Lightroom catalogue missing

[Ccor]

I ran out of space on the hard drive that contained my Lightroom library and had to move it to a larger hard drive.  I used Super Duper to copy it.  Now when I open Lightroom the catalogue is missing - a gray question mark marks the folder the images should be in - the files are on the new hard drive but lightroom can't see them.  If I right click on the folder I can use the "find missing folder function to find the folder."  Rather than going through every folder and right clicking is there a quicker way to do this?  Is there an automatic way to get lightroom to regenerate the catalogue?

Thanks

[francois]

I don't know how to tell Lightroom to regenerate a catalog but instead of using SuperDuper, I would have used Lightroom's Export as catalog and choosen the new HD as target (make sure to copy negative files, previews aren't important as they'll be regenerated).

[wolfnowl]

In Lightroom's Preferences there's a 'default' catalog that it thinks it's supposed to open.  Try holding down the Alt/Opt key when starting Lightroom and it will ask you which catalog you want to open.

Mike.

[francois]

Correct and if it doesn't work, then the catalog on the new drive might be corrupted…

[GG]

I have a problem with upgrades - any advice please?

History:
I have just upgraded from Win XP Pro (32bit) to Win 7 Pro (64bit).  I had new hard drives too (mirror RAID), but retained my previous hard drive in my upgraded computer, which was originally partitioned into a C drive (for programs) and a D drive for data (i.e. storing my pictures).  In the new set-up, these drives have been renamed G: and H: respectively and have otherwise remained unaltered.  The new drive has C: and D: partitions of course.

Under Win XP Pro, I was using LR 1.3 and had an extensive catalog system.  I had processed many pictures in the Develop module, which then held all the alterations that had been made in History.

In W7, I have loaded LR 3.2 in the C: drive,.

Problem:
I wanted to perform a catalog export/import from LR 1.3 on drive G: to LR 3.2 on drive C:.  I had watched Jeff Schewe do this on the LuLa LR 3 tutorial and read about it in Martin Evening's Lightroom books.  As I had unaltered LR 1.3 on my G: drive and all the pictures on the H: drive, I thought it would be fairly straightforward.

However, on opening LR 1.3 Library module, all my catalog folders have vanished.  The pictures are still there on drive H: and I can select and import from there.  However, when I then move to the Develop module, pictures which I know I had processed now have no history and seem to be the original raw files, not the processed end product.

Questions:
1. How can I reinstate my original folder structure in LR 1.3 and then transfer it to LR 3.2?   

2. How can I reinstate all the History and final images?

Any help would be much appreciated as I could do without redoing folders and, particularly, reprocessing quite a few images.

GG

[Jeremy Roussak]

In Lightroom's Preferences there's a 'default' catalog that it thinks it's supposed to open.  Try holding down the Alt/Opt key when starting Lightroom and it will ask you which catalog you want to open.

Mike.

Or you could try locating the new catalogue and launching Lightroom by double-clicking it (it works on a Mac, anyway).

Jeremy

[GG]

Thank you Jeremy but when I was asked which catalog, I couldn't find anything like a catalog in my LR1.3 program file - or isn't that where it is kept.  I don't know where LR hides its catalog.

GG

[wolfnowl]

Your Lightroom catalog uses a .lrcat extension.  Search your computer and you should find it.

Mike.

[GG]

Jeremy and Mike,

Thank you very much for your help.  I now have a fully functioning LR3.2 with all my files and history restored.  You have saved me a great deal of time and effort - many, many thanks.

GG