Can a lightroom classic catalog be move to another drive?

@elsas67673398 

Firstly, @dj_paige wrote

"Backups MUST (it is not optional) be stored on a different drive than the original or working catalog file."

This is not true. You are not compelled to store your backup on a different drive. It is good practice, but you are free to choose how and where to store backups. Saying this is not an option is simply false.

Here is what you should do:

On your 😧 drive, create a folder in which to store your new catalog such as "Lightroom" (optional).

Start LrC, then choose File > New Catalog... from the menu.

Navigate to the 😧 drive and if you created a folder for the new catalog, choose that folder.

Type a name for the new catalog, let's say "LrC Master", then click the Create button.

LrC will relaunch with the new empty catalog. In my example, the path to this new catalog will be "D:\Lightroom\LrC Master\LrC Master.lrcat".

You now want to start importing your old catalogs into this new one using File > Import from Another Catalog...

This import process can be made much faster by removing the source catalog's previews folder. The safest way to do this is just rename the previews folder so that LrC can't access it. When you import, LrC will create a new previews folder for the source catalog, but that is ok. Let's say you want to import a catalog from C: drive called "C:\Pictures\Lightroom\My Catalog\My Catalog.lrcat", then rename "C:\Pictures\Lightroom\My Catalog\My Catalog Previews.lrdata" to say "C:\Pictures\Lightroom\My Catalog\My Catalog Previews BAK.lrdata".

Using File > Import from Another Catalog... navigate to the first source catalog you want to import, choosing the .lrcat file and click the Choose button.

In the Import from Catalog dialog, for the File Handling option, ensure “Add new photos to catalog without moving” is selected.

Click the Import button.

Repeat this for every old catalog you need to import into your new one.

Once you are confident that the new catalog has every photo you need, you can make a backup for safety and if you choose, store a backup on another drive, such as a removable one.

Then you can delete the old catalog from your C: drive, but I would first copy them to an external (removable) drive just for insurance. Only the .lrcat file and the .lrcat-data folder need to be saved, the Previews.lrdata and Helper.lrdata folders are easily recreated by LrC if ever needed.

I’m assuming that your photos are stored on the 😧 drive already.

One catalog is a very good idea. You can merge them all together into one catalog. Then, you can move the merged catalog file to any other drive you want it to be on. Just move it using Windows Explorer to the other drive, and then double-click on the moved catalog file to open it.

You do not want backups on the same drive as the working catalog. Backups MUST (it is not optional) be stored on a different drive than the original or working catalog file.