How to link Lightroom 6 with old catalogue on external harddrive?

Report · Nov 22, 2016

Until recently, I had Lightroom 4 on a Mac and saved all content on an external harddrive (Synology). The Mac crashed and I now have a new PC and have bought Lightroom 6. The question is: how do I create access from Lightroom to the existing catalogue on the harddrive?

Report · Nov 22, 2016

Moving to Photoshop Lightroom

Report · Nov 22, 2016

Hi Tinen,

Use File > Open Catalog... and browse to your external drive to open the catalog file (with file suffix .lrcat).

You may may need to re-link your images:

How to find missing photos in Photoshop Lightroom

Mike

Report · Nov 22, 2016

Hi Mike, thank you so much for your answer. I have tried to follow your advice, selecting File > Open Catalog > This PC > Disk Station. I can then see the folders but when I open the individual folders, I end up with "No items match your search". Any idea why that is? (I have remembered to select the right suffix in "Supported files" box). Hoping very much that you or someone else can help. Best regards, Tine.

Report · Nov 22, 2016

As Mike said, you have to find the .LRCAT file. You can do this using your operating system's search feature if you don't know where it is. Then in Lightroom, use File->Open Catalog and select this .LRCAT file.

Report · Nov 22, 2016

Thank you for your answer. Do you mean that I run a search for ".lrcat" in the operating system? Will that also search on the NAS? Elsewhere on this page I am told that I cannot access a Lr catalog on a network drive...?

Report · Nov 22, 2016

Let's just make sure we're all on the same page, terminology-wise. In Lightroom-speak, the catalog is an SQLite database, with the file extension of .LRCAT, and is the repository for all the information relating to the images that have been imported into Lightroom. As has been stated, it cannot be accessed by Lightroom from a network drive.

The images, aka the "library", is often mistakenly referred to by some users as the catalog, and those images CAN be on a network drive....so let's make sure we're talking about the same thing. If you were running LR4, there should have been a catalog file somewhere on your Mac which you need to find in order to use it in LR6. If you're not able to recover data from the crashed Mac, the question then becomes: did you backup your Lightroom catalog? If so, where are those backups, do you have access to them?

Report · Nov 22, 2016

Thank you very much, Jim, for this comment. You are right that I was mixing up the terminology. Unfortunately we don't have a backup file. Any idea what options I have going forward?

Report · Nov 22, 2016

tinen60707272 wrote:
Thank you for your answer. Do you mean that I run a search for ".lrcat" in the operating system? Will that also search on the NAS? Elsewhere on this page I am told that I cannot access a Lr catalog on a network drive...?

The search will include the NAS if you set up the search properly. That's completely up to you. Once you find it, if it is on the network drive, you have to move it to a non-network drive, and then you will be able to use it.

Report · Nov 22, 2016

If the "external hard drive" is actually a NAS (looking at your Synology and DiskStation references, that seems likely) then you won't be able to open that catalog in Lightroom without first moving it to an internal or locally attached external hard drive (a Lightroom catalog cannot be accessed from a network drive).

Report · Nov 22, 2016

Hi Jim, I am not sure I follow you. It's correct that it is a NAS and there has been no problem accessing the catalog from the network drive in the past. It is only now that I have a new PC and a new version of Lr that I run into trouble. Do you mean that in order to recreate the path to the network, I will first have to save the catalog on the pc?

Report · Nov 22, 2016

As it has been stated at least twice, catalog files cannot be on a network drive. If you were able to do it previously, you just got plain lucky and found a previously unknown exploit to do so. You cannot have your catalog file on a network drive. You must store it on a local (internal or external) drive, not a network drive.

Report · Nov 22, 2016

Hi Tinen,

if you don't have the .lrcat file, even a backup copy of one, then I'm afraid you'll have your images on the external drive, but all the organization and editing that you have done is most likely gone. Lightroom keeps all edits, ratings, collections, and pretty much everything else in its catalog, the aforementioned database file called "My Lightroom Catalog.lrcat" (or whatever you may have named it).

At least you still have your images - you can start over from scratch and begin re-importing to a new catalog.

Just for reference, Lightroom has a preference for backing up your catalog, you can have it ask you every tie LR shuts down, once a day, once a week, etc. I recommend setting this to at least remind you once a day (you can optionally ignore it). I keep my catalog backups on a folder on Google Drive, so that even in the even of a catastrophic system problem, my backup catalogs are available. I know that's no help to you now, but at least perhaps some guidance for the future.

Let us know how we can help further.

Mike

Report · Nov 23, 2016

Thank you, Mike. I guess I have a whole lot of work to do...I suppose well deserved for not thinking about backing up earlier. I will go for your Google Drive suggestion for the backup. May I ask where you store your catalog? Anything you can recommend? Many thanks for your time, it is much appreciated.

Report · Nov 23, 2016

Oops, I meant where would you recommend storing the "library" - I want to try and find the best alternative to the NAS I have at the moment.

Report · Nov 23, 2016

"Best" will probably come down to how many photos you have, how much disk space you have vs need, how much money you want to spend.

My catalogs and preview caches are on my internal D: drive, separate from the original photos.

The LR backups of the catalogs are on my internal E: drive, separate from the master catalogs.

My personal photos are on my internal E: drive.

My "professional" photos are split between my internal E: drive and my external Q: drive.

Everything gets backed up to my external P: drive.

Report · Nov 23, 2016

Thank you for the tips. Much appreciated.

Report · Nov 23, 2016

I agree with Joe above: "best" spot depends on many factors, and there's no one right answer. Normally, I'd say:

1. Catalog should be on the system hard disk for best performance. Some people like keeping the catalog on an external drive along with the library of images. It's acceptable too, although maybe slightly slower.

2. Images (Library) should be stored on a separate drive with plenty of room to grow. Your NAS is probably a good choice of the library of images, especially because of...

3. Backups are critical. Both the images AND the catalog must be backed up. You need a strategy for both. I'm guessing you have a backup plan for the NAS; the catalog can be addressed with the cloud drive strategy discussed earlier.

And just as an added point, I'll mention Peter Krogh's 3-2-1 backup system: always have at least three copies of your data, on at least two different media, and one of the three should be offsite.

I hope that helps!

Mike

Report · Nov 23, 2016

Very helpful, thank you so much. Btw think I found a way of getting hold of the catalog on the old Mac after all.