bioteacher Loc: Brooklyn, NY

My C drive is almost filled so I would like to move my pictures to an external drive. The 1 problem i see is that I have done a lot of editing of these photos in lightroom and do not want to lose the editing I have done previously when I move these files. Does anyone have any ideas how I can do this without losing all the editing. I know that lightroom's info is kept in it's catalog. Thank you. I am running Windows 7 (64 bit).

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

The easiest thing might be to replace your C drive with a newer, larger, drive, especially if it is more than a few years old - these drives start failing at three years or so, and if you are not already backed up, you can lose everything. A computer tech can copy everything onto a new, larger drive. If your current drive is not very old, just add a new 2TB hard drive, and just copy your photo files to that. Also, be sure and defragment your hard drive if you haven't done that lately - it will make it much faster. A new drive is about $100 and labor is cheap on this quick addition.

bioteacher Loc: Brooklyn, NY

I have 5 external drives, and I have the pictures backed up on them and on carbonite. I want to move the files over wwith all the editing saved. Thanks

altheman Loc: Christchurch, New Zealand

The first thing you need to do is:
Click Edit, Click Catalog Settings, Click on the Metadata Tab, Click on the "Automatically write changes into XMP" so that the box is ticked then click OK.
Then watch the video tutorial then create a new folder in your external hard drive where you want to put your photos.
This will allow lightroom time to write all your edit settings to Xmp files It might take a while, when that is finished move your photos.
Watch this tutorial: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-lightroom-4/import-moving-folders-around-after-the-fact/
Just remember to create a new empty folder in the external drive of your choice by clicking on the + on the right hand side of the folders bar in lefthand panel of the develop module

bioteacher Loc: Brooklyn, NY

Thank you. Did you mean the Library module as I do not see a folders folder in the Develop module.

altheman Loc: Christchurch, New Zealand

yes

alawry Loc: Timaru New Zealand

This post is of no interest to me but is thrilling to see a fellow kiwi helpin someone fom new york this is what uhh is all about, great to see it in action. Best wishes, andrew.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Something else to consider: install a second internal drive, and put all your data onto that one. If the main drive fails, it won't affect you data and images.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Also do the move inside lightroom LR will remember where the photos are

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

I've never known any file to change when moved. If these photos you speak of, the edited ones, are properly saved in the first place the changes are permanent and should not change at all with a simple copy / paste to another drive.

Just a suggestion, I keep only current photo folder that I'm building, on my back up drive. All the rest have been burned and labeled to either CD, in the early days, and now DVD.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Lots of good recommendations here. The most important thing to do is backup your catalog. Then create a folder on the new external drive from LR and then simply drag and drop the folders from the C drive one at a time or all at once. Set your computer preferences so that it doesn't go into "sleep mode" while this is going on and keep the screen saver off during periods like this.

wingincamera Loc: Spanaway, Washington

This is the way to do it. You can even create the new folder on the new drive from within Lightroom. Then while in Lightroom simply drag the old folders & photos over to the new drive & folder.
Lightroom will know where they are and you won't loose any info.

Make a backup of the catalog first. Also, in Lightroom have it also create a backup to the current catalog. You can have it create this backup catalog anywhere. I would suggest the backup be on the new drive, so you will have the same catalogs on two different drives.

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

LR keeps the edits in a 'sidecar' file, leaving the original pristine.
Unless you write those changes to the the file, they *can* get lost when you move stuff around.

RichardE Loc: California

Here is what I do:
1) Copy the card files to the C: drive in a folder labeled "ToLR". Use the card slot in the computer as it is faster.
2) Remove card from computer.
3) Import the photos into LR. In LR, I copy the files to a backup drive at the same time as I import the photos to a "working" drive that has the LR catalog, etc) (which is another drive altogether).
4) Format the card in-camera for next shoot.
5) In a week or so, you should be able to delete the photos in the "ToLR" folder on the c: drive. You still have two copies of the photos on other drives and also in your nightly/weekly back-ups.

Now, I also have moved catalogs but you then must tell LR where the Catalog is located.

Hope this helps in a round about way.

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

No disrespect intended, but unless you use Lightroom AND understand how it works then it is best not to offer advice. The OP is correct in being concerned about moving his files to an external drive. Your advice may work for other post processors but will cause problems with LR.

LR never "saves" your edits to the original file. Your edits are never "baked in" until you export them. This allows you to always have your original file untouched and available to re-edit without any data loss.

LR uses a "Catalogue" that records where a file is located AND records the edits. If you move files from outside of LR, the catalogue loses the connection with the photo library. This is not something that can't be fixed but why have to deal with it?

There are several ways to do what you want to do.

1. It is possible to leave the current files on your main drive and begin importing all your new files to the external drive. This can be done by simply clicking on the + sign in the folder panel and navigating to the external drive and creating a new main folder to put all new files in. This has two disadvantages in that it makes backups a little more difficult and, because the external's drive letter can change if you add a new peripheral. The catalogue will not know where they went.

2. Create a new folder on the external drive as above and drag and drop the existing folders to it in lightroom. This will physically move the photos from the c:\ drive to the external but will not move the catalogue. That will remain on the c:\ drive. the drive letter concerns still apply. Also, since this deletes the files from the c:\ drive, there is a possibilty of data loss or file corruption if you lose power during the process. If you chose this method, back up all your files beforehand!

3. My preferred method: Do an "Export as Catalogue" of your current catalogue to the new drive. This will create a new copy of both your photo library AND the catalogue on the external drive. You only need to give the exported catalogue a new name to differentiate it from the old one and make sure you check off "Export Negative Files. Since the catalogue and library reside on the same drive, backups are simpler and the drive letter problems don't exist. You will then have two copies of your work and you can delete the old one after you are sure you have a good copy on the external drive and have backed it up.

If you need further assistance, PM me and I will try to help.

One poster suggested that you write the metadata to XMP. this is really not necessary. If your c:\ drive is really full up, this may create problems because it takes up a lot of space as each file is completely rebuilt. It is only necessary if you use Adobe Bridge with your LR files as it can not read the edit metadata from the catalogue. Setting LR to do this automatically is known to slow down LR editing as it rebuilds each file as you make changes.