External storage - Folders list

[ksignorini]

I hope someone can help with this. To start, I'm using Lighroom 1.2 for the Mac.

Until now I've only kept pictures in my Pictures folder (and subfolders) on my hard drive called Macintosh HD. Recently, I added an external drive and "added" it to Lightroom by creating a Pictures folder on the external drive and dropping a picture into the folder. I then had Lighroom import the image at its current location so that the Pictures folder on the WD Passport drive shows up in the folder list. Everything worked great--the Pictures folder on the Macintosh HD drive showed up as "Pictures on Macintosh HD" and the Pictures folder on the WD Passport drive showed up as "Pictures on WD Passport". Fantastic!

I then went on to move folders (one-by-one...why can't we do multiple folder moves in Lighroom???) from the Macintosh HD drive Pictures folder to the WD Passport drive Pictures folder by dragging and dropping the folders in Lightroom. Again, everything worked great.

Now, after that session, at some point I ejected the WD Passport drive or rebooted or something...not sure what, but the end result is essentially the same. Now, since reconnecting the WD Passport drive, my folders list in Lightroom shows this:

Pictures
(and all subfolders)
Pictures on Macintosh HD
(and all subfolders)

The Pictures folder on the WD Passport drive no longer shows up as "Pictures on WD Passport" the way it originally had.

The only thing that I did was at some point (before moving the folders between drives) delete the original picture I imported to get Lightroom to see the Pictures folder on the external drive. However, I did this in Lightroom immediately before I started moving the folders.

Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to get Lightroom to properly name the Pictures folders in the folder list--I want to be clear which set I'm working in...and besides, it just seems broken now. And renaming the folder by hand is not an elegant solution (as it renames the actual folder on disc).

Thanks so much,
Kent!

 

[Andrew Hayton]

Kent,

I recently had a much worse problem than yours but I don't think that LR will show the folder as Pictures on Pictures on WD Passport as you have set LR to see the Pictures folder within the Hard Drive rather than the Hard drive itself. In the short term, what harm would it be to rename the folder?

 

[Victoria Bampton]

That's an excellent question Kent, and one I have to admit I can't actually think of a solution for. I'd be inclined to rename to called it Pictures WD or something like that.

What happens if you open LR BEFORE you plug the drive in?

Are you Mac or PC based Kent? That might help. Would you mind filling in your signature when you get a moment, as it helps us give me specific advise. There's info here and here.

 

[Andrew Hayton]

Victoria,

Kent did say that it was on a Mac. Also Macintosh HD should be the give away. Perhaps some screen shots might help?

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Well spotted Andrew! It's a bit early for me still! Need another cup of coffee!

 

[Andrew Hayton]

Thinking about this a bit more, it seems as though LR is showing the pictures folder that it was linked to. I think your best bet Kent would be to copy the files back to your original pictures folder and then do the same as you did before but instead of selecting the pictures folder on the WD harddrive, select the drive itself and then create a pictures folder within it from LR and then transfer the images back.
Hope this makes sense.

 

[Ian Farlow]

ksignorini, please update your signature per the Rules & Regulatons.

 

[ksignorini]

Thinking about this a bit more, it seems as though LR is showing the pictures folder that it was linked to. I think your best bet Kent would be to copy the files back to your original pictures folder and then do the same as you did before but instead of selecting the pictures folder on the WD harddrive, select the drive itself and then create a pictures folder within it from LR and then transfer the images back.
Hope this makes sense.

I don't understand. First off, what do you mean by "linked to"? How does LR get "linked" to a particular folder and how can it be changed?

Also, I think doing this will just simply force me to have another level (the drive) in the folders list. Too many levels is messy.

And like I said, when I FIRST connected the drive and did all the folder moving, it actually SAID:

Pictures on Macintosh HD
(folders)
Pictures on WD Passport
(folders)

So for some reason, it DID work at first.

Any other ideas?