New WINDOWS 11 Computer - issues with OneDrive, multiple hard drives and multiple catalogs

Report · Aug 16, 2024

I have 2 drives on my new Windows 11 machine

C: for applications (including Adobe)
D: for documents, photos, LR catalogs, etc.

I also have 2 distinct LR catalogs on my D drive under PICTURES.

Land photos: MyLightroomPhotos
Underwater photos: MyUnderwaterLightroomPhotos

ONEDRIVE set up a new LR catalog on my C drive (automatically) which I don’t want and haven’t opened.

Question 1: CAN I JUST DELETE the ONEDRIVE Lightroom Catalog on the C drive???

Question 2: CAN I TURN OFF ONEDRIVE ALL TOGETHER?

Question 3: Why would the D drive catalog (“MyLighroomPhotos”) pull in my entire D drive (including all videos, documents, pictures, etc, including 141 (of 13,000) images from MyUNDERWATERLightroomPhotos catalog?

Question 4: I can use the command ”remove from lightroom” to get all the misc. documents, videos, and unrelated pictures out of my MyLighroomPhotos hierarchy/catalog – BUT - if I try and move the MyUNDERWATERLightroomPhotos folder out of the folder hierarchy, where they belong (in the other catalog on my new D drive), I can’t see any images in the MyUNDERWATERLightroomPhotos hierachy/catalog. I see that there are files, folders and collections – but all the photos are “zeroed out” as if nothing is in them.

Question 5: (final, whew) I’m running Lightroom V13.4. MANY of the photos I imported to my new computer show up with “!” marks. “ The metadata for this photo has been changed by both Lightroom and another application (presumably Photoshop). Should Lightroom import setting from disk or overwrite disk settings with those from the catalog? (choice A: import settings from disk, B: overwrite settings).. Huh???? If I edited in Photoshop I’d like to keep the edits. What does this even mean?

{Moved from Lightroom Cloud to Lightroom Classic Forum by Moderator}

Report · Aug 18, 2024

I don't believe that OneDrive creates LrC catalogs. The only instance being able to create LrC catalogs is LrC itself.

In addition, I don't believe your OneDrive is set to sync back to the ..\Pictures\.. folder.

Before deleting a catalog, I'd definitely open it to see what it is.

OneDrive has nothing to with Adobe, it's Microsoft. Whether you use it or not and for what is completely up to you. However, it is not suggested to place LrC catalog within folders that are synced with OneDrive. It may work, but it is prone to errors.

Lightroom does not import photos by itself, except you tell it to do so.

I propose to work with one catalog only, for all your photos.

The metadata exclamation mark tells you exactly what it states. The metadata of the photo has been altered behind LrC's back. If you know you did that, I propose importing the settings and update the catalog data.

If editing in Ps, start the roundtrip from within LrC to avoid inconsistencies.

--- Got your issue resolved? Please label the response as 'Correct Answer' to help your fellow community members find a solution to similar problems. ---

Report · Aug 18, 2024

F.McLion, Thank you for your comprehensive response. LIkely user error because the catalog is in a place LrC didn't expect to find it. RE: One catalog for all - your opinion is echoed by many. Thank you. RE: importing the LrC settings .... I may have edited the photo in Photoshop but did so through LrC (the round trip). I wouldn't have done it any other way. Could the "!" /metadata alteration be from the newer version of Lightroom (13.4)? When that version loaded, LR said is was not compatible with prior versions. Thank you!

Report · Aug 18, 2024

Question 1: CAN I JUST DELETE the ONEDRIVE Lightroom Catalog on the C drive??? ... ONEDRIVE set up a new LR catalog on my C drive (automatically) which I don’t want and haven’t opened.

We don't know. We don't know what is in this catalog, and we can't possibly know if you need it. However, you can look and see what is in this catalog and decide if you need it. One Drive cannot do this, it never creates files on its own. The only way a catalog file can be created is if the user did so (perhaps accidentally).

Question 2: CAN I TURN OFF ONEDRIVE ALL TOGETHER?

Yes, in fact for best operation of LrC and avoiding catalog or photo corruption, this is mandatory. (Unless you need OneDrive for another program or purpose, but still those folders that have catalogs or photos should not be synched to OneDrive)

Question 3: Why would the D drive catalog (“MyLighroomPhotos”) pull in my entire D drive (including all videos, documents, pictures, etc, including 141 (of 13,000) images from MyUNDERWATERLightroomPhotos catalog?

LrC does not "pull in" photos. The only time photos are added to the catalog is when you choose to import specific photos or synchronize specific folders. Thus, this happened because the user told LrC to do so. This is one of the drawbacks of having two or more catalogs, the possibility of importing photos to the wrong catalog. I would strongly advise, when you get a chance, to use one catalog, and use keywords to separate out the underwater and land photos.

Question 4: I can use the command ”remove from lightroom” to get all the misc. documents, videos, and unrelated pictures out of my MyLighroomPhotos hierarchy/catalog – BUT - if I try and move the MyUNDERWATERLightroomPhotos folder out of the folder hierarchy, where they belong (in the other catalog on my new D drive), I can’t see any images in the MyUNDERWATERLightroomPhotos hierachy/catalog. I see that there are files, folders and collections – but all the photos are “zeroed out” as if nothing is in them.

I don't understand this, so please explain step-by-step, in detail, leaving nothing out, explain what you did.

Report · Aug 18, 2024

dj-Paige, thank you for trying to make sense out of all of this. I believe that a new "empty" catalog was created on the "C" drive when LR went looking for a catalog and I hadn't told it to go to the "D" drive where my 2 catalogs reside. Operator error, to be sure. I was able to successfully delet the "empty catalog" on the C drive.

I will turn off OneDrive (when I figure out how to do so.) My attempts thus far have not been "completely" successful. Although there is now a big "x" through the cloud icon (showing that I was "successful" in turning off OneDrive - at least I though so), the machine still wants to save all my documents to this phantom OneDrive. Groan.

RE: Q4: I will merge the 2 catalogs and this problem should go away.

Thank you so much!!!!

Report · Aug 18, 2024

I have 2 drives on my new Windows 11 machine

C: for applications (including Adobe)

D: for documents, photos, LR catalogs, etc.

I also have 2 distinct LR catalogs on my D drive under PICTURES.

Land photos: MyLightroomPhotos

Underwater photos: MyUnderwaterLightroomPhotos

ONEDRIVE set up a new LR catalog on my C drive (automatically) which I don’t want and haven’t opened.

Question 1: CAN I JUST DELETE the ONEDRIVE Lightroom Catalog on the C drive???

By @Sandra_Student

The catalog on C: (Lightroom Catalog.lrcat) was most likely created when installing or upgrading LrC.

It will look for an existing catalog to open, and probably didn't find one because your catalogs are on the D drive, so it created a new, empty catalog.

You can probably delete this catalog, but open it first to check.

As mentioned by @dj_paige , having multiple catalogs is not recommended, it will create confusion and clutter.

The currently open catalog doesn't know about any other catalogs you might have, so to open a different catalog you have to relaunch LrC with the other catalog.

You can merge your two catalogs into one by going to File > Import from another catalog.

See https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/catalog-faq-lightroom.html

Scroll down to How do I merge two catalogs or import folders from another catalog?

Report · Aug 18, 2024

My advice (though not knowing all the details of the OP's circumstances) is to avoid using "Pictures" as the location either for the imported photos, or for the Catalog with its accompanying support folders.

For several practical reasons I find it much more robust to use a user-neutral disk location instead - one which is not nested inside any particular computer account's files area. For example, C:\data\lightroom.

Consequences: first, it is then not dedicated to and limited to any particular computer user account; it is not affected if that account username might differ when set up inside a new computer - and there have been nasty recorded issues where someone has simply capitalised that differently than before - or if the particular local user profile ever becomes corrupted and a fresh one needs to be made. Second, for all the imported photos and for the Catalog and also for all the generated previews etc, OneDrive will simply stay out of the way.

This is not to say that the Pictures folder should not be used for exports of course (simple JPG files which are not themselves imported to the Catalog); I find that completely appropriate and consider it beneficial to have OneDrive monitor and back those up to cloud.

Just, a Lightroom setup being functionally different from a standard static set of files does require a different backup solution. One that intrudes less into the expectations of constant availability, stable referencing, and interdependence of external files / working Catalog.

Report · Aug 18, 2024

RichardPlondon - thank you! This is valuable information. Wish I had know this ahead of time!!! Good point on the backup protocal as well. Brilliant!

Report · Aug 18, 2024

Per Berntsen: Thank you! Another vote for one catalog. I am listening. Thank you for the instructions. They are particularly helpful!

Report · Aug 18, 2024

Thanks for this. Yes, it appears "LR" went looking for a catalog on the "c" drive, in the normal place, and didn't find one so it created a new one. (Operator error on my part). I successfully deleted it. Whew!

Report · Aug 18, 2024