Lightroom from external drive to internal: I have my photo files and Lightroom catalog on an external drive and want to move them to my computer, I tried copying them but the paths for...

Jerry G Loc: Waterford, Michigan and Florida

I have my photo files and Lightroom catalog on an external drive and want to move them to my computer,
I tried copying them but the paths for the Lrcat are wrong. I have tried to figure out how to move them in lightroom
but am not having much success, any advice about moving them would be appreciated.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The solution could be rather simple, depending on how you've organized your images. For 'simple', consider this example (Windows):

A, images reside on connected HD labeled "H", like H:\all-my-pics\**
B, you copied this entire "all-my-pics" folder structure onto your C: drive.
C, corrective action is to:

1, open LR.
2, display the Folders in the LR Library module.
3, Find the "old" H:\all-my-pics\ folder inside LR.
4, Right-click that old H: location and select "Update Folder Location".
5, Navigate to the new C: location and <Select Folder>. LR will cascade this update for all the images in the LR catalog.

If needed, repeat the process above for any multiple high-level "entry points" to the organization of all your images and folder structures.

Jerry G Loc: Waterford, Michigan and Florida

CHG_CANON wrote:

The solution could be rather simple, depending on ... (show quote)

Thank you Paul
This is not the first time you have helped me with a Lightroom problem. I sometimes wonder if Lightroom is worth the problems I have but it fits my unorganized work flow.

Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY

What Paul was saying if your folders were organized with folder names something like H:\Master Photos\2023\2023-04\2023-04-17[whatever] where is 2023-04-2023 is the date shot you can easily remember what to copy to a new drive year or month at a time. It turns out that Lightroom has a default destination just like that without the whatever. If you use that convention it is foolproof. Being a lazy fool I have evolved to import without the whatever. I then put whatever I would put as whatever in the add to a collection named whatever. That way I can clean up the organization as collections if and when I get around to it.

If you use a Mac just turn the \ to / Just the way it should have been.

tcthome Loc: NJ

No import catalog options under the file drop down menu at the top left work for you? See attached photo. Good luck.

(Download)

Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY

tcthome wrote:

No import catalog options under the file drop down menu at the top left work for you? See attached photo. Good luck.

This is not relevant to the original post but I see “Import from Another Catalog…” on the menu.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

tcthome wrote:

No import catalog options under the file drop down menu at the top left work for you? See attached photo. Good luck.

Importing from another catalog will not do what I think you want done. You can import images from one catalog to another, but that does not change the path to the image file, which is the important thing in LR.

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Jerry G wrote:

I have my photo files and Lightroom catalog on an external drive and want to move them to my computer,
I tried copying them but the paths for the Lrcat are wrong. I have tried to figure out how to move them in lightroom
but am not having much success, any advice about moving them would be appreciated.

Just curious, why are going in this direction? Won't you run out of room and have to reverse the direction down the line or go for a larger internal drive? I had a 2 TB external which was getting full and just moved to a 4Tb SSD. I'd move only you catalog to your internal drive but move up to a faster external drive. Food for thought.

lreisner Loc: Union,NJ

pithydoug wrote:

Just curious, why are going in this direction? Won't you run out of room and have to reverse the direction down the line or go for a larger internal drive? I had a 2 TB external which was getting full and just moved to a 4Tb SSD. I'd move only you catalog to your internal drive but move up to a faster external drive. Food for thought.

Jerry G Loc: Waterford, Michigan and Florida

pithydoug wrote:

Just curious, why are going in this direction? Won't you run out of room and have to reverse the direction down the line or go for a larger internal drive? I had a 2 TB external which was getting full and just moved to a 4Tb SSD. I'd move only you catalog to your internal drive but move up to a faster external drive. Food for thought.

I have been using an external drive for over a year. I just upgraded my internal drive to an ssd and plan on upgrading my external drive soon. I moved my catalog and files so I will have the increased speed until I upgrade my external drive. The reason for the upgrade is my bank account was hacked and the bank felt that one of our computers had been hacked. The bank closed our account and we opened a new account. The bank would not let us
do online banking until we had clean machines, so two new laptops and new drive for the desktop. Although we lost no money from the account being hacked we did have to spend money on computers.