P: Import iPhone to NAS folder hangs

[Guest]

My current setup is a MacBook Pro 15 Mid 2012 with Catalina 10.15.2 and LR Classic 9.1. The LR catalog is on the local disk (SSD). The images itself are on a Synology NAS connected via SMB. When I try to import photos from my iPhone 6s Plus, LR lets me select the pictures and correctly detects duplicates in the catalog (which are then grayed out). When I start the actual import though, LR just hangs forever. Cancelling the import works and then I get the message that there was either a read or write error.

Strangely the following works reliably:

- Importing from the same iPhone to a local folder (so it cannot be an iPhone problem)

- Importing from a local folder to the shared folder on the NAS (so it cannot be a NAS problem)

What is NOT working is the combination of importing from an iPhone directly to a NAS folder. 

[Guest]

OK, I get that Dec. 23 is probably not a good day to post a problem here. But the problem did not go away over the holidays, so where can I report this bug or get assistance? Thanks!

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Georg,

I just tested on iPhone 11 Max, Macbook Pro 10.14.6, Synology Nas (SMB) using Lightroom 9.1 and had no issues. I would send you to review you Mac folder permissions as a recommendation. 

[Guest]

Hi Rikk,

thanks for the reply!

Importing from a SD card to the NAS works for me, which IMHO rules out a folder permission problem, right?

The only major difference between our setup seems to be me using OS X 10.15.2 and you using 10.14.6. Could it be a problem with LR 9.1 and Catalina? Could you maybe confirm this on 10.15.2 too?

Thanks!

[Guest]

Does anyone else have this combo working: LR Classic 9.1 on Catalina with images on a NAS?

[Lumigraphics]

We have seen numerous postings where Catalina is not working well with a NAS device. You may want to use your internal drive and copy to the NAS with the Finder.

[Guest]

Thanks, David. Generally my NAS is working well with Catalina and I can even import from a SD card to the NAS without a problem with LR Classic 9.1 on Catalina. 

Just the import from my iPhone to the NAS is not working on Catalina and I was wondering if anyone else uses this combo successfully.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hi there Georg, I have exactly the same problem - but when importing from any device (I have tried various Nikon cameras).  If I import to a local directory it works fine, but if I import to a NAS directory it fails.  When you cancel the import it raises an error popup window - and if you click 'save as' it will successfully write the error log to the NAS import directory - so it cannot be permissions.

[Guest]

Hi Sarah, I think this is simply a bug in LR which is still incompatible with Catalina in some regards. Sadly I have not found a proper way to communicate this to Adobe or have then acknowledge this. I had a very sad chat with their support who seemed to be well trained in deflecting any kind of notion of bugs in their products... Maybe the next update will bring relief (if they do read their own forums). Let's keep each other posted here 🙂

[ktc333]

Sarah and Georg, 

I have the exact same problem and have been struggling with it for a long time.  It is a laborious process to get pictures off my iPhone 6S+ and onto my Western Digital NAS.  I have tried it from a Mac and from a Windows 10 machine.  I experience the same problem on both.  The only reason I continue to use Lightroom is because I really like knowing it is not importing duplicates.  

Here's what happens:  it will start importing, and then just stop.  When I say "stop," the import screen remains open and I'm looking for more pictures and videos to appear as imported.  Those pictures and videos never appear - the import process just hangs. I eventually cancel it and it gives me the same message each time listing all of the pictures it couldn't import.  So then I'll try to import again and LR frequently won't even find pictures on my iPhone, or if it does, it won't be able to display previews.  I'll then unplug the iPhone and plug it back in, let Windows get it installed and then try to import again.  It usually will recognize the pictures and then begin to import, eventually hanging once again.  I then repeat this process until all the pictures are imported.  The same problem of hanging on import to my NAS occurs with my iPhone 7 (my work phone), so this is not a phone issue.  LR never "crashes" during this process.  It just "hangs" on import.  I'm reaching the point that Lightroom's management and editing qualities just aren't worth these import hassles.  There's got to be better software out there.  

Kevin

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

I've verified and bugged internally.

[ktc333]

Thank you Victoria.  By "verified and bugged internally," do you mean that you have seen the same problem or that you have replicated the problem?  Alternatively, do you mean something else?  Forgive me, I'm somewhat computer-savvy but not tremendously so.  And from a software standpoint, I'm a consumer. . . definitely not a programmer.

[Victoria Bampton LR Queen]

Yep, I have replicated a problem on my own machine and put it into the internal bugbase.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

And the bug Victoria has written has been cross-referenced to this thread. When resolved, this thread will be notified. 

[Guest]

Thank you. Nice to see that finally someone is taking this seriously - even though it took about four months for this to happen and I am a paying customer... I had a problem with a product from Apple yesterday and could actually speak to a human being and report a bug the same day...

[Mccool882]

I am using Lightroom Classic 9.2.1 on a OS X 10.15.5. I want to import images directly from my Canon EOS R to my QNAP NAS. I am running QTS 4.4.2.1320.

I have no problem reading photos on my NAS into my catalog which lives on my local hard drive.

When importing using the lightroom import dialog, the import process can create subdirectories on my NAS but hangs when writing the files. Nothing happens. So I click the 'x' icon to cancel the import and get an error message that 

The following files were not imported because they could not be read or the destination folder is not writable.

[johnrellis]

Are you importing via a USB cable? If so, try using a card reader instead.

[Mccool882]

I was trying to use the usb-c port and cable to import the files. Using an sd card reader works perfectly. 

My work blocks me from using the sd card reader my main computer so I'll just have to use another computer in my home for importing my photos.

Thanks for the tip!

[johnrellis]

"I was trying to use the usb-c port and cable to import the files. Using an sd card reader works perfectly."

There are a number of bugs with importing via a USB cable that have been around for many years, and it appears that Adobe has no plans to fix them.  At least one of the root causes is probably that importing via a USB cable involves the PICT protocol (or its successor), and old industry standard whose implementation by Windows and/or Mac may be buggy. 

You could try importing from the cable-connected camera via the Files section in the Import window rather than the Devices section. I believe that avoids the use of the PICT protocol.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

You may be right, but Mac USB connections have been flaky dough since the start. It's the old stupid "unplug it and find another port" strategy for fixing it!

[Mccool882]

This is a bit annoying that Lightroom isn't able to write files to my network connected drive via usb. I just tried Canon's EOS Utility 3 and it has no issues, but I do lose the ability to know what I have already imported. Not a big deal since lightroom uses xml like sidecar files for edits, so importing the exact same name to the same folder will not cause any issues. I can just delete those from the card that I have already imported. 

I've got a raid 1 where I'm storing the images so I am 99% sure I won't lose any images. 

Unfortunately I don't see the camera listed in the Files section of lightroom. It's only listed under devices.

I think my best options are to use an SD card reader when I can but that requires an adapter for my macbook with usb-c only. Next best is to set up lightroom and the EOS Utility 3 to import using the exact same directory structure and naming convention to prevent duplicates. It will just overwrite the same image which isn't that big of a deal.  All of this is just to make sure that I have all images off my camera and as few duplicates as possible. Managing duplicates is a pain and waste of time.

[johnrellis]

Most cameras appear as a "mass storage volume" (i.e. an external disk) when you connect them with a USB cable. They appear in the Files section of LR's Import window, and you can import over the cable, avoiding all the bugs with the PICT protocol (including this bug).

But I just read the Canon EOS R manual and didn't see any reference to accessing it as a mass storage volume, and according to this post, unlike other manufacturers, Canon has never supported that:
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1612878/0#14981949

I use this tiny USB-C card reader ($12.99) with my Macbook:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NW8RPYN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(Apple loves removing ports from their devices to make them svelte, thus expanding your carrying case with dongles, converters, cables, etc.)

[Mccool882]

Thanks for digging through manuals!

That is a portable dongle! I've got a stone dock so i can be hardwired with additional monitors and supply power with 1 cable to my mac. It's a nice set up for a desk.
https://www.brydge.com/products/tethered-dock

[Bob Somrak]

(Apple loves removing ports from their devices to make them svelte, thus expanding your carrying case with dongles, converters, cables, etc.)

For Apple its all about "form over function" and has gotten worse every year.

[Mccool882]

Thanks for digging through manuals! 

That is a portable dongle! I've got a stone dock so i can be hardwired with additional monitors and supply power with 1 cable to my mac. It's a nice set up for a desk.
https://www.brydge.com/products/tethered-dock

[johnrellis]

Yeah, I've got a CalDigit for my desktop docking. They are much more convenient than the old "docking stations" years ago. I carry the portable USB-C reader for when I'm away from home.