Copying files in lightroom

[pennicottlane]

Due to technical issues, I have only one copy of many of my images - on my laptop hard drive. I want to copy these onto 2 separate external hard drives (and ultimately remove them from my laptop). I do not want to risk losing the images completely by moving them without first copying them. What is the best way of doing this in lightroom please?

[gary_sc]

Hi Pennicottlane,

Good idea to do this while you're not having issues.

Here's a very good video of what that intails. Let me know if you have any other questions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9B0lq6GJZc

[JP Hess]

It isn't really necessary to use Lightroom for this purpose. You can simply use your file browser (Finder on the Mac or File Explorer on Windows) as a simple method of doing this. Or, you can utilize backup software that would do it for you automatically.

There is an option in Lightroom in the import process that will allow you to store a second copy in another location. That second copy is not part of your Lightroom process, But it would enable you to send the second copy to that external hard drive. There is not an option to send the third copy, however 

[gary_sc]

Hi Pennicottlane,

If the images are not in your catalog than yes, you can simply do this in the finder. However, since you mentioned you wanted to do this in Lightroom I assumed that the images were IN your catalog. If they are in your catalog, you do need to do this in LR or you'll have to go through the process of "finding" the image in Lightroom to show LR where they are. 

If you have questions on this, please ask otherwise you will be giving yourself some unnecessary extra grief time. 

[JP Hess]

It's possible to copy images to an external hard drive even if they are in Lightroom. The copy process using Finder or File Explorer will have no effect on the catalog, nor will they have any effect on the images in their present location. The copy process will simply create a copy of the images on the external hard drive, basically the same as what would happen if using a software such as Time Machine.

We are not talking about moving images. I read the inquiry as making copies of images. However, if the OP really wants to ultimately move the images, then following the procedure under part two in this link will really help. (I went back and read the initial question again). Follow this procedure after copying all the images to the external drive.

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm 

[dj_paige]

There is no way to COPY files to another disk in Lightroom Classic.

The only option in Lightroom Classic is to MOVE files.

So this COPYing of files to two different external HDs can only be done in your operating system.

[gary_sc]

Hi DJ,

I used to think that as well but the video I linked ti, Terry White shoes how it CAN be done. Check it out.

[dj_paige]

Mr. White is talking about doing a MOVE. He consistently uses the word MOVE. He does not show how to do a COPY. He does not use the word COPY in the video.

[gary_sc]

Hi DJ,

He doesn't say he is making a backup of the images (which would be only the Copy), and the vast majority of time people want to get their images OFF of their main drive because they are taking too much space, I did assume that that was his intent. If all he wants to do is to have a copy of the images, without any of the keywords that he's added, any of the corrections that he's corrected, any of the functionality of what he's done in lightroom on these images that he's copying to a 2nd drive, than sure, that can be done in the Finder/Explorer. But if he does want to make room on his main hard drive, and have access to all of the work he's done in Lightroom, he will find it best be done via moving them.

If he's going to do just a copy, he best be advised of what the ramifications of such an action are. 

HTH of why I suggested what I did. 

[dj_paige]

The OP didn't use the word backup, but essentially that is what copying the photos to 2 external hard disks is, a backup of those photos. Backups (or copies) of the photo files don't need keywords or edits, those are in the Lightroom Catalog. (The catalog file also must be backed up somehow, but that doesn't seem to be the question at hand)

So what ramifications are you talking about?

[Jens Gaethje · Accepted solution]

Hi

Having had the same question and not finding it fully answered, I wanted to add the way to  COPY Image Files from within LR Classic on a Mac.

1. In Library folders tab, open the folder with the images to copy, select them and click command +S to save all the metadata to the photos on disk.
2. Rightclick the folder you want to copy to, and click show in Finder > Finder window will open
3. Go back to LR (command +tab (App switcher) select all photos you want to copy and start dragging, so they are hovering "under" your cursor
4. While holding the images under your cursor, use command+tab (App switcher) to switch to Finder, and drop them in the desired window. The files will start copying
5. Switch back to LR, right click the folder holding the new copys (still shows 0) and choose "sync folder" to have LR registering the copies including their edits/metadata

Once familiar with thsi workflow its very fast.

This works great on Mac OS

Switching Apps while holding files under your cursor also works with hot+corners, or via the App icons in the Dock,

you can freely drag and drop between different Apps these ways.

Hope this helps!

😊

[richardplondon]

You have responded to an old thread (from 2020).

Also, like nearly all the other posts, you have somewhat mixed together the two questions than were asked.

The OP wanted to know 1) how to make backup copies of their primary image FILES onto a different drive for safety, and whether LrC could help them do that or whether some other method was needed - so, that would not change the Catalog's locations for these. This is a file backup question. I would add, saving LrC edits to file first is fine to do but that is only partial information - so having Catalog backups happen and including some recent Catalog backups in this same safety duplication to other storage, as is done for the image files, is far more important to do IMO.

then SEPARATELY 2) how to proceed in some future scenario where they wanted to change where some images lived (as seen within the Catalog) to some different drive, for space reasons.

[Jens Gaethje]

There are certainly several ways to create proper backups of your files and LR catalogue. However, as far as I understand I have answered the original OPs question, which is how to copy files from within LR to another location (drive) without loosing the files on the existing drive. The fact that this thread is 4 years old does not stop it from being one of the first search results in Google for the question how to copy files in LR.

[dj_paige]

The much simpler method of copying files is simply to do the entire copying process in your operating system, something I assume everyone knows how to do. No need to switch back and forth between LrC and your operating system and no need to do part of the process in LrC and part of the process in your operating system.

[BigEricUSA]

(I know this is a very old thread but I was just encountering a similar issue...)

I wanted to back up more than 1800 specific files, scattered across multiple folders on my HD.

First I created a "Smart collection" to find all the images. I then created a "Folder" within LR, hoping to be able to copy all the images into that. As someone has already mentioned, this *Moves* the files, it doesn't copy them.

What I ended up doing was to "Export" all the files to my desired destination with the "File Type" set to "Original". Obviously no resizing or other changes. This in effect copied the files, with corresponding .xmp files for the adjustments made in LR as appropriate.

Hope that helps someone...

[dj_paige]

Why back up 1800 specific files, instead of making backups of your entire set of photos? If it is worth keeping, it is worth backing up.

[richardplondon]

Yes, this will do what you say. It is worth noting that separate XMP metadata files are only made when the image file type is proprietary Raw (such as, NEF). Otherwise (most commonly DNG, or camera JPG) that same XMP metadata is included within the image file that is saved.

If you have told LrC to write its edits out to external file as it goes along, then Export (as Original) is substantially the same thing as copying the imported file plus any accompanying XMP files to somewhere else.

If you had not told it to do so, then Export (as Original) will convey edits which copying the imported file would not have conveyed. The actual content (leaving aside XMP metadata) is always the same either way, however. Thus leaving out, or later deleting XMP files (in the case of proprietary Raw images) will clear all their editing in effect.

[bigal2]

Although this thread is kind of old, I am going to respond because I came here with a similar question. I have images on one volume in a Lightroom Classic catalog that I want to copy to another volume in the same catalog, a volume that I call "Archives." I want to maintain the original images in their original location, but consolidate them by subject matter, i.e., birds, portraits, landscapes, etc. What the OP was asking was more about copying a group of images/folders and the advice given was good. What my problem is, I am going through 80K images and want to copy some over and delete others. Using the export function, the way described here, won't work because the images are not consecutive, they are individual images, scattered across multiple folders and multiple volumes sorted by date.

The best way I have found to do this is to create collections and make a particular collection the target collection. I can quickly move through the images adding them to the collection.  For example, I want to find and copy all the images of birds I have throughout multiple years on multiple folders on multiple volumes. A folder with 5K images might have 2K images of birds; I want to move the keepers amongst those to a folder called "Birds" on the "Archive" volume. I create a collection called "Birds" and set it as the target collection; I can quickly scroll through each folder choosing the bird images adding to the target collection; keeping the "caps lock" key on moves the selection to the next image speeding things up. Once I've chosen all of them, or however many of them, I go to the collection and select all; I then export those selected images to the new Birds folder on the other volume. That way I can go through multiple folders on multiple volumes and consolidate the bird images into a collection and then copy them to the Archive volume, all in one place from many different folders on different volumes. Of course, it’s still a lot of work, and I have to go back through the volumes to add other images to other collections according to subject matter.

And this method may also work for the OP as well, giving the OP more flexibility in choosing the images to copy.

I wish Lightroom would allow you to choose multiple collections as target collections and then use different keys to select the images, e.g., B for the first target collection, C for the second collection, and so on.

[bigal2]

Oh, I also want to add a reply to what dj_paige said, "there is no way to COPY files to another disk in Lightroom Classic." The process I described will do just that, and in fact copy the files to another disk on the network. When selecting all the images in a collection, the Export choice is available, not Export as a catalog, but Export. You then can choose Disk and a particular folder on that disk as you see below. That disk and that folder do not need to be in the Catalog.

[dj_paige]

No. Export does not create a copy. It changes the file type (RAW to JPG for example) and the edits are baked into the JPG, but no so for the RAW. Maybe you want this, but it is not a copy of the original file; and since it is not a copy, LrC cannot use it as it is, LrC works only on the originals that have been imported. The language used to describe what you are doing is extemely important.

[richardplondon]

Export can in effect create a direct copy, without any edits baked into its picture information, when the Image Format of the export is set to "original".

The result is a duplicate of the starting imported file plus latest edits written to the file in metadata. One point is that if you exported two virtual copies of the same image using "original", two actual files will be produced: a duplicate of the imported file twice, each one with that particular version's edits as the attached metadata.

The thinking behind this as e.g. a backup tactic is not something I personally can get behind, though.

[bigal2]

Sorry, dj_paige, I used the wrong screenshot example, but nevertheless, you are partially wrong. Export will export a DNG that will have all the metadata as the original RAW file and you can import it into LR as you would any DNG and work on it. However, it will not have any edits you did in LR, so it is best to export/import before editing, or copy the edit settings in LR Develop before exporting and then apply the settings on the DNG when re-imported.

[bigal2]

Ah, but richardplondon brought up a point and I checked it out further. I'm not sure how you specifiy format export as original, but I find that if you import a DNG with edits, you can then import the metadata from disk that will include the edits, if any, that you've done before exporting. 

I would like to know how or where you specify the format as original.

[gary_sc]

Hi, @bigal2, OK, so my guess was wrong, and I'm glad I apologized ahead of time! 😄

It seems that a lot of what you're doing is dependent upon NAS drives. Since I've never used one, I'm pulling out of this discussion since I'm very likely to demonstrate how much I do not know about NAS drives.

[richardplondon]

If you import a file that has previously had (* Adobe compatible) edits written to it, you do not need to do anything to have those edits presented as the starting appearance that you see in the Catalog. 

* meaning, that it was either Adobe Camera Raw or some kind of Lightroom which did the writing

So far as exporting Original, this is a choice listed in the normal Export settings - instead of stating JPG, or DNG, or whatever specifically. The result is a JPG if the imported file was a camera JPG, a DNG if the imported file was a DNG, a proprietary Raw if that was what was imported.

The difference between this option and explicitly selecting one of those formats, is most apparent to see with a camera JPG. If you export choosing JPG specifically you will get a newly made JPG that's been processed according to your edits. If you export to Original instead, you get a simple duplicate of the unprocessed camera JPG which has remained the same so far as its picture content, as when first imported. Then attached to this you get the latest edits as metadata instruction. If that JPG was then imported (say, into someone else's Catalog or else opened in ACR) then these instructions are followed and an edited image is seen. But if you view this same JPG in a standard image viewer (say, Finder) you can still see whatever the camera first put there, without any LrC edits destructively applied.