Clearing the workspace

[David42]

Hello,
I have been using Photo Express 4 for some time. When I download photos from my camera they turn up in the workspace. I edit them, save them to my hard disk and print them out. When I have finished I clear the workspace but I can always get at the photos as they on my hard disk.
However, now I find that when I clear the workspace the photos are cleared from the hard disk as well. So the number of photos on the workspace is becoming far too large.
The only thing that has changed is that I have signed up with a couple of firms who will upload photos, do glossy prints and post them to me. Is this the cause of the problem and what do I do about it?

Many thanks,
David