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iMac crashed (1TB HD), moving to Macbook Pro (500GB HD); need help

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Tim Grollimund

New Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2017
Messages
9
Location
Key Largo, FL
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
4.x
On Monday my iMac (Early 2009, 1TB HD) crashed. It's toast. I have a Macbook Pro (2009) I need to move everything to. I used to use the Macbook while traveling. I updated LR (am using LR 4), and I have written all my photo files from the MyBook backup drive to a new Seagate external drive. That's 661GB of photo files (NEF and xmp files). The photos will not fit on the Macbook, which is why I got the Seagate drive.
I have read a bunch of the posts about moving, what files, etc, and I have a few questions:

1. Can I simply move my catalog and Preview files from the MyBook backup drive to the Macbook?
2. On the Macbook I can see the drive and the folders on the Seagate when I go to the + > Add Folder > Choose.
3. If I copy the iMac catalog file (which I was using until the iMac crashed) and overwrite the catalog file that is on the Macbook now (which was only used when I traveled, and is not appropriate for the current file structure), will that be ok? Same with the Preview file?
4. If the answer to #3 is yes (copy the catalog file), when I open LR again, I will have to point the path to the new drive. I will need some help with that.

Thank you for any help you can provide, it is greatly appreciated!
 
1: yes.
2: Don't do that (see 4).
3: yes.
4: right-click on the top folder in Lightroom, choose 'Find Missing Folder' and navigate to the corresponding folder on the external hard disk. Select it and you're done. If you have more than one single top folder, you have to repeat this for each of them.
 
1: yes.
2: Don't do that (see 4).
3: yes.
4: right-click on the top folder in Lightroom, choose 'Find Missing Folder' and navigate to the corresponding folder on the external hard disk. Select it and you're done. If you have more than one single top folder, you have to repeat this for each of them.
Thank you Johan. I will do that.
 
1: yes.
2: Don't do that (see 4).
3: yes.
4: right-click on the top folder in Lightroom, choose 'Find Missing Folder' and navigate to the corresponding folder on the external hard disk. Select it and you're done. If you have more than one single top folder, you have to repeat this for each of them.


Ok, I have the catalog running, all I need to do is change the main path to the new drive in the catalog, but I cannot figure out how to do that. I did the Find Missing Folder for one of the folders (I have hundreds of folders), but all I need to do is change the path. Can you show me how to do that?
Thanks.
 
Ok, I have the catalog running, all I need to do is change the main path to the new drive in the catalog, but I cannot figure out how to do that. I did the Find Missing Folder for one of the folders (I have hundreds of folders), but all I need to do is change the path. Can you show me how to do that?
Thanks.

That is exactly how you do it! Start at the top most folder(s), all the subfolders innthat folder will be relinked as well. Remember that the folders are now on another disk, so when you relink the path of a folder, you will see it 'jump' from the old disk to the new one in the Lightroom folder panel.
 
Yes, but that means I have to do them one at a time.
I want to do them all at once, as all the folders are contained in my main folder "Photos"

I watched this video - this is what I want to do, but this did not work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVYkkPa2aZw

Doing these one at a time will take days - this video did it in seconds, but it did not work for me. The only thing I could not do that is in this video is eject the drive where the catalog is looking - it is the main computer drive. So now each time I "Find Missing Photos" it jumps that specific folder it to the new drive - but it will not jump all of them as once lie ke this video does.
 
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Do you know what a 'top folder' and a 'subfolder' means? If Lightroom does not show your 'Photos' top folder, then first choose 'Show Parent Folder' after the right click (I hope Lightroom can still do this when the folders are missing). Repeat if necessary to get to the 'Photos' top folder. Then you can reconnect this folder.
 
Do you know what a 'top folder' and a 'subfolder' means? If Lightroom does not show your 'Photos' top folder, then first choose 'Show Parent Folder' after the right click (I hope Lightroom can still do this when the folders are missing). Repeat if necessary to get to the 'Photos' top folder. Then you can reconnect this folder.
Yes, here is a screen shot of the files on the Seagate drive:
All the folders are under Photos. This is exactly the way is was set up on the iMac (dead) drive.
Screen Shot 2017-09-01 at 4.28.51 PM.png



This shot is from the backup on MyBook:

Screen Shot 2017-09-01 at 4.36.04 PM.png


I do not know what I just did, but now it is totally screwed up.

Now the Seagate drive has disappeared and I do not know how to get it back - but the All Photos shows over 51,000 images, and I can go to a Collection and select and edit an image.
 
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I closed LR, and reopened it and now I can see everything - the new Seagate drive is there, and I can see all the folders.

It looks like everything is working ok now.

Thank you for your help Johan!

Tim
 
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