Bug: PSE 3 backed up too many files

DR
Posted By
David_Robin_Myers
May 2, 2005
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135
Replies
6
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Closed
Did anyone see something like this. Maybe an ADOBE engineer monitors this site…

My directory structure "My Pictures" contains 13742 files which in total amount to 20.7 GB. These are all catalogued in ADOBE Elements 3.01.

Last night I used PSE 3 to backup the catalogue and files to an external USB disk. It backed up 17472 files containing 27.8 GB. From where on earth did it find the other 3700 files? Presumably it duplicated some of them, but I can hardly sample 17000 files to look for a pattern.

The last time I carried out a full backup the the number of files in My Pictures and in the backup directory were essentially the same. Elements reports that the catalogue contains something over 7000 pictures, which is correct given that almost all of them exist in two versions (scanned and edited). A mystery.

David Myers

System Info: IBM ThinkPad with 1 GB memory, 80 GB disk,
Windows XP Prof/SP2 with all latest patches
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CW
Colin_Walls
May 2, 2005
I cannot explain this, except to say that an Organizer backup is not simply the image files – there is also all the catalog information and, I guess, some control files.

Personally, I can never see the point of using Organizer’s backup capabilities. What’s special about image files? Surely there are lots of other things that need preserving too? Why not just have a backup strategy that encompasses all your "volatile" data?

You can either use a backup program [like the one that comes for free with XP] or maybe just an XCOPY script. I use the latter and periodically just copy the whole lot over and start a fresh backup.
DR
David_Robin_Myers
May 2, 2005
Why use Organizer’s backup? Too be honest, I am keen on "belt and braces". An awful lot of work has gone into scanning, cataloguing and editing these Kodachrome slides. And, of course, my digital pictures don’t exist on film to re-scan.

Thus, I have a copy of the directory and the PSE catalogue on one disk and a PSE Backup on another (in a different building). When I have finished scanning all the slides I shall also make a copy onto DVD, although the long-term readability of DVDs worries me, both from the deterioration of the medium and the availability of the format (remember floppies?).

Thus, although I have a several backups, I am still curious as to what could have gone wrong. And, who knows, ADOBE may wish to fix the problem.

David M.
CW
Colin_Walls
May 2, 2005
I shall also make a copy onto DVD, although the long-term readability of DVDs worries me, both from the deterioration of the medium and the availability of the format (remember floppies?)

I share your fears here on both counts. Too many people regard optical media as "permanent". With regard to long term availability, at least we should see it’s demise coming. After all, while 3.5" floppies are now dead, you can still use them OK. 5.25" might be more of a challenge. And what about 8" … ? I recently speculated on the revival of paper tape as an archive medium … 🙂
JJ
Jim_J
May 3, 2005
David,

You can submit a bug report at the following address:

http://www.adobe.com/misc/bugreport.html

Cheers
DR
David_Robin_Myers
May 3, 2005
Thanks, Jim, I have done this.
JJ
Jim_J
May 3, 2005
You’re welcome David,

If they are aware of the problem, you should not expect to hear back. They may have questions for you if you have found something unique however.

Cheers

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