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EllicksonPhoto
Participant
January 12, 2025
Question

Migrating Image Library to Larger Hard Drive

  • January 12, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 222 views

Hello,

I've filled the hard drive that holds my Lightroom Classic image libraries and am ready to move to a larger drive. I do back up this drive. I have around 5 TB of data, do I need to perform the entire move within Lightroom, dragging and dropping folders, or is there a way to point Lightroom to the new location after using something like Carbon Copy Cloner? I've moved folders within Lightroom and am familiar with the process, but it seems to choke on large folders and I have to break them down, which is tedious. For what it's worth I'm on an M4 MacBook Pro running Sequoia 15.1.1

 

Thanks,

Chris

    3 replies

    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    January 12, 2025

    I've moved folders within Lightroom and am familiar with the process, but it seems to choke on large folders and I have to break them down, which is tedious.

     

    Move the photos in your operating system, following the directions from @F. McLion 's first link. Do not move the photos in Lightroom Classic.

    F. McLion
    Community Expert
    F. McLionCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 12, 2025

    If you want to move more than just the photos, see here: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

     

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    F. McLion
    Community Expert
    F. McLionCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 12, 2025

    You can move all pictures with the finder and then re-link in LrC. It's very important to NOT change the structure/hierarchy while doing this. As long as it stays the same you can just re-link the topmost folder and the rest will update automagically.

    Read more here:
    https://www.lightroomqueen.com/move-photos-another-hard-drive-leaving-catalog/

     

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      E
      EllicksonPhotoAuthor
      Participant
      January 15, 2025

      Thanks, THIS is what I've been looking for. I'll start the process in the next day or so, still need to configure my new RAID.

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