Q re Mass move of files

[Seminole1986]

Hello all,

This is my situation. I'm running LR v.1.3.1 on a computer w/only one hard disk that is quickly filling up. This internal disk has my photos going back to 2''' when I bought my first digital camera. I got LR about one year ago, so only the last year's photos are cataloged in LR. To view or work on the other photos, I just use ACDSee, PS or import into LR on an as-needed basis. All my photos are backed up on two seperate external hardrives, one of which is stored off-site just in case.

I need to expand to a larger hardrive as my primary working drive. This raises the question of how a move of the files to a new harddrive will affect LR.

My choices are:

Option 1. Simply to use one of my backup drives as a working drive. The files are already in both my units and it would involve little actual effort.

What effect would this have on LR? Would I have to re-import each folder individually or can I do a mass re-import? Are there any settings or database info that would be lost such as keywords, color-tagging or star-ranking?

Option 2. Use LR to push the files onto another drive. I imagine that it wouldn't lose any of the database information but worry about the accuracy of the move. Moreover, there's the lingering question of the files that pre-date LR and as such are not in the LR database. Some of these files coexist in the same directory (folder) w/files that are in LR so I would worry about a two-stage copying process overwriting previously copied information.

There are probably other options that I haven't thought of. I'm sure others have faced this issue and would really appreciate any guidance you can offer.

Thank you in advance,

Ralph Ventura
www.ralphventura.smugmug.com

 

[Seminole1986]

Are you serious?

37 views and not one reply?

 

[Brad Snyder]

Ralph, we're not ignoring you, we're hoping Victoria will answer you. Your situation is a little complex, with the 'coexisting files' etc.

She's really quite good with this. I know she's been busy with real life, let me ask a couple of questions to get it started.

Option 1. Simply to use one of my backup drives as a working drive. The files are already in both my units and it would involve little actual effort.

What effect would this have on LR? Would I have to re-import each folder individually or can I do a mass re-import? Are there any settings or database info that would be lost such as keywords, color-tagging or star-ranking?

Are the backup drives literal copies of the working drive? That is, are all the backup images contained in a directory tree identical to the working arrangement?

If that's true, it's simple enough to break the linkage to the working directory tree, by, for example, renaming the top level folder. When Lr complains that it can't find the image files, point it to the backup drive.

Option 2. Use LR to push the files onto another drive. I imagine that it wouldn't lose any of the database information but worry about the accuracy of the move. Moreover, there's the lingering question of the files that pre-date LR and as such are not in the LR database. Some of these files coexist in the same directory (folder) w/files that are in LR so I would worry about a two-stage copying process overwriting previously copied information.

This of course would have been the best way, but I'm a little confounded as to how to handle the file mix. I'm sure you have your workflow reasons, but this is a little out of the ordinary. If you could describe the situation in a little more detail, we can probably figure out a work around.

I would be remiss if I didn't ensure that you have adequate tested backups of your Lr catalog, as well as the image files.

Give these some thought and get back with questions, etc. And I would also wait for a second opinion.

 

[Mark Sirota]

Switching to another disk is really no big deal, particularly if all your images are under the same parent folder.

There are two ways to do it -- outside Lightroom, and inside Lightroom.

To do this outside Lightroom, just copy the folder tree over to the new disk, then in Lightroom right-click on the top-level folder and choose "Update Folder Location...". Navigate to the new location, and you're all set. This will also work if you just want to switch to one of your backup drives.

To do this inside Lightroom, if the new disk is visible, just drag the top level folder from the old device to the new one. If the new disk isn't visible, you need to Import a dummy image from it so Lightroom will "discover" it, then drag and drop, then delete the dummy image. But I don't know whether this will move files that Lightroom isn't tracking.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Ralph, we're not ignoring you, we're hoping Victoria will answer you.

LOL Brad!!! Sorry, been a little otherwise occupied! I guess I should be honored to get the complicated ones! :lol:

Ok, I'll type as I read the thread, and you can ignore the bits that someone else has already covered!

Ralph, sounds like you have a great backup plan, which is SO good to hear!

Being awkward, as I often am, I'd go with option 3. :mrgreen:

Option 3:
Make sure that LR is showing a tidy folder hierarchy before you do anything. You want a parent folder to be able to easily relink, rather than having to go through hundreds of folders in the list, relinking each individually. Instructions on that here: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroomqueen/141samples/141FolderHierarchy.pdf

I'd then use the operating system, or better still, some file synchronization software, to transfer the photos onto another drive. That saves the worry about accuracy.

Having moved those files to the new location, I'd then reopen LR. It would have question marks all over the place, but that's fine, you just relink them. Instructions on that here: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroomqueen/141samples/141MissingFiles.pdf

After that, your catalog will be up and running in its current state, but in the new location. Then I'd consider the pre-dated files, and setting those importing too, for tidiness' sake.

Mark - update folder location's great, but correct if I'm wrong - I think that only appeared in 2.' (because I remember having to rewrite instructions)

 

[Mark Sirota]

Mark - update folder location's great, but correct if I'm wrong - I think that only appeared in 2.' (because I remember having to rewrite instructions)

Quite right, I hadn't noticed the version number. In that case you can just disconnect the original drive, or move/rename the original parent folder so that Lightroom can't see it, before firing up Lightroom. Then right-click the red top-level folder and choose "Locate Missing Folder..."

 

[Seminole1986]

Thank you Victoria

I imported one stray image I had in the photos main folder and (to my great surprise) my photo directory in LR is now "tidy". Although not directly the subject of my question, this actually does make my LR experience easier. While I haven't yet changed to another drive, I can see how it'll be much easier now. I'll do this once I buy a replacement drive for one of my backup drives as I still want to keep double reduncance and off-site storage.

Again, thanks Victoria. It was well worth the wait.

OH, and PS, thanks Mark and Brad, as well.