drboss56

I have viewed Scott Kelby's SLIM system for Lightroom and I had not really intended to implement it however, I did something to my catalog such that some of my folders are now gone (fortunately, I had a back up so I still have the original photos). Strangely all of my collections are there intact. As long as I have to go through the process of recreating my catalog, I want to construct a new catalog completely. I have been told that if I import the collections in a new catalog, the xmp metadata won't be there. As a test I created a new catalog and imported one collection into it. I was able to see the histogram of all of the photos, edit the photos, so does anyone know, in English that can explain to me what I would lose by importing all of my collections. I have viewed a youtube video from Lynda.com and they actually advocate doing this perhaps to create a file for clients or any other reason. I should explain that I constructed my collections as the best photos from the raw shoots. I am clearly not a professional but just want to start over with a clean new catalog. Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I think you may have been told something by somebody that might be wrong. First, I don't think I've ever heard of or seen a menu choice for importing from collections. You can import from a catalog, but not a collection.

Did you delete a folder outside of Lightroom? Or, did the folder just disappear from Lightroom. You should be able to put it back by poking the "+" button next to "Folders". If you didn't delete anything in or out of Lightroom, they should reconnect.

If you are running separate catalogs with the same images in them, you can end up with a colossal mess if you continue the direction you describe.

Good luck!

drboss56

Perhaps I was not clear. What I currently have is my most important (to me) photos in my Collections. I know I can export these collections. What I would like to do is to export those collections to a completely new Catalog on a new drive. (I have to go to a new external drive anyway as my old one is getting full). So why would I end up with a mess? As to where my folders are, most are still there. What got deleted are mostly newer stuff from the past 6 months. I don't know what happened or why and have had IT people look at it and they don't know what happened either. That is why I want to start over. A bit of history. I was an aperture (apple) user up until last year when I started using Lightroom and folder by folder, I imported my library into Lightroom, so I still have the Aperture Library intact to reimport into a new catalog if I wish. Does any of that make any sense?

Linary Loc: UK

The easiest way to do this is to create a Collection set, drag all the collections you want to retain in the new catalogue into that collection set, then Right click (Mac equivalent) on the collection set and choose "Export this Collection set as a catalogue". In the dialogue which follows, you may choose where to save the new files. Don't forget to read and check the appropriate options in the Save As dialogue.

Ensure the name you give to your new catalogue is memorable, and make sure you remember where you have instructed LR to save the catalogue to. When you open the catalogue in LR, you may be asked the name and location.

drboss56

Should this be done as a whole, i.e. all the collections at once? Or can this be done another way? As I want to start using my new drive, what I was thinking of doing was to export the collections into a folder outside of lightroom then importing the collections from that folder into the new lighroom catalog? Otherwise I will then have to copy the new catalog to the new drive.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

"So why would I end up with a mess?" Because if you export collections, you will end up with a catalog full of derivatives rather than originals. That seems to me to be like throwing away the negatives after you've made the print. And if any photo is in more than one collection, you'll may be plagued with duplicates.

That said, I'm failing at understanding your goals or how you got where you are.

Good luck!

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

I believe that when you export a collection the program assumes that you are also exporting the original files, although I did not check on that. I did look quickly through the Martin Evening book on LR and there was no indication that you could export a collection without the original image, the original image contains the metadata. Collections are just "visual virtual copies," so to speak, of your original file. The collection image links to the original image in your catalog and does not exist on its own.

You would be better off linking any missing files back to your original catalog. After doing that, you can then re-create your catalog as needed. I really don't think that the Scott Kelby system of putting everything into collections is a good idea. Lightroom has multiple ways that you can find your work, without creating tens or hundreds of collections, which can be confusing to the user, as, apparently, it has been in your case.

If you start a new catalog none of your edits will be in that catalog so you will have to begin all over again. I did just run a test with a photo that could be of interest to you. I created a collection and put a photo in it: I then deleted the photo from the catalog; then went back to the collection and the photo was gone from the collection. So, perhaps your folders are still linked up, or you most likely would not have a collection with the images in it. Look carefully for your folders wherever you keep them on your hard drive, it's possible they simply got moved into some place else in your catalog when you were moving things around, this does happen with people. Obviously, your collection is linking up somehow so the folders are linked to LR. If you do find them on the hard drive simply note where they are, then go into LR and move them around within LR to the correct place.

drboss56

I think you have hit upon my problem. As long as I use my old external drive, I can launch lightroom and get access to my catalog, however, when I copied the folder containing my lightroom catalog and relaunched lightroom, lightroom couldn't find my catalog. I did check the path however, not being a "tech" person, obviously I have done something, what I don't know. I would be fine keeping my original catalog however, I can't do that much longer on my existing external drive, I have to move to a larger drive. Therefore I thought perhaps the easiest thing to do was to try and keep my collections and just move on to a new catalog. Can I export my entire old catalog into a new catalog with a more certain path?

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Tim Grey and Julieanne Kost have detailed descriptions of how you move to a bigger drive. Since you can find them online, I won't list the details.

One way to do it is within Lightroom. You plug both drives into your computer, open the catalog, add the new drive, drag and drop the folder(s).

The other way is to "clone" the drives. Plug both into your computer and use Windows explorer to copy the exact structure from the small old drive to the new larger drive. Then using Windows procedures, rename the drive letter of the new to match the old.

Both methods are a little easier if the catalog (*.lrcat) file is on the computer's internal drive. But, the catalog file can be on the external.

DGStinner Loc: New Jersey

Did you copy the catalog or did you move it? If you moved it, double clicking on the lrcat file will open that catalog in Lightroom.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

You can do just about anything you want as long as you understand what you are doing and you let LR know by working from within the program. Remember, LR only links to your folders so if the link is broken the program cannot find the folder, an important concept to keep in mind; the program is not a mind-reader in spite of what we would like it to be. You do not have to export to a new hard drive. As someone else has said, plug the hard drive in, if you do not see the new hard drive on the left side of the panel create a folder on the hard drive and put it on the new hard drive, this will cause the new hard drive to show up on the left side panel. You can simply move the catalog over to the new hard drive; this will take a long time so don't expect it to be quick. You can also keep folders on separate hard drives with the same catalog so maybe you don't need to move the catalog. The thing with LR is to think it through first, prior to touching anything. Ask yourself what is the end result you want and plan accordingly.

drboss56

Perhaps this is a stupid question but if I move the catalog to the new, does this remove the catalog completely from the old drive?

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

Yes. Whatever folders you move from within LR are actually physically moved on the hard drive where you keep them.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Point of order! Be sure you are clear on "move the catalog". Moving the photo files is moving what is recorded in the Lightroom catalog, or "catalog contents". Moving the .lrcat catalog file is a different process and is NOT done in Lightroom. But, using Windows Explorer, you can move the .lrcat file to wherever you want it.

Linary Loc: UK

What you can do is to move the catalog and it's associated and supporting files to wherever you want, then point LR to that catalog. You can actually have more than one catalog at any time, but only one will be the active catalogue.

What you really need to do is to explain in words of one syllable exactly where you are and what you want to end up with. Reading your posts and some of the others the end result and the present situation are not clearly defined.