IDguy Loc: Idaho

Need advice on how to get a new catalog going using some of my existing catalog. I filled up the portable hard drive (1 tb) I have my current catalog on. Lightroom has stuck giving me a message to clear out 20MB on that drive. It won’t do anything but bring up the message over again.

I place the images in folders by year. I want to start the new catalog on a new hard drive with 2021 images which are all in one mid-level folder. I could copy that folder over to the new drive and then delete that folder on the full drive. My question is, “ How do I get the changes I have made to those images over to my new catalog?”

mflowe Loc: Port Deposit, MD

Just go to File> New Catalog if I'm understanding your question correctly.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

I have done that. It won’t let me do anything with the old catalog open so I can’t use it to move the image folder.

And it doesn’t copy the catalog changes I want to move with the image folder.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Ah, I may have found what I need. The file menu also contains "import from an existing catalog". It is a little tedious but not too bad...need to click each lowest level folder. It is currently a work in progress going slowly.

Once it is done I can go and delete the 2021 images from the hard drive containing the previous catalog. I'll have to do that from the finder because Lightroom won't let me do anything with the previous catalog other than repeating the error message. But once I delete the images there should be space on that drive and the folders for 2021 should just show "?.

I'll report if that works as hoped.

mflowe Loc: Port Deposit, MD

Let us know how it works, cause I'll probably run into this issue some time in the future.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Well it didn't work as expected. It put the new catalog on the new hard drive but put the copied images onto my PC's hard drive. I don't want that because my PC hard drive is in danger of filling up so I stopped using it for images back in 2016.

I can move the images from drive C to the portable outside of Lightroom, in which case they will show up with ? in the new catalog, and I might be able to tell that catalog where to (re) find them. But I worry about moving files outside of Lightroom. The images and old catalog are safe on their portable hard hard drive(s)...I keep a backup of image files on another portable.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

I got the image folder over to the new hard drive and deleted the folder on the PC hard drive. I was able to redirect the new catalog to the moved image folder. I still have the original folder on the previous external hard drive so that is good. I can now delete it from that hard drive and hopefully that will make Lightroom happy with the old catalog.

But I have lost my user presets. The images kept the Develop settings with the moved images. Now I have to figure out how to recover my presets.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Do you have your catalog or your images on your 1 TB drive?

I suspect it is your images.

I suggest you do the following.

In the main menu, select Edit>Catalog Settings and open the Metadata tab. Check the box that says Automaticaly write changes into XMP - this will ensure that your edits remain with the files when you move them.

Secondly, I am assuming that your image files are clogging your small drive, and you're getting a new bigger drive.

To answer your questions - All you need to do is move your images using your OS file manager (Windows Explorer or Finder) using the exact file/folder structure to the new drive - which you seem to already have done. If you have all of your images under a single parent file, that would make it easier. Then, while in the file manager and outside of LR - temporarily change the name of the current parent file (so LR looks for the folder and can't find it). When you start LR again after changing the name, all of your images and folders will have question marks. Go to the top level folder right click on the name, and select "find missing folder". This will open up a file manager window where you can select the folder on the new drive. LR will open that folder and all of the images will be there, along with your edits.

The actual catalog is just a database that points to the images that you have added to the catalog, together with any edits. This information is stored in the lrcat and lrpreview files (the catalog and preview files). This is the easiest and fastest way to do what you want to do.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

First, get a new and larger drive. You probably want to jump to a 4TB drive. Then:

1. Copy all your images from the 1TB to 4TB retaining the same / existing folder structure.
2. Skip creating a new LRCAT. Just copy the existing LRCAT onto the new HD.
3. Attach the new HD to your computer and force the same drive letter, if using Windows.
4. If the drive / folders changed for the HD, open LR and find the highest level folder in the folder view of your images. Try to keep the drive letter the same, attaching the new HD first. Use Windows drive management to change the assigned letter, if needed. Inside LR (if needed), right-click the highest folder in the entire image folder structure and select Update Folder Location. Just navigate onto the HD and click the folder at its new location. The update will cascade through all the sub folders.
5. Run the process Library / Find All Missing Photos and investigate and resolve any outstanding issues.
6. After assuring the transfer is successful onto the new HD and LR is operational, begin the cleanup process on the computer's internal drive by deleting files.

For your new images, if you want to create a new / simplified folder structure, just start that new structure on the new HD importing into the existing and complete and consolidated LRCAT.

Regarding space, did you go into the 'backup' folder inside /Lightroom and assure you've deleted all the extraneous backup files, using their datastamps, to assure you only have the most current backup?

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Thanks for the inputs.

I know how the catalog works and set it to save changes in xmp...which may be why they kept the Develop settings.

I store the images on the drive with the catalog and back them up on another (4tb) drive along with the catalog backup. I just need to now tell the backup program to back up the images on the new drive and tell Lightroom to back up the catalog there.

Gene51's idea of changing the folder name temporarily in Lightroom is a good one...but I got by it with a similar approach.

Now I just have to figure out how to recover my presets on the new drive/catalog.

I went back to the old catalog/drive and it is now working...i.e. I no longer get the error message. Perhaps that is because it went out of trying to import new images. It has all the images up to the latest import it choked on. Although redundant I think I'll leave them there.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

OK, got the presets imported to the new catalog.

It was a two-step process. First needed to export from the old catalog to the new drive. Then imported to the new catalog using file/import presets etc.

So now I only need to set up my backups for the new disc.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

OK, figured out how to change the catalog backup location to my backup hard drive.

So I am good for now on that.

Now I just need to figure out how to tell my backup program to back up the image files to the right location. First attempt at that didn't yield a result. But that's not for here.

Thanks again for the help.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

This isn't the first time this has come up on this forum. Perhaps this will help you: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-549917-1.html

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Thanks for that link. That situation differed because he hadn’t yet triggered the error message that stopped the ability to use Lightroom to move files in the current catalog.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Yes, but I think 2 of the methods cited could still work for him.