I've been struggling with this for weeks....

photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
edited March 12, 2010 in Finishing School
Hello.

I am so frustrated and confused. I am using an external drive for my Lightroom Library. Importing from other media and saving them during import to the LR ext. drive. Doing most of the importing on my laptop so I can do it wherever I am at to get caught up. I really like Lightroom and appreciate all the advice I was given from dgrin participants in order to make the change to LR. :)

I use a PC computer at home to do most of my editing, but have found to start some editing on my laptop and finish up on my desktop. Then I need to bring those images back to my laptop to upload to the internet as my desktop does not have internet. I have read and read and read and researched just how to do this and now I am a mess. I can't get a handle on how its suppose to be done. I am afraid of making duplicates and I have with this last shoot I have done.

I am wondering if I import on my laptop, save on LR ext drive, do the rejects, flags, some slight editing to the images and then close out LR. Re-load LR to back-up the work I did. Can I just hook up the LR ext. drive to my desktop and load the catalog I just backed up on my laptop, finish the editing to the folder I was working on on my laptop and then back up those edits (catalog) and reload on laptop for internet?

I get confused with the settings/choices of importing from catalog and I think that is how I ended up one time with duplicates.

I hope this makes sense and I really hope someone out there can help clarify how I should do this.

Thank you!!

Michele
«1

Comments

  • Ken112Ken112 Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
    edited February 16, 2010
    Make sure your catalog (and previews) are on the external drive as well as your library. This should take care of your problem.
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 16, 2010
    Ken112 wrote:
    Make sure your catalog (and previews) are on the external drive as well as your library. This should take care of your problem.
    So are you saying that I can do what I mentioned / asked up above?

    Once I go back and forth, then do I delete the other backups? How many backups do I keep on my ext. drive?

    Thank you very much Ken... :):)
  • Ken112Ken112 Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
    edited February 16, 2010
    photomagic wrote:
    So are you saying that I can do what I mentioned / asked up above?

    Once I go back and forth, then do I delete the other backups? How many backups do I keep on my ext. drive?

    Thank you very much Ken... :):)

    Now I'm confused. I thought you said you were keeping your library (photos) on your external drive. After rereading your post I guess you have duplicate libraries on the desktop and the laptop and you are using the external drive to backup your photos. If that is the case you will need to sync the catalogs between the two computers. Here is a link to an article explaining how to do this. http://digitaldailydose.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/moving-lightroom-work-between-a-laptop-and-a-desktop/
    I personally think you would be better off using one computer only to edit photos on. Trying to sync catalogs between two computers makes my brain hurt. Backing up to an external drive is very smart and you should continue to do that (you should back up your LR catalog to the external drive also, it contains all your edits..). I also create a private gallery on SmugMug for each photo shoot and upload all my photos there as an off-site backup.
    Hope this helps.

    Ken
  • FoquesFoques Registered Users Posts: 1,951 Major grins
    edited February 16, 2010
    why not run a wire to a PC? 0_o
    Arseny - the too honest guy.
    My Site
    My Facebook
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 16, 2010
    Thank you Ken.

    When I am out in the field, I like to go through my images, delete bad ones, flag some, label some, etc. Sometimes I need to make adjustments to the images before getting home, especially on a multi day trip.

    I only use an external drive for my LR work, storing images, etc. Then when I get home, I want to work on the images on my PC. When I am done, I would like to upload them to my website, emails, etc, etc and I do that from my laptop. Using the same external drive all the time. Yes, I do back up my external drive to two others on a regular basis. I like the idea of using a private gallery on my website. Excellent!!! Thank you for that!

    Does that make sense? I hope so.

    I have read articles and what not on synchronizing and I just don't get it. :(. Can't I just back-up the LR catalog on laptop right before I work on PC. Upload that catalog onto PC and work on that catalog of images. Back-up that catalog on PC when done. Then open up the catalog on Laptop again. Is that possible? If not, why not just so I understand. And if it is, do I need to keep "all" backed up catalogs or just the most recent one???

    Thanks again for your help... I really do appreciate it!!

    In regards to the wire to PC, I don't always do my uploading to my website and other online means for photos at home, so I do it all on my laptop which is why a wire won't work. I have a wireless card on my PC, but I don't want internet usage on my PC.

    There has to be a possible way to do what I would like. I can't be the only photographer that is in this situation. I just need to find one that is more experienced than me with more knowledge on this to help me. Books and online articles just isn't cutting it.
  • Ken112Ken112 Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
    edited February 16, 2010
    photomagic wrote:
    Thank you Ken.


    I have read articles and what not on synchronizing and I just don't get it. :(. Can't I just back-up the LR catalog on laptop right before I work on PC. Upload that catalog onto PC and work on that catalog of images. Back-up that catalog on PC when done. Then open up the catalog on Laptop again. Is that possible? If not, why not just so I understand. And if it is, do I need to keep "all" backed up catalogs or just the most recent one???

    I don't think you understand what the LR catalog file is. As I understand it the LR catalog file contains the adjustments, keywords and location information for your photo library. It does NOT contain any of your pictures! If your photos are not in the exact same location on both computers (ie:"C:/photos/2010/maui/whales/IMG_1234.jpg ") the catalog is going to have a hard time finding the photos to apply the adjustments to. You also have a preview file that would have to be kept in sync.

    I guess your idea would work if you kept your photos in identical file locations on both machines. When you returned from vacation you would have to copy the new photos to the desktop machine and then replace the desktop catalog file with the file from the laptop. Not a very elegant solution.

    You only need to keep the newest backed up catalog.
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 16, 2010
    Ken112 wrote:
    I don't think you understand what the LR catalog file is. As I understand it the LR catalog file contains the adjustments, keywords and location information for your photo library. It does NOT contain any of your pictures! If your photos are not in the exact same location on both computers (ie:"C:/photos/2010/maui/whales/IMG_1234.jpg ") the catalog is going to have a hard time finding the photos to apply the adjustments to. You also have a preview file that would have to be kept in sync.

    I guess your idea would work if you kept your photos in identical file locations on both machines. When you returned from vacation you would have to copy the new photos to the desktop machine and then replace the desktop catalog file with the file from the laptop. Not a very elegant solution.

    You only need to keep the newest backed up catalog.

    I do understand. I probably should of mentioned that the ext drive would be moved to the desktop as well, so LR will still be able to locate the files....

    How else could I do it then???
  • Ken112Ken112 Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
    edited February 17, 2010
    photomagic wrote:
    I do understand. I probably should of mentioned that the ext drive would be moved to the desktop as well, so LR will still be able to locate the files....

    How else could I do it then???

    I assumed you used the ext drive to move your photos between computers.
    Let back up a bit..... Where does your "master" photo library live?
    Laptop? Desktop? ext drive?
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 17, 2010
    Ken112 wrote:
    I assumed you used the ext drive to move your photos between computers.
    Let back up a bit..... Where does your "master" photo library live?
    Laptop? Desktop? ext drive?

    External Drive. I do not store any photos on my laptop or desktop. Same with the catalogs. There is a folder for "my photos" and "LR catalogs" on the ext. drive.
  • Ken112Ken112 Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
    edited February 17, 2010
    photomagic wrote:
    External Drive. I do not store any photos on my laptop or desktop. Same with the catalogs. There is a folder for "my photos" and "LR catalogs" on the ext. drive.

    Oh... That's not how I thought you were doing it. That setup should work.
    Check this for me. Open LR go to Edit, Catalog Settings, under the general tab the first item is "location" that should point to the LR catalog file on the external drive. By default it doesn't. Check it on both computers and let me know.

    Ken
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 18, 2010
    Ken112 wrote:
    Oh... That's not how I thought you were doing it. That setup should work.
    Check this for me. Open LR go to Edit, Catalog Settings, under the general tab the first item is "location" that should point to the LR catalog file on the external drive. By default it doesn't. Check it on both computers and let me know.

    Ken

    no it doesn't. goes to a folder on my desktop.

    when i backup the catalog upon starting lightroom, it backs up to a folder on my ext. drive that i call "LR CATALOG".

    not sure if i needed to say the second line, but thought i would just in case.
  • Ken112Ken112 Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
    edited February 18, 2010
    photomagic wrote:
    no it doesn't. goes to a folder on my desktop.

    when i backup the catalog upon starting lightroom, it backs up to a folder on my ext. drive that i call "LR CATALOG".

    not sure if i needed to say the second line, but thought i would just in case.
    I think we are getting somewhere. The problem is you have different catalogs on each computer. You need to use only one catalog file and keep it on the external drive ONLY. Here are a few videos i found that explain how to set this up:

    http://thelightroomlab.com/2009/05/how-to-get-your-lightroom-catalog-onto-an-external-hard-drive/

    http://thelightroomlab.com/2009/09/moving-folders-with-adobe-photoshop-lightroom/

    Let me know if you have any questions after watching these videos.

    The goal is to keep the LR program only on your computers and have all the data (photos, catalog and preview files on the external drive).
    By default LR looks for this data on the same drive the program is on. You just need to tell it to look for it on the the external drive.
    After you do this all you need to do is swap the external drive between machines and all the edits, etc. will move with the drive.

    I wouldn't back up my LR catalog to the external drive. It doesn't do any good to keep your primary LR catalog and your Backup on the same drive. The backup needs to be on a different drive to do you any good in case of drive failure. You would be better off backing up your LR catalog to the local machine (ie:keep one on the laptop and one on the desktop)

    Ken
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 18, 2010
    Ken112 wrote:
    I think we are getting somewhere. The problem is you have different catalogs on each computer. You need to use only one catalog file and keep it on the external drive ONLY. Here are a few videos i found that explain how to set this up:

    http://thelightroomlab.com/2009/05/how-to-get-your-lightroom-catalog-onto-an-external-hard-drive/

    http://thelightroomlab.com/2009/09/moving-folders-with-adobe-photoshop-lightroom/

    Let me know if you have any questions after watching these videos.

    The goal is to keep the LR program only on your computers and have all the data (photos, catalog and preview files on the external drive).
    By default LR looks for this data on the same drive the program is on. You just need to tell it to look for it on the the external drive.
    After you do this all you need to do is swap the external drive between machines and all the edits, etc. will move with the drive.

    I wouldn't back up my LR catalog to the external drive. It doesn't do any good to keep your primary LR catalog and your Backup on the same drive. The backup needs to be on a different drive to do you any good in case of drive failure. You would be better off backing up your LR catalog to the local machine (ie:keep one on the laptop and one on the desktop)

    Ken


    I also hope we are getting somewhere.


    I watched the videos. Thank you for the links, btw...

    I see what you mean about the "underline" LR folder on my computer hard drive. Question though: Do I move both computers "underline" LR folder onto the external drive or just one? If I do both, how do I go about storing them on the ext. drive? That just dawned on me since I have LR on both computers.

    I do have all my pictures, catalogs, etc on my external drive already. I am thinking that once I move the LR underline Catalog onto the external drive, it won't effect my photos, catalogs, etc, right???

    In your last paragraph, I am a tad confused... Are you saying besides having the back and forth catalog from computer to computer backed up on the ext drive under "Lightroom Catalogs" (folder I named already on my ext drive for all the catalogs), that when I am done with the images and have the finalized LR Catalog, I should back up this catalog onto the internal drives on both computers as well as the ext. drive?

    Let me also ask this... If I were to do that (store on internal drives plus ext. drives), and all my photos are on the ext. drive and it crashes, the catalogs would be on my internal drives but I still wouldn't have access to the photos on the bad drive which is why I back up the ext. drive to two other drives twice a month. I should do it more often, but its difficult when it takes hours to do. So I am trying to figure out why I should also store the catalogs onto my internal drives?

    Thanks again Ken for all your help. I really do appreciate it and I finally feel like I am understanding things a tad more and getting on the "right" path. :)
  • Ken112Ken112 Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
    edited February 18, 2010
    photomagic wrote:
    I also hope we are getting somewhere.


    I watched the videos. Thank you for the links, btw...

    I see what you mean about the "underline" LR folder on my computer hard drive. Question though: Do I move both computers "underline" LR folder onto the external drive or just one? If I do both, how do I go about storing them on the ext. drive? That just dawned on me since I have LR on both computers.

    I do have all my pictures, catalogs, etc on my external drive already. I am thinking that once I move the LR underline Catalog onto the external drive, it won't effect my photos, catalogs, etc, right???

    In your last paragraph, I am a tad confused... Are you saying besides having the back and forth catalog from computer to computer backed up on the ext drive under "Lightroom Catalogs" (folder I named already on my ext drive for all the catalogs), that when I am done with the images and have the finalized LR Catalog, I should back up this catalog onto the internal drives on both computers as well as the ext. drive?

    Let me also ask this... If I were to do that (store on internal drives plus ext. drives), and all my photos are on the ext. drive and it crashes, the catalogs would be on my internal drives but I still wouldn't have access to the photos on the bad drive which is why I back up the ext. drive to two other drives twice a month. I should do it more often, but its difficult when it takes hours to do. So I am trying to figure out why I should also store the catalogs onto my internal drives?

    Thanks again Ken for all your help. I really do appreciate it and I finally feel like I am understanding things a tad more and getting on the "right" path. :)
    The LR catalog files are probably different on each of your computers. Pick the best one (most recent edits,etc.) and copy that one to the external drive and point both computers to that file. Delete or rename any LR catalog files currently on the external drive (you can add XXX in front of the file name). Once you are convinced that this setup is working correctly you can go back and delete all the XXX files.

    The LR catalog file you are moving to the external drive will be a file you have been using all along and should work the same once you move it. For example let's say you move the LR catalog file from the desktop to the external drive. If you point the desktop to use that same file (from the external drive instead of the local drive) everything should work exactly the same as before because you are still using the same file (you just moved it to a new location). Once you get this working just edit the preferences on the laptop to point to the same LR catalog file that you just moved to the external drive from the desktop computer.

    You probably don't need to back up your LR catalog file to your internal drives if you are backing up to additional external drives on a regular basis. You are correct. If your external drive crashes having a copy of the LR catalog file won't help you get your photos back. It wouldn't hurt to temporarily store a copy of your new photos on your laptops internal drive while in the field. You can delete them once you get home and you do a back up. If you also had a recent LR catalog file backup on the local drive you wouldn't miss a beat if the external drive failed in the field.

    I'm probably over cautious with back ups. I'm in Hawaii now for six weeks shooting humpback whales. I don't erase my CF cards until I have 2 local copies and 2 on line copies of my photos. I've had hard drives fail in the field and it can ruin your trip if you are not prepared. Just remember a file doesn't exist unless you have 2 copies and they are in different locations.

    Ken
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 18, 2010
    I'm probably over cautious with back ups. I'm in Hawaii now for six weeks shooting humpback whales. I don't erase my CF cards until I have 2 local copies and 2 on line copies of my photos. I've had hard drives fail in the field and it can ruin your trip if you are not prepared. Just remember a file doesn't exist unless you have 2 copies and they are in different locations.

    Ken[/QUOTE]

    Got it! I think! :)

    Thank you...

    There is no such thing as over cautious with back-ups. I just had a 6 month old external hard drive completely crash on me. I went to finally make a duplicate of that ext. drive and it no longer worked. So I didn't get a duplicate of all my files that were on it from 2008-2009. Huge loss and depressing! So since then, I have gone a new route with backing up the main ext. drive to two others. Still makes me nervous. I lost a lot of files that will be very difficult to repeat; lots of activity of Humpbacks, Blue Whales and Orcas. I even sent the drive into a specializing recovery company to see if anything was retrievable, but it wasn't.

    That is great that you are in HA photographing the Humpbacks. I had a trip planned for this month to Maui to photograph the Humpbacks, but I had to cancel the trip. :(. Next year though!

    I do have one other question about your online backup. I love this idea, but exactly how does it work, especially the "private folder" on your smugmug? Lets say everything crashed and that is the only copy left of your photos, how do you retrieve them?

    Thank you again Ken for all your help.

    Have a great time in Hawaii and get a lot of great pics!! :):) I would be interested in seeing them and hearing about your experience there...

    Michele
  • Ken112Ken112 Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
    edited February 18, 2010
    photomagic wrote:
    I'm probably over cautious with back ups. I'm in Hawaii now for six weeks shooting humpback whales. I don't erase my CF cards until I have 2 local copies and 2 on line copies of my photos. I've had hard drives fail in the field and it can ruin your trip if you are not prepared. Just remember a file doesn't exist unless you have 2 copies and they are in different locations.

    Ken
    Got it! I think! :)

    Thank you...

    There is no such thing as over cautious with back-ups. I just had a 6 month old external hard drive completely crash on me. I went to finally make a duplicate of that ext. drive and it no longer worked. So I didn't get a duplicate of all my files that were on it from 2008-2009. Huge loss and depressing! So since then, I have gone a new route with backing up the main ext. drive to two others. Still makes me nervous. I lost a lot of files that will be very difficult to repeat; lots of activity of Humpbacks, Blue Whales and Orcas. I even sent the drive into a specializing recovery company to see if anything was retrievable, but it wasn't.

    That is great that you are in HA photographing the Humpbacks. I had a trip planned for this month to Maui to photograph the Humpbacks, but I had to cancel the trip. :(. Next year though!

    I do have one other question about your online backup. I love this idea, but exactly how does it work, especially the "private folder" on your smugmug? Lets say everything crashed and that is the only copy left of your photos, how do you retrieve them?

    Thank you again Ken for all your help.

    Have a great time in Hawaii and get a lot of great pics!! :):) I would be interested in seeing them and hearing about your experience there...

    Michele[/quote]

    Sorry to hear about your HD failure. Most people don't realize how important a backup is until they lose critical data.

    To backup to SmugMug just create an "Unlisted Gallery" in SmugMug. You can do a batch download using 3rd party utilities. Here is a link:
    http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Hacks+and+Apps
    RapidFetcher should do the job for you. I upload to the Unlisted Gallery using "Send to SmugMug" that's also available from the above link.

    Here's a link to my photo's (it's in my profile also)
    http://kenheld.smugmug.com
    I'm in Maui every winter.

    Ken
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 18, 2010
    Ken112 wrote:
    Got it! I think! :)

    Thank you...

    There is no such thing as over cautious with back-ups. I just had a 6 month old external hard drive completely crash on me. I went to finally make a duplicate of that ext. drive and it no longer worked. So I didn't get a duplicate of all my files that were on it from 2008-2009. Huge loss and depressing! So since then, I have gone a new route with backing up the main ext. drive to two others. Still makes me nervous. I lost a lot of files that will be very difficult to repeat; lots of activity of Humpbacks, Blue Whales and Orcas. I even sent the drive into a specializing recovery company to see if anything was retrievable, but it wasn't.

    That is great that you are in HA photographing the Humpbacks. I had a trip planned for this month to Maui to photograph the Humpbacks, but I had to cancel the trip. :(. Next year though!

    I do have one other question about your online backup. I love this idea, but exactly how does it work, especially the "private folder" on your smugmug? Lets say everything crashed and that is the only copy left of your photos, how do you retrieve them?

    Thank you again Ken for all your help.

    Have a great time in Hawaii and get a lot of great pics!! :):) I would be interested in seeing them and hearing about your experience there...

    Michele

    Sorry to hear about your HD failure. Most people don't realize how important a backup is until they lose critical data.

    To backup to SmugMug just create an "Unlisted Gallery" in SmugMug. You can do a batch download using 3rd party utilities. Here is a link:
    http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Hacks+and+Apps
    RapidFetcher should do the job for you. I upload to the Unlisted Gallery using "Send to SmugMug" that's also available from the above link.

    Here's a link to my photo's (it's in my profile also)
    http://kenheld.smugmug.com
    I'm in Maui every winter.

    Ken[/QUOTE]


    That was my second failure, so I was in the process of figuring out a good way to keep backups. First failure was dvd's, but luckily not all and not as disappointing as this last HD. So now, before I started anything again, I went out and bought 3 hard drives, same size to use and backup, but I REALLY like the idea of Smugmug private gallery. Thank you so much for the suggestion and for the link to that smug page. I never knew that page even existed. Lots of great stuff. :)

    Your pictures are AMAZING!! I see that u use the 40D. Great camera!

    Thanks again!!!
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 19, 2010
    photomagic wrote:
    Sorry to hear about your HD failure. Most people don't realize how important a backup is until they lose critical data.

    To backup to SmugMug just create an "Unlisted Gallery" in SmugMug. You can do a batch download using 3rd party utilities. Here is a link:
    http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Hacks+and+Apps
    RapidFetcher should do the job for you. I upload to the Unlisted Gallery using "Send to SmugMug" that's also available from the above link.

    Here's a link to my photo's (it's in my profile also)
    http://kenheld.smugmug.com
    I'm in Maui every winter.

    Ken

    That was my second failure, so I was in the process of figuring out a good way to keep backups. First failure was dvd's, but luckily not all and not as disappointing as this last HD. So now, before I started anything again, I went out and bought 3 hard drives, same size to use and backup, but I REALLY like the idea of Smugmug private gallery. Thank you so much for the suggestion and for the link to that smug page. I never knew that page even existed. Lots of great stuff. :)

    Your pictures are AMAZING!! I see that u use the 40D. Great camera!

    Thanks again!!![/QUOTE]








    Ran into a problem and not sure which one to choose:

    CONFIRM
    THERE WAS AN ERROR WHILE WRITING METADATA TO THIS PHOTO. RETRY?

    1. IMPORT SETTINGS FROM DISK
    2. RETRY METADATA EXPORT
    3. CANCEL

    IM NOT SURE WHY THIS HAPPENED OR WHAT I DID TO CAUSE IT.

    I think I am getting things under control... Just so nervous I am going to mess something up permanently.. It will be nice to get this done and back on track... :)

    Thanks again 4 ur help, patience and time... I really do appreciate it..
  • Ken112Ken112 Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
    edited February 20, 2010
    photomagic wrote:
    That was my second failure, so I was in the process of figuring out a good way to keep backups. First failure was dvd's, but luckily not all and not as disappointing as this last HD. So now, before I started anything again, I went out and bought 3 hard drives, same size to use and backup, but I REALLY like the idea of Smugmug private gallery. Thank you so much for the suggestion and for the link to that smug page. I never knew that page even existed. Lots of great stuff. :)

    Your pictures are AMAZING!! I see that u use the 40D. Great camera!

    Thanks again!!!

    I'll look into this issue for you when I get home tonight. I've been busy the last few days taking photos.

    Ken







    Ran into a problem and not sure which one to choose:

    CONFIRM
    THERE WAS AN ERROR WHILE WRITING METADATA TO THIS PHOTO. RETRY?

    1. IMPORT SETTINGS FROM DISK
    2. RETRY METADATA EXPORT
    3. CANCEL

    IM NOT SURE WHY THIS HAPPENED OR WHAT I DID TO CAUSE IT.

    I think I am getting things under control... Just so nervous I am going to mess something up permanently.. It will be nice to get this done and back on track... :)

    Thanks again 4 ur help, patience and time... I really do appreciate it..[/quote]
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 23, 2010
    Ken112 wrote:
    I'll look into this issue for you when I get home tonight. I've been busy the last few days taking photos.

    Ken







    Ran into a problem and not sure which one to choose:

    CONFIRM
    THERE WAS AN ERROR WHILE WRITING METADATA TO THIS PHOTO. RETRY?

    1. IMPORT SETTINGS FROM DISK
    2. RETRY METADATA EXPORT
    3. CANCEL

    IM NOT SURE WHY THIS HAPPENED OR WHAT I DID TO CAUSE IT.

    I think I am getting things under control... Just so nervous I am going to mess something up permanently.. It will be nice to get this done and back on track... :)

    Thanks again 4 ur help, patience and time... I really do appreciate it..
    [/QUOTE]


    No problem Ken... Thanks!
  • Ken112Ken112 Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
    edited February 23, 2010
    I did a little googling on your error message and can't find a definite answer. I suspect LR is complaining because the catalog file was moved, but I'm not sure. I tried moving my catalog file to my external drive and didn't get the same error. I'd try each option and see what happens. If that doesn't resolve it you could ask on the Adobe LightRoom forum.
    http://forums.adobe.com/community/lightroom
    As long as you keep backups of your photos and LR catalog file you really can't hurt anything.

    Ken
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 25, 2010
    Ken112 wrote:
    I did a little googling on your error message and can't find a definite answer. I suspect LR is complaining because the catalog file was moved, but I'm not sure. I tried moving my catalog file to my external drive and didn't get the same error. I'd try each option and see what happens. If that doesn't resolve it you could ask on the Adobe LightRoom forum.
    http://forums.adobe.com/community/lightroom
    As long as you keep backups of your photos and LR catalog file you really can't hurt anything.

    Ken


    Thank you Ken....

    It doesn't look like there is a difference between the two choices. Just would like to know what each choice means.
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 28, 2010
    I am wanting to have just the one main catalog on the external drive. How do I merge the desktop and laptop main catalog together? One of the catalogs has a larger preview folder, one has LR settings. Should I just move everything into one and go through the preview folder (o, 1, 2, 3, etc) and combine the two "o, 1, 2, 3, etc together so everything is there from both catalogs?

    Thank you.
  • Ken112Ken112 Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
    edited February 28, 2010
    photomagic wrote:
    I am wanting to have just the one main catalog on the external drive. How do I merge the desktop and laptop main catalog together? One of the catalogs has a larger preview folder, one has LR settings. Should I just move everything into one and go through the preview folder (o, 1, 2, 3, etc) and combine the two "o, 1, 2, 3, etc together so everything is there from both catalogs?

    Thank you.

    You need to pick ONE LR catalog file and go from there. Trying to combine two LR catalog files is asking for trouble. I wouldn't worry about the preview file. Lightroom updates it every time you click on a thumbnail. All the preview file does is speed up loading your photos.

    In summary:
    Pick one LR Catalog file for your External drive.
    Pick one LR preview file for your External drive.
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 28, 2010
    Ken112 wrote:
    You need to pick ONE LR catalog file and go from there. Trying to combine two LR catalog files is asking for trouble. I wouldn't worry about the preview file. Lightroom updates it every time you click on a thumbnail. All the preview file does is speed up loading your photos.

    In summary:
    Pick one LR Catalog file for your External drive.
    Pick one LR preview file for your External drive.

    Before I do anything drastic here, I pick the one LR Main Catalog? When I choose the location under the general tab in catalog settings, I named the laptop one: LR Main Catalog and the PC one: LR Main Catalog PC. This is not where I would do the back-ups to when starting lightroom. The backups are in Laptop LR Backups and PC Backups. So if I understand you correctly, I choose one of the LR Main Catalogs and then direct both computers to that location, correct?

    Thanks again Ken for your help....
  • Ken112Ken112 Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
    edited February 28, 2010
    photomagic wrote:
    Before I do anything drastic here, I pick the one LR Main Catalog? When I choose the location under the general tab in catalog settings, I named the laptop one: LR Main Catalog and the PC one: LR Main Catalog PC. This is not where I would do the back-ups to when starting lightroom. The backups are in Laptop LR Backups and PC Backups. So if I understand you correctly, I choose one of the LR Main Catalogs and then direct both computers to that location, correct?


    Thanks again Ken for your help....


    Yes that is correct. Pick the best LR catalog file and use that file for both computers.
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited February 28, 2010
    Ken112 wrote:
    Yes that is correct. Pick the best LR catalog file and use that file for both computers.

    YAY!!! I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel... :):)

    Thanks so much for your help!!
  • photomagicphotomagic Registered Users Posts: 257 Major grins
    edited March 7, 2010
    Hi Ken,

    In regards to smugmug, how do you prepare your images to keep original size for backing up? I have always changed my dpi to 72 before uploading, but I do not want to resize for backup.

    Thank you.

    Michele
  • Ken112Ken112 Registered Users Posts: 23 Big grins
    edited March 8, 2010
    photomagic wrote:
    Hi Ken,

    In regards to smugmug, how do you prepare your images to keep original size for backing up? I have always changed my dpi to 72 before uploading, but I do not want to resize for backup.

    Thank you.

    Michele
    I use the original "full sized" image file (anything else is a derivative work NOT a back up). I don't back up my edited files. I figure if I have the original I can always reedit it. You can use the "add files" dialog from your smugmug gallery to add photos or a third party program. I use a program called "send to smugmug".
    http://shahine.com/garage/software/send-to-smugmug/

    Ken
  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited March 10, 2010
    Ken112 wrote:
    I use the original "full sized" image file (anything else is a derivative work NOT a back up). I don't back up my edited files. I figure if I have the original I can always reedit it. You can use the "add files" dialog from your smugmug gallery to add photos or a third party program. I use a program called "send to smugmug".
    http://shahine.com/garage/software/send-to-smugmug/

    Ken

    I have read the majority of posts in this thread. I was wondering if you had tried DropBox to communicate between your laptop and desktop. I am quite sure this would meet your requirements without any fuss whatsoever.
    Regards
    Bob
Sign In or Register to comment.