Catalogs

[ashleyj56073739]

If I create a new catalog will all of my meta tags go into the new catalog from an old one?

[dj_paige]

Not just by creating a new catalog, you have to tell Lightroom to transfer the information.

Why bother creating a new catalog?

[ashleyj56073739]

Because I had moved all of my folders to a new external hard drive and then took off the old hard drive with the folders in it, so when I put the new external hard drive with the folders and pictures in, lightroom can't find where anything is. Its too much work to have to locate every single picture in the new hard drive and the old folders are gone since I got rid of the old external hard drive in lightroom so I can't relocate the folders. I was hoping I could just take the meta tags and create a new catalog and have lightroom read all of my folders and pictures from the new hard drive that way. Because right now it is a huge mess that I can't work out of and I really just want a super simple easy and fast way to get my pictures and folders back.

[dj_paige]

ashleyj56073739  wrote

Because I had moved all of my folders to a new external hard drive and then took off the old hard drive with the folders in it, so when I put the new external hard drive with the folders and pictures in, lightroom can't find where anything is. Its too much work to have to locate every single picture in the new hard drive and the old folders are gone since I got rid of the old external hard drive in lightroom so I can't relocate the folders. I was hoping I could just take the meta tags and create a new catalog and have lightroom read all of my folders and pictures from the new hard drive that way. Because right now it is a huge mess that I can't work out of and I really just want a super simple easy and fast way to get my pictures and folders back.

This is certainly not a situation to create a new catalog, creating a new catalog will cause you to lose your edits and user provided metadata.

It is a situation where you fix the problem of Lightroom not being able to find the photos/folders.

Here are the instructions for fixing the problem: Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders

[ashleyj56073739]

But I would have to go to each individual photo and locate each one. I have thousands, that will take so much time. The old folders are no longer there so I can't relocate those. Unless I can somehow use the folders that are showing up in the new drive.

[dj_paige]

If you would take the time to actually read the article, it contains methods to connect entire folders, and entire hierarchies of folders, with one action.

[ashleyj56073739]

Yes but its seems to be talking about when the original missing folder is there. My original missing folder has been removed from lightroom with the old external hard drive it no longer shows up at all. I connected the new external hard drive so lightroom is reading that and the folders are on there but those folders aren't showing as missing but all of the pictures in lightroom are because they are not being recognized as in those folders in the new hard drive. And some of the folders aren't being read in lightroom because it's saying the pictures are already there.

[dj_paige]

Do you have a backup of your catalog file that shows the old folders?

[ashleyj56073739]

I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that I don't. I can look. If I do then I can just relocate the files. I am worried what to do if I don't have them. How would I fix it in that case?

[dj_paige]

Yes, if you have a recent backup then you can connect that catalog to the new location of the files.

If you don't have a recent backup, and I am understanding the situation properly (which I am not sure that I am understanding the situation properly) then I would imagine you have lost your edits and user supplied metadata, and you would have to start from scratch, as if these are totally new photos that have never been in Lightroom, which have to be edited again and which have no user supplied metadata.

For anyone else reading along, you should never be in the situation where you don't know if you have recent backups. The answer to "Do you have recent backups" should always be YES, without question or uncertainty. You need backups of your catalog file and your photos. The backups must be on a different physical disk than the original.

[ashleyj56073739]

If I do have a back up of the catalog...

Since all of this happened on external hard drives, can I just relocate the whole missing hard drive to the current hard drive that is holding all of the folders. Or when I do locate the folders is it going to look like lightroom is reading them from the old external hard drive?

[dj_paige]

You open the backup catalog, and make sure that the folders from the old hard disk are there in the Lightroom Folder Panel.

Then you can (using your operating system) copy the photos back to the original locations from the external HD. Or you can relocate the photos inside of Lightroom by using the link I provided.

[ashleyj56073739]

This is what I want Lightroom to see.

This is what it sees now. The folders that are in the top photo wont all go into lightroom.

When I click on LR 3T Drive to update folder location nothing happens. Same thing happens when I click on other folders to update location.

[dj_paige]

The folders that are in the top photo wont all go into lightroom.

I don't know what you mean by this.

[ManiacJoe]

You cannot "relocate" a drive, only folders.

In the LR Folders pane, on each of the 11(?) folders under the "LR - 3T" drive:

Do the mac-equivalent of a right-click

select "relocate folder"

navigate to the same folder on the "G" drive.

[ashleyj56073739]

How do I transfer the information?

[Akash Sharma]

Your metadata tags are stored within the catalog and the new catalog will not migrate any of that information.

However, you may export the metadata to file (use shortcut CTRL/CMD+S) and then read the .csv from the new catalog.

Thanks,

Akash