Transfer to new computer

[Gray Drake]

Hi

Purchased LR 4 on a disc and upgraded on line to LR5 a while ago. Purchased a new computer this week and transferred all files to new computer. Loaded 4 and upgraded to 5 on new computer. As I recall from the last new computer, LR recognized my edit file and photos and auto populated the LR software, so it operated the same has with my old computer without much action on my part. It is not auto-populating this time. I want to make sure I do no lose all the edits from my 16,000 images, so I have not tried to import/export so far.

What is the best process to integrate the freshly loaded LR5 with the photos and LR edit data that was transferred from my old computer to the new one? Thanks for any input.

Drake

 

[Tony Jay]

Hi Drake.

There should be no need to re-import any images at all.

If you open your catalog what do you see?
If my understanding of your explanation is correct then it is possible that all the folders and images in them have question marks against them.
Agan, if my understanding of your explanation is correct then all that needs to be done is to R-click on the top level folder in your image collection and Lightroom should ask you if you want to locate the missing folder - follow th instructions and navigate to wherever the images are actually currently located.

Let us know how you go.

Tony Jay

 

[Gray Drake]

Thanks for the response.

I am only seeing what I believe is the thumbnail images within LR5. The library is currently unpopulated within LR. I have not imported as of yet, because I do not want to import unedited files over edited files which could erase the edit info. You are correct that most images have question marks. R-clicking on the top folder does not produce the missing folder question in the pop up window.

Drake

 

[Jim Wilde]

Can you post a screenshot of the expanded Folders Panel so that we can see what you see?

But you're right, do not try to reimport.

 

[Gray Drake]

Thanks for the response.

I have attached a screen shot, only a few images show up of the total in my hard drive. The resolution of all photos is poor. The folders that appear were auto created, I have not tried to down load anything. This listing of folders is very limited, I have dozens more in my hard drive that have not appeared in LR. There is nothing in LR beyond images taken in 2010 or so.

I have not tried to download or import any images, nor have I tried to gain access to any of the missing folders.



Any suggestions? I certainly do not want to lose all my edits.

Drake

 

[Jim Wilde]

Drake, your screenshot hasn't appeared, so can you try again? See this post for instructions on how to attach a screenshot.

Also, can you look in the "Catalog" panel, just above the Folders Panel, and tell me what's the "All Photographs" total number there.

 

[Gray Drake]

Jim

Please check back. Screenshot should now be available.

Drake

 

[Jim Wilde]

To be honest, I don't really understand what's happened here, as I can't figure out why most of the folders are "missing", yet some of them aren't. Can you tell me if you go into Grid view for that "2012" folder that you have selected in that screenshot, do all the thumbnails have a small exclamation mark in the top right-hand corner (indicates they're "missing")?

Next, can you give me a screenshot of the Catalog panel (opened) and the top part of the Folders Panel?

Lastly, can you tell me if the image files are on an internal or external drive? What drive letter?

Thanks.

 

[Gray Drake]

To be honest, I don't really understand what's happened here, as I can't figure out why most of the folders are "missing", yet some of them aren't. Can you tell me if you go into Grid view for that "2012" folder that you have selected in that screenshot, do all the thumbnails have a small exclamation mark in the top right-hand corner (indicates they're "missing")? None have an active exclamation point - it is there but grayed out.

Next, can you give me a screenshot of the Catalog panel (opened) and the top part of the Folders Panel? Control panel in computer? What folders?

Lastly, can you tell me if the image files are on an internal or external drive? What drive letter? The originals are present in my computer hard drive and those that were exported there from LR are edited, the remainder that I have checked appear to be the original unedited file. I use a cloud site to back up my data (unfortunately this is the same data that is in my hard drive),

The file exists within my documents that I believe has all my edit data so I do not believe the info is lost. I just do not want to over write this info in an improper action taken in trying to connect it to the original imag

Thanks.

Thanks again for your interest and time!

 

[Jim Wilde]

The screenshot I would like to see is of the Catalog panel and the Folders panel in Lightroom, see attached example:

As to the rest, I'm not really understanding exactly what you are saying, but that's probably just a terminology thing. Lets start with that screenshot, then I can probably start understanding the issue a bit better, and hopefully be able to help you sort it out.

 

[Gray Drake]

Thanks for the response. Here is the screenshot, which only shows a few of the dozens of folders I have in my hard drive.
I think I am going to just uninstall all LR software and start over. Thoughts?

Drake

 

[Jim Wilde]

Why would you want to start over? In your first post you said you didn't want to lose all the edits of your 16,000 images, and you'd certainly do that if you started over.

I can see from the screenshot that in your catalog there are 13,500 images for which Lightroom will likely still have all the edit information, so I don't understand what you mean that it only has a "few of the dozens of folders on your hard drive". Yes, many/most of the folders in Lightroom are recorded as "missing", but if they are still on the hard drive it's just a case of re-linking them back to Lightroom. So to me, starting over is the worst option at this stage. It's your call, of course, but personally I'd think it worth spending a little time doing some further investigation.

So, if you are happy to carry on, we first need to look outside Lightroom, to where you think the folders are on the hard drive. So can you start with a screenshot of the Windows Explorer view of the hard drive, showing as many as you can of the pictures folders, especially showing the top of the folder structure.

 

[RogerB]

I think I am going to just uninstall all LR software and start over. Thoughts?

Drake

Hi Drake - I wouldn't uninstall LR yet, the experts here might be able to spot where your troubles are and sort you out.

However, if it does get to the point where you need to reinstall I notice in your original post you said you " Loaded 4 and upgraded to 5 on new computer". You don't need to install version 4 first and then upgrade, as long as you have valid licence keys (which I assume you must have as you installed both versions on your new computer) then just download and install the latest version and use your licence keys to register it.

 

[Gray Drake]

LR 4 - I understand now that I did not have to re-install LR 4 first, but I had the disc and thought I had to start there before upgrading to 5 on line. I have valid keys to both 4 and 5.

Uninstalling - I am not recommending uninstalling, but offered it as an alternative.

Hard Drive Folders - most of my folders from my hard drive do not show up in LR now, some do, but most do not. The photo folder structure in my hard drive is very conventional All are subfolders to my Pictures. Some are topic driven (for example Carol's Art", but most begin with a year as you can see from the screen shot above. I have 15 or so folders for each year, for example I have a folder "2014 - Flowers, Birds and Critters", and I have a similar one beginning with each year I have had a digital camera.

Thanks for your interest,

Drake

 

[Jim Wilde]

The reason I asked for the screenshot of the folders using Windows Explorer is so that I can start making sense of what I see in the Folders Panel, i.e. Lightroom "sees" the top-level "Pictures" folder, and it "sees" one or two of the sub-folders below....but most of the sub-folders Lightroom doesn't "see", and we need to figure out why not. Hence the need to see the screenshot, so if you could so that it will be a great help.

And what do you mean when you say that "most of your folders don't show up in Lightroom".....are you referring to the ones with the "?" marks, are are you saying there's a whole bunch of other folders that don't appear in the Folders Panel in any form?

 

[Gray Drake]

Jim here are a couple of screen shots. You will see LR has not picked up any of my folders on the hard drive after those from 2012 and actually have missed many folders from the earlier periods. The screen shot from my hard drive shows all the 2014 folders, none of which are picked up by LR.

I have not backed up LR since the problem begun, since this will overwrite the edit fills in the back up folder. It seems there was a corruption in the download of LR% and uninstalling may be the best action now. I have called Adobe but they refuse any help. I think if I do this process, by existing back up can be used to repopulate LR and restore all the edits. Comments on this process would be helpful.

Again thanks for all your interest and time.

Drake

 

[Tony Jay]

Drake, be patient.

I have watched this thread develop.
Jim has things well in hand.
Just let him guide you and all those lost images will be relinked - no need to cut your losses.

Tony Jay

 

[Jim Wilde]

Drake, a couple of observations:

Taking a catalog does no harm, it doesn't "overwrite the edit files in the backup folder".....the backup process creates a new backup file (which is basically just a copy of the original catalog) every time you run it. Older backup copies are unaffected.

Secondly, if all those 2014 folders don't appear in the catalog, can you confirm that you have previously imported them? Lightroom doesn't "auto-populate", you have to instruct Lightroom to import them by the import process. If you have imported them, and they're not in the Folders Panel, that would imply you are using an older catalog....so let's explore that first. To start with that, close down Lightroom then start it again whilst holding down the Ctrl key. This will bring up the "Select Catalog" dialog box, could you take a screenshot of that before quitting.

We'll need to sort out the catalog question before addressing any missing folders.

 

[Gray Drake]

Drake, a couple of observations:

Taking a catalog (I do not know what this means) does no harm, it doesn't "overwrite the edit files in the backup folder".....the backup process creates a new backup file (which is basically just a copy of the original catalog) every time you run it. Older backup copies are unaffected. So if I backed up 15 times, I could recover all the image info from the 10th back up. It seems, however, you would lose all the edits that occurred in the interim.

Thanks for your continued interest.

Drake

Secondly, if all those 2014 folders don't appear in the catalog, can you confirm that you have previously imported them? Thought so, but since being lost in the woods, I did not drop sufficient bread crumbs to accurately retrace all my steps. Lightroom doesn't "auto-populate", you have to instruct Lightroom to import them by the import process. If you have imported them, and they're not in the Folders Panel, that would imply you are using an older catalog....so let's explore that first. To start with that, close down Lightroom then start it again whilst holding down the Ctrl key. This will bring up the "Select Catalog" dialog box, could you take a screenshot of that before quitting. This brings up all the folders in my hard drive - the folders I would expect to see in the lightroom catalogue.

We'll need to sort out the catalog question before addressing any missing folders.

I am going out of town for a few days and would like to get this resolved beforehand. Perhaps we can discuss more than one step in the resolution process in each posting.

The attached snip shows the file listing when the create a new catalogue button is clicked, there is no button named "Select Catalogue". Sorry about the location.

Thanks

 

[Jim Wilde]

That should have been "Taking a catalog backup", apologies for the confusion. And yes, you can 15 backups and recover edits from the 10th backup, and if you are careful you will not lose all the other edits.

Drake, if you want to get this resolved quickly, then you have to help me to help you. Basically saying that you're not certain that you've imported all the 2014 (and now 2015) pictures into Lightroom doesn't help us move forward at all. You've repeatedly said that these folders don't show up in Lightroom, and that you don't want to lose the edits, so I'm working towards recovering that situation....but now without any certainty that the files have ever been imported. Can you provide any clarity on this?

Yes, it would be great to "discuss more than one step in the resolution process in each posting", but that's just not possible until we have a much clearer idea of the situation. The screenshot that you just provided is not what I asked for, so I'll try again:

1. Close Lightroom.
2. Press and hold the Ctrl key on the keyboard while starting Lightroom again in the normal way.
3. This should bring up the Select Catalog dialog box, like the attached:

Select "Quit" and post the screenshot, thanks.

 

[Chris_M]

Erm, sorry if this sounds a bit silly, but it wouldn't be something as simple as the photos that are missing were on different drives would it?

 

[Jim Wilde]

It may be, Chris....but first we need to establish exactly what files are supposed to be in the catalog, or if the correct catalog is being used. Once that's sorted , then we can go hunting for whatever files are missing.

 

[smcf]

Jim I'm a new guy here (a month or so) and I just wanted to say I'm impressed by your consistent dedication and patience in trying to help us all out. Bravo sir.

 

[Jim Wilde]

Hey, that's really kind of you to say so.....much appreciated!

 

[Gray Drake]

That should have been "Taking a catalog backup", apologies for the confusion. And yes, you can 15 backups and recover edits from the 10th backup, and if you are careful you will not lose all the other edits.

Drake, if you want to get this resolved quickly, then you have to help me to help you. Basically saying that you're not certain that you've imported all the 2014 (and now 2015) pictures into Lightroom doesn't help us move forward at all. You've repeatedly said that these folders don't show up in Lightroom, and that you don't want to lose the edits, so I'm working towards recovering that situation....but now without any certainty that the files have ever been imported. Can you provide any clarity on this?

Yes, it would be great to "discuss more than one step in the resolution process in each posting", but that's just not possible until we have a much clearer idea of the situation. The screenshot that you just provided is not what I asked for, so I'll try again:

1. Close Lightroom.
2. Press and hold the Ctrl key on the keyboard while starting Lightroom again in the normal way.
3. This should bring up the Select Catalog dialog box, like the attached:

Select "Quit" and post the screenshot, thanks.

Here is the screenshot as requested.