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Why "add photos" option is inactive while importing photos

Community Beginner ,
Jun 21, 2022 Jun 21, 2022

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Hi!

I'm trying to add photos from an external USB drive and Lightroom Classic only allows me to either copy them or to copy and create dng. I'm getting this issue on a new Windows laptop, previously & currently I am also using Lightroom Classic on 2 macs. There's no problem like this on macs. 

Any thoughts or ideas on how I can fix this issue? Otherwise, I might very quickly run out of storage space on the laptop, my files are huge.

Thanks in advance!

 

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LEGEND ,
Jun 21, 2022 Jun 21, 2022

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If the photos are on a "removable drive" such as a camera card, then you can't use ADD. You can only use ADD when the photos are on a hard disk or network drive.

 

So Lightroom Classic is doing the right thing here. It can't be "fixed". If you are running out of space, import the photos to a different drive.

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 21, 2022 Jun 21, 2022

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thank you, ok, I've read this before, but why I can do it on a Mac, but not on a PC? Is this the way Lightroom Classic operates on PC only? 

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LEGEND ,
Jun 21, 2022 Jun 21, 2022

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There are a lot of possible reasons, including a "bug" in the Mac version.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 21, 2022 Jun 21, 2022

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@dashapears.art wrote:

thank you, ok, I've read this before, but why I can do it on a Mac, but not on a PC? Is this the way Lightroom Classic operates on PC only? 



It depends on what the OS tells Lightroom about the drive. Maybe Windows suggests its like a memory card, while MacOS considers it an external drive. The opposite happens too: CFExpress memory cards are reported as external drives, and so Lightroom allows 'ADD' while it shouldn't.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga

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LEGEND ,
Jun 21, 2022 Jun 21, 2022

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The drive is probably formatted for the Mac and Windows will not write to the Mac formatted drive but will read from the drive.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 21, 2022 Jun 21, 2022

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quote

The drive is probably formatted for the Mac and Windows will not write to the Mac formatted drive but will read from the drive.


By @Bob Somrak

 

I do not think Windows will read a Mac drive (HFS or APFS).

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga

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LEGEND ,
Jun 21, 2022 Jun 21, 2022

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@JohanElzenga Thanks for the info.

 

I didn't realize Windows would not read an HFS formated drive.  I haven't tried it lately but Mac would read an NTFS drive.  Is this still the case with M1 chips?

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Community Expert ,
Jun 21, 2022 Jun 21, 2022

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Yes, Macs have always been able to read NTFS, and as far as I know that has not changed. Windows has never been able to read HFS, and I don't think it reads APFS either. Both can read and write to ExFAT and that is the default formatting for memory cards and USB sticks. USB external drives come in Mac or Windows formatting, depending on the manufacturer.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga

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LEGEND ,
Jun 21, 2022 Jun 21, 2022

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Same hard drive???

 

By default Windows partition NTFS

By default MAC partition HFS

Thise are incompatable

exFAT sometimes used to work on both (bit of a poor performer on MAC)

 

 

 

 

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 22, 2022 Jun 22, 2022

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LATEST

yes, same hard drive. It's exFAT. Didn't know it's a poor performer on a Mac, thanks!

But yes, I do suspect it might be the hard drive thing. I still don't want to keep the raw files on a hard drive though. Will search for a workaround.

Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion and offered expertise. Highly appreciated!

 

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LEGEND ,
Jun 21, 2022 Jun 21, 2022

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What is the make/model of the external drive?

What type of drive?

What format is the drive partition?

 

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