Trouble Migrating Lightroom Cat. and Files to New Hard Drive

[HSakols]

I am trying to migrate Lightroom from my my main 6 TB external hard drive to a new RAID 0 12 TB drive.  I want the 6 TB drive to become a redundant backup. First I cloned the old drive to the new one using Super Duper.  However, after that, I could not see the new drive in the folders panel so I chose Add Folder and imported from the old drive. Now the new drive to appear in the folders panel, but only a fraction of the images are there despite all the right folders?   Where am I going wrong?  I don't know why making this transfer has to be so complicated?  I'd appreciate any help.

Thanks,
Hugh

[mcbroomf]

When I do this, after copying the files to the new HD I "hide" the old top directory(s) by renaming it.  This keeps the drive on line which LR likes, but it can't see the folders so it lists them all as missing.  You can then right click on the name of folder and choose "Find Missing Folder" and navigate to your new drive.  I import by date so I have a top folder for each year.  It doesn't take long.

If you want to try this then I suggest you step back to the catalog rev before your import.

Mike

[HSakols]

Mike, Thanks so much for the info.  I'll revert the new hard drive back to the way it was before import.  I appreciate your response.

[HSakols]

Still no luck.  My problem is that I cannot get my new drive to appear in the folders panel. 

[digitaldog]

Still no luck.  My problem is that I cannot get my new drive to appear in the folders panel.

You used the Import dialog, then navigated to that folder?

[HSakols]

Yes I did, however, it resulted in showing only a fraction of my files.  Perhaps, I should try again.  I made sure to select my top most image folder.  Rodney, I appreciate your help. 

[digitaldog]

Yes I did, however, it resulted in showing only a fraction of my files.  Perhaps, I should try again.  I made sure to select my top most image folder.  Rodney, I appreciate your help.

Alt/Option click on that folder you see, select Synchronize Folder. 

[mcbroomf]

Still no luck.

My problem is that I cannot get my new drive to appear in the folders panel.

What happened when you selected "Find missing folder" from your original folder (that was renamed) and navigated to the new drive/folder?

[HSakols]

What happened when you selected "Find missing folder" from your original folder (that was renamed) and navigated to the new drive/folder?

I was nervous to rename the drive, but I think I now understand.  I went ahead and imported and now I'm sycing the catalog.  I hope this works. 

[digitaldog]

I was nervous to rename the drive, but I think I now understand.  I went ahead and imported and now I'm sycing the catalog.  I hope this works.

Syncing the catalog? So you're doing a sync, not an import?

[HSakols]

Andrew, 
In the folders panel I selected my topmost image file in the new hard drive and then imported.  Now I can see my new hard drive in the folders panel but again not all the images are present.  After that, I selected synchronize folder. Right now I am still in sync but nothing has changed. 

[digitaldog]

Ok that makes sense thanks. Hopefully that will import all images.

[kers]

Moving a catalogue is a basic procedure that often has to be done at some point using LR.
Isn't there a migrate catalogue command somewhere in LR that will take care of this task?

[digitaldog]

Moving a catalogue is a basic procedure that often has to be done at some point using LR.
Isn't there a migrate catalogue command somewhere in LR that will take care of this task?

Export (then Import) as Catalog?

[HSakols]

Now I have made a real mess.  Importing did not work.  So I tried what Mike suggested and renamed the topmost folder.  Now my new drive has the same name as the old drive.  I now can access all the photos, but only when the old drive is plugged in.  Also, now when I open my old drive I just get question marks. 

I'm thinking my real mistake is using the cloning software.  Instead, I should have exported as catalog to the new drive, including the files.  The problem with this is that a large catalog will take a long, long time to add.  I was hoping that by cloning incrementally that the process would be easier. 

Moving a catalogue is a basic procedure that often has to be done at some point using LR.
Isn't there a migrate catalogue command somewhere in LR that will take care of this task?

I agree.  At this point, I just want to go back to bridge and camera raw. 

[digitaldog]

Now I have made a real mess.  Importing did not work.  So I tried what Mike suggested and renamed the topmost folder.  Now my new drive has the same name as the old drive.  I now can access all the photos, but only when the old drive is plugged in.

Well of course, unless you build Smart Previews, the data you wish for LR to access isn't plugged in. Keep it plugged in. 
You can use cloning software. What you clone must be accessible to LR. You could export the entire catalog as a new catalog but the caveats above still apply.
Bridge and ACR are absolutely not the same as LR in terms of a DAM. You can go back to that, but it's a different set of tools, lacking many of the features of the LR DAM.

[mcbroomf]

..... I now can access all the photos, but only when the old drive is plugged in.  Also, now when I open my old drive I just get question marks. 

This is exactly as it should be but you have only done the 1st step.

Make sure both drives are plugged in and running
In Library
Go to the top most directory/folder of your OLD drive (with a question mark) and right click on it
You should get the option to "find missing folder"
Select this and Win Explorer will open (or finder)
Navigate to the same folder on your NEW drive and select it
The new folder will now appear in the library and will disappear from the listing under the old drive.  All images from the folder will now be available with all adjustments.
Repeat this if you have more than 1 top most directories (as I mention I have one for each year)

Depending on the size of your top folders and speed of your drives it may take a minute or so for the folder to fully populate in the right plaace on your new drive.  Just let it go and when done move onto the next one if you have more than one.

[HSakols]

Thanks all.  I now have it up and running.  Yes, I followed Mike's advice and it worked.  I also found this method that I was about to try.  https://lightroomkillertips.com/moving-classic-catalog-different-drive/

[mcbroomf]

Glad it worked.

That method would only move the catalog and previews to a new drive, not the raw files themselves, so you'd still have to dupe them to the new HD and then tell your LR cat where they are.

This is the method he used:
https://lightroomkillertips.com/pointing-lightroom-classic-new-drive/

[HSakols]

That method would only move the catalog and previews to a new drive, not the raw files themselves, so you'd still have to dupe them to the new HD and then tell your LR cat where they are.

Thanks again for the clarification and the time both of you spent helping me.