can't open Elements3 Organizer

[maxzap]

I think i must have way to many photos on my computer because last night i tried to download from my camera and now i can't open the organizer. i can still open the editor but the organizer freezes up. i tried to defrag the computer but it says there is only 13percent space left and it needs 15 to defrag. i've deleted everything i can think but still can't open the organizer.

any help would definitely be really appreciated.

thanks.
Maxzap

[troush]

As you start the Organizer, hold the ctrl key (or the shift key) - it should pop up a dialog giving you options - choose "Recover."

-Trish

[maxzap]

Trish - I tried that. Diaglog says recovery was successful but i still can't open the organizer. Any other thoughts?

max

[maxzap]

tried opening it again and i get the message "out of memory".... is there a way to move the photos to an external hard drive and keep the tags from someplace other than organizer.

thanks
max

[troush]

The organizer is what holds the tags. Sounds like your preferences may be corrupt.

Try going here (you will have to show hidden files in Windows Explorer to do this):

C:\Documents and Settings\[your windows login]\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\3.0\Organizer

and Rename psa.prf to psa.prf.old and then try starting the organizer.

If that doesn't work, go to that same folder and rename status.dat to status.dat.old and restart Organizer.

If that doesn't work, it is possible the thumbnail cache is corrupt... It is in
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\3.0\Catalog Folders\[your catalog name]\

And will be either tn.x.cache or thumb.x.cache (replace 'x' with a number). Rename it to .old, and restart Organizer. It will take a while to rebuild the thumbnail cache, so you may need to go shopping for a while.

-Trish

[maxzap]

If that doesn't work, it is possible the thumbnail cache is corrupt... It is in
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\3.0\Catalog Folders\[your catalog name]\

And will be either tn.x.cache or thumb.x.cache (replace 'x' with a number). Rename it to .old, and restart Organizer. It will take a while to rebuild the thumbnail cache, so you may need to go shopping for a while.


Tried the first few with no success... (the status.dat and psa.pfa.) and then tried the last with no success... Don't know if it really matters and didn't want to start moving files around but the catalog files were here: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe (in the adobe folder were six files - acrobat, catalogs, photoshopelementshelp, photoshop elements, catalog folders and updater).... should the catalogs be moved into the Photoshop Elements organizer file or would that make any difference at all? By the way the program never even tried to rebuild the cache it just plain froze up.


...... I've been considering replacing the PSE3 with 5 or 6 and am wondering if now might be the time to do that.. and if i do am i going to have to retag the 5000 pictures and scrapbook elements i have...

thanks.

max

[troush]

Sorry, I don't have 3.0 on this computer, so I wasn't 100% sure of the correct path.

You know, it may look like the Organizer froze, but it can take a LONG LONG time to rebuild the cache. I would do it right before bed, and then check in the morning to see if it was successful.

If PSE 5 or 6 can read your catalog, you shouldn't have to retag.

-Trish

[maxzap]

OK I tried it again last night and the program froze up (lack of memory error) so i just deleted my Quicken program (guess we know what my priorities are) and was able to open the organizer. I backed everything up and am now running the degrag. the plan is to separate into two catalogs one with pictures and one with scrapbook pages, elements etc and keep one of the catalogs on an external harddrive (probably the pictures).. Does this sound like a decent plan??

[troush]

Doing the defrag sounds good. Not sure about the rest. I have my pictures on a second internal and back up to an external drive (actually, I alternate backups between 2 external drives). I don't use Organizer to organize my photos (I use IMatch), so I'm not sure that splitting into two catalogs will help you. Freeing up space on your C drive is a good thing, though.

-Trish

[maxzap]

Did the defrag... and then spent some time looking thru this site and the forums. Decided that if i want to get better at this i need to spend time working on it and really make a commitment to it. So i ordered Elements 6 and the book what you wish was in the manual.. will sign up for Premier on this site and start doing the tutorials as soon as i get Elements 6 loaded.

I read quite abit about ACDsee and think i might use that instead of organizer because it seems like it might be much faster and more versatile but i'm wondering if i should be acdsee and pictures on an external hard drive to save space on computer or would that be a problem? Will post this question in another forum but was wondering what your opinion as to the best route to take would be?

thanks so much for all your help with this..

max

[troush]

I think putting your pictures on an external drive is an excellent idea. Just be sure to back them up as well, either to another external drive, or to CD/DVDs. And remember, CD/DVDs can go bad, so you'll want to rebackup to new CD/DVDs every couple of years. Stick with the name brands (TDK, Sony, Memorex) and not the no-name office/store brands. (An external hard drive can fail just as easily as an internal drive.)

-Trish