Moving to new computer, with the hard drive- HELP!

[debismail27]

First history-----  A while ago I purchased a  Win 7 computer with LR 2015.8 installed on the c: drive.  I then added a bunch of presets, brushes, etc.  I have a few terabytes of pictures on a seperate D: drive in one catalog.

Present---- Upgrading to a new (Win 10) computer.  Downloaded a trial version of LR classic, I plan on purchasing the photographers plan.

   - I copied the develop presets folder to the new computer.

   Question   - Are there any other directories I should copy over to the new one before I attempt to reload pictures?

    Big question - How do I get the other thousands of pictures into this version of LR?  They are all on a single 4tb disk that I plan on installing in the new computer, with  the same drive letter as it was in the old computer.

So in essence I have a new computer running win 10 instead of 7, I need to download/install/purchase LR for it, compatible with 2015.8 I am ujsing.  I have all my pictures on  a D: drive ready to install.

Do I just add the D: drive and double click the catalog?

Sorry for the newbie questions, I am confused!!

[Jao vdL]

For another version of this thread including answer see here:

Totally Confused! Help choosing/migrating please

[debismail27]

Thanks, but if you noticed in that thread I said that I realized it was in the wrong place (lr cc vs lr classic) so I  re-opened it here.

I still have questions,

-do I only have to move the preset folder over?

-what do I need to back up on my pictures drive before I attempt to put it in the new computer?  I can't backup the whole drive (over 2 tb's) at this time until I purchase another large disk.  Do I only need to back up the 'maincatalogue' directory then if things go haywire I can go back to the original computer?

[dj_paige]

To make backups:

You need to make duplicate copies of EVERY photo. (Keep the folder structure unchanged) You also need to make a duplicate copy of the catalog file.

Since you say you don't have enough space to do this, I would consider making proper backups an EXTREMELY HIGH priority, higher than actually getting Lightroom up and running on the other computer. So purchase a new external disk, and make the backups. And in the future, you need to make regular and automated backups of both your photos and your Lightroom catalog — there are no excuses for not doing this.

[debismail27]

Yes, I totally realize that.  I got caught in a cycle of not backing them up and then had too many to back up!  I do move my very important pictures to an 'edited' folder which I do backup automatically.

Thanks

[dj_paige]

debismail27  wrote

Yes, I totally realize that.  I got caught in a cycle of not backing them up and then had too many to back up!  I do move my very important pictures to an 'edited' folder which I do backup automatically.

Thanks

For anyone reading along, I do not consider moving "very important" pictures to a backup location an acceptable strategy. You need to make backups of ALL of your photos, you never know when you might want a certain photo in the future, if it is not backed up, you may not have the photo any more if the hard disk crashes.

For anyone reading along, backups must be on a different physical disk than the original. Since the original poster implied that he had only one disk available, making copies on that same disk is NOT a backup. If that disk crashes, you have zero copies of your photos.

[debismail27]

LOL, went online and found a good deal at Walmart of all places, $101 for a 4tb that I can pick up in the store!   Will back it up today.

[Jao vdL · Accepted solution]

debismail27  wrote

-do I only have to move the preset folder over?

-what do I need to back up on my pictures drive before I attempt to put it in the new computer?  I can't backup the whole drive (over 2 tb's) at this time until I purchase another large disk.  Do I only need to back up the 'maincatalogue' directory then if things go haywire I can go back to the original computer?

The answer to these questions depends strongly on where you store your images. If all your images including the catalog file are on the external drive, all you need to do is copy over the presets and hook the external to the new computer and open the catalog file from Lightroom. If your images are in lots of different locations on your internal hard disk (e.g. your system pictures folder) and on the external, you need to copy those over somehow too and either put them in the same spot on your new computer or put them on your large external and relink the images in the catalog to their new location. The self-proclaimed Lightroom queen Victoria Bampton has an  article that explains the process here: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/.​

[debismail27]

Thanks, that should do it.  I plan on getting a backup 4tb today, backing up my drive and then installing it in the new computer.

-One thing that took me hours, I couldn't get my presets to show up after copying them - you need to have a picture in LR for the presets to show, I was working with an empty catalog.

Last question, after I get this up and running, is there an easy way to move the catalog from the d: drive to my c: drive, while leaving the pictures on the d:?

[Jao vdL]

Yes, you just copy the catalog file and the associated preview directory to your C: drive and open that catalog instead of the one on the D:drive. All the links will keep pointing to the original images on the D: drive regardless of where the catalog is located. Copying the previews will save you a lot of time because otherwise Lightroom will have to recreate all those.

[debismail27]

Thanks, you have been a ton of help.  I will do that as soon as I back that disk up.  I added a 486gb ssd c: drive to the new one, it will be a good spot for the catalog.

Thank you!

[debismail27]

After setting this up I was told that we are missing the presets that are on the right hand side of the develop screen, such as 'bright eyes' skin tone, etc.  Any ideas where they should been installed?   LOL, I also somehow didn't add the presets that we paid for, I got all the free ones.  I dont understand how that happened though as I copied the entire develop presets folder from old to new computer.  Is there anywhere else presets might be hiding?

btw, everything went great getting the system running including moving the catalog!

[Jao vdL]

You can find the user preset folders in Lightroom in the

Preferences->Presets dialog but here is a listing of where all the files re

stored by default:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/preference-file-and-other-file-locations---lightroom- 6.html

[debismail27]

OK, found them, she was missing the brushes!

Here are my rookie suggestions for moving Lightroom to a new computer;

- It works great if you can have your photo's on separate hard drive, just move that over and set the drive letter to the same as the original.  If not you have to move them manually, hopefully to a drive with the same letter as the original.

-Move the catalog directory to the new C: drive.  Good time to delete old unneeded backups, save some of them.

-Here's the biggy to make things easier-- Find the lightroom directory on the original system (go to develop-edit-preferences-preset show directory), then grab the develop presets, local adjustment presets, print templates and watermarks directories on a usb drive.  Go to the new computer, find the lightroom directory as above then close lightroom, delete those 4 directories from the new system, and copy the originals from your usb in their place.

Restart lightroom and your system should be the same as before.

Every article I found on doing this move only mentioned the develop presets folder.  What I am describing will also move your brushes, print templates and watermarks over.

If I wrote something wrong here please let me know, I will edit this post.  Also if there are some other directories that other people might be using let me know I can add them to this.

[debismail27]

ok, (i was backing up to an external disk)  -  back to the original question -