Catalog Question

[CarlinMA]

I read through other threads, but could not find the specific answer to my question. I apologize if I missed it. My normal setup is to use Lightroom on my laptop, with my photos on an externall hard drive. When I return from vacation I copy my photos to the external hard drive, and then import them into Lightroom. I am going on a short vacation and I am bringing my laptop with me. However I prefer to leave the external hard drive at home, since it has all my pictures. My plan is to take photos and then edit them with Lightroom on my laptop. When I return I would like to somehow get those photos to my external hard drive, with the edits from Lightroom into the catalog. I believe I want to use File -> Import from catalog. I believe that will bring the edits into the catalog but I don’t know how to copy the photos to the external hard drive, and have the edits point to them. I’m pretty sure this would all be fixed using the cloud, but I haven’t set one up yet. Thanks in advance.

[johnrellis · Accepted solution]

To test my understanding: While you're traveling, you'll be importing new photos to a small LR catalog on your laptop and editing the photos on the laptop. When you get home, you want to merge that catalog with your main catalog, which is stored on an external drive, and you want to move the photos from the laptop to the external drive.

To accomplish this, when you get home, attach the external drive and open your main catalog in LR. Then do File > Import From Another Catalog. Select the option File Handling: Copy New Photos To A New Location And Import:

Select the desired new location on the external drive.  After this completes and you've verified that the new photos have been properly copied to the external drive (and the main catalog shows them located there), delete the originals from the laptop.

Of course, make sure you make backups of both the main catalog and the laptop catalog before you start!

[CarlinMA]

Thanks. That Worked. One small nit. I created a Folder on my external drive called "Test For Migration". I was expecting the photos to go directly there. However, LR nested the photos into 2018 -> 2018-10-05 -> Test For Migration. Is there a way to avoid the subfolders? Also, the .xmp files are there with the .cr2 files. I assume these must stay there? Thanks.

[johnrellis]

I did a little testing to see precisely how Copy New Photos To A New Location And Import worked. What you want is straightforward but a little involved to explain:

Suppose you've set the Copy To destination to the path dest.  And suppose the Folders panel in the source catalog shows the containing folders of a photo to be A/B/C. Then the imported photo will be copied to path/A/B/C.  If you want to get rid of A/B and have the destination be path/C, then in the source catalog's Folders panel, right-click A and do Hide This Parent. Then right-click B and do Hide This Parent.

[johnrellis]

Also, the .xmp files are there with the .cr2 files. I assume these must stay there? Thanks.

Yes, the .xmp sidecars store the metadata for the raw files (which LR never modifies). While the metadata is also stored in the catalog, the .xmp sidecars are a last-resort backup mechanism in case your catalog gets lost or corrupted and you don't have backups or you find out the backups "didn't work" (an all-too common, sad experience).

[Laura Shoe]

If I am understanding your setup correctly, then I think the process outlined here is unnecessary. Am I correct that you use the laptop at home and while traveling? If so, store your main catalog on the internal drive and use it regardless of where you are. While traveling, when you import you'll specify a Destination for your photos on the internal drive, and then when you get home, you'll use Lightroom's Folders panel to drag the photo to a location on your external drive. No need for exporting/importing of catalogs.

To be able to edit all your photos while you're away, without access to the external drive, build smart previews before you go. These are small DNG copies that reside with your catalog (on the internal drive). Here's a video tutorial that explains how Lightroom smart previews work (made with Lightroom 5, but still completely applicable.) When the external is plugged in your editing seemlessly is applied to your master photos.

[johnrellis]

Laura's suggestion is simplest, provided your catalog fits on your internal drive. If it doesn't, then you'll need two catalogs as discussed previously.