Skip to main content
F
Frank32582704a1nl
Participant
September 28, 2023
Answered

Problem migrating from Mac lr classic 11 to Windows lr classic 12: catalogue

  • September 28, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 306 views

I have a problem migrating from iMac Lightroom Classic 11 to Windows Lightroom Classic 12. The catalogue is transferring well: If I copy the lrcat-file from imac to windows (proper directory), the catalogue tells me it contains all my photos (>50k), but I can only see 19k photos in the folder structure. The major part (14k) are jpegs from an earlier Apple phota app to lightroom import. Most folders contain a few photos where there should be hundreds. 

 

I found several lrcat-files on the imac of different dates. I tried them individually, but that makes a small difference, no solution. I also tried to import all catalogues into each other. This doesn't help: Now LR thinks it has >100k photos, still only 19k visible.

 

Further:

1. All photos are on an external drive. I updated the location of the Pictures map from within LR, so it should be able to find all photos.

2. If I open the LR11 catalogue from the imac on the windows computer, it asks to upgrade the catalogue tot LR12. I allowed that.

3. I applied 'Synchronise folder' to the whole pictures folder from within LR12. Now, it seems to find all 50k photos, but seems to decide to import only 19k of them (???).

4. Importing the imac-catalogue into LR12 on windows concerns 100k-files. So everything seems to be there, but Lightroom will not show it to me.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer JohanElzenga

    Stop using 'synchronize folder'. It is not meant for this. Post a screenshot that illustrates the problem.

     

    3 replies

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    JohanElzengaCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    September 29, 2023

    Stop using 'synchronize folder'. It is not meant for this. Post a screenshot that illustrates the problem.

     

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
      F
      Frank32582704a1nlAuthor
      Participant
      October 1, 2023

      Thanks, this let me to the solution!

      I started the migration all over again and took the LrC v11 catalogue from the Mac. This went all fine, but I couldn't see any photo. I couldn't see the external drive. Now here was the key part: first I tried to >>add<< the external drive to the LrC-file list, but that is no good: LrC notes hovering above most photos that they are already in the catalogue. 

      Then I found a \. or # or something simple but cryptic in the file list. I updated the location of this funny file loaction to the external drive and voila: all my folders and subfolders appeared. I can not reproduce the exact name, because now this very item has got the name of the external drive.

       

      Thanks all of you for helping me out!

      F
      Frank32582704a1nlAuthor
      Participant
      September 29, 2023

      Additional finding:

      I tried to import the missing photos for a specific subfolder, by using 'synchronise folder'. LR asks me if I want to add the 276 new photos. If I confirm, the previews of the 276 photos it offers to add, disappear one by one, and LR ends up adding not a single photo.

      Can it be some file format problem between Mac and Windows?

      GoldingD
      GoldingD
      Legend
      September 29, 2023

      Wondering if the existing catalog is corrupt. See the following link for some steps to try. Before doing these, make sure you have a backup of the catalog.

      https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/troubleshoot-corrupt-catalog.html

      You can test for integrity, and you can try optimizing. Be aware if you do this as part of backing up, and something goes wrong, the catalog and the backup created can be corrupted, so have a clean backup, perhaps a simple copy, before. Also you might want to try creating a new catalog, and then import from the old catalog.

       

      Point being to see if the existing catalog is corrupt.

       

       

       

       

      F
      Frank32582704a1nlAuthor
      Participant
      October 1, 2023

      Thanks for the help and the links. I tried this and LrC made a backup without any complaints about the integrity, so it seems not corrupt. 

      In view of Johans remark below, I will start a clean migration all over again, without importing from disk at anytime, just to be sure.

      dj_paige
      dj_paige
      Legend
      September 28, 2023

      If I copy the lrcat-file from imac to windows (proper directory), the catalogue tells me it contains all my photos (>50k), but I can only see 19k photos in the folder structure.

       

      Am I correct in assuming that these 19K are what you see in the folder structure in Lightroom Classic; or are the 19K what you see in the operating system (Windows Explorer). It's not really clear to me.


      If this discrepancy is seen inside of Lightroom Classic, perhaps the problem is that you have not turned on the option "Show Photos in Subfolders". Use the menu command Library->Show Photos in Subfolders, make sure it shows a check mark to the left.

      F
      Frank32582704a1nlAuthor
      Participant
      September 29, 2023

      Dear dj_paige,

       

      Thanks for the suggestion, I tried it, but that was not the problem: The numbers lightroom gives for the subfolders are also (far) too low, so they add up to a low total.

       

      And yes, the photos are still there, windows can see them. Just Lightroom does not.

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices