Lost access to 12 years of Lightroom Photos

[Louziebuuz]

I have been gifted a new MacBook as my old one was dying a painful death.  Unfortunately it has the new chip and my old version of Lightroom (6) won't open.  I don't do editing anymore as don't have my DSLR anymore so my phone does the editing...so was just using the app to view, organise and export my edited files from over the years, as and when needed.  

So is that it?  In one move I have lost 12 years worth of effort...keyworking, ranking and editing?!  Please tell me this is nto the case!  Am I really back to square one with 20k photos all just stored in a annual folder without any organisation at all?  

Absolutely horrifed and desperate for advice!

Thank you x

Ps obviously £10/month isn't a viable cost for the amount I use it so subscribing to LR isn't an option

[dj_paige]

Download the 7 day free trial of the Adobe Photography Plan, which includes the current version of Lightroom Classic, which will be able to open and use your Lightroom 6 catalog. Export all the photos, making sure you include the metadata in the exported photos. Remember to cancel the 7 day free trial before the 7 days ends.

[Louziebuuz]

Thank you for your help - that's better than losing them definitely but is exporting them really the only option ?  I have 3 catalogues, all with 20k+ photos in them so not only will that be incredibly time consuming, and double my storage requirements at least temporarily, but I guess that means I can't see all the keywords and ratings anymore as the photos will all just be in one large export folder that I will then need to split into smaller folders? 

Photos are currently in year/month/event folders so even exporting each of these folders (100s) to maintain some folder structure will be a right headache, and if I am correct I still will not be able to see the keywords and ratings.  I really just want to still be able to access my Lightroom Catalogue I guess...or is there another free organiser that I can migrate to with minimal effort?

So frustrated at the moment as I went through this on a far smaller scale 10 years ago when I moved from iPhoto to Lightroom purely because I wanted to protect myself from being tied to Apple and now I find myself in exactly this situation but being tied to Adobe instead. 

[Jim Wilde]

If an Adobe subscription is a non-starter, then I'm afraid your options are pretty limited. LR6 simply cannot be installed on the latest Mac operating systems, as they require all apps to be 64-bit....and the LR6 installer is only 32-bit. In my view, it is unreasonable to expect obsolete and unsupported applications (which LR6 is) to continue to run on whatever latest hardware or operating systems we decide to use, but that is today's reality.

One option would be to install the trial version of Lightroom Classic, and use that to upgrade your existing LR6 catalog (the LR6 catalog remains unchanged, as Classic creates a new updated version catalog). The new catalog will retain all the keywording, rating, organisation etc., of the current LR6 catalog. Once the trial lapses, I believe you can then continue to use Classic in what's called "reduced functionality" mode....which basically means you can use all the features apart from the Develop and Map modules (though editing via the Quick Develop tools in the Library module is still possible). Cloud syncing is also not possible in that mode.

[dj_paige]

Once the trial lapses, I believe you can then continue to use Classic in what's called "reduced functionality" mode

I am not sure about this. I am sure that if you have a paid subscription and then it lapses, the Library module of Lightroom Classic continues to work. But I do not know if that is true if you never had a paid subscription. Even you say "I believe...". I think it makes a big difference to the OP; if this is true then one course of action is appropriate (use the Library module), if it is not true than another course of action (export all photos) is appropriate.

Can anyone say with certainty what happens when a 7-day free trial is cancelled before the subscription is paid?

[Jim Wilde]

I am not sure about this. I am sure that if you have a paid subscription and then it lapses, the Library module of Lightroom Classic continues to work. But I do not know if that is true if you never had a paid subscription. Even you say "I believe...". I think it makes a big difference to the OP; if this is true then one course of action is appropriate (use the Library module), if it is not true than another course of action (export all photos) is appropriate.

By @dj_paige

No, I'm not 100% certain, so you may well be right. Doing it via the update and export during the 7-day trial period is one possible action (but may lose the existing organisation), but once the trial has lapsed the OP will then know immediately if they can continue to use LrC is reduced functionality.

[dj_paige]

Keywords and other metadata (but not collections) should be included in the export (assuming the right options are selected). Then some other program would be able to make use of the metadata.

... but once the trial has lapsed the OP will then know immediately if they can continue to use LrC is reduced functionality.

Implying that the export of all photos is mandatory (in case LrC doesn't work).

[Jim Wilde]

Implying that the export of all photos is mandatory (in case LrC doesn't work).

By @dj_paige

Or just update the catalog then save metadata to XMP.

[Louziebuuz]

I have just read a bit about XMP - it says it is an adobe data storage method.  Does that mean that it can only be read by Adobe products and a handful of other compatible software or is XMP very widely used now?  Also is it relatively quick and simple to update files with XMP? Thank you

[dj_paige]

Your metadata (keywords, captions, titles, but not collections), when written to xmp by exporting the photos (with the proper options), is included in the exported file, and can be read by any photographic software, and even your operating system.

You can also write your metadata to xmp without exporting, and again this can be read by almost all photographic softare.

However, your edits are different.

Your edits can also be written to xmp, but these cannot be understood and transferred into actual image adjustments by non-Adobe software. To preserve your edits, you must export.

So exporting the photos would be the way to go to preserve both your edits and your metadata (with the proper options chosen).

[TheDigitalDog]

I have just read a bit about XMP - it says it is an adobe data storage method.  Does that mean that it can only be read by Adobe products and a handful of other compatible software or is XMP very widely used now?  Also is it relatively quick and simple to update files with XMP? Thank you

By @Louziebuuz

To add to what dj_paige wrote: much of the data, XMP or otherwise is proprietary so only Adobe raw converters understand this (because again, it is proprietary). When you have XMP that says "Plus 25 Saturation", that is a unique edit in the Adobe raw engine. Even if another non Adobe product had a saturation slider, it wouldn't understand that Adobe XMP instruction and vise versa.

XMP data that is non proprietary can be read by other products, again, it isn't proprietary.

[TheDigitalDog]

Without a subscription, all modules expect Maps and Develop will function.

[Louziebuuz]

Thank you - I dont use cloud syncing as have other software to backup to the cloud  - the reduced functionality sounds great therefore. 

FYI I wasn't expecting to use lightroom in it's obsolete formal forever - I have often reluctantly upgraded to new standalone versions when older versions of apps don't work anymore but forcing subscritptions out of people just seems a whole new level of wrong. I had upgraded from 4 to 6 previously without any need for the extra functionality for example but being forced to tie myself in to pay £10/month forever to maintain access to my own photos is not the same in my eyes.    It does sound like this may not be the case though so thank you for your work around. Much appreciated 

[josephlavine]

What application do you plan on using to view your images with the new laptop? Are your pictures in their native raw format, jpeg, tiff, or DNG? I ask because, depending on the format, the metadata is stored differently.

The good news is that your images aren't lost, and the work you have done is probably stored in the sidecar file.

warmly/j

[Louziebuuz]

I was looking into this last night but haven't reached a conclusion yet - do you have any suggestions?  My pictures were shot in jpg and saved in jpg.  I'm not a photographer just someone that loves looking at photos and taking photos... I used to love being creative with them too, however 3 children has put this on hold!