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Tim31238465gxe1
Participant
July 22, 2023
Question

how to bring master photos in to internal drive from external drive?

  • July 22, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 230 views

I just purchased a new MacBook Pro, with HDD finally big enough to house my master photos. All of LR (except the actual app) and all the photos are in an external drive, which I plan to install into the new internal drive in the new Mac. How do I do that? They have already been imported, processed, and exported, so this is archival, but i need to be able to find them and want that in the internal drive. 

Many thanks!

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2 replies

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Community Expert
richardplondonCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 22, 2023

Make sure you've an up to date backup of your Catalog first.

 

Outside of LrC, find the top level folder within which all the files and folders are contained, on the external drive. Make an equivalent folder on the internal drive (name and location of this do not need to be the same, as on the external drive). Copy the whole set of files and folders, wholesale and changing nothing about their internal arrangement, from one into the other. IMO Copy is safer, and often quicker, than doing a Move for this sort of purpose.

 

Start up LrC and go to the top level folder that contains all these photos in the Folders panel. If you don't see this actual folder there, go to a top-level folder that does show and right-click and choose "show parent folder". On this containing folder, right-click and choose "Update folder location" and then browse to the containing folder that is on your internal drive, and that you've just copied all the needed data into. The Catalog will now readdress everything (including all contents and subfolders) to refer to the copied files and folders, instead of to the ones on the external drive. 

 

You can now disconnect the external drive and you should see all the photos involved remaining 'online'. At your leisure, you can now remove the data from the external drive, since the Catalog is no longer referring to that. Or employ it as a data backup keeping up to date via a file-sync utility run periodically, wiht the drive otherwise kept offsite - is my recommendation, if you are not already doing something such.

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    Tim31238465gxe1Author
    Participant
    July 22, 2023

    Wow thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for. Now I just have to await 8 August.

    Tim

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      tettnyc
      Participant
      August 2, 2023

      I copied all of the folders and files as you recommended.However, when I start up LRC it goes to the backup screen and then shuts down. 

      As it happens, the app itself migrated to the new computer, and there was an older version of the associated files there as well. Should I delete all of those, including the app, then download a fresh app and copy everything in?  

      dj_paige
      dj_paige
      Legend
      July 22, 2023

      To move a catalog to a different drive, use your operating system to copy the catalog file itself (the .LRCAT file) to whatever drive you want, then double-click on it to open it.

       

      To move photos to a different drive while using the exact same catalog, see Part 2 — Updating Folder Location of this document.

       

      IMPORTANT: There is no importing in this process. DO NOT IMPORT photos or catalogs. This is so important, I will say it again in capital letters: DO NOT IMPORT.

       

       

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