Reinstalling Lr CC after hardware issue and HDD reformat

[mgsylvestre]

I had my Mac repaired. In the process of troubleshooting the issues which I had, I reformatted my HDD (everything is backed up etc. no worries).

I keep a local copy of all my pictures. They already are in a separate directory in an external HDD array which did not get reformatted.

I will reinstall LrCC on my computer HDD tonight.

Can I just reconnect my external HDD (and change the directory in preference to point to the correct directory on the external  HDD)? Are the online copies going to reconnect with the local copies? Am i going to end up duplicating every picture files?

I would rather know in advance than do this by trial and error. I have a lot of files...

Thank you.

[Jim Wilde · Accepted solution]

It should work OK. When you start LRCC after re-installing it, it will automatically rebuild your local library from the cloud, but as you've already realised you'll need to then change the preferences to opt for originals to be stored locally, and the location to be the same as previously set. LRCC should then find the originals are already in the specified location and simply update the records for each image to show that the original is now stored locally.

I have done a brief test, and that seemed to work OK, but no guarantees.....worst case scenario if it doesn't work is that you'll have to delete the first set of originals and wait for the new set to be downloaded.

[mgsylvestre]

Thank you. I will try and let you know.

Don't worry I have (too many) backups, so as to guarantees, I believe that the only things guaranteed in life are death and taxes!

[mgsylvestre]

This worked perfectly. The files reconnected and there were no duplicates.

Thank you.