New Mac set up

[gracust]

Lightroom Version Number

Lightroom Classic 11.5

Operating System

1. macOS 12 Monterey

Hi,

I’ve been using LR for several years on my old Mac and found it to be very slow. So I now have a new Mac and want to ensure it runs to the best performance possible using LR.

I’m looking for advice setting my new system up. I’m thinking of creating a new catalog in ‘My Pictures’ and then saving my RAW files on an external drive to not clog up my new Mac’s hard drive.

But what about all of those photos that I have on my older external hard drives which are linked to my version of LR on my old Mac? Should I copy the old catalog to my new Mac? Is this going to start affecting performance again on my new Mac? But if I don’t do this I will not be able to access all of those photos. I suppose my real question is how big is that old LR catalog file?

Having spent a lot of money on a new Mac, I want to get things right from the start if possible.

Thank you

Graham

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Don’t start with a new catalog. https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

 

[Paul McFarlane]

Only you can tell the size of the old catalog file by checking in Finder. Generally, one catalog is a good idea (easy to search) and unless you have a lot of records in it (many hundreds of thousands) it won't be much difference in speed to a new catalog. It would seem a folly to lose all your edits, though - keep the catalog, and potentially consolidate where the photos are (external drives are fine, but housekeeping is a good idea too!)

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/consolidate-photos-from-multiple-drives/

 

[gracust]

Don’t start with a new catalog. https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

Many thanks Johan

 

[gracust]

Only you can tell the size of the old catalog file by checking in Finder. Generally, one catalog is a good idea (easy to search) and unless you have a lot of records in it (many hundreds of thousands) it won't be much difference in speed to a new catalog. It would seem a folly to lose all your edits, though - keep the catalog, and potentially consolidate where the photos are (external drives are fine, but housekeeping is a good idea too!)

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/consolidate-photos-from-multiple-drives/

Many thanks Paul

 

[clee01l]

The process developed here at LightroomQueen https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/ is the generic process that works for both Windows and MacOS.
Apple provides an app"Migration Assistant" that is specific to Mac and works to move all of your apps and critical data from an old Mac to an new one or from a Windows machine (critical user data only) to a new Mac. I recommend this for Mac Users to use during the initial setup of the new Mac as it will copy all of your existing Mac user information to the new Mac and you can pick up on the new machine where you left off on the ld machine transparently.

 

[gracust]

The process developed here at LightroomQueen https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/ is the generic process that works for both Windows and MacOS.
Apple provides an app"Migration Assistant" that is specific to Mac and works to move all of your apps and critical data from an old Mac to an new one or from a Windows machine (critical user data only) to a new Mac. I recommend this for Mac Users to use during the initial setup of the new Mac as it will copy all of your existing Mac user information to the new Mac and you can pick up on the new machine where you left off on the ld machine transparently.

Thank you

 

[barrie.raik]

Hi Forum members,
I'm new to this forum. I hope you can help me.
I have used LRC on an old PC for years. Have 400K images in my catalog and on external (10TB) HD. (Most of these are never going to be seen/used again). (Yes, I know I should clean it up)
I now have my first macbook pro and an external SSD (2TB). If I use the same catalog the vast majority of the files will be "missing" since I don't plan to have the 10TB HD attached except for special circumstances. Or I could start a new catalog with photos from this year and going forward. If I did that, I could always connect the 10TB HD and use the old catalog.
Can you help me sort out my choices? I've read the how-to-move-LR-to new computer, but I'm still unsure.
Thanks,
Barrie

 

[Johan Elzenga]

I would ignore the fact that the photos are missing when the disk is not connected and keep using the original catalog.

 

[barrie.raik]

thank you Johan.

 

[clee01l]

Hi Forum members,
I'm new to this forum. I hope you can help me.
I have used LRC on an old PC for years. Have 400K images in my catalog and on external (10TB) HD. (Most of these are never going to be seen/used again). (Yes, I know I should clean it up)
I now have my first macbook pro and an external SSD (2TB). If I use the same catalog the vast majority of the files will be "missing" since I don't plan to have the 10TB HD attached except for special circumstances. Or I could start a new catalog with photos from this year and going forward. If I did that, I could always connect the 10TB HD and use the old catalog.
Can you help me sort out my choices? I've read the how-to-move-LR-to new computer, but I'm still unsure.
Thanks,
Barrie

I can offer another option from Johan. Johan’s solution is great for you plan to keep all of your 400K images. If you can Identify your “keepers”, then isolate them in a collection, making sure that are are moved to the 2TB SSD and located (not missing) in the master Lightroom Catalog. Then Export that collection as a new Catalog and this will give you a smaller catalog of your “keepers” You can keep both catalogs and have access to all of the non keepers as well as a catalog of the keepers.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Conrad Chavez]

Apple provides an app"Migration Assistant" that is specific to Mac and works to move all of your apps and critical data from an old Mac to an new one or from a Windows machine (critical user data only) to a new Mac. I recommend this for Mac Users to use during the initial setup of the new Mac as it will copy all of your existing Mac user information to the new Mac and you can pick up on the new machine where you left off on the ld machine transparently.

This is generally great advice. However, if this is a migration from an Intel Mac to an Apple Silicon Mac, that’s a special case where one more thing must be considered.

One of the goals of course is to “ensure it runs to the best performance possible.” If the old Mac is slow because it’s several years old, then it’s probably an Intel Mac. And if the new Mac is one of the latest models, then it’s an Apple Silicon Mac. The apps that Migration Assistant brings forward from the older Mac will be Intel versions, so they may run slower than expected on a new Apple Silicon Mac. So for any applications where performance is critical, be sure to update them to the newer Apple Silicon versions after running Migration Assistant. This is definitely necessary for Lightroom Classic.

If you want to take it a little further to migrate more cleanly: Before migrating, open the System Information app on the old Mac, look at the Applications list, and sort that list by Kind. The list of applications will be grouped so that you can instantly see which apps are Intel or 32-Bit (Unsupported). You might want to uninstall those apps before running Migration Assistant, to minimize the amount of Intel-only code that gets migrated to an Apple Silicon Mac, where the Intel-only code will have no value but will take up space. Then, after running Migration Assistant, install the latest version of whatever you need so that you get a version most compatible with Apple Silicon.

 

[clee01l]

[QUOTE="Conrad Chavez, post: 1305814, member: 28335]"…be sure to update them to the newer Apple Silicon versions after running Migration Assistant. This is definitely necessary for Lightroom Classic..[/QUOTE] Actually, just the opposite is true. Adobe only offers one version of code. I migrated from an Intel Mac to an M1 Mac with those concerns. When the app opens, it determines whether the OS is Intel or an M1 based And loads Rosetta only of there is no M1 present. I did not need to reinstall Lightroom Classic.

If you search the forum, you will find my topic where I raised this concern (Probably about July 2020 or 2021)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[barrie.raik]

I can offer another option from Johan. Johan’s solution is great for you plan to keep all of your 400K images. If you can Identify your “keepers”, then isolate them in a collection, making sure that are are moved to the 2TB SSD and located (not missing) in the master Lightroom Catalog. Then Export that collection as a new Catalog and this will give you a smaller catalog of your “keepers” You can keep both catalogs and have access to all of the non keepers as well as a catalog of the keepers.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hi Cletus
thank you for this other option, which I will use when I finally get around to separating the wheat from the chaff!!
I now have a problem with the folder organization. For years my photos have been organized by year, month, location/event. I'm not sure if it's mac vs windows, but now my LR library folders are not nested and so each folder is separate. This is a problem since I take photos at the same location every month! I don't know if I've explained this well, and I just realized the problem, so I havent researched a solution.
just added screenshot of the 2 types of folder structure. I want to get my old structure back.
thanks
Barrie

 

[barrie.raik]