brushes actions etc

[blackmutt]

Lovely Dell did a windows 10 reinstall on my laptop.  In doing so, I have lost my brushes and other stuff, but lets start with that.  Do the brushes live somewhere on my hard drive or will I have to restore from my backup?  Thanks.

[blackmutt]

I did find out that backing up your computer does not save your brushes. Oh joy. Not sure what purpose a back up serves.

[Lillias]

Trying to clarify in my own mind what has happened here Judy...
You say Dell did a windows 10 reinstall -

1. Do you mean a whole new install of the Windows 10 OS?
2. If so, following that, I would imagine that you had to reinstall PS/PSE whichever it is that you have? In that case all the default brushes and other default stuff that come with PS/PSE should be available to you within the programme!
Only brushes or anything else you have added over time might be missing - BUT - if you have kept files with copies of brushes or other stuff you have added (which is what I do on external hard drives) you should be able recover your brushes etc; by going to said files and loading them again into the programme.

As to where brushes are kept in the programme - for PSE (I can’t speak for PS) go to
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 2020\Presets

and within the Presets you will find all the default brushes, color swatches, custom shapes, gradients etc: etc:

I don’t know a lot about ‘back ups’ per se.

My preferred method and the one that has worked for me is to do a simple 'manual' back up of the files which are important to me by transferring/copying them to external hard drives. I think I have 5/6 on the go at any one time and have several manual back ups of the same files - a sort of belt and braces approach. If one external hard drive gives up on me I still have those files on another external hard drive.

I realise it’s not the way a proper techy proficient person would work but it works for me.

If I have misunderstood your original posts and I’m talking nonsense here then please feel free to ignore me...

[ritage]

I gave up using "Back-Up" software years ago.  It runs for ever and only at the end frequently would tell me that it failed.  Even if successful it is cumbersome to retrieve anything from it.  Like Lillias I manually copy everything important to external drives.

I keep all my assets in folders in Documents and load them when I want to use them.  Filters are the only exception.

My Brushes folder alone is 3.6 GB (yes, GB), kept in many sub-folders.  When I finish a project I delete the brushes I loaded for it from PS.

Same for Styles and Actions.  I find it slows workflow if I have to search through long lists of assets inside PS and it probably eventually slows down rendering.

Rita

[Sepiana]

I prefer doing a manual backup. Like ritage , I gave up on "Back Up" software.

I keep my add-ons (actions, brushes, custom shapes, gradients, layer styles) in a folder in "Documents", which is backed up to external drives. I load them into Elements or into Photoshop. The exception will be for custom shapes. If I'm using Elements, I install them in the appropriate folders because this program doesn't have the ability to just load custom shapes (as Photoshop has).

I'm not worried about too many add-ons (installed or loaded) slowing down rendering in either Elements or Photoshop. This was true in earlier versions because they were 32-bit apps. Now both Elements and Photoshop are 64-bit apps.

[blackmutt]

Thanks for your input, folks. Yes, a complete reinstall of the OS, version 2004 of Windows, which was loaded on Sunday night really made a mess with my internet connection on my Dell as the Apple products were not affected!! Alas, I don't have them stored separately in folders but my techie said the back up will have them in folders etc. I also, have the emails from the vendors I with paid (i think a total of $20) and the freebies. One way or another I will get most of them back. I have now learned that I am going to copy the files to an external hard drive for the future. I have also delayed any more Windows 10 updates to happen at their whim! Nothing I lost is devastating, just annoying. Yes, I had to reload Photoshop & Lightroom and so all my customization of screens etc are gone so I will work through that, making it to my liking again. I have a love and mostly hate relationship with technology. The worst part is having to reinstall or have reinstalled software that I did not initially install, work related items.