell you what you’d need, but someone else will undoubtedly see your post and be able to address that.
Thanks Beth, Soon as I posted, I realized it was the HD that was the culprit, Not PSE. I did go to the recycle bin at that time, but for some reason, nothing was there. Fortunatly, I think I have most of them in Family albums. Now, think I’ll go let the wife KICK me..
Earl,
I understand your frustration and sympathize. I am a user of both PS Elements and Photoshop Album (PSA for short). I’m sure you now know this, but I’ll just explain what happened. As Beth said, PSA does not store the photos. It builds a database which contains links to each of the image files, along with other information to help you find them. like tags, captions and the date and time the file was created. Tags are descriptive keywords that you can use as search keys.
Just for infomation, the database structure is the standard Microsoft Access format. Access is the database program which is part of the Microsoft Office suite. So, if you know Access, you can look at the database outside of the PSA program, and even make changes to it.
Not that you should ever need to do that, though.
If you have more questions about PSA, I suggest you take them to the PSA forum, where you will find more people who are knowledgeable on that program.
Bert, Thanks for the input. In the short time this afternoon, I have come to like all the features you mentioned. Not sure how my recycle bin properties got changed so I could not restore what I deleted, but now I have fixed that.
EARL,
Hello, glad to have you aboard! Your entries show that you’ll fit in very nicely with the gang here.
As for the PSA, I love it so far and have entered over 1200 pictures with more on the way. My suggestion is to try to get someone to help you via Email. The PSA forum people will help if you don’t mind sifting through all their complaints.
Marty
JUERGEN,
Well, we think alike, don’t we? Did you run right out in your back yard and collect some nuts like I did. That’s how I came across the persimmons too. The latter are especially early this year and the nuts,…like walking on marbles, they’re all over.
Marty
Earl,
AS Marty said, there is a bit of a problem on the PSA forum right now. PSA is a new program for Adobe, and it has some problems in the initial release version. Most of the problems are concerned with making video DVDs. If your interest is primarily in still photos, you will find that most features of PSA work just fine.
But, there are a number of…what shall I call them…malcontents who are just raising Hell over there with abusive and disruptive posts. So, you have to do a little filtering to find inputs from people like Marty and me who will actually try to help you instead of just trying to sow confusion and dismay. I don’t understand their motives, really. I can’t imagine what they are trying to accomplish with their diatribes, and I have confronted them many times until I am tired of the constant conflict. Nevertheless, just go ahead and post your questions, and Marty and I and a number of others will be glad to help.
Bert
Marty and Bert,
Thank you and all the others for your kind words and offers to help. Believe me, I will need it.. When scanning an image or otherwise getting one from another source into Photoshop Album, what format should they be saved as? I have heard that a JPEG photos looses quality each time they are opened and closed. If thats the case, should I be saving from my HP 2210 scanner TIFF or PNG..or JPEG? And should I re-save all the JPEG photos already in the album as another format? They will be opened and closed a lot..
Would like to hear from anyone on any suggestions. You can email me directly if you like. Thank you,
Earl, the JPEGs won’t lose quality if you merely open them and close them. The damage occurs when they’re opened, edited, and resaved. Nonetheless, if you have the room on your hard drive, one of the non-lossy formats, such as PSD or TIFF, is always preferable for saving. Not everyone has enough space for that, so many people choose to archive in JPEG and convert to another format if they’re going to edit. Editing includes resizing.
Of the choices you’ve given for scanner output, I’d recommend the TIFF. The recommendations do depend a lot on what you intend to do with them, though. Personally, I use the non-lossy formats, because I always have to keep in mind I might be too spacey to remember to convert a JPEG before working on it. 🙂
Earl,
I second Beth’s recommendation. I save all scanned images as TIFFs. If you are going to work on the images in Photoshop, and especially if you add layers, you will want to save a PSD file. That is the Adobe proprietary file format, and it preserves all layer information. Then, if you want to Email a photo or post it on a website, it’s best to create an additional JPEG version of the file for that purpose. If you have added layers, you must "flatten" them into a single layer before doing that. Make sure you keep your original TIFF file from the scanner whatever you do. That way, you can always get back to "square one" if you make errors in any of your editing or format conversions. Sometimes, it is safer to keep the originals in a separate folder, and it is advisable to back them up on CD-R or some other permanent medium, of course. Hard disk drives do fail.
Bert
That is odd. Bert and Beth, your first names do not shoe in the Outlook Express news reader like normal, only the last name.
And for this thread; If it has not been said, CD writers are so inexpensive now that if you don’t have hard drive space a CD writer is a "must have".
PeteD
Pete,
That’s weird! Never heard of that happening before.
You’re right about CD writers being cheap, but hard drives are pretty cheap too. I back up all my image files on CDs, but I would not want that as my only storage medium. I’d be shufflin’ CDs like a Las Vegas dealer! I just added another HD…160GB. The original is 80, so now I am approaching a quarter of a Terabyte! Who would have ever thought that would be possible in a home computer!
Bert
Bert,
There is another thread talking about the change. It is confusing because one post I read the poster did not sign it and has the same last name as several others that are on this forum. OE only shows me a last name so I am not sure who they are and if I have already answered to them.
Wow,
Pete
D wrote:
That is odd. Bert and Beth, your first names do not shoe in the Outlook Express news reader like normal, only the last name.
And for this thread; If it has not been said, CD writers are so inexpensive now that if you don’t have hard drive space a CD writer is a "must have".
PeteD
Yours looks weird, too, Pete. Now, to see what mine will look like… 😉
Vicky, you show up in the forum as "Vicky Vicky" now.
Are we in the TWILIGHT ZONE?
Thanks to everyone for all the help and suggestions you have given me. Maybe one day I will know enough to help someone.
I have just become a member of this forum and read your entry and felt bad for your lose of photos. I remembered seeing something on Tech TV about the possibility of recovering lost files even after deletion from recycle bin. I honestly don’t know if the data can still be recovered since it may have been over written by now. If you go to techtv.com; choose Call For Help in show pull down menu; and type in deleted files in the search window, there is a whole article on file recovery, and links to sites that recovery software and or advice. I hope this helps.
Terri Foster
I have just become a member of this forum and read your entry and felt bad about your lose of photos. I remembered seeing something on Tech TV about the possibility of recovering lost files even after deletion from recycle bin. I honestly don’t know if the data can still be recovered since it may have been over written by now. If you go to techtv.com; choose Call For Help in show pull down menu; and type in deleted files in the search window, there is a whole article on file recovery, and links to sites that recovery software and or advice. I hope this helps.
Terri Foster
Thanks Terri,
Fortunatly, I still had the originals of most of the images. Lots of information on the site you suggested for future need’s, just in case..
Thanks,
Earl
