LightRoom ??

[D40]

Ok, I have Lightroom on my PC and I now have it on my laptop as well. I Have the catalog backed up on an external hard drive and I am trying to add all my photo into my laptops lightroom? When I say import catalog and select the folders to add it adds them but the titles of the folders are red and I can't see any of the photos ??? Any ideas?

 

[Josh66]

the titles of the folders are red and I can't see any of the photos ??? Any ideas?

That means that it's been moved. It isn't where LR thinks it is.

If you right click on it, there's an option to tell it where it is now. I can't remember what it's called though, and it isn't showing up for me - none of my folders are red.

EDIT
I reorganized all of my RAWs a while ago - changed the folder structure. Every single folder was showing up red. If there is a fast way to redirect it, I haven't found it.
I had to go through every single folder and update it's location.

Now you know - never move your RAWs, lol!

 

[Josh66]

If I remember right - it doesn't matter where the catalog is. The catalog is just saving 'what you did' - it doesn't have the actual pictures in it.

You can move the catalog and just re-import it, but if you move the original RAWs you have to tell it where you moved them to.

 

[D40]

Hmmm, that makes sence, All the photos are on my PC, I backup LR to that external drive and what I did was import that backed up Catalog. So I need to actually get the photos on the laptop...gotcha, dont know why I did not see that...Thanks

 

[D40]

Ok...so, question...when I "backup" my LR to the external drive all it is doing is backing up the Catalog? It is not actually backing up the photos? If that is the case then it does no good?

 

[Josh66]

Ok...so, question...when I "backup" my LR to the external drive all it is doing is backing up the Catalog? It is not actually backing up the photos?

Exactly. That's why when it does a backup it doesn't ask for 3 DVDs.

If that is the case then it does no good?

Well, it's still good to have backups of the catalog (if you lost it, you would have to do all of your edits over again). Just know that you also need backups of the original RAWs.

 

[JerryPH]

Actually LR does save the different sized previews other than the 1:1 sized pictures, in it's catalog directory. That is why you can see the previews of the pics, but not the full-sized items.

Also you should be aware that, as you add more and more pictures to your catalog, LR gets slower and slower. Things start to slow down by as little as 500 pictures and by 2500 pictures, there is a noticeable drop in LR's performance.

To prevent this, what I do is every project or wedding or day's events of shooting that I do, I place in it's own folder and make a catalog file JUST for that event. This keeps LR's speed consistently high.

 

[Josh66]

Jerry, maybe you know how to do this-

Once LR starts slowing down, I'll export most of my catalog as a new catalog, then delete whatever I exported.

Is there a way to make the new catalog have all of the same settings as the master catalog? (Presets, ID plate, font, and so on - all those little things.)

EDIT

I do it like that because I can't figure out how to make the exported catalog automatically have all of the same settings as the catalog it's being exported from.
It's like every time you export a catlog, you have to start over on all of the settings, presets, and all that.

I just keep a 'master catalog' and export sections of it off to avoid that.
I just view the exported sections as backups. If I really wanted to work on those pictures again, I would import them again.

 

[JerryPH]

I don't have a lot of custom settings and what not, so I never thought about it... but let me look into it and get back to you on that.

One of the places I go are the forums on adobe for things like that (that and a few of my friends that are hip-deep into LR... lol). If you beat me to the answer, don't hesitate to post it here... thats a good question you asked.

 

[GeneralBenson]

Interesting, I didn't know, large catalogs slow down LR. Makes sense that my main catalog with 15,000 images is getting kind of slow. Is there a way to have the same catalog in two different places? I have my main catalog on my external drive, and all the photos are there, so that I can plus in either laptop and access them. But I have the photos all backed up to my laptop, and the catalog backup up do my laptop. The problem is, whenever I take my laptop somewhere, I have copies of all the photos, but the catalog is on the External. The catalog backup is on my laptop, but it doesn't know where the copies of the pictures are, just the originals.