import from catalog

[jljones]

Hi there

I'm new here, not sure why it's taken me so long to sign up...

I'm working on some pictures in LR 2 which are on a small external hard drive. I now cannot open the catalog as there isn't enough disc space so I've created a new catalog on another bigger drive and 'imported from catalog'. It looks like all my developing/processing has been saved as well as my selections but the new folder seems amazingly small to me.

Can someone please advise whether I've got everything and how I check.

Thanks very much

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Did you import the previews? What is in the folder, what files?

 

[jljones]

files

Did you import the previews? What is in the folder, what files?

In the new catalog there are the following:

previews.irdata
.ircat
.ircat-journal
.ircat.lock

Originally I was working on Nikon NEF files...

Jeremy

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Hi Jeremy, welcome to the forum!

The original files will still be on the original external hard drive, unless you moved them.

The catalog itself is usually pretty small. It's the previews.lrdata file which gets pretty big - perhaps you had 1:1 size previews on your other drive. If you're concerned, you can always COPY your catalog from the external to the bigger drive and double click to open it without going through the import from catalog dialog.

 

[Denis Pagé]

Welcome to the Lightroom Forums Jeremy.

Frist, it is Lrcat/Lrdata not Ircat/Irdata. The important files are the Catalog itself CatalogName.lrcat and its journal CatalogName.lrcat-journal. The latter is a scratchpad where Lightroom is noting some latest adjustemnts/changes not yet written to the Catalog. Never delete those two files! The CatalogName.lrcat.lock is created when Lightroom is open to warn other instances of the program that they can not acces the Catalog as it is being in use. It should disappear when you close Lightroom. The last one contains the previews and can get huge with time. If you delete it it will be regenerated on the fly by Lightroom as you need those previews.

My guess is that your new Catalog is about the same size as the old one but it is just the previews that were not generated yet... If your new catalog is normal, do not bother.

 

[jljones]

Hi Jeremy, welcome to the forum!

The original files will still be on the original external hard drive, unless you moved them.

Thanks for the welcome and the help. I'm just moving the original files now.

Next time, if there is one, presumably I can just drag and drop...?

Jeremy

 

[jljones]

thanks

Welcome to the Lightroom Forums Jeremy.

Frist, it is Lrcat/Lrdata not Ircat/Irdata.

Typo, sorry. Been staring at screens all day so cabin fever has set in...

I have to admit that my approach to catalogs is a little hopeless but I wil get it all organised soon.

Jeremy

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Next time, if there is one, presumably I can just drag and drop...?

Yep. It might wonder where the files have gone, as the location will have changed when you've moved original files, so you may find question marks all over the place. Just right click on the highest level folder and choose Find Missing Folder and repeat for any other missing folders.

 

[jljones]

Yep. It might wonder where the files have gone, as the location will have changed when you've moved original files, so you may find question marks all over the place. Just right click on the highest level folder and choose Find Missing Folder and repeat for any other missing folders.

Thanks Victoria. I'm just having to copy again as I copied the wrong folder... a sure sign that it's time to stop!

I'm on a Mac and will tell LR where to look for the 'new' images.

Thanks once again for the help.

Jeremy

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Welcome to the Lightroom Forums Jeremy.

Frist, it is Lrcat/Lrdata not Ircat/Irdata. .

Denis, it is of course first not frist..........:cheesy::cheesy::cheesy::cheesy::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::shock::shock::shock::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:
ROFL

 

[Denis Pagé]

Es gab eine Frist auf meiner deutschen Klaviatur!