transfering lightroom from desktop to laptop different os's

[craig_k]

using lightroom 1.4.1, started out on pc windows xp and then got a laptop vista 64 bit, i copied my all my photos i had on pc to laptop so as to have same inventory. i then installed lr1.4.1 save version as i have on pc to laptop.

i wish to transfer my pc lr to laptop lr.there has to be a easy way to do this but i cannot get it done now after 6' hours of trying..i back up lr upon startup to my ext hd daily so......i tried importing this most recent back up into laptop from ext hd and it started building the exact pc version into the laptop just fine,folders and collections, keywords and all...there was a catch, seems like new folders were red and when i clicked on them to associate to photos on laptop they wouldnt, so i deleted each individual library folder off laptop lr ......

will someone please post how to transfer from one machine to the other the easiest\simpliest way to do this.ive spent multiple 1's of hours combing through this for weeks now, and i cant get this done no matter what method i attempt.........im not very tech savy and dont know about folder hierarcy so well but id think somehow you could very easily just transpose from one machine to the other especially since your 8''' photo's in transfered files and in lightroom match the ones on my laptop no problem in your my pictures folder....

for the ones that i do have transferred onto my laptop, through various methods, i noticed yesterday some of them have errors on attached sidecar file.this is a total mess right now..... all i want to do is get my pc and laptop exactly matched so i may essentially have my laptop as a dedicated photo machine........

how all these different transferring techniques ive tried to do this and it results in problems is crazy...i was able to take my lr printing user templates off pc by exporting them as catalogs to ext hd then finding on laptop my user templates folder and getting them into laptop and they transferred just fine, why cant you do something so simple as that for your library folders \collections and all existing associated data????

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Hi craig, welcome to the forum!

I hope you don't mind, but I've broken your post up into chunks to make it easier to read.

Ok, it's actually easy, so don't worry. Let's start from the beginning.

The rough overview - you simply pick up your entire folder of pictures, and your existing catalog, and copy them from your desktop to your laptop, ideally to the same equivalent location. When you open LR on the laptop, the folders may go red, at which point you simply point them back in the right direction.

But a few questions, to make it even easier, and then we'll talk you through it one step at a time.

1. Where are your photos stored on your desktop?
2. Where is your catalog stored on your desktop?
3. What does your Folders panel look like - is a long list of folders (how many?) or a nice tidy hierarchy of parent and children folders?
4. Is everything still on your desktop working as it should?

 

[craig_k]

you ask:
1. Where are your photos stored on your desktop?
2. Where is your catalog stored on your desktop?
3. What does your Folders panel look like - is a long list of folders (how many?) or a nice tidy hierarchy of parent and children folders?
4. Is everything still on your desktop working as it should

thank you Victoria,
1. on my desktop, all my photos are in a folder named "my transferred files" as this is where i put pictures from a shoot off my card reader and its given an appropriate name for id purposes and currently has 77 named folders......on my PC, it looks like "my transferred files" is in my documents folder. so: my docs\my transferred files.....?
2.my lr catalog is stored (by default i read somewhere over these last few weeks) in my documents\my pictures\lightroom.....it contains 5 folders: auto imported photos,lightroom, lightroom catalog previews.lrdata,lightroom settings, and lightroom catalog.lrcat..........id always get only the lrcat folder (exported as catalog) to bring into my laptop off my ext hd like the killer tips video showed to do.
3. on my pc and origional install of lr 1.4.1 and folders panel, it has about 6' folders each named for the particular shoot because id import that so named folder from "my transferred files" folder after downloading them off my cf card so they are named exactly as the folder(my transferred files) they reside in on my pc and backups of each shoot in LR so i'd know "what is where". thats as tidy as i know how to be as far as hierarchy business goes......but theres not any guessing on my part if that a LR folder panels folder named "ttrodeosatnite" is exactly the same folder named "ttrodeosatnite" found in my docs\my transferred files as that is exactly is as it was named upon getting it off my card reader and origionally giving it that name in "my transferred files" on the download from card reader into pc,then importing that into LR, if that helps explain my limited knowledge of file naming hierarchy
4.Yes ma'm everything currently works just fine on my pc and the origional LR 1.4.1 program


i added a signature card info of my system as best i could describe it last nite after my origional post i hope it shows now........thank you so kindly,craig

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Excellent answers Craig.

Ok, try this for me... first duplicate your catalog (just in case......!!!!!)

Then put any old photo directly into the 'my transferred files' folder, alongside all of your 6' odd folders.

Import that photo into LR, with it set it 'add to catalog at the existing location' or 'reference files at the existing location'... whatever the wording was for 1.4.1. Just not copy or move.

When you've done that, your Folders panel should then look like My Transferred Files as the parent, and all of the other folders as subfolders. Got that?

Having done that, it's a really easy job to pick the catalog file, and the 'my transferred files' folder, and move them onto the new machine. When you first open that catalog on the new machine (just double click on it), the folders will all go red because it won't know where to find them. All you do is right click on the top level 'my transferred files' folder in the Folders panel and choose 'Find Missing Folder'. Point to the new location, and you should be all set!

 

[craig_k]

fwiw........i have already copied the PC folder named "my transferred files" that holds all my photos onto my laptop so the are already there along with an installed LR1.4.1 its about 33gbs, it lives in the my pictures folder in Vista but its named "my transferred files" just like on my PC and seems like the LR folder is in my pics on Vista as well (by default) but when i transferred my custom settings for print templates from pc to vista i had to go find adobe in the apps and look in there for the folder containg templates..it wasnt all in one place like on windows xp and pc but anyway i got what i wanted into the place it needed to be and it shows up on laptop version LR and the print panel under user templates which was very encouraging

 

[craig_k]

Ok, try this for me... first duplicate your catalog (just in case......!!!!!)

Then put any old photo directly into the 'my transferred files' folder, alongside all of your 6' odd folders.

when you say duplicate...... are you asking me to do a current backup of LR to my ext hd for today as it sits on my PC?........

while on PC,then put any old photo of my choosing into "my transferred files" along with the 77 appropriately named folders that currently reside there now as my entire inventory of photos........... because the 6' odd folders you mentioned, thats what is in the (PC) LR folders panel when i open LR program now...........that is all i imported into LR to see about working on\keeping

 

[craig_k]

i made the copy of todays backup of LR on my pc to my ext hd if thats what you ask me to do, thats done

 

[Victoria Bampton]

I'm not at my desktop right now, but yes, that backup will do nicely. I'd just hate to see you tangle up your working catalog by accident, hence the duplicate or backup.

 

[craig_k]

gee ma'm what exactly does duplicate mean if its not a backup....i want to do exactly what im told to do, not being obstinant but i want to do it correctly and as instructed......
how do you duplicate the lrcat.sorry i cannot make that bridge

+ i added a photo to " my transferred files" its 33 gbs and it already resides on my laptop should i have to recopy it to my ext had that'sll take about 4' minuates

 

[craig_k]

i right clicked on lrcat on the my pic folder where it resides and then pasted that to my desktop.... assuming that duplicate means "make a copy of" so now i have a "duplicate\copy " of lrcat on my desktop and i added a photo to "my transferred files" 33gb folder ...i hope that puts me in compliance

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Sorry Craig, I'm back!

Yep, duplicate = copy, so if we completely mess up your catalog (although I can't see how!), you can just put the copy/duplicate back in its place, right? So yep, copy/paste onto the desktop is exactly what I had in mind.

So, now we want to let LR see the 'my transferred files' folder in your Folders panel, thereby creating a hierarchy. That'll save you updating the location of all 6' folders, which I could see not being a popular option, although it's certainly a possibility if you'd prefer!

You won't need to worry about copying the whole 'my transferred files' again, if they're already on the laptop.

So, you've put the extra photo in 'my transferred files' on the desktop, right? Have you imported that into LR yet? And does LR's folder panel now show as a hierarchy of parent/child folders? There's instructions with screenshots here: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroomqueen/141samples/141FolderHierarchy.pdf

 

[craig_k]

hmmmm little undesirable issue developing ..i put 2 different photos into "my transferred file" folder....i moved them there, i didnt copy them there but they arent showing up, i put the second in when i failed to see the first one and i didnt have any folders highlighted so i migh have gone there and looked inside the same named folder it came from in the first place and its not there so i got another one i didnt take but got off the inet and "moved it" to my transferred files folder and its not showing up either, even after doing a "search" from start menu trying to find the thing

 

[craig_k]

wonder whats going on with that???? im not that dumb surely......do i need to make a folder to put that "any old photo" into?????
i follow you so far Victoria except im concerned about these 2 photos i put into "my transferred files" folder not only showing up there but where could they possibley be in there......thats not cool

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Ok, let's clarify this a bit, because I think we're talking at cross purposes.

Leave all of existing pictures in their folders exactly where they are usually. If you've moved any, put them back.

Now find an image file. Here, download this: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroomqueen/images/hardbound-2'.jpg just so we don't mistake it. Put this file into 'my transferred files' on your pc. You don't want to put it in a subfolder - put it directly in 'my transferred files' Ignore the laptop for the moment.

Now go to Lightroom and go to File > Import Photos from Disk. Go find that photo that you've just put in 'my transferred files' and set it to 'Import photos at their current location' - not copy or move.

Then report back....

 

[craig_k]

So, you've put the extra photo in 'my transferred files' on the desktop, right?......
no, i didnt put a copy of my transferred files onto desktop......
when i do that then, add the "any old photo" into that copied to desktop version and that moved photo would stay there and be visable by itself...... .... correct?

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Sorry, I was thinking desktop computer, as in that XP machine.

 

[craig_k]

cross post, whoops.timeout

 

[craig_k]

Ok, let's clarify this a bit, because I think we're talking at cross purposes.

Leave all of existing pictures in their folders exactly where they are usually. If you've moved any, put them back.

Now find an image file. Here, download this: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightr...rdbound-2'.jpg just so we don't mistake it. Put this file into 'my transferred files' on your pc. You don't want to put it in a subfolder - put it directly in 'my transferred files' Ignore the laptop for the moment.

Now go to Lightroom and go to File > Import Photos from Disk. Go find that photo that you've just put in 'my transferred files' and set it to 'Import photos at their current location' - not copy or move.

Then report back....

Victoria, for some reason the 2 photos i moved into "my transferred files" folder that is on my pc desktop xp machine its all i have up and running.............they are not showing up in there after i moved them there, the first one was from a existing folder in there now but looking in that folder where it origionally came from i thought it might have gone back into it although it wasnt highlited thusly it might be showing there as a duplicate .......it wasnt so i got a old inet photo and moved it into "my transferred files" folder and it doesnt show up there either

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Victoria, for some reason the 2 photos i moved into "my transferred files" folder that is on my pc desktop xp machine its all i have up and running.............they are not showing up in there after i moved them there, the first one was from a existing folder in there now but looking in that folder where it origionally came from i thought it might have gone back into it although it wasnt highlited thusly it might be showing there as a duplicate .......it wasnt so i got a old inet photo and moved it into "my transferred files" folder and it doesnt show up there either

I'm going to stop and eat before my dinner goes really cold!

In the meantime, clarify something for me? Are you looking in Explorer or Lightroom? Because I'm thinking you're doing this moving in Explorer at the moment, which is where I'd do it. Files won't show up in LR until you import them.

Take me step by step through what you've done in that last moving files?

Do you know how to do screenshots? That'd probably be the easy option!

 

[craig_k]

im in timeout Vctoria, would you like for me to save that photo you put in your last post into "my transferred files" folder even though right now i have moved 2 photos into that same folder and they cannot be found or seen...
would you like for me to go ahead and save that LR book pic to "my transferred files" folder? waiting for an answer because the 2 i already put in there before arent showing up in there for whatever reason that may be

 

[craig_k]

im not looking in either lightroom its closed or windows explorer...i found 2 photos and right clicked on them to "move" them into "my transferred files" folder.......go eat and well come back in 3'/45minuates or so ok perhaps thats my issue i need to move them through explorer from where they reside to "my transferred files" folder instead of right clickeing them and hope they move with that option

 

[craig_k]

thats were i am so go eat and well come back in 3'/45 mins.........allright i can do that very easily

 

[craig_k]

i appreciate your perseverance and kindness but go eat and ill see you in 45minuates

 

[Victoria Bampton]

I'm back. I eat fast.

If you look in Windows Explorer, can you find those photos in the my transferred photos folder. Either the 2 you already put in there, or the LR book picture, or whatever.

 

[craig_k]

back as well