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Moving catalog

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VickiB

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Sep 20, 2016
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17
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
Lightroom Version
9.2.1
Operating System
  1. Windows 10
My LR catalog is on a 2 gb external drive that is nearly full.
I have a 5 gb external drive that I would like to move it to.
Do I copy it over to the larger drive and then after lightroom opens go in and tell it to use the new location ?
Thanks
 
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VickiB said:
Thank you!! I moved my catalog to a new computer about a year and a half ago..... I should have an idea what the heck i am doing lol
But it never hurts to double check!
Click to expand...
So I have copied all the lightroom files to the new drive. Unplugged the one I don't want to use and when I start lightroom up and point it to the files on the new drive I get the attached message to make a whole new catalog. What did I do wrong ?
 

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Vicki, if you have time, tell us why you have your cat on an external drive. Do you have a desktop at home and a laptop for the road? How many computers are you operating off of for your raw file editing?
 
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I put it on the external drive when I had an older smaller computer a desktop .
I only use my current desk top for editing.
Would it work if I put my catalog onto my internal drive? And just move my raw files on to bigger external drive ?
 
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Vicki, that is what I'm getting at. Tell me the total; storage space for your raw files. Also tell me what you are booting off of. You are booting off of an SSD right? How big is the SSD in your desktop? Is it 250, 500 MB or 1 TB? But yes, your OS, LR and the cat should be on that SSD that you are booting off of in some form or fashion. So tell me what your desktop is and give me some specs.
 
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my internal is an ssd, 250 gb
the drive that light room catalog and raw files are on is a 2 tb
the new drive i want to at least put the raw files on is a 5 tb drive
 
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OK. You are limited in doing what I wanted to tell you because your OS is on an SSD boot drive that is very small. You probably have enough room to put LR and the cat on the internal SSD boot drive, but would probably need to put the previews externally. It's nice to have all of that on your internal SSD - the OS, LR, Catalogue and more, but I'm not sure you can which is why I asked. Since it is a desktop I would tell you to go to a 2TB SSD, but that involves some work and knowledge to get everything on a new drive. So when you buy a new system, get a bigger internal SSD, but for now you are fine with an external HDD with the cat on it.
 
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GregJ said:
Vicki, that is what I'm getting at. Tell me the total; storage space for your raw files. Also tell me what you are booting off of. You are booting off of an SSD right? How big is the SSD in your desktop? Is it 250, 500 MB or 1 TB? But yes, your OS, LR and the cat should be on that SSD that you are booting off of in some form or fashion. So tell me what your desktop is and give me some specs.
Click to expand...
So not sure if you saw this as I didn't reply to you specifically.
my internal is an ssd, 250 gb
the drive that light room catalog and raw files are on is a 2 tb
the new drive i want to at least put the raw files on is a 5 tb

I've been going through stuff in my mind. What I think I need to do is move my LR catalog to my internal drive. Leaving my raw files on 2 tb drive to make sure everything works as it should.
THEN I can copy raw files to the new 5 tb drive.
Once that is all done and fine I can use 2 tb for back up till I can get another 5 tb drive .
Am I thinking clearly and logically about this?
I appreciate your help

Vicki
GregJ said:
OK. You are limited in doing what I wanted to tell you because your OS is on an SSD boot drive that is very small. You probably have enough room to put LR and the cat on the internal SSD boot drive, but would probably need to put the previews externally. It's nice to have all of that on your internal SSD - the OS, LR, Catalogue and more, but I'm not sure you can which is why I asked. Since it is a desktop I would tell you to go to a 2TB SSD, but that involves some work and knowledge to get everything on a new drive. So when you buy a new system, get a bigger internal SSD, but for now you are fine with an external HDD with the cat on it.
Click to expand...
Okay , thanks, I'll check how much room is on it etc , can't get a bigger drive right now but i have a son who could do it. I am off to dog sit for a week or two so will work on it when stop in at home to get mail etc

Thanks for your help
 
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Just for clarification, having the catalog on an external drive is fine. The internal drive is recommended because it's usually faster (if it's an SSD) and there's a slightly lower risk of catalog corruption because the drive can't get accidentally detached.

If the catalog is very small (along with its previews) and you have loads of space available, you could put it on the internal drive, but your original plan to copy everything from the 2TB to 5TB drive is fine too.
 
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Victoria Bampton said:
Just for clarification, having the catalog on an external drive is fine. The internal drive is recommended because it's usually faster (if it's an SSD) and there's a slightly lower risk of catalog corruption because the drive can't get accidentally detached.

If the catalog is very small (along with its previews) and you have loads of space available, you could put it on the internal drive, but your original plan to copy everything from the 2TB to 5TB drive is fine too.
Click to expand...
Thanks Victoria , I had it all moved, I thought, but got the attached pop up when trying to use the moved catalog . Is that normal , to have to create a new catalog or have i missed a step?
Vicki
 

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I might 'jump in' here and suggest you have opened an old catalog (an 'ancient' catalog!) if the name of the catalog in the message is an indication {Lightroom Catalog-3.LRCAT}. And the icon [Lr] also suggest an old catalog. (LrC v10 added a -10, and v11 added -v11 to any upgraded catalogs. -unless you renamed.)
The message is suggesting to upgrade a catalog to be compatible with Lightroom-Classic. If you have previously been using a catalog with LrC then I suggest you have copied the wrong catalog.

You can 'Open' any catalog file by a [Double-click] on the .LRCAT file- so it is possible you have not 'opened' or copied the latest catalog to the new drive.
 
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