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Pointing to new catalog location (thread title edited for software bug!)

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SuzImages

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Jun 23, 2014
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I COPIED, (not moved) my 2015 lightroom CC catalog folder to my external hard drive through my Mac. After doing that I wanted Lightroom to point to the new catalog in the external hard drive, and when that happened I would delete the old catalog on my internal hard drive. But when I went to update the 2015 folder location, and I found the copied folder on my external hard drive, I selected it, but then my 2015 catalog in Lightroom went away.

I restored it through Lightroom to it's original location, but I still want Lightroom to point to that 2015 catalog on my external hard drive, not on my internal hard drive.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
Hi Suz

Apologies for having to edit the title of your thread - somehow it was tripping a security feature on the web hosting, which was then preventing the thread from being visible.

So I'm not quite following your problem. You said "then my 2015 catalog in Lightroom went away" - do you mean Lightroom quit, or Lightroom showed you a blank catalog, or what happened?

And when you moved the catalog folder, did you just move the catalog, or is that all of the photos too, perhaps?
 
I COPIED, (not moved) my 2015 lightroom CC catalog folder to my external hard drive through my Mac. After doing that I wanted Lightroom to point to the new catalog in the external hard drive, and when that happened I would delete the old catalog on my internal hard drive. But when I went to update the 2015 folder location, and I found the copied folder on my external hard drive, I selected it, but then my 2015 catalog in Lightroom went away.

I restored it through Lightroom to it's original location, but I still want Lightroom to point to that 2015 catalog on my external hard drive, not on my internal hard drive.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

'Update Folder Location' is something you do to relocate image folders, not for the catalog folder. One method is to quit Lightroom, open the catalog folder on the external hard disk in the Finder, and double click on the catalog file. Lightroom will start and use that catalog now. Or you can use 'File - Open Catalog' in Lightroom.
 
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Hi Suz

Apologies for having to edit the title of your thread - somehow it was tripping a security feature on the web hosting, which was then preventing the thread from being visible.

So I'm not quite following your problem. You said "then my 2015 catalog in Lightroom went away" - do you mean Lightroom quit, or Lightroom showed you a blank catalog, or what happened?

And when you moved the catalog folder, did you just move the catalog, or is that all of the photos too, perhaps?

I didn't move the catalog, I copied it to the external hard drive, but when I tried to point the catalog to the one on the external hard drive, the 2015 part of the catalog in Lightroom went away. It disappeared under the Library portion of Lightroom. Lightroom didn't quit, I just did not want that huge 2015 catalog to be on my internal hard drive (where all the photos have a .dng extension), just on the external hard drive to free up some room on my internal hard drive.

I've always known whatever I do, I need to do it through Lightroom, not directly on my Mac. That is why I COPIED the 2015 catalog to the external hard drive, not moved it. So I could point that catalog to the external hard drive instead of on the internal hard drive.

I'm not sure I have explained this correctly, so feel free to ask what is not clear.
 
I'm a bit confused. You said you copied the catalog to the external drive but then you say you tried to point the catalog to the external drive.
If you copied the catalog (the file that ends in .lrcat) to the external hard drive, all you would have to do is double click on the catalog file and Lightroom would open it up.
 
Have you read my answer? You don't 'point' a catalog to another catalog. Lightroom uses one catalog and it needs to know which one. If it is using the catalog on your internal hard disk right now, and you want it to use the copy on the external disk from now on, use 'File - Open Catalog' and tell Lightroom to use that catalog on the external disk.
 
I didn't move the catalog, I copied it to the external hard drive, but when I tried to point the catalog to the one on the external hard drive, the 2015 part of the catalog in Lightroom went away. It disappeared under the Library portion of Lightroom. Lightroom didn't quit, I just did not want that huge 2015 catalog to be on my internal hard drive (where all the photos have a .dng extension), just on the external hard drive to free up some room on my internal hard drive.

I've always known whatever I do, I need to do it through Lightroom, not directly on my Mac. That is why I COPIED the 2015 catalog to the external hard drive, not moved it. So I could point that catalog to the external hard drive instead of on the internal hard drive.

I'm not sure I have explained this correctly, so feel free to ask what is not clear.

To elaborate a bit further: I get the feeling that you confuse photos and catalogs. If you move photos, it is indeed best to do this from within Lightroom, so that Lightroom does not lose the connection to these photos. If you want to move (copy) a catalog to another disk however, there is no way you can do this in Lightroom (except by using 'Export Catalog', but that is not exactly the same thing). You do this in the Finder by copying the entire catalog folder (not just the .lrcat file!) to that external disk, and then you let Lightroom know that it should use this copy from now on. As explained by me and by Dave, you can either do that by simply double clicking the catalog file, or you can do it from the 'File - Open Catalog' menu in Lightroom.
 
To elaborate a bit further: I get the feeling that you confuse photos and catalogs. If you move photos, it is indeed best to do this from within Lightroom, so that Lightroom does not lose the connection to these photos. If you want to move (copy) a catalog to another disk however, there is no way you can do this in Lightroom (except by using 'Export Catalog', but that is not exactly the same thing). You do this in the Finder by copying the entire catalog folder (not just the .lrcat file!) to that external disk, and then you let Lightroom know that it should use this copy from now on. As explained by me and by Dave, you can either do that by simply double clicking the catalog file, or you can do it from the 'File - Open Catalog' menu in Lightroom.

Yes, you are right. It is the photos with the .dng extension, not the catalog. How do I do that within Lightroom so it doesn't lose the connection. I'm sorry, I was confused by catalog/photos.
 
As you've already copied the photos to the external disk (if I understand it correctly), the only thing you need to do now is let Lightroom know that it should start to use the new location. Right-click on the top photos folder in Lightroom and choose 'Update Folder Location'. In the standard 'Open' dialog that follows you can select the new location of the photos on the external disk. If you don't have a hierarchy with one top folder, you may have to do this several times, folder by folder.
 
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As you've already copied the photos to the external disk (if I understand it correctly), the only thing you need to do now is let Lightroom know that it should start to use the new location. Right-click on the top photos folder in Lightroom and choose 'Update Folder Location'. In the standard 'Open' dialog that follows you can select the new location of the photos on the external disk. If you don't have a hierarchy with one top folder, you may have to do this several times, folder by folder.

That is what I did and that is when the 2015 piece in Lightroom Library went away. The first image above is before I did anything (still finding photos on my HD), the 2nd image is the files on the EHD. When I right clicked on the folder "2015" and picked "Update folder location", I chose the 2015 file on the EHD, the 3rd image shows how that 2015 piece of Lightroom Library went away. Do I need to delete the file on my internal hard drive before Lightroom will recognize those duplicates on the EHD?
 

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If you use 'Update Folder Location' and select the new location on the external hard disk, that folder will indeed disappear from the internal disk in Lightroom. However, your external hard disk should now appear in Lightroom too (as a separate device) and that is where this folder is now located. If that is not so, can you post a screenshot of the entire folder panel, not just a part?
 
If you use 'Update Folder Location' and select the new location on the external hard disk, that folder will indeed disappear from the internal disk in Lightroom. However, your external hard disk should now appear in Lightroom too (as a separate device) and that is where this folder is now located. If that is not so, can you post a screenshot of the entire folder panel, not just a part?

I have attached the entire panel in five screen shots, since I couldn't do it all in one.
 

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I really don't know how to explain this more clearly. Where to did you copy the folder? Was it the disk called 'My Passport for Mac' perhaps? That disk (all the way at the bottom of your last screenshot) is now collapsed, so you don't see any folders on that disk. I bet that is where your '2015' folder is after it 'disappears' when you relink it. Remember that Lightroom shows you the folder under the device (i.e. the disk) of that folder. So if you 'relink' the '2015' folder that was originally located on 'Macintosh HD' to a copy of that folder on 'My Passport for Mac', then it is completely as expected that this folder disappears under 'Macintosh HD' and appears under 'My Passport for Mac'.
 
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So first click on this triangle to see the folders on the external disk. If you then use 'update folder location' on the '2015' folder and select the copy on the external disk, you will see this folder 'jump' in Lightroom from the internal disk to the external disk.

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I really don't know how to explain this more clearly. Where to did you copy the folder? Was it the disk called 'My Passport for Mac' perhaps? That disk (all the way at the bottom of your last screenshot) is now collapsed, so you don't see any folders on that disk. I bet that is where your '2015' folder is after it 'disappears' when you relink it. Remember that Lightroom shows you the folder under the device (i.e. the disk) of that folder. So if you 'relink' the '2015' folder that was originally located on 'Macintosh HD' to a copy of that folder on 'My Passport for Mac', then it is completely as expected that this folder disappears under 'Macintosh HD' and appears under 'My Passport for Mac'.

WOO HOO!!! That was it. Now, can I delete the 2015 folder on my internal hard drive to free up more space?
 
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