How do I move Lightroom to a new computer?
It’s a question that comes up over and over again, because people expect it to be complicated. It’s not really! Even moving Windows to Mac is a straightforward operation.
First, a bit of preparation will go a long towards preventing headaches…
- Make sure your regular backups are up to date.
- Set Lightroom’s folder panel to show just a few top level folders, to make it easy to relink them if they get confused in the move. Instructions are here: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/blog/2008/12/17/i-have-a-long-list-of-folders-can-i-change-it-to-show-the-folder-hierarchy/
- Install Lightroom (the program) on the new computer. No need to install off the cd and then install updates, as each update is the entire program, so just skip along to the latest update which can be downloaded from Adobe’s website.
Now we’re ready to move. Think about how you’re going to move the files – an external hard drive is the easiest option.
If you’re switching from Windows to Mac in the move, remember that OS X can’t natively write to a NTFS formatted drive, so either format as FAT32, or remember you’ll need to copy the data off and reformat again once you’ve finished moving.
You’ll want to transfer all of your presets, which are entirely cross-platform, over to the new computer, and possibly your preferences file too, if you’re moving Windows to Windows or Mac to Mac. Don’t forget any plug-ins, and custom DNG profiles that you’ve created too. You’ll find all of the file locations here: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/blog/2008/12/15/default-file-locations-lightroom-2/ Bear in mind that these are hidden locations on Windows, so you’ll need to turn go to Start menu > Control Panel > Folder Options > View > Advanced Settings and turn on ‘Show hidden files and folders’ in order to find them.
You have 2 options for the catalog and images move – either moving and relinking, which is generally my preferred option, or using Export as Catalog, which is handy if data is scattered across your computer.
Option 1 – move and relink
- Find and copy your catalog to the new computer. If you don’t know where to find it, go to Edit menu > Catalog Settings (Windows) or Lightroom menu > Catalog Settings (Mac) and it’ll be listed there.
- Find and copy your images to the new computer. Personally I like to use File Synchronization software to make sure I don’t miss anything.
- Open your catalog on the new computer – double clicking on it is the quickest way.
- There may now be question marks all over the place, if it can’t find the files. It’s just a question of relinking those top level folders with the updated folder locations. Instructions here: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/blog/2009/02/21/lightroom-thinks-my-photos-are-missing-how-do-i-%ef%ac%81x-it/
- Double check everything is up and running before you delete the old computer!
Option 2 – export as catalog
- Open Lightroom and go to File > Export as Catalog.
- Select a location on your external hard drive, and ‘include preview files’ and ‘include negative files’ so that everything is taken along.
- Press Export and let it run. It will take some time.
- Now on your external hard drive should be a catalog, with an Images folder containing all of your negative files. It should warn you if it couldn’t transfer some files.
- Transfer the external hard drive to the other machine.
- You could transfer the catalog itself (the *.lrcat file and *.lrdata file) to the new machine’s internal hard drive if you wish.
- Double-click on the catalog to open it.
- If you move the images, the drive letter changes between machines, or you’re moving between operating systems (i.e. Windows to Mac) you may still have to do the relinking listed in option 1.
- Double check everything is up and running before you delete the old computer!
You’re all set!
I only have the copy of the HD files that are in the dated folders (I didn’t perform the HD recovery but I assume it was simply copied over to the new HD). The folder names are similar to 2008 03 12 (a few are named collections) and then the photos are JPEG’s with names like 2008 03 12 001 or IMG_0525.
My old computer ran 32 bit Vista. My new computer runs 64 bit W7. I want to move LR to the new computer. I have been using LR2.5 happily for a while now. I have tried downloading the program to the new computer, I found a copy of 2.5 and downloaded that, also tried a “cut and paste” of my entire LR 2.5 download and extraction and all that stuff. I tried to register, typed in the number snad the little red “x” obligingly changed to a green tick. BUT when I opened LR in every instance there’s this message in white across the name plate saying it’s a temp. And when I go into Help etc, same story. Do you want to register, trial or buy a rego number. Adobe phone support can’t help. Any ideas? So I haven’t got to the bit where I move files and catalogs and stuff.
[Try downloading 2.7 which has just been released and see if that'll accept your serial number ok. If not, it may be some kind of permissions issue. Drop by http://www.lightroomforums.net if that doesn't do the trick. - VB]
Isn’t it true that if one follows option 2, one ends-up with a new catalogue which only contains those keywords effectively used to tag at least one photograph, rather than one’s full hierarchy of keywords ?
For instance, if one has “Porsche 911″, “Porsche 944″ and “Porsche Cayenne” in one’s original keyword hierarchy, but only “Porsche 911″ is used to tag a photoraph, one will end-up with only that keyword in the keyword list in the new catalog ?
Lr ought to handle keywords more comprehensively than it does (e.g. via a centralized keyword repository). Don’t you agree ?
[You're right, any unused keywords may be purged in the process, although I haven't checked. If that's of concern, you could export the keyword list separately. Personally I prefer option 1, as it also allow the file sync software to verify that the files have transferred without corruption. - VB]
This article is just what I was looking for! What is File Synch software? I’m going from XP to W7 on the new computer, running LR 2.7.
[File Synchronization software just compares drives and copies files to keep them in sync, and a lot of it has data verification built in. Some backup software does too, but a lot of backup software ties you into a weird format rather than just copying your folder structure. On Mac, Chronosync gets my vote. It's ages since I've been based on Windows, but Vice Versa used to be my software of choice. - VB]
I personally want to do option 1 because I have tried option 2 before and it takes FOREVER with the amount of photos I have. However my question is if I do option 1 will all my tags, flags, and keywords copy over as well? I need those because many of my albums are extensively labeled and rated for organizational purposes. Thanks so much in advance!
[Hi David. Yes, all of those that metadata is stored in the catalog, so as long as you copy the catalogs and relink the photos, rather than reimporting them into a clean catalog, you'll be fine. - VB]
I have bought a new computer with Windows 7 on it. All my LR2 files are on the old computer with XP. I plan to install LR3 on my new computer. I plan to use your option 1 (if I can) and transfer all the files to an external hard drive. Do you anticipate that I will have any difficulty in opening the files on my new computer using LR3? Many thanks for your help. Russ
[Shouldn't be a problem Russell - if anything, might just be a case of updating the permissions on that drive. - VB]
Hi. I recently lost my Photoshop Elements CD and I want to copy the Photoshop program itself (not images,tags or whatever) to another computer. Do I follow the steps above or the situation requires a different method?
[The instructions above are for Lightroom, not Elements. Whether you can copy the program may depend on your operating system - that'll be a question for the Adobe forums I'm afraid. - VB]
You said in response to Russell’s query about transfering files from XP to Windows 7 via external disk – ‘might just be a case of updating the permissions on that drive’. Could you advise the easiest way to do this? My XP files have been copied to a USB disk using sync backup software. When I try to copy these files to the Windows 7 PC, some of them fail to copy because access is denied due to the security permissions on the files. It is possible for the Windows 7 PC to take ownership of a file and then reassign the permission to allow it to be copied but it is a laborious process and not practical for thousands of files. Can this be automated?
[It probably can Steve, but I haven't spent much time messing with W7 permissions, so I hesitate to venture a guess on that. Could I suggest you drop by http://www.lightroomforums.net, because we've got some really experienced Windows guys over there who will be able to answer that one much more concisely than I could. - VB]
Hi Victoria,
I’m trying to move my lightroom catalogue from PC to mac, i have followed your instructions above, i’ve dragged all my files onto the mac hardrive including the catalogue file but when i open it in lightroom there is nothing there…what am i doing wrong?? Help!
Thanks
Amanda
[You're probably opening the wrong catalog - try double clicking on the catalog you copied over. Does that work? - VB]
No unfortunately not, i’m going to try copying it over from the hard drive again??
[Sounds like a plan - VB]
Victoria,
Your help in getting my LR3 transferred from my PC to a Mac is really great. I was referred to you by the NAPP help desk (I’M a NAPP Member). I do have one question. I noticed there is a file named “Lightroom 3 Catalog Previews.IRDATA on my PC. Does this have to moved to my Mac as well as well as the catalog file. BTW thanks for the excerpts from your book on LR3 and I have ordered it from Amazon. I will be a regular visitor to your site.
Thanks,
Fred
[Fred, thanks for ordering the book - hope you find it useful. The lrdata file is the previews. It would save you some time to copy it over along with the catalog, but if you don't, it's not the end of the world. If LR can't find that previews file, it just goes through the original files and builds new previews, so they are replaceable if they get lost in the process. As you're moving cross-platform, do take special note of the instructions above to set your Folders panel up as a hierarchy, as you will need to relink the files once they get on to the Mac. If you get stuck, you know where I am! - VB]
Victoria,
Thanks for your rapid response for being so helpful.
Fred