New technology (Page 2): ---- I don't personally use cloud space for storing photos. I have backup external drives for storage and burn some to DVDs also.

jamesl Loc: Pennsylvania

Cowpaty wrote:

I recently purchase a new desk top computer in order to use lightroom with all the new features. My computer was 13 years old. I realize things have changed but now my external hard drive with all my photos don't want to work on it. External drive is 6 years old? Too old for new computer,(I guess?)). Everything is pointing to cloud service that cost more and more. How is everyone handling there photos these days? Are you going to the clouds?

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I don't personally use cloud space for storing photos. I have backup external drives for storage and burn some to DVDs also.

Capn_Dave

This has me wondering what is going on so I will follow this thread

Cowpaty

Windows and cable USB

Cowpaty

It has power supply. Works good with old computers?

JBRIII

My experience has been that older drives >12yrs, maybe much older, that used a square plug (~1/4" with one rounded side?) that plugs into the drive may not work. I have at least two with old work data and neither works. They require drivers that are not available. I think the cable was once used in many printers. The end for the computer is USB, but drives are not plug and play.

Cowpaty

Thanks for all the information. Much appreciated.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

JBRIII wrote:

My experience has been that older drives >12yrs, maybe much older, that used a square plug (~1/4" with one rounded side?) that plugs into the drive may not work. I have at least two with old work data and neither works. They require drivers that are not available. I think the cable was once used in many printers. The end for the computer is USB, but drives are not plug and play.

So far my older USB drives have been plug-n'-play with Win 11.... Even my old external CD drive.

As for the connector, different physical geometries will not even plug in.....

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

Cowpaty wrote:

I recently purchase a new desk top computer in order to use lightroom with all the new features. My computer was 13 years old. I realize things have changed but now my external hard drive with all my photos don't want to work on it. External drive is 6 years old? Too old for new computer,(I guess?)). Everything is pointing to cloud service that cost more and more. How is everyone handling there photos these days? Are you going to the clouds?

I use external drives. Too many pix for the cloud and too costly!!

bwa

delder Loc: Maryland

REMEMBER!
Lightroom itself does NOT have your actual Photos.
They reside on your Hard Drive.
Using an external Hard Drive & moving it to a modern computer PROBABLY changed the drive letter.[new computer probably uses C for SSD & D for internal HDD.] Most likely you 13 year old computer had C as the HDD & D was assigned to your external HDD.
It is possibly E on your new computer, so Lightroom cannot find them.
Can you see your photographs on the new computer using Windows Explorer? Then you work with LR to find them or RE-import them from the External HDD to your new computer.

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

Cowpaty wrote:

I recently purchase a new desk top computer in order to use lightroom with all the new features. My computer was 13 years old. I realize things have changed but now my external hard drive with all my photos don't want to work on it. External drive is 6 years old? Too old for new computer,(I guess?)). Everything is pointing to cloud service that cost more and more. How is everyone handling there photos these days? Are you going to the clouds?

I have an old external drive that I used in the '90s. I think it was something like 85 Gbytes so it's not exactly useful any more but it still worked last time I used it on Win10 I had no problem reading from it. Probably about a year ago.

My current external drives are 4TBytes and they're half full. I have a couple 12 TByte drives that I expect to be using for a while.

For backup I use the external drives as primary. I use the cloud as secondary storage, for disaster coverage. Local drives are much more convenient and don't have bandwidth problems but cloud storage is safer overall. Your data are distributed over a wide area and so they are resistant to regional disasters. The data are also maintained by professionals rather than your local drives which are maintained by amateurs. Are you on Mac or Windows? Macs have special needs for drive formats so that may be why your old drives won't work with your new computer.