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sbenus
Participant
June 18, 2023
Question

Need help transferring catalog and files to external hard drive. Tried following the instructions

  • June 18, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 310 views

I have Mac OS X. I went to move the Lightroom catalog and image files to a new external hard drive. Copied everything over and then double clicked the catalog file to launch Lightroom. I got a prompt to upgrade the catalog to the new version 12 which I did. After everything finished. I relaunched the new catalog but there is no data, files, folders, or anything showing up in Lightroom now. It’s as if it was brand new. Tried opening up the old catalog as well but it just prompted me to upgrade it again or open the existing new version. Please help! Don’t want to have to import everything and lose all of my organization and editing history

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3 replies

AxelMatt
Community Expert
AxelMattCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 21, 2023

What happened if you leave the catalog file and the pictures on the internal hard disk. Then open Lightroom, do the update of the catalog file to version 12. After this has been done move the pictures in Lightroom to the new external drive.

How do I rearrange existing photos into a new dated folder structure? | The Lightroom Queen

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My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 5 - Topaz Photo
S
sbenusAuthor
Participant
June 21, 2023

They were never on my internal hard disk. I was moving them from an old external hard drive to a newer one.

AxelMatt
Community Expert
AxelMattCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 22, 2023

As far as I know (I'm using Windows) in MacOS external drive are connected by name. 

Firstly, make sure that the structure is the same as on the old record. Second, it must be associated with the same name.

 

My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 5 - Topaz Photo
dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
June 20, 2023

Move the image files by using the instructions in Part 2 — Updating Folder Location. http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm

 

Move the catalog file by copy and paste in your operating system. Double-click on the moved catalog file to open it.

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    sbenusAuthor
    Participant
    June 21, 2023

    The problem is that I can’t do the instructions in part 2 because there are no images showing up in the library at all. None of the folders show up on the left side either. So there is no question mark next to any folder because the folder is not there. It is as if I had opened up the program for the very first time and didn’t have anything organized or imported yet.

     
    Is it possible to go back to a previous version of Lightroom classic to see if I can open up the original catalog file before it updated?
    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    June 21, 2023

    You are supposed to use the exact same catalog file you have been using, just copied to the new disk and then you double-click on it to open it. If you have a catalog with no photos in it, then this is not the right catalog file, and you need to find the correct catalog file.

     

    No, a previous version of Lightroom Classic does nothing to help this situation. You have to find and use the correct catalog file, the one you have been using all along.

    S
    sbenusAuthor
    Participant
    June 20, 2023

    anybody?

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