Moving Catalog and removing uneeded backups

[silsurf@me.com]

I have been keeping my catalog on my dropbox and it is clearly not a good idea. I would like to move the catalog to its default position and remove any unneeded backups and other debris in my backup catalog folder, which to me looks like a mess:

If someone can point me the the best way to move the catalog file ( I have looked at a few tutorials and to be honest it seems overly complicated to move, then add a single image, then...) and also what to do with all these files? Also, I would love a strategy for keeping an additional backup that is not on my desktop?

[Per Berntsen]

Why do you think it's a bad idea to keep your catalog on Dropbox?

I think it's an excellent idea, because it will be backed up to the Dropbox servers automatically.

So if I were you, I would just leave it where it is. There is no particular advantage to having the catalog in the default location.

For regular backups made by Lightroom, you should ideally have this on a different drive than the working catalog, if you only have one internal drive, use an external drive. You can set up the location for backups in the backup dialog.

As for all these Temporary import files, I have never seen them before, and I would think that they can be deleted.

[Per Berntsen]

I forgot to mention that one thing to consider when deciding the location for the catalog is the speed of the drive.

The Library module will be faster if the folder containing the catalog is on internal drive, and even faster if this is an SSD drive.

Your photos can be on an internal or external drive - it doesn't make much difference for speed.

You also asked for instructions on how to move the catalog.

With Lightroom closed, use the Finder to copy (don't move) the folder containing the catalog to the new location.

Then double-click the catalog file in the new location to launch Ligthroom.

Once you've made sure that everything is OK, delete the folder in the old location.

And you can delete old backups, but you should keep a few of the most recent ones.

[cmgap]

Another advantage to having Lr in DB is that you can open it on a second computer. Handy if you have a laptop and desktop. Regarding old backups, you should delete them on a regular basis... there's no need to keep more than a handful of them. It's not terrible that they are in DB but not necessarily best practice either.

When is your most recent backup - can't see in the backup folder. If you've got a few that are current, everything under your .lrcat file can be deleted. If your okay with the -2.lrcat file then you won't need the .lrcat file and that can be deleted as well.

[silsurf@me.com]

About a week ago I update the previews to the entire catalog to 1:1 w/sidecar. Since then Dropbox has never caught up, it just keeps saying it is updating files in the thousands. I assume it is because of the thousands of previews I created, but it never seems to end? Being going for days and days and I thought there might be something not right with this? That is what led me to consider moving the catalog. Up until this it has been fine in dropbox?

[silsurf@me.com]

Also, why do you think the "backups" folder is inside the "2015-09-30 1044"? folder. This is not something that I did, everything has been left the same since I started using LR, other than the Dropbox location?

[Per Berntsen]

It seems that you have inadvertently moved your working catalog into a backup folder - this doesn't happen by itself.

I suggest that you create a new folder in the location where you want your working catalog to be. Name it Lightroom Catalog-2

Then (with Lightroom closed) copy Lightroom Catalog-2.lrcat and Lightroom Catalog-2 Previews.lrdata to the new folder.

Now double-click the Lightroom Catalog-2.lrcat (in the new folder) to launch Lightroom with this catalog.

Once you've made sure that everything is working properly, delete Lightroom Catalog-2.lrcat and Lightroom Catalog-2 Previews.lrdata in the original location.

[silsurf@me.com]

I have never moved or touced anything in my LR catalog folders since I started using LR about five years ago, BUT, I did a remote session with Adobe a few months back when I had this issue:

Lightroom: Creates duplicate folder after Photoshop edit or Import from disk | Photoshop Family Cust...

The tech did a lot of work on catalog creation, changes, etc. It must have happened then. I did not notice any odd behavior so I left it as is, I was so happy to be rid of that issue.

I will do what you suggest now, thanks very much

Henry

[silsurf@me.com]

I created a new location, removed extra backups, all is great!

One issue remains, there are duplicate folder that have the same exact name. This is related to an issue I had a few months ago and could not resolve without the help of a remote session with Abode.

[cmgap]

I've seen this happen a few times... take a few minutes and consolidate your iPhone photos to one folder by opening the folder with 55 images in it and move the photos up into the one with the most images (134). The folder with 55 images in it will show 0 when they are finished copying and you can Remove the folder by right-clicking.

Also, it's safe to Remove the folder with 0 in it - that will drop out of sight once you do.

[silsurf@me.com]

OK, I did that and thanks very much. My catalog is looking better than ever and seems to be more responsive.

My next quest will be how to get rid of thousands of duplicates? For awhile I was allowing Dropbox to copy files from my iPhone to a desktop folder and then once in a while I would import that folder into LR. But I would also plug my iPhone in once in awhile and it would copy the same images over. After a year or so this created an awful lot of duplicates.

I already had many, many dupes from previous sources overlapping I guess, not really sure why, but I do know I have lot of dupes.

What the best way to weed out the duplicates? Or should I start a new forum thread?

Henry

[cmgap]

Dropbox as you've painfully found out isn't the best place for your photos. Once you're sure you've copies on your main external drive and also your backup drive you should be able to delete them.

Be sure to update the folder location though from Dropbox to the external drive before you delete. Try one set of iPhone images first. Copy them > make your backup > update folder location > delete.