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Author Topic: Moving LR Files to New Hard Drive  (Read 5447 times)

johnvr

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Moving LR Files to New Hard Drive
« on: August 22, 2007, 02:11:43 pm »

My three different LR catalogues AND managed photos are residing on a 500GB external hard drive.

I'm getting a second 500GB HDD with a faster firewire 800 connection tomorrow. I want to make the new hard drive my main drive for LR and the older drive then becomes the backup drive.

If I just use Apple Finder to copy and paste all LR folders (catalogues and managed photos) onto the new HDD, will I encounter any problems?

Anything else I should keep in mind?

Thanks
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Tobben

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Moving LR Files to New Hard Drive
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2007, 03:41:57 pm »

Quote
My three different LR catalogues AND managed photos are residing on a 500GB external hard drive.

I'm getting a second 500GB HDD with a faster firewire 800 connection tomorrow. I want to make the new hard drive my main drive for LR and the older drive then becomes the backup drive.

If I just use Apple Finder to copy and paste all LR folders (catalogues and managed photos) onto the new HDD, will I encounter any problems?

Anything else I should keep in mind?

Thanks
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I did this om my PC. But when I opened it for the first time again I opened it from the Lightroom base file in the windows file manager. Next time it was no problem. (did this with 3 d-bases)

Tobben

picnic

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Moving LR Files to New Hard Drive
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2007, 05:59:15 pm »

Quote
I did this om my PC. But when I opened it for the first time again I opened it from the Lightroom base file in the windows file manager. Next time it was no problem. (did this with 3 d-bases)

Tobben
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Since you are talking about moving files, perhaps someone can point me in the right direction.  I'm on a PC--my 2007 files are all on a dedicated (but not external) drive--and I will empty that drive, probably reformat, and reference the LR files all from the external.  Dumb me---I should have referenced the files originally from the external (archive), but I didn't.  So--now when I will have them only there--how will I handle this?  Right now 4+ years are referenced from various externals, but the 2007 files are not.  When I would move files on Imatch, I was able to designate that I was moving them, then it would allow me to name the DVD, drive, etc. and show that they had been moved.

 I can't see anything on any of the menus that will allow me to do this---and they are all keyworded.  Otherwise, it would seem the easiest to delete and reimport/reference on the new drive.  I suspect I am missing something here.  Though I am not ready to do this, I need to figure out how--and I should probably reference all the rest of 2007 from the external (as I copy to it immediately).  I just looked at the Lightroom Adventure book (the only LR reference I have) and find nothing there either.  Hope someone can set me straight.

BTW--part of this confusion probably lies from the fact that I've just started to use LR again.  I had and used the beta, but when PSCS3 came out I had decided to stick with my normal workflow (except for switching RCs to ACR4.1.  After watching the C2P videos I decided I may be missing something (one of the things was being able to reference to externals and still view the thumbs in the library) and watched the LR tute videos.  So---I cleaned out my 'beta' library, installed 1.1 and imported all my images (well up to 5+ years ago).  I just screwed up on referencing the 2007--so now I'm at a loss as to what to do--after keywording the whole year LOL.

Diane
« Last Edit: August 23, 2007, 06:03:33 pm by picnic »
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The View

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Moving LR Files to New Hard Drive
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2007, 01:15:33 am »

johnvr has an apple computer, so PC tips won't likely be accurate.

I moved files on my iMac by simply dragging them while holding the CONTROL KEY.

If you don't hold the control key, it will copy the files.

I have moved my back-up database to the external drive, and so the back-up folders.

No problem.
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allan67

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Moving LR Files to New Hard Drive
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2007, 03:57:47 am »

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... So--now when I will have them only there--how will I handle this? ...
Diane
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Diane,
You can use "Folders" in LR Library module to PHYSICALLY move the files from one drive to another. Refer to video tutorial (don't rememeber whether it was LR Tutorial or From Camera to Print) where Jeff does exactly this move much to Michaels surprise.

You can put one image in a new folder you create on your external drive and import it from there into LR. This way you'll have the new location referenced in LR. Then in Library drag the folders you want to move into the newly imported folder - the files will be moved on your computer and will be correctly referenced in LR.

Hope this helps.

Allan
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picnic

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Moving LR Files to New Hard Drive
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2007, 07:46:56 am »

Quote
Diane,
You can use "Folders" in LR Library module to PHYSICALLY move the files from one drive to another. Refer to video tutorial (don't rememeber whether it was LR Tutorial or From Camera to Print) where Jeff does exactly this move much to Michaels surprise.

You can put one image in a new folder you create on your external drive and import it from there into LR. This way you'll have the new location referenced in LR. Then in Library drag the folders you want to move into the newly imported folder - the files will be moved on your computer and will be correctly referenced in LR.

Hope this helps.

Allan
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Great, thanks so much.  That's easy--I watched both of those tutes and evidently it didn't register about the move, but have rewatched various sections of both, as I knew I would have to--too much in some of the finer details to ingest at  one time LOL.

 So, really, you can move folders around in Library just as in Bridge and they will be physically moved--(yet one more thing I didn't know about LR---the reason I had moved away from LR and back to PSCS3/Bridge and Imatch was because I didn't understand that I could archive offline and still work with the files/thumbs in Library--and would be aware they were offline by being shown in red).  

Thanks so much for the answer.  

Diane
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digitaldog

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Moving LR Files to New Hard Drive
« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2007, 09:08:53 am »

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If I just use Apple Finder to copy and paste all LR folders (catalogues and managed photos) onto the new HDD, will I encounter any problems?
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Should work fine, I do this often. I don't think there are any invisible files that need to be copied. Just the same, you could use a utility like SuperDuper to do a prefect clone (and its faster if you do incremental work). Its a great Mac backup program, under $20 if memory serves me.
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johnvr

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Moving LR Files to New Hard Drive
« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2007, 11:40:58 am »

I've just finished the process and everything seems to be fine. Thanks for your replies.
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stever

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Moving LR Files to New Hard Drive
« Reply #8 on: September 02, 2007, 04:06:11 pm »

i'm still confused about how to get the catalog backed up in the same location as the folders

my understanding is that copying the folders to another drive (or anywhere else) still leaves the catalog database in the Lightroom file which must be separately backed up - the only preferences appear to be for auto backup - i'd simply like to back up the folders and database together whenever i've added new images or done a significant amount of work in LR
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francois

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Moving LR Files to New Hard Drive
« Reply #9 on: September 03, 2007, 02:12:24 am »

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i'm still confused about how to get the catalog backed up in the same location as the folders

my understanding is that copying the folders to another drive (or anywhere else) still leaves the catalog database in the Lightroom file which must be separately backed up - the only preferences appear to be for auto backup - i'd simply like to back up the folders and database together whenever i've added new images or done a significant amount of work in LR
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The easiest way is to export your catalog (File>Export as Catalog…) and choose the appropriate options. "Export negative files" option will export your catalog AND your photos.
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Francois

stever

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Moving LR Files to New Hard Drive
« Reply #10 on: September 03, 2007, 11:25:58 am »

thanks

not in either of my books and couldn't find in LR help - not an obvious command
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