transferring LR catalog to new Mac: app to open helper and previews components

Report · Oct 20, 2018

I have LR classic and am familiar with how it, and catalogs, work. I recently purchased a new iMAC to replace my similar old one, and migrated my catalog folders to the new MAC HD, where they are in place. I then migrated my several TB of image folders to the connected external HD.

My LR catalog recognises the images and the image folder structure is in place and the images are in LR: but the work that I did in the past is not findable; and my collection folders, although correctly listed in LR, are empty.

The migration process was done for me by the IT people at the scientific institute where I work, and I think done correctly.

When I look at the LR catalog folders on the HD of my new iMAC, the 'master ir cat' icon is coloured blue and can be opened; but the 'helper ir data' and 'previews ir data' and not coloured and when I click to open them a message comes up that says there is no application to open them. It says to choose one: but i have never had this problem before and do not know a] whether this explains my current problem - it seems probable and b] if so,what app to choose. bruce p

Report · Oct 20, 2018

Sounds like these IT people may not have done it correctly after all. They may have created a new catalog and imported the images again, instead of correctly moving the old one. Better ask them what they did exactly. This is how they should have done it: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

Those file colors are irrelevant, they are just something you can do in the Finder if you want to. The fact that there is no app to open the helper.lrdata and previews.lrdata is also normal. These are support files that belong to the catalog. Lightroom uses them, but you are not supposed to open them directly in any app, not even in Lightroom.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Report · Oct 20, 2018

many thanks. From the points you make it does sound as if the transfer was not made properly. I will follow the method you sent and try again.

Report · Oct 21, 2018

Johan I tried to follow the steps in the Lightroom Queen link that you kindly sent yesterday ( problem with transfer of LR catalog; iMAC) but still have a problem. If you can help I'd be really grateful. I realise that this is already quite complicated and I apologise for taking your time. I will also understand if you cannot undertake to do this for everyone who contacts you.

First, you asked what did my IT colleagues do? I am pretty sure that- I transferred my current LR cat plus previews etc to the new iMAC; and they are there on the MAC HD in the same folder structure as before- then my colleagues first transferred my image folders directly to a new external HD thru the iMAC, without importing them into LR; then it seems they decided they should have gone thru LR and so they created a new catalog and reimported some of the folders again thru LR. Specifically, I had two sources of images to move across 1] from an existing but old HD and 2] images from another external HD that had been rescued by a specialist outfit from a HD that had been corrupted. Both relate to the same LR catalog. It seems that they originally copied both sets across to the new HD without going thru LR, and then reimported set this time thru LR.

What is the position now?1] both sets of image folders copied across to the new external HD by IT are there on the HD but are missing at the folder level in LR in my old catalog. In the new catalog used by IT they are there but of course without associated data about previous work.2] I had, before posting my question yesterday, re-imported as a test two of the 'year' folders from set 2 into LR from through my original LR catalog, after of course closing the new catalog used by IT. They all appear now in LR, but the associated editing data / history seems to be missing, and although the Collections folders are all correctly listed, and image boxes with the correct IDs are displayed in the grid view, the images are missing.3] So, I understood the instructions you pointed me to, to say that I should not have imported thru LR; so today I reimported a couple of folders as a test simply by copying from the HD on which they were backed up with LR not open, and then opening LR with the master catalog. Again,the folders and mages appeared in LR; but not the metadata and Collection images. As a further test ( I know not recommended as a rescue strategy) I located a small number of the 'missing' images ( missing from the Collections folder), went to the HD location and restored them: they now appeared in Collections, but the images are severely altered, to the extent that they are useless.

I have read section 6 'relink missing files' in the instructions you said; I am familiar with the cause and remedy for missing files when one has moved them outside LR, but here the problem is not missing files, but missing associated data. The drive letter reset appears to relate to windows and to be very complex. I don't have presets or preferences to worry about.

I have everything backed up on other HDs. Should I just wipe the new set- up and start again? Any advice will be much appreciated

thanks bruce ponder

Post Edited to remove unnecessary content embedded by forum - ILyons

Report · Oct 21, 2018

It sounds like you have done a lot of work, but you have NOT performed the critical steps, which are: to open the Lightroom catalog from the previous computer (your photos edits and user-supplied metadata are in this catalog), and from there you need to re-link the photos as described in section 6.

There is NO importing of photos or re-importing of photos necessary, in fact importing photos (or re-importing photos) is 100% wrong. This is not a step in the process. That is so important, I am going to say it again.

DO NOT IMPORT. DO NOT RE-IMPORT.

Report · Oct 21, 2018

Thanks again for such a quick response. What I did was copy the LR catalog from the previous computer via an external HD onto the new one, and verify that it is there on the MAC HD in the same folder structure as before. Have I missed something?

Is it possible that all the mis-starts which involved importing, and which are still on the MAC and HD, are interfering in some way? I have tried copying some photo folders from my back up HD into the external HD that will be my HD for the MAC, but without importing thru LR, - whoch is the correct procedure?- and I still got the result that the photos link with the LR catalog when LR is opened,but not with the metadata and Collections.

I have checked that when I open LR (both when I have recently imported some entirely new images in the usual way, which worked fine, collection as well; but also when I am trying to link my folders from the previous HDs) the catalog that is open is this one, which I have used thru successive back ups and LR updates for about 10 years. In compressed form it is about 3.8 GB.

So it sounds as if I still need to re- link the photos ( though I am not sure why they got unlinked).Section 6 is not very explicit. I am not in Windows, but in Mac OS. Do I try to reset the drive letter? I hesitate because I am not sure how it will go in Mac OS and it looks like it might be easy to screw up.

As I said briefly in my previous e mail, when I did a test of the 'locate / re link' procedure that one uses when files get missing because they have been moved out of LR, on just a couple of individual image files, they DID relink and appear in Collections: but the 'collection' images were hugely distorted in terms of colour, luminosity etc whereas the 'parent' images in the LR folder were fine - but were the unedited versions only.

Thank you for your patience. On Sunday, 21 October 2018, 13:44:09 BST, dj_paige <forums_noreply@adobe.com> wrote:

transferring LR catalog to new Mac: app to open helper and previews components

created by dj_paige in Lightroom Classic CC — The desktop-focused app - View the full discussion

It sounds like you have done a lot of work, but you have NOT performed the critical step, which is to open the Lightroom catalog from the previous computer. Your photos edits and user-supplied metadata are in this catalog, from there you need to re-link the photos as described in section 6.

There is NO importing of photos or re-importing of photos necessary, in fact importing photos (or re-importing photos) is 100% wrong. That is so important, I am going to say it again.

DO NOT IMPORT. DO NOT RE-IMPORT.

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Report · Oct 21, 2018

Further response - having looked again at section 6, I think the problem may be that my IT colleagues gave the topmost parent folder that subtends all the folder structure - set out in years, then dates, - new names when they transferred the folders. Certainly the problem is one that affects the entire folder set.So - do I need to figure out what the parent folder was called in the previous MAC where I cannot now access LR? I'll keep reading section 6 and if this is the answer I'll let you know at once so you don't spend more time

thanks bruce On Sunday, 21 October 2018, 13:44:09 BST, dj_paige <forums_noreply@adobe.com> wrote: