moving/merging catalog in PC to Mac

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sharkluvr

sharkluvr

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I am new to Mac. I want to move my entire catalog contents from my PC to my new Mac Pro. Does the use of the "export catalog" function in Ligthroom 1.3 on my pc and "import catalog" on the Mac in Lightroom 1.3.1 work together. In other words, after exporting and importing, will my entire catalog and all metadata be accessible on the Mac. Thanks.
 
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Yes, that should work, or you can just copy the existing catalog file and images over onto your new machine and open it straight up. (Obviously keep the PC version until you know it's all working!!!)

You may find you need to help it find the images once you've moved them, so before you move it, make sure LR sees the hierarchy of folders so you only need to relocate one top level folder. More info on that here: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/showthread.php?t=1'52

And welcome to the forum! Congratulations on the new Mac Pro - I switched nearly 2 years ago and haven't looked back. And your system specs to your signature when you get a moment, that way we won't have to keep asking every time you have a question.
 
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PS. Probably best to change your username to something other than your email as you'll end up attracting unwanted SPAM emails to your email address. PM Ian with the username you'd like to use and I'm sure he'll be pleased to change it for you.
 
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Just made the change and sent a PM with the info.
 
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Thank you, Victoria. I will see how the export and import goes and let you know. Also, when I have a moment, I will update my signature with my system configuration (it is a Mac Pro 2 x 3 GHz dual-core Intel Xeon with 8 GB 667 MHz DDR2 ram and OS X version 1'.5.2). Thanks to Ian too for changing my user name.....don't know what I was thinking at the time except maybe that I was too anxious to get an answer about moving my catalog over to the Mac.
 
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I just moved my LR catalogue and data onto a Mac Pro and when trying to open it I get the following error message 'The LR catalogue folder at 'blah,blah' cannot be used because the folder does not allow files to be created within it'.
Now when one looks at the LR Previews it looks different to how it appears on a PC, being a single item as opposed to a large no of folders. Not sure why 29,182 folders with 31,2'8 files in them would transform into a single item on a Mac. A bit odd. And probably why there is an issue writing to the folder, if it no longer exists. Images and LR data was copied across the network and the rest of the transfer was fine.

Plus LR simply fails to work on Dual monitors in either full screen mode on the Mac, how useless is that? Grrr!
 
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Check your folder and file permissions troyhark, it sounds like it's read-only, which probably happened when you moved the files over.

The LR previews - don't worry about it, it's just a different data structure, but it does have a load of folders inside it. Just check the size if you're concerned.

And dual monitors don't work on Windows either, do they? It's an oft-requested feature, so we will likely see it at some point in the future. So could you explain more fully the problem you're having?

Would you like to put your system specs in your signature - it helps us give more specific advise.

So far your post just seems to be a series of complaints... how about some questions instead.... what are you hoping to achieve here? And is this your first Mac, by any chance?
 
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Permissions are already set to read and write, needed that doing before being able to move files across network. I checked size before doing anything else and they matched OK so I knew the info was there.
So what I want to be able to do is open LR catalog on the Mac, that originated on the PC.


Actually LR works fine with Dual monitors on Windows. :p
On a Mac, the two full screen modes fills just one of my monitors, not used LR on a Mac with dual screens before, so not come across this issue until I got the desktop hooked up to my dual PC monitors. LR is fine on the Mac Laptop as I only ever use that as a single screen.
What LR doesn't do properly [PC/Mac] is support having a preview only or slideshow on the second screen only.
As for why I seem to be complaining, well if LR wasn't so problematic......
 
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I'm still inclined to say it's a permissions issue if it's saying it can't write to that folder, but possibly at a higher level folder. I assume it's not an NTFS drive, is it? And were you running 1.3.1 on the PC and now on the Mac? Thanks for posting the specs, that always helps.

I'm pleased to hear you had dual monitors working well on your PC. LR's not currently designed to work on dual monitors whether on Mac or PC, with the exception of the slideshow, so can you explain how you were using it? Did the entire LR interface split across 2 screens? Or are we talking slideshow here?

As for LR being problematic... well, it's version 1 software, so it won't be perfect. It'll continue to develop over time, but if you find it a real problem, I'm sure there's other software which may suit your needs. I do understand your frustration when things don't work in quite the way you'd like, however all of the members here are volunteering their time and attention, and we're all really pleased to help answer any questions or help solve any problems we can, but those issues are best phrased as queries that we can actually help with. Let's try and keep our comments constructive.
 
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I just finished the "export catalog"/"import catalog" from my PC to the Mac. It worked perfectly. Thanks again for your encouragement, Victoria.
 
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Sorted it - It was a lower level permissions issue, not a higher level. Each of 3 items in the LR folder needed to be OKed, even though the folder they were in was fine. Thankfully it was just the one file for the previews. not the several thousand on the PC.
Permissions should cascade down. :x
Now I have my catalogue open on my other machine I discover none of the preferences and tweaks made it across. Aargh! Though the keywords did!?

LR works differently on a PC and a MAC regarding dual monitors. On a PC it fills the whole desktop on both full screen modes, whereas on a Mac it only fills a single monitor, which means a cramped view, when using either of the incorectly named 'full' screen modes, my prefered way of working, as I dislike unnecessary clutter.
I also use Jeffrey Friedl's Lightroom modifier to allow me to have panels as big as I want so the right hand panel fills the right screen. This has two benefits - images are not cut in half and the sliders can be finessed far more easily.
2'74345612_'f419c3cb4_o.jpg


Slideshow does not display on one screen on a PC, It displays across both. Unlike a Mac where it works properly, on one screen only. Annoying, but less of an issue as the Mac non full screen annoyance, as if I was doing a slideshow, it would invariably be on a laptop [so single screen]. Still a bit beta like in operation.
 
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Glad to hear it Sharon.

troyhark, glad you got the permissions sorted.

The preferences are an entirely different matter, and the file format is different for the different platforms, so those you will need to set manually. Presets you can transfer - need to go find them though, and I can't remember the windows location offhand. If you can't find them, I'll hunt down the path for you.

When you say your tweaks didn't make it across... you mean develop settings or...?

Your dual monitors - well, on the pc it depends on the graphics card as to how that works. Can't really say it's a bit beta like in operation because nowhere has LR claimed to be designed for dual monitors, in fact, absolutely the opposite is true, it's designed for a single monitor, and therefore 'full screen' is technically correct, it fills the single full screen. It's working the way it was intended - you're just choosing to hack it, and therefore end up with a different result.
 
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Victoria Bampton said:
The preferences are an entirely different matter, and the file format is different for the different platforms, so those you will need to set manually. Presets you can transfer - need to go find them though, and I can't remember the windows location offhand. If you can't find them, I'll hunt down the path for you.
Click to expand...
Victoria, see my entry in the Tips & Tricks section about missing presets.
 
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Well done Denis!
 
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Victoria Bampton said:
Can't really say it's a bit beta like in operation because nowhere has LR claimed to be designed for dual monitors
Click to expand...
I'm speaking generally about LR's implementation, not just this issue. I've had LR since the Beta, yet only with 1.3 did I start to use it for work as it wasn't worth bothering with before then. Too slow and too poorly designed. I think LR has great promise, but there's a long way to go yet, I still have to use Bridge for things LR should do.
Beta like aspects are more obvious with the Windows version, as it is quite rough around the edges in many areas, especially with regard to standard OS behaviour. For example not all the Mac things were changed for the PC version, so it uses a different shortcut for prefs to all other Adobe Apps on windows, using the Mac like Cntrl+, instead of the more normal Cntrl+K. A little thing but it's what I'd expect from a Beta, not a final release product. And the unused Cntrl+ W could have been used for keywords, before anyone mentions it's taken.
 
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Reading Denis's frustrations with the numerous places, preferences end up reminds me of one of my main bugbears when moving/reinstalling/updating software [easier on a Mac], but still. All programmes should have a simple export preferences button, which exports all the preferences one has defined. As in PS there are 3 separate preferences that I can think of in PS, there's the ACR preferences and ACR presets, there's the Actions, Brushes/tools tweaks etc. And then you need a corresponding import button which places all the numerous settings to wherever they need to be. Hardly a difficult task for programmers to sort out, and will avoid something that's a painful and easily screwed up user task.
Directory Opus can do just this, as well as a lot of other things far better than Adobe can do and that's with only a couple of guys working on it. So resources are not the issue, which is Adobe's usual excuse.
Wandering a little OT here.
 
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Wandering WAY off topic here, so let's bring it back on track. I think the OP's question has been answered anyway.

troyhark, I do understand your frustrations, but this is not the place to complain about the way Lightroom is designed, the choices the engineers have made, or anything else. Adobe do have a bug report/feature request page you can use to express your opinion to those who can actually do something about it. If you're not happy with its design, no one is forcing you to use it.

This forum is here to support Lightroom in its infancy and help users figure out how to get the best out of Lightroom. We all look forward to its continued development and improvement, so let's keep it positive and constructive please.
 
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troyhark said:
Directory Opus can do just this, as well as a lot of other things far better than Adobe can do and that's with only a couple of guys working on it. So resources are not the issue, which is Adobe's usual excuse.
Click to expand...

Victoria has already addressed this, so I won't go any further except to say that this Site has maintained a positive environment and I expect it to stay that way. Let's not turn this place into a haven for bashing Adobe, please.
 
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I am also in the process of migrating to my first Mac
Q... Is there a preference for "exporting" versus copy and paste?
Q... I assume that I should not "Include images" with the export but just copy over the folders?

If there is a paper already written on the process that I will need to follow out there some where I would be happy to hear about it.
 
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Hi Larry

It's really easy, and we can talk you through it. You don't even need to export.

First things first, make things to easy to relink by setting up your folder panel as a hierarchy so that you only need to relink a top folder or two. Instructions here.

Then copy your catalog over to your new Mac, and your images in their existing hierarchy. External hard drive is the easiest way to transfer. Be aware that Mac's can't write to NTFS formatted hard drives, but they can read/write FAT drives.

Once you've got your catalog and photos on the new Mac, double click on the catalog to open in LR. The folders will have question marks on them, but just right click (ctrl-click if you're using a one button mouse) on the top level folder and point to the new location of that folder. It should sort itself out from there. Obviously don't delete off the old machine until you know it's all working.
 
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Here is a pic of my catalog currently... Is my LGS Photography folder the "parent" folder you are talking about.... My date is on internal drive "E"

Add "Parent Folder" does not show up
 
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Yes, LGS Photography would be 'a' parent folder in this case, as VB was recommending. It's not clear from the screen cap, if there are other additional top level folders(on the same level as LGS) as well. If so, they should be treated the same way.
 
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I believe that all my folders are under that one heading except for a folder that was on another external raid that Died!

Here is a pic of my Lightroom catalog folders... there appears to be one leftover LR1 folder... should I bring it along with the others to the mac?
 
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