BentMedvind
Thanks for the further details of your Premiere Elements 12 Project Archiver issue.
I suspect that the issue goes to the size of the project with its 28746 stills at 2866 x 2164 pixel dimensions.
The Copied or Trimmed Folder will have copies of all 28746 stills plus the project file. The project size is small, but those stills represent a huge contribution to either of those archived folders. In the case of the Copy option, the Copied Folder will include 28746 stills used on the Timeline as well as those in Project Assets that were not dragged to the Timeline.
You say that you have successfully archived a Timeline with various movie clips. Archive or Copy option used? How many movie clips and what resolution for the movie clips (presumed 1920 x 1080?). What was the estimated and actual size of the archived folder in this case?
For troubleshooting purposes, you could make two copies of the Time Lapse project (as it exists just prior to archiving). Then for one, delete 1/2 the project and try to archive the remainder. Then for the other, delete 3/4 of the project and try to archive the remainder.
Please review and consider and then let us know the outcome.
Thank you.
ATR