Moving from Lightroom 6 to Lightroom Classic subscription on a new MacBookPro

[CAROL SAUNDERS]

Lots of luck with your new Mac Paulette, I think you have definately done the right thing in asking for advice on here, you can do this......😀

 

Carol

[NYCat]

Thank you Carol. I am trying to move step by step.

 

Paulette

[MDM]

54 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Hi Mick, Not Wishing to divert the thread from Paulette but am interested in what you said about storage drives in your last post. I am using two WD Duo hard disc drives for storage and backup which I purchased when I bought the late 2013 27" iMac I am still using now. There is nothing wrong and I am not having problems with the machine so I intend continuing to use it. The intermittent problem I do have is with one or both of the WD storage drives is that after closing the computer down they keep power on and I have to force the computer to close and even then the drives continue to spin. Usually when I power down the computer the drives power down too.

 

I have been investigating alternatives as I cannot find a supplier who carries the WD duo drives for replacement of the faulty ones.  As you say the G-tech are the same company and I could investigate those but I am interested also in your thoughts on SSD's.  I have concerns that the existing WD Duo's I am running may fail completely in the near future so need to replace sooner than later.

 

Just to clarify the two existing Duo drives are daisy chained with the computer so I am always working from duo 1. When Carbon Copy Cloner kicks in it is set to backup from Duo 1 to Duo 2. They are both 4 Tb drives but I would be looking at larger capacity drives to future-proof.

 

I am asking this here as others might be interested but if you wish you could email me direct.

 

Thank you for being a really helpful friend to all on the forums.

 

Allan

 

I can't advise on the duo drives Allan as I have never used anything like that. I back up manually on to single drives. Unless you are doing client-critical work,  I think RAID etc is overkill. I would caution to be very careful relying on 8 year old drives that have been in regular use as they won't last forever.

 

To really take advantage of SSDs on a Mac, I think you need to be using a machine with Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C. However, they are still way too expensive to use as backup drives. I use my external SSDs mainly for video as they are so fast.  USB 3 drives are a lot cheaper for storage and fast enough for backups. 

[NYCat]

1 hour ago, MDM said:

 

You will be able to use these drives with a hub or adapter but it is likely that you won't be taking full advantage of the potential speed of the computer. One option would be to move files you are working on to the internal drive (or another external SSD if you go that way) and then move them back to the USB storage drives when you are archiving them. This is very easy to do in Lightroom.

 

I used to swear by Western Digital drives  (desktop and portable) but I have had a number of them fail or go really slow over the last few years. I still use them for additional backup but my main drives are G-Technology which is actually the same company as WD - just the higher end product. SanDisk are also made by the same company. It is quite confusing as some of the portably SSD drives which were marketed as G-Technology are now being sold as SanDisk.

 

I would still recommend buying an external SSD if you can afford it. Another major advantage of the portable SSD drives besides speed is that they are tiny and extremely light so are great for travelling or for a very quick backup which can be carried around in a pocket, pouch or small handbag,

 

Thank you for all this help. Do you think I will have a problem if I use a Lightroom back-up of my catalog to move to the new subscription? I was thinking I could attach the external hard drive that has my images and back-ups. Then I would un-zip the latest backup and buy the subscription.

 

Paulette

[MDM]

5 minutes ago, NYCat said:

 

Thank you for all this help. Do you think I will have a problem if I use a Lightroom back-up of my catalog to move to the new subscription? I was thinking I could attach the external hard drive that has my images and back-ups. Then I would un-zip the latest backup and buy the subscription.

 

Paulette

 

It is a while since I moved to the subscription but I had no problems migrating the catalog then or when doing the various updates since then. When you move to a new version, Lightroom asks if you want to update the catalog but it leaves the original alone and gives the updated one a new name. But make sure you have a few copies of the catalog in any case.

 

I would suggest you pay for the subscription, download Lightroom Classic (make sure it is Lightroom  Classic not the other thing they now call Lightroom) and  do the registration signing in bit. Then copy your old catalog onto the new internal drive and double click it to open it up. Don't worry about the images at this point - you can reconnect them to the catalog at a later point. You will hopefully be offered the chance to update the catalog to the latest version - agree and the new catalog will open up. If it can't find the images on the external drive then a question mark will show asking if you want to find them. Just click on that, find the images and off you go. The next step is to become familiar with all the new and amazing features of LR11.

[Allan Bell]

2 hours ago, MDM said:

 

I can't advise on the duo drives Allan as I have never used anything like that. I back up manually on to single drives. Unless you are doing client-critical work,  I think RAID etc is overkill. I would caution to be very careful relying on 8 year old drives that have been in regular use as they won't last forever.

 

To really take advantage of SSDs on a Mac, I think you need to be using a machine with Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C. However, they are still way too expensive to use as backup drives. I use my external SSDs mainly for video as they are so fast.  USB 3 drives are a lot cheaper for storage and fast enough for backups. 

 

Thank you for your reply to my post Mick. Just to clarify the WD Duo 1  mentioned above is my main memory for all files, folders, etc. Duo 2 is a backup of that. I do not use the computer memory for anything else other than the OS system and programs or apps. Maybe have the odd transient file or folder on there at times but they are moved back to Duo 1 when done.

 

I will look into USB 3 drives. Thank you.

 

Allan

 

[NYCat]

21 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

+1 for MDM's advice. Although I like migration assistant for small steps in MacOS, in this instance it's far better to go for a clean setup.

 

A few things to watch out for.

1) Do you have your passwords for internet accounts stored on your current MacBook? If you use the keychain, do you have the iCloud keychain turned on? If you do then the passwords will transfer when you login to your iCloud account on the new MacBook. If not, then turn on iCloud for Keychain now.

2) Same applies to Contacts, Calendar and Notes info. If you use the Mac Contacts, Calendar or Notes apps and haven't turned on iCloud for them, do it now.

3) If all your email account uses IMAP protocol and you haven't deliberately created local folders, then all your email should synch up automatically

 

The good news is that you will still have your old machine. So you can setup the new machine without fear of loosing anything.

 

MDM is right. Bootable Clones are more problematic now. The OS and your data will be split between 2 drives. You can still clone your data, but the OS is "sealed" by Apple so isn't as straightforward to restore from a clone. Booting from an external drive is also not as easy. But it is easy to reinstall the OS from Apple using the built in recovery options.

 

Mark

 

 

 

Thank you, Mark, for your input. When I told a friend of mine that I was going to ask about this on the Forum she said, "I hope the experts don't disagree" so I am glad you and MDM are on the same page. I wrote to the SuperDuper people about a bootable clone and got this answer... https://www.shirtpocket.com/blog/index.php/shadedgrey/comments/its_a_trip_to_the_moon_not_a_marathon/  As usual they were amazingly fast at responding to my email though I did get an auto response about five minutes before this one. it came signed.."Dave Nanian's Typing Dog
Under Dave's Desk Using a Wireless Keyboard"  Gotta love it.

 

Paulette

[NYCat]

2 hours ago, MDM said:

 

It is a while since I moved to the subscription but I had no problems migrating the catalog then or when doing the various updates since then. When you move to a new version, Lightroom asks if you want to update the catalog but it leaves the original alone and gives the updated one a new name. But make sure you have a few copies of the catalog in any case.

 

I would suggest you pay for the subscription, download Lightroom Classic (make sure it is Lightroom  Classic not the other thing they now call Lightroom) and  do the registration signing in bit. Then copy your old catalog onto the new internal drive and double click it to open it up. Don't worry about the images at this point - you can reconnect them to the catalog at a later point. You will hopefully be offered the chance to update the catalog to the latest version - agree and the new catalog will open up. If it can't find the images on the external drive then a question mark will show asking if you want to find them. Just click on that, find the images and off you go. The next step is to become familiar with all the new and amazing features of LR11.

 

Thank you again. That makes sense to me.

 

Paulette

[M.Chapman]

4 hours ago, NYCat said:

 

Thank you, Mark, for your input. When I told a friend of mine that I was going to ask about this on the Forum she said, "I hope the experts don't disagree" so I am glad you and MDM are on the same page. I wrote to the SuperDuper people about a bootable clone and got this answer... https://www.shirtpocket.com/blog/index.php/shadedgrey/comments/its_a_trip_to_the_moon_not_a_marathon/  As usual they were amazingly fast at responding to my email though I did get an auto response about five minutes before this one. it came signed.."Dave Nanian's Typing Dog
Under Dave's Desk Using a Wireless Keyboard"  Gotta love it.

 

Paulette

The Carbon Copy Cloner folks don't seem so confident about bootable clones with latest Macs and MacOS. Their blog is here.

https://bombich.com/blog/2021/05/19/beyond-bootable-backups-adapting-recovery-strategies-evolving-platform

 

Although Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey split the OS and the data onto separate volumes, it's reassuring to understand that all your settings/customisations/extra installed apps etc. are regarded as data and stored on the data volume. So the system volume always remains as an exact (sealed) copy of whichever Apple OS version Apple is installed, so there's no real need to back that volume up.

 

Mark

Edited January 15, 2022 by M.Chapman

[MDM]

1 hour ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Thank you for your reply to my post Mick. Just to clarify the WD Duo 1  mentioned above is my main memory for all files, folders, etc. Duo 2 is a backup of that. I do not use the computer memory for anything else other than the OS system and programs or apps. Maybe have the odd transient file or folder on there at times but they are moved back to Duo 1 when done.

 

I will look into USB 3 drives. Thank you.

 

Allan

 

 

Check out these drives Allan. They are G-Technology but now under the SanDisk brand. They are perfect for storage and also somewhat future proofed as they are USB-C but with a USB-A (USB-3) cable so can be easily used on older computers which do not have Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports. Going for older USB-3 drives at this point is probably not a great idea as that technology is on the way out. If and when you get a new computer, USB-C drives will be a lot faster than USB-3.

 

You can get 6TB instead of 4TB or more if you need it. I have been using G-Technology drives since 2014 for working drives and for storage and have yet to have any problem with them. As I said above, they are made by WD but are the higher end brand. Jigsaw 24 are based in Nottingham and extremely reliable. 

Edited January 15, 2022 by MDM

[Allan Bell]

1 hour ago, MDM said:

 

Check out these drives Allan. They are G-Technology but now under the SanDisk brand. They are perfect for storage and also somewhat future proofed as they are USB-C but with a USB-A (USB-3) cable so can be easily used on older computers which do not have Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports. Going for older USB-3 drives at this point is probably not a great idea as that technology is on the way out. If and when you get a new computer, USB-C drives will be a lot faster than USB-3.

 

You can get 6TB instead of 4TB or more if you need it. I have been using G-Technology drives since 2014 for working drives and for storage and have yet to have any problem with them. As I said above, they are made by WD but are the higher end brand. Jigsaw 24 are based in Nottingham and extremely reliable. 

 

Thanks Mick.

 

Allan

 

[NYCat]

I had some bad minutes this AM when my old MacBook wouldn't start up. Ohnononoonono I don't have the new one yet. Fortunately I got it going. We used to have a wonderful store called Tekserve. It was an independent Apple store and great for buying things and getting help. They put out a little booklet with instructions on what to do if you are having problems. I have held on to mine and pulled it out. So I did the "resetting the System Management Controller" move and it worked. Now it is urgent that I do the most important things first to get ready for the new machine. It's too bad we don't have Tekserve anymore. I think the many Apple stores we have now were too much competition. It was a bit of old New York..  near the old B&H when it was downtown.

 

Paulette

[MDM]

25 minutes ago, NYCat said:

I had some bad minutes this AM when my old MacBook wouldn't start up. Ohnononoonono I don't have the new one yet. Fortunately I got it going. We used to have a wonderful store called Tekserve. It was an independent Apple store and great for buying things and getting help. They put out a little booklet with instructions on what to do if you are having problems. I have held on to mine and pulled it out. So I did the "resetting the System Management Controller" move and it worked. Now it is urgent that I do the most important things first to get ready for the new machine. It's too bad we don't have Tekserve anymore. I think the many Apple stores we have now were too much competition. It was a bit of old New York..  near the old B&H when it was downtown.

 

Paulette

 

That does not sound good. It could be imminent hard drive failure. My son had a mid-2009 MacBook Pro and the drive failed after going very slow for a while before that. He had nothing backed up despite my warnings but he was only a kid at the time. I hope he has learnt his lesson now.

 

It could be something else of course but just make sure you get any data that is not backed up onto an external drive asap. Probably a good idea as well to note your important passwords. What email do you use? 

Edited January 16, 2022 by MDM

[NYCat]

My email is mac.com and also gmail for newsletter type things. I have them on the MacBookAir I am using now. I am speeding along to getting everything in the cloud. Of course, my images are on external hard drives. For a long time I've been using the Air for just about everything except working on my photos and I'm glad I have it. It's small enough to actually use it on my lap. The 16" one is not comfortable except on the desk. I'm rather like you in writing in my passwords myself. The MacBookPro does have a "bootable clone" on an external hard drive. I've been rather paranoid about losing things so everything should be backed up somewhere. This little maneuver I did today is something I've had to do before. Very glad I am doing all this now. It feels like a bit of a race. Do you think I should shut down the MacBookPro at night? Or just sleep it.

 

Paulette

[Ed Rooney]

Sleep it and shut it down about once a month. It's not important either way.

 

Is your Air a 13" M1? 

 

 

[NYCat]

17 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

Sleep it and shut it down about once a month. It's not important either way.

 

Is your Air a 13" M1? 

 

 

 

My Air is also old. It doesn't seem to want to tell me its age. It is running HighSierra and can't go further than that. It's the ancient MacBookPro that I am replacing and that had the problem this morning. Do you remember TekServe?

 

Paulette

[MDM]

23 minutes ago, NYCat said:

My email is mac.com and also gmail for newsletter type things. I have them on the MacBookAir I am using now. I am speeding along to getting everything in the cloud. Of course, my images are on external hard drives. For a long time I've been using the Air for just about everything except working on my photos and I'm glad I have it. It's small enough to actually use it on my lap. The 16" one is not comfortable except on the desk. I'm rather like you in writing in my passwords myself. The MacBookPro does have a "bootable clone" on an external hard drive. I've been rather paranoid about losing things so everything should be backed up somewhere. This little maneuver I did today is something I've had to do before. Very glad I am doing all this now. It feels like a bit of a race. Do you think I should shut down the MacBookPro at night? Or just sleep it.

 

Paulette

 

Given you have had trouble starting it up, I would suggest just sleeping it (as Edo says).

 

Gmail is really easy to set up on a new Mac nowadays. I have no experience with mac.com or iCloud email but presumably you also have email on the MacBook Air so it should not be a problem for you. I was just reading on the Apple website about the different email systems they have used over the years. You probably know  more than I do about this. Just make sure that if you have saved any email into local mailboxes on your MacBook Pro which are not on the MacBook Air that you export and copy them onto an external drive. Again if you are using the MacBook Air for email this should be an issue anyway.

[NYCat]

Thanks. I figure i'll take a look at the documents on the Pro and email myself anything that I think could be useful. I've never become completely digital with my life and sometimes that seems good for me. I'm going through the Photos app and getting rid of anything I don't really need to have there and I will connect it to the Cloud so those odds and ends of photos from friends, etc. will be OK.

 

Paulette

[MDM]

29 minutes ago, NYCat said:

Thanks. I figure i'll take a look at the documents on the Pro and email myself anything that I think could be useful. I've never become completely digital with my life and sometimes that seems good for me. I'm going through the Photos app and getting rid of anything I don't really need to have there and I will connect it to the Cloud so those odds and ends of photos from friends, etc. will be OK.

 

Paulette

Sounds good. I think you will be fine transitioning to the new machine.
 

You can look forward to the latest Lightroom as there are a lot of new features but the fundamental interface is very similar to older versions. If you have presets then you may find these have changed but it is not a big deal really. One thing I would suggest (if you don’t already have that) is to make sure you have “Automatically write changes into XMP” checked in your Catalog-Metadata settings which will ensure that you have all the raw metadata saved with the raw images outside of the catalog. That way your raw conversion settings are independent of the catalog so that if there are any problems jumping the catalog to V11 you will not lose metadata. 

[Ed Rooney]

"Do you remember TekServe?"

 

Were they up around Union Square? I think I went there once for something. 

 

Since I've been a nomad, I've had three MacBooks -- the Pro my pal in Dumbo bought me before I went to Mexico (I gave her my old iMac), the Air I bought in Seville, and the M1 Air I bought here in Liverpool. The Pro was recalled by Apple when I got to Seville. I was without it for almost two months. So I bought the Air. I traded that Spanish Air in on the M1. The Pro I still have and it still gives me trouble. Michael (MDM) was very helpful with advice on all three laptops. I'm very happy with the M1 MacBook Air.

 

There are no hard changes to master in Adobe CC LR Classic as I recall. PS does change some; It gets better. 

 

Good luck with your new stuff, Paulette.

[NYCat]

This is a terrific article about TekServe... https://www.pcmag.com/news/saying-farewell-to-tekserve-and-paying-big-bucks-for-tech-history It was one of those unique NYC places with a special vibe. Yes, I have been writing to XMP thank heavens. It does make me feel safer. I finished paring down my Photos library and am uploading it to the cloud. I am being charged 99cents a month for the storage. Next step is to deal with all the odds and ends that have been left on the desktop and cleaning up documents... sending any crucial ones to myself. I think I can order everything on Tuesday and be home for delivery on Wednesday. It's all pretty exciting now.

 

Paulette

[NYCat]

Edo, TekServe was on 23rd ST. I know you worked at A Photographers Place on Mercer. That was very special too.

 

Paulette

[wiskerke]

1 hour ago, NYCat said:

Edo, TekServe was on 23rd ST. I know you worked at A Photographers Place on Mercer. That was very special too.

 

Paulette

 

B and H was on 17th afaik. One of those streets called Photo Street.

Ahh Lens and Repro! Same block. (Frank Rubio btw is here, just in case you need stuff repaired. Cameras - not computers. Again near B&H, the current one.)

 

wim

 

edit: oh my goodness: The Lens and Repro logo still remains.

Edited January 16, 2022 by wiskerke

[NYCat]

I see that PhotoTech has moved again. In the neighborhood of B&H. For a long time it was in the East Village within walking distance for me. Yes, B&H was on 17th Street and completely staffed with men who looked like they were living in some previous century in a foreign land. A bit of a madhouse to figure out which line to stand in. Now they are sooooo efficient.

 

Paulette

[Allan Bell]

On 15/01/2022 at 16:32, MDM said:

 

Check out these drives Allan. They are G-Technology but now under the SanDisk brand. They are perfect for storage and also somewhat future proofed as they are USB-C but with a USB-A (USB-3) cable so can be easily used on older computers which do not have Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports. Going for older USB-3 drives at this point is probably not a great idea as that technology is on the way out. If and when you get a new computer, USB-C drives will be a lot faster than USB-3.

 

You can get 6TB instead of 4TB or more if you need it. I have been using G-Technology drives since 2014 for working drives and for storage and have yet to have any problem with them. As I said above, they are made by WD but are the higher end brand. Jigsaw 24 are based in Nottingham and extremely reliable. 

 

Hi Mick, After checking disc usage I was surprised to find I only need 4 TB drive as there is still a lot of space on the disc. Two G-Tech drives ordered (One for backup) from Jigsaw. Should arrive in next couple of days.

 

Sorry to have jumped in on your thread Paulette.

 

Allan