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Russell Proulx
Known Participant
April 18, 2022
Answered

PC Lightroom catalogue not behaving on Mac

  • April 18, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 902 views

I sometimes need to open my PC created Lightroom catalogue (stored on an external USB drive) on a Mac. All the images in the Library and in various Collections are on that one external USB drive. When I open the Lightroom catalogue on the Mac I find the thumbnails displayed with the small "!" mark in the corner saying that the original files cannot be found.

I know that Mac's use a different way of identifying a HD and use the volume name vs the PC which uses a drive letter. Is this what might be causing LrC to no longer know where the original images are on that same external drive? Or should I look for something else that might be causing the problem?

Thanks for any advice 🙂

 

Russell

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer johnrellis

The "!" indicates that the photos aren't at the exact locations recorded in the catalog. This is because, as you surmised, the two operating systems use a different name for the drive.

 

To work around this on the Mac: In the Folders panel, repeatedly right-click one of the top-level folders and do Show Parent until the name of the volume is showing as the top-level folder. Right-click that folder and do Find Missing Folder, then navigate to that volume and select it.

 

You'll have to do a similar procedure when you move the drive back to Windows.

 

Alternatively, make a folder "Pictures" in your catalog folder.  In LR's Folders panel, move all the cataloged folders under the "Pictures" folder.  In this special case, LR doesn't record the volume name in the catalog -- rather, it records that the photo folders are relative to the location of the catalog folder.  So you won't need to do Find Missing Folder each time you switch machines.

2 replies

johnrellis
johnrellisCorrect answer
Legend
April 18, 2022

The "!" indicates that the photos aren't at the exact locations recorded in the catalog. This is because, as you surmised, the two operating systems use a different name for the drive.

 

To work around this on the Mac: In the Folders panel, repeatedly right-click one of the top-level folders and do Show Parent until the name of the volume is showing as the top-level folder. Right-click that folder and do Find Missing Folder, then navigate to that volume and select it.

 

You'll have to do a similar procedure when you move the drive back to Windows.

 

Alternatively, make a folder "Pictures" in your catalog folder.  In LR's Folders panel, move all the cataloged folders under the "Pictures" folder.  In this special case, LR doesn't record the volume name in the catalog -- rather, it records that the photo folders are relative to the location of the catalog folder.  So you won't need to do Find Missing Folder each time you switch machines.

R
Russell ProulxAuthor
Known Participant
April 18, 2022
quote

Alternatively, make a folder "Pictures" in your catalog folder.  In LR's Folders panel, move all the cataloged folders under the "Pictures" folder. 

 

WOW !!  If that works as easily as it sounds then it completely solves it. I'll be using LrC with that drive again tomorow night (in front of a room full of people) and it will be GREAT if it works as it should. I was planning on waiting until I was on the Mac before importing the images I'm presenting, but this sounds like it'll fix it once and for all.  I'll return on Wednesday with my report of its success (fingers crossed...).

 

Thank you, John :-)))

 

Russell

 

 

R
Russell ProulxAuthor
Known Participant
April 18, 2022

Just to add ... both the Mac and PC are running the latest version of LrC. The external USB drive is ExFat formatted.

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