Move Pictures and Albums to Other or Network Drive Without Rebuilding the Database

[earlboss]

Hi:
A question here (from Picasaonnas) about changing drive letters caused
me to try to come up with a reasonable method of moving our pictures
to a different drive or network drive so they can be shared.

This method requires PicasaStarter and Picasa 3.8. It was done using
Windows 7 (x64), so I don't know if there are any differences when
using XP or Vista. Please make a paper copy of this procedure so you
don't miss any steps, and remember I am not really good at explaining
things, so try to read carefully and don't skip any steps.

This method moves the pictures, albums, and databases to the new drive
without requiring the database or albums to be rebuilt.

I suggest you use PicasaStarter to make a test picture directory and
database, and run this procedure on it first to make sure it will work
to your satisfaction. YMMV

PLEASE DON'T TRY THIS WITHOUT MAKING A BACKUP COPY OF YOUR PICTURES
DIRECTORY AND THE PICASA DATABASE DIRECTORIES PICASA2 AND
PICASA2ALBUMS!

------------------------------
Requirements:

-> Need both Picasa 3.8 and PicasaStarter 1.4.5 or later.

-> All pictures must be in folders that are contained within a
containing folder (One or a very few). For instance all folders with
pictures in them could be in the "My Pictures" folder. This is not an
absolute requirement, but if there are multiple picture containing
folders they will all have to be moved to the new drive separately and
that can become involved.

-> The containing folder should contain primarily pictures since
everything in the folder will be moved to the new location. This means
"My Documents" is not a good location for pictures because it contains
documents and other files and directories as well and moving the whole
My Documents folder could break applications and move documents.

-> If all picture folders are not already in one or a very few
containing folders, it is possible to use Picasa to move folders into
a containg folder like "My Pictures". Be very careful because this
will move the whole folder and everything in it to the new location!!
Right click on a folder and select find on disk to look in the folder
and make sure it only has pictures. If so, close that explorer window,
and right click again on the folder and select Move folder and move it
to the new location (probably the containing folder above). This move
should be quick if the move is to the same drive.

-> In Picasa, go to Tools - Folder Manager and make sure only the
picture containing folders (for instance "My Pictures") are set to
"Scan Always", All other folders and drives not containing pictures on
the computer should be set to "Remove From Picasa" to keep the clutter
down.

-> Make sure there is at least one photo directly in the picture
containing folder. You can copy a picture from another location if
necessary. It is necessary that the folder contain a picture so the
folder will show up in the Picasa Flat Folders view.

Reminder: If you have multiple PicasaStarter databases pointed at the
same pictures, and you move the pictures to a different drive, those
other databases will be invalid and shouldn't be used. It is possible
to make them valid again by copying the pictures back to the old
location using the procedure at the bottom of this guide (But of
course, they will then still be pointing at the original pictures, not
the moved ones. I don't reccomend multiple databases pointing at the
same pictures, since they can get out of sync.

--------------------------------
Preliminary things to do:

-> Make sure the pictures and databases are up to date in the original
location. This location can be either the default location in Picasa,
or a different location using PicasaStarter.

-> Map a drive or directory to the drive letter that will be the new
location. Make sure the drive has enough space to hold all your
pictures and the database files. I suggest you create a Database and a
Pictures Directory on this drive to hold the Database and pictures
when you move them here.

-> I strongly suggest again that you make a copy of the database
directories and pictures so you will have them if something goes
wrong. In fact, if you want to keep your original pictures directory
you will need to restore it from this copy since the procedure moves
the pictures to the new Drive/Directory.

--------------------------------
Procedure to move the Database and Pictures to a New Directory:

-> Run PicasaStarter, and select the database for the pictures you
will be moving.
-> Push the Explore button to see the database folders.
-> Hold the CTRL key and select the Picasa2 and Picasa2Album folder,
then right-click on them and select COPY, then close the explorer
window.
-> Click the Add Database button. Create a name for the new database
in the Name box.
-> Click Browse beside the Base Directory folder and browse to the new
drive and folder to contain your new database. select the folder to
contain your new database and click OK.
-> Click on the Explore button beside the Full Directory box to open
your new database folder. This will be the location of your new
database. Right-click in the folder and select PASTE to copy the
database to this new location. (Note: if you did something wrong and
paste is not available, go back to the previous database directory and
copy the 2 directories again, then return here and select Paste).

-> You now have a second database (in the new drive) pointing to the
original pictures.
-> Click the Run Picasa button on the new database and you should see
all your pictures and albums.(Depending on your OS you may be asked to
allow access to the database the first time.)

-> Important: If Picasa starts indexing and importing pictures with
this new database, exit Picasa as soon as possible, Then delete the
Picasa2 and Picasa2album folders from the new location, and copy them
from the old to the new location again. When you go back into Picasa
again there should be no (or very minor) indexing or picture
importing.

AT THIS POINT YOU HAVE ONE SET OF PICTURES WITH 2 DATABASES POINTING
AT THEM, SO ONLY MAKE CHANGES IN THE PICTURES OR OPTIONS USING THE NEW
DATABASE! DON'T USE THE OLD DATABASE UNTIL THE PROCEDURE IS COMPLETE
OR THE DATABASES COULD BE COMPROMISED.

-> In PicasaStarter make sure the new database is selected and run
Picasa.
-> In the Folders list on the left side of the Picasa Window, find the
containing folder for the pictures (for instance "My Pictures" and
click on it to be sure it is the right one (It has the pictures you
have in the containing folder).
-> Right-click on the containing folder name in the folders list.
-> Select "Move Folder" from the drop-down menu.
-> Select the location to move the pictures to in the directory list.
This moves the containing folder and all subfolders to the new
location


Picasa will now be busy for a long while because it has to copy
(actually move) all the pictures to the destination drive, and it has
to change all the drive letters in the database. Picasa will not
rebuild the database or change the names or albums. After this is
done, you have the pictures and database in the new location.

-> If, in spite of the recommendation to have all the pictures in one
containing folder, you wish to move more picture containing folders to
the new drive, repeat the above move folder procedure on the remaining
folder(S) to be moved. Make sure any remaining folders you move have
not already been moved by right clicking on them and clicking the
Locate on Disk option to see where they are on the computer before
doing the Move Folder option. DO ALL MOVING IN PICASA, OTHERWISE THE
DATABASE WON'T BE UPDATED AND THEY WILL BE RE-INDEXED!!

-----------------------------------
Clean-up after the move:

-> Go to the Tools - Folder Manager Menu and make sure only the new
Pictures containing folder is set to "Scan Always" and all other
locations (especially the old picture location) are set to "Remove
from Picasa". DON'T DO THIS UNTIL you are sure there are no more
folders to be moved from the old location, because anything not moved
will be removed from the database.

-> you can start the default Picasa database for the original location
if you wish to be sure you moved all the necessary pictures. The old
Picasa will only contain the folders and pictures that were not moved.
If there are others to be moved, go to the new Picasa Database, and
move the other folders you found. THIS MUST BE DONE BEFORE THE OLD
LOCATIONS ARE REMOVED FROM THE NEW PICASA FOLDER MANAGER.

-> If you want to keep the original Picasa pictures and database at
the original location in addition to the new location, exit Picasa,
and copy the picture containing folder from either your backup copy or
the new location, back to the original location. Also copy the backup
of the Picasa2 and Picasa2albums back to their original locations.
Once this is done your original Picasa will be the same as before, and
the new copy will be on the new drive.

-> If you don't decide to restore The original Picasa database and
pictures in the previous step, the first time you run it will cause it
to update to any remaining pictures that were not removed. It can
always be restored as long as you have the backup copy.

If something goes wrong, copy all the pictures back to the old
location, and delete the old location picasa2 and Picasa2Albums
directories and restore the copys you made at the beginning back to
the original name and location. After this is done PicasaStarter
should again be able to see everything in the original directory
location.