P: Detect CF Express Cards as a Device in addition to a file location

[Roland_Rick]

CFexpress card (I can only check Type B) are not detected as (photo) devices like XQD and SD cards are. That results in those issues:

• Card is not be ejected automatically after import (to me, the worst thing)
• Add and Move can be used, where Add is a total no go, Move doesn't bother me personally

Please don't blame the OS for this.

Adobe can easily fix this by adding two lines of code checking if there is a DCIM folder in the root of the device or not. Of course that's only a workaround. But I'm pretty sure Adobe board has best contacts to Tim C®ook and this can be fixed in an instant teaming up with Apple, when blaming MacOS. I suppose Adobe will exactly do this, instead of working on a solution.

Honestly, there isn't much difference between SD and CFexpress shown by Disk Utility of Monterey 12.4, viewing the info for the Sony MRW-G1 (can read/write XQD and CFexpress Type B) and SATECHI for the SD Card. In the attached screenshot, I checked the info for the devices, not the volume partitions.

Geetings,
Roland

[JohanElzenga]

This has been discussed many times, including your suggestion. I move this to "ideas" because that makes more sense. Hopefully Adobe will finally listen.

[TheDigitalDog]

Upvoted and yes, this needs a fix as many don't see this carefully, pick 'Move' and then wonder why the images no longer exist on the card. Kind of a big hurt me button. 

[traveler2]

I switched from a PC to a MacBook and now Lightroom Classic cannot see my CF Express card as a source card, and when I check include subfolders it shows nothing; no folders nor files.  It seems to think it is a hard drive but with no capabilities.  Bridge can see it, so why not LRC? Very frusstrating since I spent a lot to "upgrade" to CF Express cards from XQD. 

[JohanElzenga]

Apple changed the security requirements in MacOS Monterey. Go to MacOS 'System Settings - Security & Privacy' and add Lightroom Classic and Photoshop to "Full Disk Access". Click on the lock icon to unlock the settings, then click on the plus icon to add Lightroom Classic and/or Photoshop if it isn't already listed. If it is listed, then just enable the checkbox. See also Quick Tips: How to give Full Disk Access to Lightroom Classic on macOS

[PropagandaPhoto]

Add a Warning dialogue box when importing using the 'Add' command from external media

Occasionally I use the 'add' feature in the import window. However, 99% of the time I import from external media (SD, CF cards etc) using the 'Copy' feature. It's very easy to not notice that the 'Add' is still selected, then images are referenced from a card and that card can then be removed and formatted. My suggestion is that when using 'Add' from external media a secondary dialogue box comes up warning that the images will not be moved and only referenced. This would give the user a heads-up if they wanted to copy or move and not add images.

[GoldingD]

I would think that the lack of panels on the right side would be a clue.

[PropagandaPhoto]

Your post isn't helpful. If you can't support the suggestion don't make pointless comments. 

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

@PropagandaPhoto  - Everyone is welcome to provide an opinion. 

[Lumigraphics]

I never import directly from a memory card. Instead I use a card reader and the Mac Finder to manually copy files, then use Import in LR. This works reliably.

[Califdan2]

Historically, the "add" mode was not available when the source was a memory card as Adobe considered it as a "too volitile" place for LrC to consider a good storage location for images.  

However, recently I've seen cases where "add" was not greyed out when the user selected a memory card.  In most cases the OS or the use of some card readers, fool the OS into treating the SD card as if it were an external disk drive and thereby also fooling LrC into keeping the "add" mode button active.  Of course this could also be a case where something changed in the import dialog code that we didn't notice.  

If the OS is presenting the card to LrC as if it were a disk drive, I'm not sure what adobe can do about that but even if they could detect when this was occuring, the better choice (IMHO) would be to disable the "add" mode when the source is an SD card either masquerading as a disk drive or known as a SD card 

[John R Ellis]

When importing from SD cards and other external USB media, LR disables the Add and Move options.

However, for CFExpress cards, LR treats them like external disks, and thus Add and Move are enabled. This is because both Mac OS and Windows tell LR that the cards are "fixed media" (like disks) rather than "removable media" (cards and USB sticks).  And that's because CFExpress uses the same hardware interface as fast SSDs (NVME and PCIE 3.0).  That is, to Mac OS and Windows, and thus to LR, CFExpress cards look like external SSDs.

I've looked and haven't found a way that apps could distinguish CFExpress cards from SSDs using Mac OS or Windows calls.

As a workaround, LR could treat any disk containing a toplevel DCIM folder as "removable", regardless of the hardware type. (Typically, cameras following industry standards put their photos inside the toplevel DCIM folder.)  In fact, Mac LR (but not Windows LR) did exactly that, but the Eject option was buggy. Rather than fix the buggy Eject option, Adobe changed Mac LR to behave like Windows LR and always treat CFExpress cards based on what the operating system reported for their type (external disk), rather than look for the presence of the DCIM folder.

[John R Ellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this Idea:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/p-detect-cf-express-cards-as-a-device-in-addi... 

Both posters want LR to recognize CFExpress cards as removable media (like SD cards) and prevent users from using the Add or Move import options accidentally.

[PropagandaPhoto]

The add command doesn't need to be removed or disabled. Just a secondary window asking the user if they're sure and warning that images won't be copied or moved. 

[John R Ellis]

@PropagandaPhoto: "a secondary window asking the user if they're sure and warning that images won't be copied or moved."

That could be helpful, but the warning would need a Do Not Show Again option, considering that LR isn't able to distinguish CF Express cards from external SSDs, and users with workflows importing from external disks may not want to see the warning repeatedly.