Relinking Catalog with Library

[John 4641]

Hi,

i have recently had to replace an old Mac with a PC.

The set up on the Mac was that both the catalog and the library were on an external drive so that I could use either my desktop or my MBP.

On the new PC I decided that the need to have the catalog available to the MBP is no longer necessary so I have put the catalog on the SSD (C) drive to take advantage of its fast speed and put the library on the internal HD (D).

How do I tell the Catalog where to find my library? I can’t find away to navigate from within LRCC Classic.

Thanks in advance.

John

[JP Hess]

If you have your files organized so they are all within one master folder, just right-click on the master folder in the library module and choose the option to update the folder location. In the dialog that appears, point to that folder on drive D and click OK and everything should link up. If everything isn't under one master folder then you will have to repeat that process for other folders as well. It really is quite simple.

[John 4641]

Hi,

Thank you. I am away from home at the moment so unable to see to this.  I will investigate this on my return next week and respond again then.

John

[John 4641]

Hi,

Thank you for your assistance.

I think I understand your instructions (JimHess) and believe I have been partly successful, however I still have a problem of navigation from within LR.

My images were NOT all in one folder prior to the move from the Mac to the PC. When I started with LR I used the filing structure I had in existence at the time, basically Folders for various categories all with sub-folders. As I became more confident in LR's ability to find images through the use of Keywords I began to let LR file images in Date Folders, consequently I have MANY dated folders plus the original Category Folders. All are contained now in a master folder called MY IMAGES on the D drive of the new PC. MY IMAGES was the name of the external drive mentioned in my original post. I copied this from that external drive to the D drive of the new PC. Its contents are visible through File Explorer but NOT from within LR.

From within LR I can see under Folders / DATA (D) / MY IMAGES / a list of several sub folders from one of the Category folders (PEOPLE as it happens). I CAN NOT NAVIGATE to any other folder.

HELP! I'm lost at sea without a navigator.

I would appreciate any guidance.

I hope you understand my ramblings.

Regards

John

[Ian Lyons]

You should be able to right mouse click on 'Folders / DATA (D) / MY IMAGES /' to expose context menu. Choose 'Update folder location' from the context menu then navigate to the new location of "My Images', and click on same. This should now redirect Lr to the correct folder on new computer.

This tutorial (Part 2) might help

Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders

[John 4641]

Hi Ian,

Thank you for your reply.

I have tried to do as you suggested but this has not been totally successful.

I still think it is a navigation issue within LR that I am not grasping.

Somehow a few folders appeared in the Folders Window under D: / MY IMAGES / and I have been able to use the process that has been described to "Update Folder Location". I have checked in Develop module to confirm this. HOWEVER, I am unable to view ANY OTHER FOLDERS from my Library in the LR Folders Window that I know do exist on my D drive. To check this I have opened several of these folders in PS.

To my mind it is a navigation issue within LR that I am not able to find a solution to. I have closed and opened LR several times without success.

Strangely, my Catalog of 47349 photographs shows a figure of 42082 Missing Photographs. This figure has not changed since I started reuniting those Folders that I am able to access. MY IMAGES now shows 16934 photographs have been reunited with the Catalog!

Any ideas?

Regards

John

[dj_paige]

Do your folders, as seen in Lightroom, have question mark icons on them?

If yes, right-click on the top level folder, select Find Missing Folder, and then you will be able to navigate to and select the folder where your photos are now.

[John 4641]

Hi,

I think we’ve cracked it!

i found that a little blanked out symbol in the Folders Window of LR showed the unlinked folders in MY IMAGES on my D drive and I was able to relink them from there. Strangely after each folder was relinked I had to restart LR to get the remaining unlinked folders to appear again.

Thank you all for your guidance.

Regards

john

[dj_paige]

This document explains how, especially Figure 4 and associated text.

Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders