Moving Lightroom 6 to a new computer - macOS

[tims69405000]

I bought LR6 (not CC) a couple of years ago, and have been using it on my iMac. I just purchased a MacBook Pro, and would like to move everything over to it now - since the iMac is on it's last legs. 

Over the last couple of days I've moved several of my picture folders over to the new machine (I just use the LR default of importing/saving them by date - so I moved my "2019", "2018" & "2017" folders over & dropped them in the "Pictures" folder on the MacBook.) I then tried moving the actual application over by copying the "Lightroom6" folder from the "Applications" folder on the iMac. I've tried putting it in both the "Applications" folder and the "Pictures" folder on the MacBook - but either way, when I go to launch the application it starts to launch it, and I get the info screen with the flower on it for about 2 or 3 seconds, and then it just stops. The info screen goes away, and LR never finishes launching.

Any ideas why? Is there some dumb mistake I forgot or didn't do - or might I have a bigger problem than that? (FYI - I'm trying to launch it by double-clicking on the application inside the "Lightroom6" folder.)

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Tim

{Thread renamed by moderator}

[Sahil.Chawla]

Hi Tim,

To better understand how to move Lightroom onto a new computer, I would suggest you to check this guide and let us know if it helps: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

Regards,
Sahil

[tims69405000]

Hi Sahil,

That looks like exactly the info I need! I'll give it a try tonight.

Thanks alot!

Tim

[John Waller]

Before you rush into it, read here:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-macos-catalina-compatibility/

I'm surprised Adobe don't provide these warnings with their forum responses.

"Lightroom 6 (last version was 6.14)

Lightroom 6.14 itself is 64-bit, but the installer and licensing code are 32-bit. If it’s already installed, Lightroom 6.14 may continue to work, but you won’t be able to install, uninstall or reactivate it. For these reasons, Adobe does not recommend using it on Catalina and it is not supported on Catalina.

If you’re still on Lightroom 6 or earlier, you have two options: You can stay on macOS Mojave (10.14) or earlier and Lightroom will continue to work as it does at the moment. If you want to update to Catalina safely (without the worry of it not working if you need to reinstall) then it’s time to subscribe to the Photography Plan. Lightroom Classic still runs on your computer, just like Lightroom 6, but it’s just paid on subscription instead of a one-off cost. Here are the changes since Lightroom 6."

[tims69405000]

Wow - THAT stinks.

I just wanted to stay on LR6, and not pay a monthly subscription fee - I don't need the absolute latest upgrades, etc.

So it sounds like my only choices are:

1) Buy the subscription version, and then - according to the reviews on B&H - have a product that's "lacking lots of features", and "doesn't have many advanced options", so essentially a worse product than I have now AND I get to "renew" it every year, or,

2) Downgrade the OS on my brand new Mac so that I can continue to use the LR6 product I have now (really? go BACKWARDS with the OS on a brand new computer?), or,

3) Continue to use my 11 year old iMac until it dies for good - running LR6 just fine like it has for the last 2 years - while my brand new Mac is used for web surfing & e-mail

I HAVE TO be missing something. Those can't be the only options - right?

Thanks for the help with this - I don't mean to sound crabby. It's just that I can't believe the above are my options.

[John Waller]

1) Buy the subscription version, and then - according to the reviews on B&H - have a product that's "lacking lots of features", and "doesn't have many advanced options", so essentially a worse product than I have now AND I get to "renew" it every year,

There are two subscription options. 

• Lightroom (Cloud-based). Yes, instead of a new name, the brand new Cloud version took the name of its 12 year old predecessor. Confusion abounds. The B&H reviews were probably for this feature-lite version.
• Lightroom Classic (catalog based, the re-named successor to your version 6). All the features and tools you're used to and more.

Adobe's naming conventions for Lightroom lately have been very confusing and, frankly, stink. But we have to live with them.

Lightroom's future undoubtedly is in the Cloud but the Cloud version is still catching up with the very mature toolset of Lightroom Classic. For now, we have two separate and very different versions. Both subscription-only and supported on Catalina.

2) Downgrade the OS on my brand new Mac so that I can continue to use the LR6 product I have now (really? go BACKWARDS with the OS on a brand new computer?)

Yes, that is a valid option. Bit odd, but valid. I'm still on Mojave until I trust Catalina more since its changes are quite radical in some areas and bugs in the OS and various apps are still surfacing.

3) Continue to use my 11 year old iMac until it dies for good - running LR6 just fine like it has for the last 2 years - while my brand new Mac is used for web surfing & e-mail

Yes, that is a valid option.

>>>I HAVE TO be missing something. Those can't be the only options - right?

One geek option is to dual-boot your Mac using Bootcamp or Parallels: Mojave for Lightroom 6 and Catalina for everything else. Otherwise, if you're sticking with Lightroom 6, those are your options.

[tims69405000]

Thanks for all the info John.

So if I wanted to bite the bullet and go with:

- Lightroom Classic (catalog based, the re-named successor to your version 6). All the features and tools you're used to and more.

.....do you know how I'd find it? I've looked on B&H, Adorama & Amazon for "Lightroom Classic", and the only thing any of them return is Lightroom CC. Nobody has anything called "Classic" - and if I decide to go that route I don't want to end up with the "feature-light" version.

Ugh - I'm about ready to go back to Apple's Aperture 3. Oh, wait.........   😉

[John Waller]

Adobe offers the Photography Plans:

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/compare-plans.html

Lightroom Classic is bundled with two of them.

There is no standalone plan for Lightroom Classic.