Problem moving photos from drive to new drive

[docon9780]

Lightroom Version Number

14.4

Operating System

1. Windows 11

I attempted to move my photos from an old external hard drive that was almost full to a new external SSD drive while in Lightroom classic using a three step method that I saw in a YouTube video by Scott Kelby. I’m not sure if I did something wrong or Lightroom malfunctioned but only half of the photos transferred over. Now I have half of my photos on an old drive and the other half on the new external SSD drive. Can anyone explain to me how I can move the rest of my photos onto the new drive. Thank you so very much in advance.

 

[Replytoken]

Welcome to the forum. I recommend confirming the move of the files you believe have moved in Windows Explorer. If all is well, then go back to LRC and then try an move the remaining files that did not move. If uncertain about what is happening, just move a few files at first to see what is happening. If that works out fine, move a larger amount and then repeat until all of the files show on the new drive.

Alternately, you can move the file sin Windows explorer and then tell LRCV where those files are when you next launch that catalog. LRC will flag the "missing" photos and you can then point LRC to their new location.

If any of this does not make sense to you, post any questions before trying to move any files.

Good luck,

--Ken

 

[clee01l]

You can use these instructions to complete the move.
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

 

[Conrad Chavez]

Use a good backup/sync app to compare the contents of the two volumes or folders, and have it copy over just the files that are missing. The better ones can show you a list of the differences between the two locations and preview what’s going to change, before you approve the sync run. After the sync is complete, the software may offer a verification pass to make sure that the copy is exactly the same as the original, right down to the bit level.

By the way, when it’s important to get a very large copy operation right without errors or unknown omissions, I won’t do it on the desktop or in Lightroom Classic. I’ll do it with one of those robust backup/sync apps and during the large copy, I’ll have the software log what it did and how far it got. That comes in handy in case something goes very wrong.

I’m using a Mac so I don’t have good suggestions for what software to use, but the Windows users on this forum probably have ideas.

 

[Jimmsp]

Use a good backup/sync app to compare the contents of the two volumes or folders, and have it copy over just the files that are missing. The better ones can show you a list of the differences between the two locations and preview what’s going to change, before you approve the sync run. After the sync is complete, the software may offer a verification pass to make sure that the copy is exactly the same as the original, right down to the bit level.

By the way, when it’s important to get a very large copy operation right without errors or unknown omissions, I won’t do it on the desktop or in Lightroom Classic. I’ll do it with one of those robust backup/sync apps and during the large copy, I’ll have the software log what it did and how far it got. That comes in handy in case something goes very wrong.

I’m using a Mac so I don’t have good suggestions for what software to use, but the Windows users on this forum probably have ideas.

On my Windows machine, I use GoodSync. https://www.goodsync.com/
I use it for file backup as well.

 

[docon9780]

Welcome to the forum. I recommend confirming the move of the files you believe have moved in Windows Explorer. If all is well, then go back to LRC and then try an move the remaining files that did not move. If uncertain about what is happening, just move a few files at first to see what is happening. If that works out fine, move a larger amount and then repeat until all of the files show on the new drive.

Alternately, you can move the file sin Windows explorer and then tell LRCV where those files are when you next launch that catalog. LRC will flag the "missing" photos and you can then point LRC to their new location.

If any of this does not make sense to you, post any questions before trying to move any files.

Good luck,

--Ken

Hi Ken thank you for your response. I'm not sure how to confirm if the files were moved other than they do appear in Lightroom. I attempted to drag and drop the files from the old drive to the new drive in light hoping that Lightroom will recognize the files that were moved. this process would be time consuming since there are alot of files. Is there another way to move them in a large batch in Lightroom. Also if I move the outside of lightroom how do I get Lightroom to recognize them. Please excuse my ignorance on using Lightroom I'm kind of new at this. Thank you for your help.

 

[docon9780]

You can use these instructions to complete the move.
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

Thank you very much for the help.

 

[camner]

One option is FreeFileSync (which comes in Windows and Mac flavors). Personally, I would use Carbon Copy Cloner (NOT free!) because one of the options is to have CCC verify that the copy was correct after the initial copy is finished. It takes longer, of course, but it's well worth a while if one is trying to move a lot of data. CCC is primarily used for backup purposes, but it can copy an entire volume to another volume or copy folders to folders (on another volume)

 

[Replytoken]

Hi Ken thank you for your response. I'm not sure how to confirm if the files were moved other than they do appear in Lightroom. I attempted to drag and drop the files from the old drive to the new drive in light hoping that Lightroom will recognize the files that were moved. this process would be time consuming since there are alot of files. Is there another way to move them in a large batch in Lightroom. Also if I move the outside of lightroom how do I get Lightroom to recognize them. Please excuse my ignorance on using Lightroom I'm kind of new at this. Thank you for your help.

I recommend reading the link that @clee01l shared above and consider what @Conrad Chavez suggested for using a file sync program. The one mentioned above in the post by @camner is an option, as is SyncBack Free, a program that I use. If after reading the article linked by clee01 above things are still not clear, post again with more detailed questions.

In short, you will be doing two things, moving files that you have already imported into LRC, and then you are telling LRC where those files are. LRC is a bit "dumb" and only knows where the files reside when you import them into your catalog. You can move them from within the catalog, as you tried and had issues, or you can move them outside of the the program and then tell LRC where you moved them. Whatever you do, DO NOT reimport them into your catalog.

--Ken

 

[Gnits]

My preferred tool for large adhoc (. ie not regular or scheduled ) file / folder copy operations is Beyond Compare.

It has a superb GUI interface… very easy to view all matching files.. which confirms you have source and target folders selected correctly)..

Out of habit I place the source on the left and the target on the right.
Then select option to show differences… Select All and Click on the Synch Right button.

This will copy all updated or missing images from left to right.

You get a message summarising the effect of this action before committing. You then get a really good progress summary. After it is running for a few minutes it calculates how long left to complete the copy.

It is my preferred tool for copying large numbers of files… (on Mac and Windows) and also use it to back up SD cards to disk when travelling.

Lots of the other utilities are also excellent and would use GoodSynch if I wanted to schedule backing up regularly ( because it has a good schedule option)… but for adhoc large copies… Beyond Compare wins … because of the excellent presentation of the source and destination file/folder status.

 

[docon9780]

One option is FreeFileSync (which comes in Windows and Mac flavors). Personally, I would use Carbon Copy Cloner (NOT free!) because one of the options is to have CCC verify that the copy was correct after the initial copy is finished. It takes longer, of course, but it's well worth a while if one is trying to move a lot of data. CCC is primarily used for backup purposes, but it can copy an entire volume to another volume or copy folders to folders (on another volume)

How would I go about getting Lightroom to recognize the photos afterwards

 

[Replytoken]

Below is from the link that clee01 provided above. This should help explain how to relink the files:

6. Relink any missing files

You might find that there are question marks all over the folders or there are icons in the corners of the thumbnails—question marks in LR4, or rectangles with or without exclamation marks in LR5 and later. Those warnings appear if the original photos can no longer be found at the previous known location. STOP! Don’t be tempted to remove the missing photos and re-import, or try to synchronize a folder, and don’t try to relocate individual files by clicking on a thumbnail icon, as you’ll create a bigger job.

If the photos were stored on an external drive, but the Windows drive letter has changed, you can simply reset the drive letter.

Otherwise, right-click on the parent folder that we created in step 1, and choose Find Missing Folder from the context-sensitive menu, and navigate to the new location of that folder. Relocate any other top level folders (you should have one for each drive), until all of the photos are online. There are more details on reconnecting missing files here. If you get stuck at this stage, please ask on the forum and we’ll help.

Good luck,

--Ken

 

[docon9780]

Thank you everyone for your help , I greatly appreciate it.