New Mac & Current Lightroom

[SFL]

In a few weeks' time, I will try to carry out the following two tasks.

 

• To upgrade from my old iMac to a new Mac Studio.
• To migrate from LR6 to LR Classic (hope this is the right version)

 

Is it just a matter of downloading and installing LR Classic on the new Mac, and open the old LR6 catalogue?  Are there any conversion steps to follow? Or does LR Classic convert the old catalogue into a new format by itself?  I feel a bit nervous about it in case I make mistakes.

 

Can you also install LR Classic on a Macbook, too, so that I can work with LR while I am away (through import/export catalogue)?

 

Currently, my LR6 catalogue file (*.lrcat), Priviews.lrdata, Lightroom Backups, my photos (majority in DNG format) and all my documents, etc are in a G-Tech external hard drive.  So does this mean that I can just connect it to a new machine and start to use it as usual?  Or do I still need to copy and paste presets, templates, etc in relevant folders in the new machine?

 

I noticed today, in Lightroom6 Preference, Presets tab, ‘Store presets with this catalog’ is ticked.  What happens if I untick this now?

 

I would appreciate it very much if you could share your experiences.

 

Thanks

 

Sung

[NYCat]

I did all this a couple of years ago but my memory is not great so I'll just answer what I'm sure of. Yes, to Lightroom Classic. I was backing up my catalog to the external hard drive that also has my images. I used my last backup when the new Lightroom Classic asked (I think) for the catalog. I wish I could remember exactly how it went but I didn't find it difficult. Yes you can have Lightroom Classic on two computers. Someone more knowledgable will chime in, I'm sure. As you can tell, I am not an expert and I had no problems.

 

Paulette

[MDM]

Yes Classic is the correct version. Don't download Lightroom by mistake.

 

Just copy the exixisting folder over on to your new machine. Lightroom will do all the upgrading and will leave a copy of the older version on your drive. It is extremely simple. 

 

I have never stored presets with the catalog but that should work fine. if there is anything that doesn't transfer, it is easy to do a manual transfer. The info is on the Adobe website. 

 

Yes of course you can use your existing G-Tech drive although it might be slower than using the internal drive or an external SSD - try it and see what happens. My internal drive is too small (1 TB) to keep my main catalog (massive because I keep the previews on it) so I have the catalog on a fast external SSD. I keep my images on a G-Tech TB external drive (although USB-C is just about as fast in practice I think). I sometimes transfer files I am working on to the internal SSD or an external SSD but the main difference is in the time it takes to generate previews. 

Edited April 23 by MDM

[MDM]

You can have two copies of the Adobe Photography package installed and activated. You sign in to Creative Cloud which manages everything. If you try to install on a third machine it will simply ask you to sign out of one of the machines it is already on. 

Edited April 23 by MDM

[SFL]

52 minutes ago, NYCat said:

I did all this a couple of years ago but my memory is not great so I'll just answer what I'm sure of. Yes, to Lightroom Classic. I was backing up my catalog to the external hard drive that also has my images. I used my last backup when the new Lightroom Classic asked (I think) for the catalog. I wish I could remember exactly how it went but I didn't find it difficult. Yes you can have Lightroom Classic on two computers. Someone more knowledgable will chime in, I'm sure. As you can tell, I am not an expert and I had no problems.

 

Paulette

 

Thank you Paulette, my memory these days is not that great either. ☹️

 

 

50 minutes ago, MDM said:

You can have two copies of the Adobe Photography package installed and activated. You sign in to Creative Cloud which manages everything. If you try to install on a third machine it will simply ask you to sign out of one of the machines it is already on. 

 

Great info & tips, MDM.  Thanks

[MDM]

2 hours ago, SFL said:

Great info & tips, MDM.  Thanks

 

Don't mention it Sung. You are in a for a big surprise going from LR6 to the current version. There have been massive changes since V6, all positive in my opinion: huge improvements in masking and Denoise to name a couple. I use Photoshop much less than I used to do because LR has advanced so much. You should also find it runs much faster for importing, generating previews and converting raw images on your new Mac.