Transferring photos to external drive

[AniaC1]

Hi all,

I trust this note finds you well. I would be most grateful if someone could guide me through how to transfer my photos to external hard drive- leaving only previous in my Lightroom.

I am not sure what version of Lightroom I have by it was purchased around 2013-2015 (more likely 2014).

I am using MacBook Pro with macOS HighSierra as operating system.

I have 38000 photos backed to my external drive( only previous in my lightroom left ) but it was set up by somone who had knowlage unlike myself. I am trying to do the same to another few thoused of photos but I don't know where to start.

I tried to create a catalog but I recieved pop up saying "lightroom cannot create a catalog named so and so on network volume. It might be worth mentioning that I am using WD MYCLOUD MIRROR as external disk. I vaglue remeber that my photos were going to an address (.local) which I know but it looks like the external disk (my cloud mirror)when conected is showing on the left hand side under folders as Public. I think that's a good sign but I don't know how to exporta and/or import and/or synch my lightroom with my cloud mirror to move photos. I am lost and I need some help. 

Many thanks,

Anna

[JP Hess]

Are the photos on the WD My Cloud Mirror in the same file structure as the photos on your Mac hard drive? Are your photos arranged in subfolders under one master folder?

[AniaC1]

Hi Jim. When I go to my public folder (wd my cloud mirror) the photos are arranged in one folder then when i click on that folder it goes to many folders named by year ie: 2011,2012, 2013 etc then if i click on 2011 it goes to another folder which is done by date ie: 2011-12-7 then 2011-12-08 etc then when i click on 2011 -12-07 I get the image which starts L100418.dng 

I'm get a feeling it is done in subfloders but I'm hopeless. someone did it for me and I wish I have made notes as I have no knowlage of Lightroom. 

[AniaC1]

Hi Jim. I checked in the lightroom and on the left under Macintosh HD are folders and subfolders with dates...

[JP Hess]

So if I'm understanding you correctly, the folder structures are different on the Mac hard drive and the external hard drive. Is that correct? If that is correct, do you want to keep the file structure that is NOW on the external hard drive?

[dj_paige]

How to move photos to a different drive: see "Part 2 — Updating Folder Location" of this document

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm

[JP Hess]

Updating the folder location in the document in that link is where I was heading. But that process only works well when the folder structure on the external hard drive (i.e. the secondary location) is precisely the same as the original folder structure. In other words, the folder structure on that external hard drive must be exactly the same as what is on the Macintosh hard drive in order for that process to work smoothly.

[AniaC1]

Hi Jim. Thank you for your help. Idealy I would prefer to keep the same struckture. I manged to go to the left hand side of the menu in Lightroom - Folders - Macintosh HD - there are folders with years ie: 2014,2015, 2016 etc and then you click on each year it goes to subfolders with dates..then what I did was click on the folder then exported the folder as a Catalog to my My Cloud Mirror. I was successful with the first transfer when I created new folder called Fujifilm then subfolder was created with the Year and then I got smaller subfolders with dates but another folder was created  called Untitled Previews. Irdata and Untitled. Icrat...

I started to transfer other years to Fujifilm folder ie 2013 - then insted of getting subfolders with dates I got Untitled folder then 2013 folder again! then same thing Untitled Previews. Irdata etc - nightmare. I am so sorry if this doesn't make sense as English is not my first language. Anyway I manged to lose 70 photos from 2018.. the photos are appearing in my lightroom with question mark - missing. Perhaps if I could take screen shoots on my iphone and attached to the chat would be helpful... is there any way of attaching photos to posts?

[dj_paige]

"But that process only works well when the folder structure on the external hard drive (i.e. the secondary location) is precisely the same as the original folder structure."

An extra step, but certainly fixable.

[JP Hess]

Yes, it's possible to attach photos to your messages, but it cannot be done from a phone, it must be done from the computer. As you are typing the message using the website, position the cursor where you want the image to be added, and then click on the icon that is highlighted in this illustration:

Then you will be allowed to choose an image to include.

Hopefully, you are aware that creating a new catalog does not include images. The catalog is a database that keeps track of where the images are located (in files and folders and on which hard drive they are located), as well as the adjustments you have made those images, but the catalog does not include the images. The images are simply in folders on the hard drive or hard drives attached to your computer. You need to have exact copies of all your working folders of all your images that are on your Macintosh hard drive placed on your external hard drive. If you don't have those in place then use Finder to copy all of those folders containing your images to your external hard drive. When that is completed, let us know.