Lightrooom Question: I have a subscription to Lightroom Classic. Yesterday I copied my pictures folder to Microsoft OneDrive for cloud backup storage (still syncing after 24 hours). I...

JJS Loc: SE Michigan & SW Florida

I have a subscription to Lightroom Classic. Yesterday I copied my pictures folder to Microsoft OneDrive for cloud backup storage (still syncing after 24 hours). I opened Lightroom this morning and got a message that the catalog for use with Lightroom needs to be upgraded. The upgraded catalog will be C\etc.etc.\OneDrive\Pictures\etc.etc., or I can choose a different catalog...but I would not know what to choose.

Has anyone out there experienced this? I'm nervous about Lightroom losing track of my pictures and getting a lot of dreaded question marks next to my folders when I open it using the new upgraded catalog.

Thanks for any input.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I wonder how it is being upgraded. You have a catalog on your computer, so I would upgrade it there. Maybe it will also let you upgrade the OneDrive catalog. I would give priority to your "home" catalog and then work on the cloud catalog.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

You say you 'copied' your pictures folder to the cloud back-up. Do you mean you "moved" the primary location to the cloud. Or simply, made a copy of the files and the originals remain exactly where they were, on your C: drive? If you only made a copy of the files, there's no risk to running the LR update process.

If your LR software is properly operational right now, regardless of where the images and catalog reside, running the LR update should cause no issues. As a subscriber, you're paying for technical support directly from Adobe where you might discuss these questions with an export via a chat. Unlike any of us, they can remote into your machine and review your configuration along with discussing your question.

JJS Loc: SE Michigan & SW Florida

jerryc41 wrote:

I wonder how it is being upgraded. You have a catalog on your computer, so I would upgrade it there. Maybe it will also let you upgrade the OneDrive catalog. I would give priority to your "home" catalog and then work on the cloud catalog.

Thanks. Lightroom seems to now want to work within the OneDrive folder. I don't know why. It does offer the option of choosing a different catalog. Within the pictures folder on my hard drive is a Lightroom subfolder and within that is a Lightroom catalog and a Lightroom Catalog 2. Where did #2 come from? I'm afraid the choosing the wrong catalog could really screw things up.

I wish I was more tech savvy. I'm sure the average 14 year old could figure this out.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

JJS wrote:

Thanks. Lightroom seems to now want to work within the OneDrive folder. I don't know why. It does offer the option of choosing a different catalog. Within the pictures folder on my hard drive is a Lightroom subfolder and within that is a Lightroom catalog and a Lightroom Catalog 2. Where did #2 come from? I'm afraid the choosing the wrong catalog could really screw things up.

I wish I was more tech savvy. I'm sure the average 14 year old could figure this out.

The "lrcat" files have date-stamps when the file was created rather than when it was last updated. Do the dates tell you anything when viewing the files with the operating system?

Within LR, you can use File / Open Recent to give you the name of your current LR catalog file. This current / active "lrcat" is also the catalog that will be updated by the software update.

JJS Loc: SE Michigan & SW Florida

CHG_CANON wrote:

You say you 'copied' your pictures folder to the c... (show quote)

Thanks CHG Canon. Copied. The pictures folder still resides on my hard drive exactly as before (I presume). So you think there is no risk in accepting the Lightroom suggestion of now using the OneDrive Pictures catalog?

Your comments about Adobe support are good. That will probably be my next step but I want to wait until everything is fully synced with OneDrive first.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

JJS wrote:

Thanks CHG Canon. Copied. The pictures folder still resides on my hard drive exactly as before (I presume). So you think there is no risk in accepting the Lightroom suggestion of now using the OneDrive Pictures catalog?

Your comments about Adobe support are good. That will probably be my next step but I want to wait until everything is fully synced with OneDrive first.

You might test your assumption. Take any image and right click and select "show in explorer". The resulting window confirms where LR thinks the image file resides and you can confirm too.

lsimpkins Loc: SE Pennsylvania

CHG_CANON wrote:

The "lrcat" files have date-stamps when the file was created rather than when it was last updated.

Actually Win10 does permit you to see both the file Created Date and the most recent Modified Date. You just need to set the files Details panel to show whichever (or both) that you want.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

JJS wrote:

I have a subscription to Lightroom Classic. Yester... (show quote)

You say you would not know which catalog to choose? It is important when using LR to know the name of your catalogs, primary or secondary, and to know where you store them as well as where you store the actual images. Knowing this information will help keep you "out of trouble." If this were to happen to me I would simply navigate to my original primary LR catalog in its original location. I use a Mac and I know there are Mac and PC operational differences but I suspect that does not apply in this case. Remember, the computer does not know what you actually want as it does not read minds so you have to decide that and act accordingly. I assume you've already had problems with missing images based on one comment but hopefully you have learned to only move images from within the LR catalog, which will prevent the "dreaded question" marks.

JJS Loc: SE Michigan & SW Florida

CHG_CANON wrote:

You might test your assumption. Take any image and right click and select "show in explorer". The resulting window confirms where LR thinks the image file resides and you can confirm too.

Interesting...my Windows 10 file directory has a "OneDrive" Folder and a "My PC" folder. I go to My PC/Pictures and open a photo. Right click/properties and it shows the file now resides on OneDrive. (Probably need to talk to someone who understands OneDrive). Therefore I guess it makes sense that Lightroom wants to change the catalog.

Anyway, the sync is still limping along at 500 KB/s. Only about 22 GB/s to go.

JJS Loc: SE Michigan & SW Florida

via the lens wrote:

You say you would not know which catalog to choose... (show quote)

Thanks. Yes, I learned the hard way a while back about moving files around outside of Lightroom. That's why I'm a little nervous about this. From my post above, it appears that my pictures now reside in my OneDrive folder and Lightroom wants to make the necessary change to the catalog it uses. We'll see how it goes.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

You might learn the hard way too of keeping your primary image storage on the internet instead of local to your computer ....

JJS Loc: SE Michigan & SW Florida

CHG_CANON wrote:

You might learn the hard way too of keeping your primary image storage on the internet instead of local to your computer ....

Oh yes. I've got many questions. Right now it's time to hit the links and forget about this for a while.
To be continued...

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

JJS wrote:

Thanks CHG Canon. Copied. The pictures folder still resides on my hard drive exactly as before (I presume). So you think there is no risk in accepting the Lightroom suggestion of now using the OneDrive Pictures catalog?

Your comments about Adobe support are good. That will probably be my next step but I want to wait until everything is fully synced with OneDrive first.

I can't believe that LR would suggest that you use a different catalog - especially one that works with a completely different program. No matter what, I'd say NO. Only use the catalog that you started with in LR. Let LR backup your catalog, but don't let it replace it.

JJS Loc: SE Michigan & SW Florida

jeep_daddy wrote:

I can't believe that LR would suggest that you use a different catalog - especially one that works with a completely different program. No matter what, I'd say NO. Only use the catalog that you started with in LR. Let LR backup your catalog, but don't let it replace it.

It's a mystery. Here's what I know (or think I know). OneDrive exists on all PC's using Windows 10 and perhaps earlier versions. It is a convenient cloud storage/backup service. You don't have to use it but it's there if you want. It allows you to access your files from any windows computer anywhere. The other day I copied my pictures to OneDrive (the sync is still in process but almost complete). When I later opened Lightroom I got a message that the catalog needed to me upgraded to include the OneDrive name. The pictures in the "My PC" directory now have the One Drive location in their properties exactly as the name of the catalog Lightroom wants to use. I then thought perhaps I MOVED the files to OneDrive. But no, I checked my disk storage data and see that 35 GB/s or so of pictures still reside on my hard drive.

I was hoping that someone out there is using Windows 10 and OneDrive who could relate a similar experience. I'm not doing anything until the sync is complete and have a chance to chat with Microsoft and Lightroom support.