junglejim1949 Loc: Sacramento,CA

I am considering Lightroom Classic as an upgrade to my current editing software. I also want to save my photos on an external portable drive. I have watched several videos and am confused. One said to first created a new catalog (got it). The confusing part is they said to bring over your external drive with already named folders into lightroom. Others say to create folders only in lightroom. Maybe I am missing the elephant in the room?
Thanks

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Deleted. Duplicate post.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Folders are part of the operating system. Lightroom Classic sees them and you can make new ones from Lightroom. But, Lightroom Classic does not have it's own folders.

When you create a catalog, you "Import" image files into that catalog. The word "Import" should not have been used. It implies the image files are somehow inside of Lightroom Classic. It would have been better to use the word "Register" because the process reads the folder structure with its files and records or "registers" the files and there location in the catalog file.

Many have multiple drives. Lightroom Classic has no problem with having multiple external drives used with an internal drive.

Hope that helps.

junglejim1949 Loc: Sacramento,CA

Thank you... I found Adobe to be very confusing in their descriptions.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Catalog is another confusing term. It’s a database of metadata — data about your files, where they are, and what you want to do with them. Your files are not inside Lightroom.

junglejim1949 Loc: Sacramento,CA

Thanks burkphoto

ClarkJohnson Loc: Fort Myers, FL and Cohasset, MA

The term “catalog” was no doubt chosen to reference a card catalog in a library. You can have a gazzilion books sitting on the shelves, but only the ones that have been processed and organized into the catalog are able to be searched by title, subject, etc. and (hopefully) located.

LRc calls the process of integrating information about an image “importing.” Nothing requires that you import each and every image, but LRc can’t keep track of it or work on it until it undergoes the import process. As noted by many, LRc does not itself keep a separate library of images. It just keeps the information about where to find the images among the user’s storage devices.

Once a image or folder has been imported, it is highly recommended to work within LRc if you want to change locations, so the info on where the item is stays current. If I want to move a folder from, say, a master folder named “Birds” to a folder named “Florida,” LRc has the tools that allow me to make that move, and now it still knows where the images reside. That might be the reason some say you need to only work in LRc.

Good luck. It is really simpler in practice than trying to exlain.

Jrhoffman75 Loc: Conway, New Hampshire

You can download images from your card/camera using your computer operating system into your folders system (like you currently do) and then use the LrC import modules to link the folders to LrC.

You can also connect your card reader/camera to LrC (there is even a setting to open the Import module when a card is connected) and create your new folder (if required) in LrC.

jims203 Loc: Connecticut

Watch Scott Kelby’s Slim method and you’ll be all set. Youtube.

junglejim1949 Loc: Sacramento,CA

Appreciate your explanation 👍

jackpinoh Loc: Kettering, OH 45419

The Lr catalog contains the location of each of your photos, but not the photos themselves. Once a photo has been imported into the Lr catalog, if you want to change the location where you store that photo, you must accomplish this within Lr or Lr will no longer be able to find it. When you move the photo to a new location within Lr, the catalog is automatically updated with the new location.

If you already have folders containing your photos on your computer, have not yet added those photos to the Lr catalog, and want to move those files to an external drive, it makes sense to move them before importing them to the Lr catalog. This would be the option.

If you have already imported photos into Lr before moving them to an external drive, you should move them by dragging them to the new drive within Lr. That way Lr will know where to find them.

junglejim1949 Loc: Sacramento,CA

Thanks for the info

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Well written and a clear explanation.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

For the computer literate, yes, it's reasonably simple. But there are some people who lack a frame of reference that begins with understanding drive and directory structures, LANs and WANs, and nested hierarchies. It continues with understanding database usage. It isn't always obvious.

When I ran the digital imaging departments of a large photo lab, we had enormous training hurdles as we moved from film/optical processing to digital imaging. Many of our employees just could not make the transition to computer-driven anything. Some of them retired after 20 to 57 years of service! They were otherwise excellent at what they did and extremely knowledgeable about our business, but sadly, could not understand Windows XP or MacOS X. 6 out of 75 made the transition. They were the ones who took us up on the offer of free training at the local community college...

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

"Many of our employees just could not make the transition to computer-driven anything."

I'm on a computer support team in a retirement community. I can be amazing how difficult it is for some. One retired, high powered executive wanted to scan documents for editing. He feared the damage new software might make on his laptop. His solution? He found a retired 'secretary' to do it for him.