P: import errors and crashing on iPad when important large volume of large files

[defaultuyciz18otv16]

I shoot large DNG raw files on a Leica Q2, usually on a 64gb SD card but sometimes 128gb.  I shoot until the card is full, then I import the images to Lightroom on my iPad via an SD card reader USB-C adapter.  A 64gb card holds around 800 images or so.  Whenever I try to import, it takes a very long time, and approximately half the time, it just crashes and I have to re-start, usually four or five tries before it works.  The import process just seems extremely buggy and unstable when processing large volumes of high resolution images.  I am happy to use my M2 MacBook instead, but I was really hoping that the M1 iPad Pro could handle this sort of typical prosumer level workflow dependably.  It works fine for importing fewer images that are smaller in size, but you think it should be able to handle an entire 64gb SD card's worth of photos, since that is a pretty typical (even low end) size photo shoot.  Surely they must be working on this issue--strikes me as a deal killer if the import takes forever and sometimes doesn't work at all.  It means I'd need a second backup source to carry with me when I am on the road, like a GNARBOX or some such.  I was hoping to just work with the iPad and my SD cards while on the road, and that's it, and then copy the cards to my home raid setup when I get back after my trip as a double redundancy.  The speed and clumsiness of the import really makes that hard to do.

[Ged_Traynor]

Moved to the Lightroom ecosystem (Cloud-based) forum from Photoshop ecosystem

[marceln]

I have the same problem. I have 128GB SD card and 3600 images (1800 RAW + 1800 JPEG) images aroung 70GB. I copied the images from SD card to a new SSD drive. I try importing the pictures from SSD to lightroom. It stops after around 1200 images. I spent all evening trying to make it work, I had to delete the whole Lightroom app multiple times.

In the end I managed to import using filter for JPEG and RAW while importing. First I imported JPEGs on 2 tries (first around 1100 images out of 1800 were imported) on second try the rest was imported. Second I imported RAWs on 3 tries (first around 1000 images out of 1800 were imported) on second try the rest was imported. 

Every time it crashes I have to force shut down Light room , leave it closed for multiple seconds so that it really closes and then reopen it. Then I have to first wait for ligtroom to finish importing the pictures into the library and afterwards I can try to read the leftover pictures from SSD.

It is pain. Similarly buggy as importing into Photos app (Camera roll), the SSD just disconnects in the middle of the imports with both Lightroom or Photos app. I ma guessing the RAM gets full? 

It is basically unusable to edit pictures on the go like this and coted me hours of time to just do the import.

[defaultuyciz18otv16]

Thank you very much for sharing this.  I hope they notice and fix it!  Or tell me if I need to get an iPad with more RAM!  It just seems crazy that import isn't working and stable--it's supposed to be a pro workflow.  Maybe it is an iPadOS problem--either way it needs fixing!

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

The LrM team was able to reproduce this issue and has logged a bug for this. Thanks for your report. 

[defaultuyciz18otv16]

Sweet!

[scot.hacker]

I thought long and hard before embarking on a two week international vacation about whether to bring a laptop along with me. But after some small tests, I decided I could get by with just an iPad,  USB-C card reader, and Lightroom mobile. Unfortunately, once I really started shooting, everything fell apart. The import process goes into loops, where  it once it starts displaying the thumbnail grid it stops and says "I found a connected device" and tries to start over before I can even get to the selection phase. If it encounters a file it's seem before, instead of skipping it, it often crashes. Sometimes I can get things to work after trying five or six times, other times I can't make it work at all. The downsides are that I can't post most of my images while traveling, and I don't have the cloud backup  I thought I was going to have. Very frustrating. Good to see that Adobe stuff are able to reproduce it and are working on it. Won't be quick enough to save this vacation, but looking forward to the next, because when it works, it's a really great workflow. 

[scot.hacker]

Tip for anyone stuck in this situation while traveling - the issue is all about total number of images o n the card. To reduce the problem, import often! Try if possible to keep it Down to 100 images. 

1. Import (keep trying unti all images are accounted for)
2. Wait until cloud sync is complete
3. Reformat card in camera

Yes reformatting is scary, but at least this process allows you to keep bringing in your dailies. If you don't, you'll be  completely stuck once there are around 600 images on the card.

[MichaelMoretti]

Finally found my issue after hours of Googling! I've been experiencing this at least since March 2023 traveling in Bolivia and Argentina as I was importing my Nikon Z7 and D850 photos to LR on my iPad Pro (current iPadOS 16, USB-C) using a Sony reader. So frustrating to have failed import messages on multiple images on transfers of as few as 50 images; I even tried imported directly from the cameras. Finally, I resorted to transferring only 6-10 images at a time, waiting for the copy to confirm before starting the next set. When I would get an error, I'd try the failed image(s) again and they usually imported fine. Last month, I was back to the same problem (I hadn't done much photography since March) when I traveled to Namibia... same problem. Anyway, hope this gets resolved soon as I have travel plans again before end of year. I'm currently running iPadOS 17 and LR 8.5.1 BAA93F/108. Keeping my fingers crossed!

[RGL59]

Same problem. Found a workaround by importing from SD card into the iPad photos app, then importing from there into Lightroom. In my experience this was quicker than importing from SD into Lightroom (when this function previously worked)

[wizard8081]

Same problem. Looks like it's been over a year and Adobe still hasn't fixed this?

My first time importing and 8 have 9000 photos. They are sports photos and with new cameras having 40-120 fps, this is just one game's worth of photos.  Hope they fix this soon.