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transfering lightroom from desktop to laptop different os's

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craig_k

Active Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2008
Messages
173
Location
texas
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
6.x
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????
 
it is turned off but in my setup i guess that directs things
 
ill try and get some screenshots for you
 
Ok Craig, got the screenshots. Lovely job, that'll do nicely.

Ok, the AutoImport Settings dialog explained why they're bouncing off in a funny direction, but we won't worry about that, as we've got exactly the result we were looking for.

You see this hierarchy:

attachment.php


Now, if that was still a long list, starting with '8ttrodeoteampics, then 529tg, 2''6b, and so forth, when you moved to the other computer, you'd have to relink each of those in turn.

However as we have them showing within a parent folder 'My Transferred files', when you move to the other computer, you can right click on My Transferred Files and choose Find Missing Folder and point that to My Transferred Files on the laptop, right? When you do that, it'll find all the ones in side.

I think we've got it!
 
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ms Victoria, i just sent 2 new screenshots of my laptop, one is the folder heirarchy in library as it exists on it and the other is my auto import setting features........my concern is before i import this new big complete transfer from my pc to laptop.would it probably be best to delete all previous imports currently residing on my laptop now in order to prevent any duplications, sidecar conflicts and whatever else can develop by re-importing over existing materail that already resides there....i want this to be as hasselfree as it can be made for as you can see , if something can go astray it will as long as i have a hand in it through my own ineptness or some setting ive arranged my LR to use as a default.thank you so kindly.....craig
 
Yep, got them Craig.

Ok, next step...

On your laptop, ignore Lightroom for a minute.
Look in Windows Explorer and check 'My Transferred Files' if it already exists on your laptop.
Does it exactly match the 'My Transferred Files' folder on your desktop?

If yes, great, we'll move on.

If no, remove the 'My Transferred Files' folder from your laptop, and copy it from your desktop again.

Then come back and we'll do the next bit of transferring your catalog.
 
Victoria, i deleted the previous copy,then replaced the "my transferred files folder" on my laptop for you so as there isn't any question as it being identical now to my pc.
 
Great. Ok, next job...

Remove the catalog that's currently on your laptop. Zip it up and put it somewhere so you can't mistake it.

Then transfer your XP catalog over to your laptop. Double click to open it.

The folders should all go red.

Right click on the My Transferred Photos folder and point to the laptop location for that folder.

Restart LR.

Have all of the other folders gone white now?
 
Great. Ok, next job...

Remove the catalog that's currently on your laptop. Zip it up and put it somewhere so you can't mistake it.

Then transfer your XP catalog over to your laptop. Double click to open it.

The folders should all go red.

Right click on the My Transferred Photos folder and point to the laptop location for that folder.

Restart LR.

Have all of the other folders gone white now?

Victoria....I just want to say as a new member........your support to this poster is awesome.

Len
 
Thanks Len! And welcome to the forum!
 
Len, On behalf of the adminstration here, thanks for noticing and taking the time to post your warm comment and feedback for VB. (We've noticed her standout efforts on this thread as well. :) )
 
Remove the catalog that's currently on your laptop. Zip it up and put it somewhere so you can't mistake it.
Then transfer your XP catalog over to your laptop. Double click to open it.
The folders should all go red.
Right click on the My Transferred Photos folder and point to the laptop location for that folder.
Restart LR.
Have all of the other folders gone white now?

Victoria, on my pc desktop is the present LRCAT we put up a few days back ......I copy that on to my external hd then find the laptop folders of LR and the folder the lcat resides in and take it out and put it in a folder on my destop, so as to remove it from laptop lightroom version entirely....then do i insert the pc version of LRCAT i've moved over to the laptop back into the laptops folder that held that same file for lrcat and open my lightroom?
I dont take out of my laptops version of lightroom lrcat without inserting the same version that currently resides on my pc now before i doubleclick on it while its just laying out on my laptops desktop without inserting it into the folder it should reside in do i?
as it sits right now all ive done is take "my transferred files" folder from my pc and placed it on my laptop in the pictures folder so as to have the same origional photos reside on both computers and so that lightroom has same acess to the origional photos to work with.
i have not imported anything else into my laptop at all except some prior attempts to get individual folders containing the pc lr version onto my laptop
 
It's late, and I'm not quite I followed that. I'll read again in the morning.

How does the external fit into this game?

Same original photos on both - great, that's what we're aiming for.

Vista catalog (muddled from attempts to fix it) - hide it somewhere zipped.

XP catalog (correct one) - copy onto the Vista laptop. Then do the double-click to open and sort the red folders.
 
Craig, you've gone quiet... is that a good sign or a bad one?
 
Wow, great job Victoria. Another reason this is the best forum on the internet.
 
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!

Victoria, this quote was from you on page 1 on "how to" my question i was asking in my last post page 6 is this.......on my pc desktop is the lrcat folder from my pc version of lr we placed on there last sunday.....if i read you right,you're telling me now to go to laptop and remove my lrcat file from its folder and put it somewhere safe (to me thats in a folder on my laptop desktop as i dont know about zipping) so im going to do that...then i need get that pc version of lrcat on my pc desktop and i need to put it on my external hd then bring\place it to my laptop, then put that lrcat from pc in the very same folder that held my laptop version of lrcat. when i do that..... do i just double click on that folder containing lrcat without the laptop lightroom program being open or does lightroom need to be open causing a migration of the new lrcat to take its place in my laptops version of lightroom whenever that folder gets double clicked? i am just clarifying in my mind what needs to be done and in what order before whatever we've done to this point stays intact........
 
another question i have is on my laptop version of lightroom i already have some of the folders imported into lightroom from my pc...will i need to delete everything that has already been imported from my pc to the laptop version of lightroom because if i dont and i open it up after this lrcat transfer will i then have duplicates of all the existing photos in their same named files with the #2 at the top of the gridview like already happened once before.....essentially do i need to delete everything that already exists on my laptop and just start freash from scratch upon this migration about to take place
 
thank you ms victoria i appreciate everything, but ive already made one mess with this and i dont want to compond it agian further by doing something i really dont understand concering movements of files and whatnot, i hope you can appreciate that on my part.
 
will somebody please confirm to me that what i ask\interpreted to do in post #65 and #66 is indeed what is needed to be done in the above posts because im on hold untill its confirmed that what i understood your instructions to be and what they are may be two different things...craig
 
Hi Craig

I'm back. Sorry, been completely swamped with work the last couple of days.

if i read you right,you're telling me now to go to laptop and remove my lrcat file from its folder and put it somewhere safe (to me thats in a folder on my laptop desktop as i dont know about zipping)
Yep. Just to make doubly sure that we're exactly the same on both, without having some files relinked and some not, and the confusion that can result.

then i need get that pc version of lrcat on my pc desktop and i need to put it on my external hd then bring\place it to my laptop, then put that lrcat from pc in the very same folder that held my laptop version of lrcat
Yep. You've got it. It actually doesn't matter where on the laptop that you put the catalog, as long as you know where you've put it.

when i do that..... do i just double click on that folder containing lrcat without the laptop lightroom program being open or does lightroom need to be open causing a migration of the new lrcat to take its place in my laptops version of lightroom whenever that folder gets double clicked?
Lightroom will be closed (because it won't have a catalog to work with yet). You're going to open the folder, and then you're going double click on the lrcat file that you've just copied over, and Lightroom will then open that catalog.

on my laptop version of lightroom i already have some of the folders imported into lightroom from my pc...will i need to delete everything that has already been imported from my pc to the laptop version of lightroom
By moving the laptop's catalog out of the way (but not deleting it, just in case), we're taking what you'd done previously out of the equation.

will i then have duplicates of all the existing photos in their same named files with the #2 at the top of the gridview like already happened once before
By following the instructions we've been discussing, you'll have an exact copy of the image files and an exact copy of the catalog, and you won't import anything. All you'll do is tell LR where to find them.

Let me just repeat that, because this bit's important. You won't reimport the files. They're already in the catalog that we're transferring, so you don't need to. They will have little question marks against them, but then we'll relink them and they'll be fine.

Edit - one thing I've just thought of. Just make sure 'autoimport' is disabled before you try this, as they may have contributed to the previous confusion.
 
i thank you so kindly ms Victoria, you're a true blessing ill report back tomorrow as itll be then before i get to this i believe...........much obliged...ck
 
yes auto import still off on both pc\laptop untill conversion made, i appreciate your detail
 
I am able to report positive news, the migration eventially was sucessfull and i want to thank you so kindly......it did take several attempts to get it correct, one that i can report as a possible grimlin is that it amy be best to insert the lrcat file into its respective proper folder and in vista 64 bit thats in your lightroom folder under default pictures folder......the reason being once i just double clicked the lrcat on my desktop , and it left the lrdata previews file and some another one i believe lrcat.lock on the desktop..........i had several attempts to get it to come up in folders panel with "my transferred files " folder finally being visable so as to right click and find folder to connect to populate photos and named folders.............as on my origional attempt the "my transferred files" folder wasnt there in the folders panel........somehow all the individual folders that make up my transferred files were there but in a different hierarchy setup, i was having to go to each named folder and select find folder to connect then it would fall further down the hierarchy listing and go to pictures\my transferred files\named folder and it would migrate ...that showed me something was amiss and i looked at my auto-import settings because it brought my windows xp setting into vista and they are different so i changed somethng there concerning watched folders and re-tried it again and it eventually fell properly into the library panel as "my transferred files" whereas the right click and find folder option and link to it could be performed..... ill have to get my kelby manuel out to see about the settings for auto-import and the way vista directs things differently than doew windows xp.......there definately some kind of issue here...i just get to trying new changes on "what could be possibly apparently wrong" for this event not to be transpiring as it should when things dont go right and it "may lie in some incorrect direction path deal" to the best of my limited nowledge concerning filepaths and file swapping that i have....so i appreciate your directions and staying with me on this as surely anything now that comes up cant be near as difficult for me to address......thank you ms Victoria i appreciate it ....craig
 
Congratulations on getting it working Craig!
 
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