New SSD - Lightroom

[Bryan]

I'm having a solid state disc fitted to my desk top computer tomorrow. The idea is to use it for applications and to store data elsewhere. The question is, how will this sit with my Lightroom catalogue which expects to be located in and see all of my raw images on drive C, when, in future they will be on drive D?

[MDM]

It is nothing to be concerned about. If the catalog can't find the images then you simply point it back to the images. It will depend on whether you move the catalog onto your new drive C or keep it on drive D but basically it is a simple operation. If you have any problem, I am happy to help but it should not be necessary. 

Edited February 15, 2021 by MDM

[Matt Limb]

15 hours ago, Bryan said:

I'm having a solid state disc fitted to my desk top computer tomorrow. The idea is to use it for applications and to store data elsewhere. The question is, how will this sit with my Lightroom catalogue which expects to be located in and see all of my raw images on drive C, when, in future they will be on drive D?

 

I have exacttly the same set up ... as quoted an easy update.

 

If I remember I simple copied all the images to the new drive then opend LR and pointed one image to the new location and it found them all

[spacecadet]

20 minutes ago, Matt Limb said:

 

I have exacttly the same set up ... as quoted an easy update.

 

If I remember I simple copied all the images to the new drive then opend LR and pointed one image to the new location and it found them all

Same here. I moved the catalogue to the new drive as well. LR doesn't mind,which is just as well because my external drives keep deciding to change their letters for some reason!

Edited February 16, 2021 by spacecadet

[Allan Bell]

23 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

Same here. I moved the catalogue to the new drive as well. LR doesn't mind,which is just as well because my external drives keep deciding to change their letters for some reason!

 

When I used to use windows before changing to Apple the drive letters used to keep changing. I did find a way to fix them so they did not change but sorry can't remember how. Well it is 10 years ago. If I think of it, my mind is trawling the info in the background while I work, I will come back. Sure it was a simple fix and should be on the net somewhere.

 

Allan

 

[spacecadet]

4 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

When I used to use windows before changing to Apple the drive letters used to keep changing. I did find a way to fix them so they did not change but sorry can't remember how. Well it is 10 years ago. If I think of it, my mind is trawling the info in the background while I work, I will come back. Sure it was a simple fix and should be on the net somewhere.

 

Allan

 

Yes, I've recently been using a camera tether and a USB printer (after the wifi kaputted) so my machine is confused. I tried a fix but it just changed back. So I'll probably lump it. Thanks for the thought.

[Richard Baker]

Once you've moved the files and want LR to redirect, simply click on the exclamation mark on one 'missing file', then locate its new folder on your SSD and it'll find all the others update simultaneously.

[Bryan]

Thanks for all the responses, hope to have the computer back tomorrow, when I'll see what happens.  Problem is me and LR have a love hate relationship with the emphasis on the latter, but fingers crossed !

[John Mitchell]

3 hours ago, Bryan said:

Thanks for all the responses, hope to have the computer back tomorrow, when I'll see what happens.  Problem is me and LR have a love hate relationship with the emphasis on the latter, but fingers crossed !

 

If you decide to break up with Lady Lightroom, there's always the free Capture One Express for Sony. It works fine for me.

 

But then I'm too dumb and lazy to do much in the way of post-processing and photo manipulation. 😎

[mickfly]

2 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

If you decide to break up with Lady Lightroom, there's always the free Capture One Express for Sony. It works fine for me.

 

But then I'm too dumb and lazy to do much in the way of post-processing and photo manipulation. 😎

The Express version is free, any other versions are more expensive than the Lightroom sub, and for my £10 a month I get LR and PS (just wish I could afford Premiere Pro).

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, mickfly said:

The Express version is free, any other versions are more expensive than the Lightroom sub, and for my £10 a month I get LR and PS (just wish I could afford Premiere Pro).

 

The free Express version is surprisingly well-featured. Being on a tight budget, I'll be sticking with it. I also use PS Elements and a couple of other programs to fill in the blanks.

[Bryan]

I am persisting with the steam age stand alone versions of LR and PS and am still learning new tricks in PS. I've recently reworked some images taken over 10 years ago and the transformation is remarkable. My view is that there is a law of diminishing returns with software upgrades, my equally ancient edition of MS office edits documents just fine, the latest bells and whistles  aren't worth paying for. I only hope that my local friendly computer store can successfully transfer all of my old apps across to the new SSD drive. I'll know this afternoon.

 

Actually not, he has run into a snag, so without the box for at least another day.

Edited February 17, 2021 by Bryan

[Bryan]

This saga continues to run. The repair man carried out tests on my existing hard drive and could find no fault, but, when he tried to clone some of the contents into the new SSD it refused to cooperate. It appears to have died and, although I have backed up my data, the applications were all lost. So I now have a new HD and a new SSD. I am currently copying data onto the new HD, and it is taking a long time, maybe 13 hours, but, hopefully it will get there. 

 

Regarding PS and LR, progress has been better than I expected. Once I was able to penetrate the wall of online sales for products that I do not want on the Adobe website, I was through to a record of my account and was able to download LR 6. It required two different passwords, and a heart stopping moment when the installation told me that I only had access to LR4, but, having accepted that, when I fired it up it was in fact LR6. PS was easier, I still have the disc and code number. Similar success with MS office. There is something to be said for the almost defunct CD.

 

Once my data has been restored I'll get to wrestling with LR and my catalogue. Can't be that difficult........

 

 

 

[sb photos]

5 hours ago, Bryan said:

This saga continues to run. The repair man carried out tests on my existing hard drive and could find no fault, but, when he tried to clone some of the contents into the new SSD it refused to cooperate. It appears to have died and, although I have backed up my data, the applications were all lost. So I now have a new HD and a new SSD. I am currently copying data onto the new HD, and it is taking a long time, maybe 13 hours, but, hopefully it will get there. 

 

Bryan, would this make life easier for you if in the future your SSD/HD failed, Windows badly corrupted or your PC was stolen? SSD's are much more reliable than older hard drives, but when they fail, and a very small minority do, it can cost an arm and a leg for a data recovery, even if possible. I use Mac's, but the same process should apply to a Windows PC, regularly clone your boot drive, automatically sync your data to an external drive and use cloud storage for your important images. Years back I used Norton Ghost to clone XP and Win 7 drives, I suspect there are still similar applications. Restoring from a clone, or even booting from the clone to initially save time, saves having to reinstall your os and applications, which can save considerable time. With my Mac's I use carbon copy cloner, time machine, sync time and some cloud storage. Hoping your LR reinstall etc all goes well.

Edited February 20, 2021 by sb photos

[Bryan]

On 16/02/2021 at 12:12, Richard Baker said:

Once you've moved the files and want LR to redirect, simply click on the exclamation mark on one 'missing file', then locate its new folder on your SSD and it'll find all the others update simultaneously.

 

Struggling with this Richard. How do I get to a "missing file"?

 

I've managed to re-awake a couple of old catalogues but not my main catalogue, I'm beginning to wonder if it was not backed up, even though I did back up all of my photos including the Lightroom folder that resides under Pictures. 

 

I confess that I find very little about LR to be intuitive and if there are two choices to be made I inevitably pick the wrong one!

 

However LR is up and running and all of my photos appear to be intact if not recognised by the software.

 

 

[Bryan]

27 minutes ago, sb photos said:

 

Bryan, would this make life easier for you if in the future your SSD/HD failed, Windows badly corrupted of your PC was stolen? SSD's are much more reliable than older hard drives, but when they fail, and a very small minority do, it can cost an arm and a leg for a data recovery, even if possible. I use Mac's, but the same process should apply to a Windows PC, regularly clone your boot drive, automatically sync your data to an external drive and use cloud storage for your important images. Years back I used Norton Ghost to clone XP and Win 7 drives, I suspect there are still similar applications. Restoring from a clone, or even booting from the clone to initially save time, saves having to reinstall your os and applications, which can save considerable time. With my Mac's I use carbon copy cloner, time machine, sync time and some cloud storage. Hoping your LR reinstall etc all goes well.

 

Thanks Steve.  I've no idea how to clone a boot drive, but I have a mate who worked as an IT guru for a utility company and I'm sure he will do it for me when we get past Covid.

[Harry Harrison]

30 minutes ago, Bryan said:

However LR is up and running and all of my photos appear to be intact if not recognised by the software.

When you say that you've not managed to wake up your main catalogue do you mean that it won't launch? Alternatively perhaps you mean that it launches and you can see previews of all the images that should be there but they all have the exclamation mark on the thumbnails indicating that your catalogue has lost its bearings with relation to your full resolution images in the move. This can be as simple as changing the name of a top level folder where they reside.

 

In this case then, as Richard says, simply clicking on the exclamation mark on one of the images in grid view asks you to find that particular image file on your hard drive in its new location, once you've done so then that is often all it takes for Lightroom to realise what's gone on and find all the others. Hopefully that's it. Obviously to do this you want to have a clear idea of where all your images now reside on the new hard drive, maybe looking for a particular image in Windows Explorer first before using the 'locate' routine and, fingers crossed, making sure that it's actually there.

Edited February 20, 2021 by Harry Harrison

[Richard Baker]

25 minutes ago, Bryan said:

 

Struggling with this Richard. How do I get to a "missing file"?

 

I've managed to re-awake a couple of old catalogues but not my main catalogue, I'm beginning to wonder if it was not backed up, even though I did back up all of my photos including the Lightroom folder that resides under Pictures. 

 

I confess that I find very little about LR to be intuitive and if there are two choices to be made I inevitably pick the wrong one!

 

However LR is up and running and all of my photos appear to be intact if not recognised by the software.

 

 

 

LR can be counter-intuitive, yes. When I mean a missing file, I mean that if the file in a LR catalogue, there will be a "!" in the top right corner of its small window (in Library Mode). This usually means that it's missing and you need to point LR to where it now resides (assuming it still exists on a local or externatal drive. So you click on the "!" and it'll ask you where to look for the file's new loaction. Once you find it, and perhaps other missing files reside on the same place, click on the missing file and LR will update that and all the others in that folder.

[Bryan]

42 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

When you say that you've not managed to wake up your main catalogue do you mean that it won't launch? Alternatively perhaps you mean that it launches and you can see previews of all the images that should be there but they all have the exclamation mark on the thumbnails indicating that your catalogue has lost its bearings with relation to your full resolution images in the move. This can be as simple as changing the name of a top level folder where they reside.

 

In this case then, as Richard says, simply clicking on the exclamation mark on one of the images in grid view asks you to find that particular image file on your hard drive in its new location, once you've done so then that is often all it takes for Lightroom to realise what's gone on and find all the others. Hopefully that's it. Obviously to do this you want to have a clear idea of where all your images now reside on the new hard drive, maybe looking for a particular image in Windows Explorer first before using the 'locate' routine and, fingers crossed, making sure that it's actually there.

 

Thanks Harry and Richard

 

All of my LR catalogues should now reside on drive D under Pictures/Lightroom but when I try to open the most recent catalogue I'm just picking up older catalogues from the past. I'm not seeing any exclamation marks. I fear that the latest catalogue may have been stored somewhere else, and it has not been backed up.

 

A further problem, when I go from LR to PS I find that the word "edit" is being added to the filename, I can't recall ever seeing that before and a search on the Internet is not yielding any clues.

 

Apart from these issues and the fact that I have lost all of my LR presets and PS actions, all is rosy!

 

 

[Mr Standfast]

7 minutes ago, Bryan said:

 

 

 

Apart from these issues and the fact that I have lost all of my LR presets and PS actions, all is rosy!

 

 

 

Morning Bryan,

 

LR will show you where it is looking for the Presets.

 

Edit Tab

  Preferences

    Show Lightroom Presets Folder

      Then pick Lightroom

In amongst about 30 folders you will find the Develop Presets and Metadata presets etc.

 

If you can find the original presets you should be able to drag and drop them into the appropriate folder.

 

Hope this helps

 

(Windows 10 and LR 6.14)

 

🦔

 

 

[Harry Harrison]

44 minutes ago, Bryan said:

A further problem, when I go from LR to PS I find that the word "edit" is being added to the filename, I can't recall ever seeing that before and a search on the Internet is not yielding any clues.

When you choose to 'Edit in' another program, in this case Photoshop, you are asked if you want to edit the original file, edit a copy, or edit a copy with the Lightroom adjustments. With those second options you'll get 'edit' appended to the filename so I suspect that is what is happening here, the default has probably changed.

[Harry Harrison]

55 minutes ago, Bryan said:

when I try to open the most recent catalogue I'm just picking up older catalogues

Every individual catalogue is launched with a file with the '.lrcat' file extension, opening it will only open that particular catalogue. If you launch Lightroom for the first time after the move it will try and find the Catalogue that you were using last, if it can't find it then it will ask you to locate it and at the same time offer up other catalogues that you have used.

 

You could try searching your hard drive for all '.lrcat' files to see what you have and where they are.

Edited February 20, 2021 by Harry Harrison

[Bryan]

24 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

When you choose to 'Edit in' another program, in this case Photoshop, you are asked if you want to edit the original file, edit a copy, or edit a copy with the Lightroom adjustments. With those second options you'll get 'edit' appended to the filename so I suspect that is what is happening here, the default has probably changed.

I've managed to crack that one thanks Harry. 

 

For anyone else who might have the problem, i.e. LR adding the word edit to the filename, use

 

Develop

Edit

Preferences

External Edit

Template - filename

[NYCat]

2 hours ago, Bryan said:

 

Thanks Steve.  I've no idea how to clone a boot drive, but I have a mate who worked as an IT guru for a utility company and I'm sure he will do it for me when we get past Covid.

 

I'm not familiar with what might work on Windows but I use Superduper to clone my Mac and it is super easy. If I do have a problem they get right back to me with easy instructions and even some humor (humour). You will probably find this simple to do yourself.

 

Paulette

[MizBrown]

5 hours ago, Bryan said:

Thanks Steve.  I've no idea how to clone a boot drive, but I have a mate who worked as an IT guru for a utility company and I'm sure he will do it for me when we get past Covid.

 

I use Macrium Reflect free version for my Windows laptop.  It's not as intuitive as Carbon Copy Cloner, but I was able to copy my boot drive to an SSD and go into the bios to reconfigure which drive to boot from.  You might want to have your IT guru friend walk you through Macrim Reflect, or whatever he recommends, the first time.  I make a clone of my drive C after significant changes (new version of Windows 10, new programs or updates of programs).  It's copied to an external spinning hard drive.