Problem using external drive with Mac desktop and PC laptop

[hedystafford]

I have miraculously managed to set up LR2 images and catalog on the iMac, using my existing external Lacie Rugged 5''gb hard drive to do the transfer. The Mac had a "read only" response to the Windows NTFS formatted disk and so I copied the files on to the Mac, (and also to be double sure, back on to the PC) before erasing and reformatting the Rugged in FAT-32 format. I then recopied the image files, folders, presets etc back onto the Rugged from the Mac, and attempted to get the information linked up with LR 2 folders on the laptop. The Rugged and LR crashed. When I look at the Rugged plugged in to the Mac, all my data is shown as present and correct. Whenever and however I try to get it over to the PC it loses information. My LR on the PC is now wrecked and confused, showing most of the 6''' odd photos as being under a heading which was once a subfolder, and lots of empty question marked folders. When I try to re locate files, (and I have tried this with the copied files on the C-drive as well as on the external drive) it tells me they are already there. I even tried simply re-importing the image files, but 5'% were missing. I have 2 other backups (catalog and images - but not up to date presets) - both on PC formatted external drives. I would really welcome suggestions as to how best to safely re-establish my folder heirarchy, catalog and Lightroom settings on the PC.
Looking at this I wonder why I didn't think to copy back on to the Rugged from the PC - maybe that's what's caused the problem?

 

[Mark Sirota]

Could be, I would try that. The symptoms you're describing sound a lot like catalog corruption, so I would just trash that copy and start again from your wisely created backups.

 

[hedystafford]

Thanks very much for prompt reply. Please could you point me to detailed instructions on how to do this kind of re-install from a backup? How exactly do I clear out the existing mess from Lightroom and re-install images, folder heirarchy and settings while maintaining the link between catalog and images? Presumably if the original external drive is corrupted it has to be discarded. My primary backup is on another Rugged external drive, and I want to keep all the information on that drive. But at some stage I will have to erase and reformat it in order to move it between the Mac and the PC. I am very worried that it will fail again. Are these drives actually capable of working on both platforms?

 

[hedystafford]

Have, while the US was sleeping, managed to salvage the stuff on my C-drive, so now have LR functioning on laptop with images and catalog on C-drive with only a handful of images gone missing. Some I've managed to copy over from the backup - about 2'' others are still "already there" on the C-drive but not locatable. I can live without them on my PC. Plus have found info re software which will enable external drives to move happily between PC and Mac on http://thelightroomlab.com/2''9/'1/formatting-an-external-hard-drive/
However have decided to leave everything just where it is until I have a bit more spare time and energy, or can afford to get a MacBook. Now I just need to find out how to export/import my edits between the PC and the Mac - should be much easier as only dealing with catalog, not actual images...