StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

Thanks to some very helpful replies from my UHH colleagues, I have just started the long overdue and arduous task of moving my photos from Aperture to Lightroom. I keep all of my Lightroom photos and catalog on a one terabyte external hard drive. I have 30,000 photos in my Aperture Libraries, and have quickly realized that if I move them all, my external hard drive will quickly fill up. I know that the Lightroom Catalog can easily become corrupted and not "function" properly if it, or the photos it organizes, is not properly handled and maintained. My thought is to move my catalog and all of my photos currently in Lightroom to a much larger (3 TB?) external hard drive, and then continue to move my Aperture Libraries to Lightroom. Is this the best way to proceed? Is this a difficult task? How do I do it? Are there better (or more appropriate) ways to get all of my photos in one catalog, in one location? I want to avoid multiple catalogues, as I understand that can be problematic. I want the simplest solution, as my computer skills are not quite as sharp as they could be.
Thanks.
Steve

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

If you CLONE the existing hard drive, with software like Acronis, to a new and larger HD, you can remove the original and your computer will think the new one is the old one.
For some reason, when I clone my c:/ drive for backup, it takes less than 1/2 hour. If I had to copy everything it would take hours.

lesdmd Loc: Middleton Wi via N.Y.C. & Cleveland

Here is the advice, directly from Adobe:
http://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/2012/04/is-your-hard-drive-full-heres-how-to-move-images-to-another-drive-in-lightroom.html

What you want to remember is that the Lightroom Catalogue needs to know where the images are stored. The only question I would have is whether storing everything on the external drive will slow down retrieving the photos?

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Interesting...
I have been in the process of moving my entire picture files from C: to an external hard drive.
Currently beginning day 3 of a continuous move. Day, and Night.
Well over 600 GB of pictures.

Milestone! Milestone! Just hit 70%!

Ohhh, I don't think I want another single picture on my hard drive... :P :roll: :?

StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

Thank you. This sounds like a very reasonable solution. As I said, I presently have all photos and catalog on an external drive named "Lightroom". (The catalog is also on my MacBook Pro hard drive.) In addition, I have the "Lightroom" hard drive backed up, via CARBON COPY CLONER (probably similar to Acorns) on a second hard drive named "Lightroom Backup".

So, if I clone my "Lightroom" hard drive, do I also call it "Lightroom", in order for it to be recognized by LR on my computer? or does it not matter?

StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

Thanks. I have been storing everything on an external drive since I started using LR, about a year ago. As far as I can tell, LR accesses the photos as quickly as if they were on my computer's internal hard drive. Same thing when I was using Aperture.

StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

I anticipated the same lengthy process, so I decided to move my photos in small groups. That in itself will draw things out, at least several weeks. But, I always get anxious when a transfer takes several days. (Been there when I was using Aperture, and had to create new Libraries to speed things up.) Hope you are at least 90% done by now!! Good Luck!!!

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

81%
Afternoon of day 3.
Ohh, this is really getting old. :-( :? :lol:

I just hope the old Box-O-Rocks perks up once it's bowels are empty. :-o :lol:

Holy Moly!

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

If you clone your HD, you're making an exact duplicate of your Drive, hidden partitions and all. For all intents and purposes, the drive you clone it to becomes the same exact drive.
I don't know about renaming it as I've only cloned and never changed the letter or name of the drive. Try cloning without renaming and see what happens. If you have to rename it, make sure it's the exact same name.
Now, when you finish cloning, remove the original drive and restart so your computer will see a drive that it will think is the old drive.
Then, plug your old drive in and rename that. I think you can to a hot swap, meaning plugging it in after the computer boots.
You can always change the drive letter if your computer changes the letter of the new drive, which I don't think it will.
Don't hesitate to PM me if need more help. I have a wedding tomorrow night in NJ, so I won't be available until Sunday.

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

SonnyE, did you change your avatar?

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Why yes, yes I did Indi.

When at Joshua Tree NP, GTInSoCal took that shot of me setting up to shoot the sunset.
I liked it so very much I made it my avatar for UHH.

Ref: http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-330499-1.html#5543517

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

Yes it will depending on the speed/type of external drive used. Thunderbolt, or USB 3, or USB C, the delay will probably not be noticeable. Unless you are using a cheap 5400 rpm drive or something. Still I would keep the LR catalog on the same drive as the OS, and a BU LRCAT file with the photos.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

FYI:

For the amount of time and effort, it might be better to switch to Capture One Pro.

Many have switch. Although 1GB is alot, it's made to do thing like that.

IzzyKap Loc: Rockville, MD

Please clarify your answer. What specifically is the advantage of Capture One Pro in this regard? Thanks

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

Not sure what a program has to do with interface transfer time. Adding in any program into this equation will only slow down the process, not speed it up!