Yet another dysfunctional Lightroom Classic to CC migration. No ARW files and no albums or presets.

[jlelandhill]

I attempted to migrate from Classic to CC and guess what.. It totally didn't work and I've got a big mess.

It's deja-vu. I decide yet again to "improve" my lightroom experience and it all goes awry. At risk of sounding bitter every time over the years that I've attempted to either combine catalogs, upgrade versions, use a new computer, use a new camera RAW or make basically any considerable change, the reccomended procedure doesn't work and I'm left with a big mess. I did everything as reccomended and it has failed miserably.

Summary: The procedure isn't totally done yet but it's already doomed.

1) Any and all .ARW files I had imported over the past two years were simply left behind and unrecognized. This accounts for almost all of the past two years of work.

2) Syncing isn't complete yet but I see no evidence of either my collections (to become albums) making the trip or any of my presets either. (and why does it matter if all of the actual photos don't make it anyway.)

Questions:

1) What's the deal with .ARW files? Is there a trick to getting them to to make the journey? It was only a couple of years ago that LR was able to import them directly without a manual DNG coversion and now it's failing to recognize them again. Is Lighroom photography software? Did I miss something? What's the problem? Is this some war between Sony and Adobe that I need to be part of, or is Adobe simply not capable of handling .ARW files? Either way it doesn't reflect well.

2) How do I simply start this back to scratch with an empty cloud and a clean slate? I'll probably still use Lightroom CC unless it won't allow me to use newly shot .ARW files, but clearly I need to abort this process at this point.

3) Should I see evidence of albums and presets before this sync is 100% complete? Unless then are added after everything else I would expect to see evidence of them them by now.

Summary: 

I really like the mobile sync and the much improved UI/usability of CC.  I demo'd it and thought wow; they finally addressed usability by simplifying instead of hurting it by adding more things and more complexities.  I was really excited to use it. The problem being that as usual something really important totally doesn't work. Namely the migration itself along with Sony RAW. I really thought this would be the time that that a big change for my lightroom structure was succesful but I did everything by the book and it's another trainwreck without a clear way to revert. Dissapointed and needing guidance.

-Jim

[JP Hess]

I quickly read your comments. You seem to be speaking in a lot of generalities without going into detail about what does and doesn't work, what you have and haven't tried. I'm not going to try to help you because I don't use Lightroom for the cloud that much. But what little bit I do seems to work as expected. If you really want some help I would suggest that you state specifically what your problems are. Then, perhaps someone will be able to provide suggestions as to what you might do.

[jlelandhill]

Generalities? I'm not sure what was unclear about what I did or didn't do, Jim.  I initiated a migration from Classic to CC (after a cleanup of the files and collection structure).  I gues that's a generality but is there somethign to be more specific about there?

What I did: Initiate a migration from classic to CC.

What doesn't work:

1) Any and all .ARW files I had imported over the past two years were simply left behind and unrecognized. This accounts for almost all of the past two years of work.

2) Syncing isn't complete yet but I see no evidence of either my collections (to become albums) making the trip or any of my presets either. (and why does it matter if all of the actual photos don't make it anyway.)

Help is appreciated. Really I'm wondering if my issues are commonly known, how to aleviate them, and how to totally reset this process and start over.

Jim

[jlelandhill]

...and I realize my original post was a bit rambling. I think years of LR catalog headaches have worn me thin and I was excited to work with this new product.... then... more complications.

[jlelandhill]

Then again I do find it a bit unsettling that the reply from an Adobe representative is "I'm not going to try to help you because I don't use Lightroom for the cloud that much." ...and I also feel that I was reasonably specific about what my problems are.

If you are unable to help me with this issue a refferal to a community professional who is better suited to LR migration issues would be appreciated. Thanks!

[jlelandhill]

Well I guess there you have it. Someone called an "Adobe community Professional" posted one somewhat abrupt reply telling me that my description of my issue didn't work for him (probably because I was critical of the product) - and also that he can't help me with Lightroom CC anyway because he doesn't use it.

If anyone does have any information that is helpful I'd be happy to hear it. Have a good day.