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jamiem17459899
Participant
March 13, 2018
Question

How to move a year's worth of photos to an external drive?

  • March 13, 2018
  • 4 replies
  • 358 views

Alright people, here's my dilema; I have a year's worth (about 8,000, to be precise) of RAW files to move to an external hard drive. I'm not sure how to access the folder that has all of those photos. I obviously want to move them to free up my hard drive; I really don't have much room on there since I have so many photos. To restate - what is the best way to move these 8,000 RAW files to my drive? I do NOT want to turn them into JPGs.

Thanks in advance

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    4 replies

    J
    jamiem17459899Author
    Participant
    March 13, 2018

    Still confused... there is one 2017 folder in my Lightroom library. I want to copy all of that to a different drive. I do not know where to copy it from. Where in Finder do I find this folder? I'm assuming that after I do this, I'll want to hit "update folder location".

    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    March 13, 2018

    In Lightroom, right-click on this folder and select Show in Finder (Mac) or Show in Explorer (Windows)

    J
    jamiem17459899Author
    Participant
    March 13, 2018

    Re: all who are telling me to copy the folder (@dj_paige & @jimhess)... how do I do that? I don't know of a way to copy an entire year's worth of RAW files and then paste it into a separate drive. The rest of it makes sense!

    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    March 13, 2018

    Assuming there is a parent folder, this is a drag and drop to a different drive, or copy and paste (these two methods accomplish the same thing) in your operating system.

    If there is no parent folder, then you'd have to select multiple folders and then drag and drop.

    JP Hess
    JP Hess
    Inspiring
    March 13, 2018

    Just to reiterate and to clarify, you will be doing this not using Lightroom. Lightroom will be closed. You will be using Finder if you are using a Mac, or File Explorer if you are using Windows.

    Just Shoot Me
    Just Shoot Me
    Legend
    March 13, 2018

    You have 2 options.

    1) Using the File Manager for the OS you are using to Copy the images or the folder they are in. Then Browse to the external drive in the File Manager and paste them onto that drive. If all these images are in one folder I suggest you copy the folder and then paste that folder to the external drive.

    Once the copy is done make sure all the images are included.

    Then follow the instructions in the link posted by dj_paige to reconnect them to the new folder location.

    2) In LR you can select the folder they are now in and drag it to the external drive. That is if the external drive shows up in the Folders list of drive and folder in the left hand panel of the Library Module. If it doesn't then you will need to create one on that drive for the drive to show up in the Folder list. Click the Plus sign to the right of the word Folders and select "Add Folder". A file manager type dialog window will open and browse to the external drive. Type in a name for the folder you are creating (NOTE: this is only to make the external drive show up in the LR Folders List) and click the "Select Folder" Button.

    Then select the folder the images are in that you want to move to the EHD and Drag it to the drive letter or name, Windows/Mac respectively. A dialog box will come up asking if you really want to Move those images to the external drive. Click Yes or OK and let it move all the images.

    Do not shut LR don't until you are sure all the image files have been moved over. Use the File Manager for your OS to check that they have.

    I suggest option one as it is, IMHO, a better, safer, way to move large number of images from one drive to another.

    With option one once all the images are copied and reconnected in LR to the new drive and folder location you can then Delete the original folder and images on your internal drive. But Not Before you are sure everything is working properly.

    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    March 13, 2018

    The instructions are in the section "Part 2 — Updating Folder Location" of this document:

    Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders

    In my opinion, a better solution in the long run is to not put the photos on a drive that doesn't have a lot of room; put them on the external drive straight out of the camera, and then you don't have to move them later!

    J
    jamiem17459899Author
    Participant
    March 13, 2018

    Thanks for your response! I think that I understand... so once I hit update folder location I will be able to drag it to the hard drive (and it will be copied there)?

    I completely agree with your long-term solution of copying the photos to the hard drive SOOC, by the way!

    JP Hess
    JP Hess
    Inspiring
    March 13, 2018

    Assuming you have that year of images organized within one folder for the year, and the subfolders underneath, you first have to copy the folder for that year to the external hard drive. Then do the update folder location and point Lightroom to the folder on the external hard drive. After you have verified that Lightroom is seeing the images on the external hard drive, THEN you can delete the folder in its original location. You will only have to locate the main folder. All the subfolders will automatically link. If the folders aren't all within one master folder for the year, then you'll have to repeat the process for each folder. Not a big deal, it'll just take a longer.

    I suggest that you copy those images to the new external hard drive and make sure everything gets synchronized before you remove them from their original location.

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