Import catalogue from ext. Drive

[mdijb]

I returned from a trip with a complete catalogue organized on a portable hard drive.  How do I import the whole thing with the folder structure and develop settings intact.  So far it seems I have to do it bit by bit.  I should be able to accomplish this easier.

MDIJB

[digitaldog]

Did you navigate and select the root (top) folder?

[mdijb]

Yes.  The folders are recognized but contain no images, they are all in the top folder and none of the Key words ore develop settings are retained.

[digitaldog]

Yes.  The folders are recognized but contain no images, they are all in the top folder and none of the Key words ore develop settings are retained.

Odd. So you see all the folder structures but nothing in them? What if you option click and pick “Synchronize Folder”?

[mdijb]

After LR alone for a while, The subfolders now have thumbnail but when Attempting a large view, a message stating  "file is missing"  appers and all the folders have "?" next to them.

Frankly while importing and organizining my files while on the road, LR was unstable  and appears to be so again.  "synchronize folder" is grayed out and unavailable.

[jfricks]

LR will find the photos for you and update the locations.  Control click on any photo, and select open in finder. You will get a dialogue box asking you to locate file. Navigate to the proper folder, find the photo and click on it. LR should now update all the files in that particular location as long as you kept them all together in the original hierarchy.

Hope that helps.

[smahn]

After LR alone for a while, The subfolders now have thumbnail but when Attempting a large view, a message stating  "file is missing"  appers and all the folders have "?" next to them.

Frankly while importing and organizining my files while on the road, LR was unstable  and appears to be so again.  "synchronize folder" is grayed out and unavailable.

Was the external drive attached?

[dreed]

I returned from a trip with a complete catalogue organized on a portable hard drive.  How do I import the whole thing with the folder structure and develop settings intact.  So far it seems I have to do it bit by bit.  I should be able to accomplish this easier.

MDIJB

The only way to do what you're doing, that I've discovered is as follows:
(1) copy the photos, manually, to the new location in your master library
(2) run an "import from catalogue" on the external drive
(3) update the location of the folders in LR manually.

The other options are:
(1) run LR with your old catalogue, and do "export photos"
(2) run LR on your master system and import that folder tree (with copy)

Or
(1) save all of the metadata out to disk for all of the files from your travel (so you have a .xmp sidecar file for each raw/jpeg)
(2) run a LR import over that directory tree and copy the files in

... I don't know if these two will preserve the directory tree, if not, you need to copy the directory tree manually and do an "Add" import - all of the metadata should be saved and restored

I suspect that what both you and I want is:
(1) do a LR "import from catalogue" and tell it where both the catalogue is (to import from) and the directory tree of photos is (to copy over) and to preserve directory/filenames.
... but that's currently not possible (as far as I know.)

[john beardsworth]

You do use "import from catalog", pointing to the catalogue on the external drive. You can then use the File Handling drop down box - select Copy to New Location - though I prefer to "Add new photos without moving" and then move the external drive's folders by drag and drop within the Folders panel.

[dreed]

You do use "import from catalog", pointing to the catalogue on the external drive. You can then use the File Handling drop down box - select Copy to New Location - though I prefer to "Add new photos without moving" and then move the external drive's folders by drag and drop within the Folders panel.

The problem with the current input dialogue is that it assumes that the path to the photos being imported (as part of the catalogue) is the same on the computer doing the import as it was on the computer that created the catalogue.

This issue may not arise with MacOS, but with Windows my external hard drive often ends up as D: or E:, both of which are in use on my "normal computer" and thus the external drive gets a different letter (say F:). This results in LR being unable to find the photos.

I suppose a workaround is to reserve a letter for "global use" amongst my computers to be the "Lightroom Exernal Drive" but sooner or later, I'm sure something is going to come undone.

[john beardsworth]

Sure, it'll come undone very easily, as LR can't be expected to predict every possible config. I regularly move stuff between Windows and Mac Lightrooms, for example. But it's a quick job to right click the parent folder and update its location.