How do I export my catalogue to an external drive?

Hello there. I'm running Lightroom on a comparatively new Macbook Air, and all of my photo files (a mishmash of folders from old machines + Dropbox automatic uploads) are really starting to clog up the tiny hard drive. I want to (a) move my Lightroom catalogue and all associated assets to an external drive while (b) still backing up everything to Dropbox and Google Drive for safekeeping.
How would I go about doing that? I assume I'd start by de-syncing my Dropbox photo folder from my Macbook Air.

You can move all the photos in your operating system and then reconnect in Lightroom via
Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders
Do not use this as an opportunity to rearrange your folders or photos. just move them in the exact same hierarchy.

Similar Messages

  • How can I export a project on an external drive in the latest version of iMovie?

    Before the latest release of iMovie I easily managed to export a project on an external usb drive and re-import such project on a different Mac... In the latest iMovie version, however, I cannot see my drive any more..
    So, how can I export a project on an external drive in the latest version of iMovie?
    Thank you in advance

    I'm not sure this is the best way, but you could create a new iMovie Library, move your project to that Library, then close the library. Then move the Library to your USB drive. Then, on the other Mac, in iMovie open the Library.

  • How do you export iPhoto albums to an external drive and have all the albums still labeled?

    I am having an issue exporting the iphoto albums to an external drive. When I do it, it either just drops all the pictures in together or it separates them by events, but my iphotos are arranged in albums, not events so that doesn't help.  Can anyone help with this?
    Also, I'm new to mac and i'm noticing iphotos has a lot of limitations...I can't save photos automatically to folders/albums in iphoto bc it doesnt show in the finder, I can't upload to facebook without doing it from iphoto, and I obviously can't save to external drive easily just yet.  Should I just be saving all of my photos in Pictures in the finder? Is there a way you can save them in pictures and then be able to open them in iphotos? I'm getting so frustrated and ready to go back to my PC. =(

    A couple of general comments:
    1. iPhoto is not compulsory. You don't have to use it.
    2. But if you do, then you're going  to need to make a small conceptual leap, and learn just a little.
    The Conceptual Leap: Your Files and your Photos are not the same thing. The illustration I use is as follows: In my iTunes Library I have a file called 'Let_it_Be_The_Beatles.mp3'. So what is that, exactly? It's not the song. The Beatles never wrote an mp3. They wrote a tune and lyrics. They recorded it and a copy of that recording is stored in the mp3 file. So the file is just a container for the recording. That container is designed in a specific way attuned to the characteristics and requirements of the data. Hence, mp3.
    Similarly, that Jpeg is not your photo, it's a container designed to hold that kind of data. iPhoto is all about the data and not about the container. So, regardless of where you choose to store the file, iPhoto will manage the photo, edit the photo, add metadata to the Photo but never touch the file. If you choose to export - unless you specifically choose to export the original - iPhoto will export the Photo into a new container - a new file containing the photo.
    The Learning: iPhoto replaces the Finder (or file browser) for everything to do with your Photo. And I do mean everything. Organising, Editing, sharing with other apps, printing, uploading, whatever are all done either with or via iPhoto. It's you "go-to" for anything to do with your Photos.
    The upshot of that is that how (or where) the files are stored doesn't matter - as long as they are safe and backed up - because after importing to iPhoto you never directly access those files again.
    So, you want to organise your Photos: do it in the iPhoto Window. Events, Albums, Keywords, and so on. You do all your work via that window or the media browsers that make the Library available in every app in the OS.
    So: want to edit a photo, but not with iPhoto? You can set Photoshop (or any image editor) as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop or your Image Editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically. This is the only way that edits made in another application will be displayed in iPhoto.
    How to access the Photos for whatever reason you may need them see this user tip:
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4491
    For details of the Export dialogue: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921
    You can more or less recreate your folder tree in the iPhoto Window - start at the bottom of your tree and drag  folder of images to the Albums Heading. iPhoto will import the images and make an album of them. Then File -> New Folder and drag the Album to that. Folders can hold nested folders and Albums. And so work from there.
    But if your folder tree is date based that's a bit pointless, as the Calendar search and Smart Albums make it pretty redundant. With these you can find any photos from a specific day, week, month, year or date-range in the Library.
    If the folder tree is theme based, then keywords will a more effective way of working.
    And Albums are more flexible that folders in the Finder, as an image can be in any number of Albums and use no extra disk space whatever.
    So, it's a whole new way of working with photos for you.
    To your specific questions:
    I am having an issue exporting the iphoto albums to an external drive. When I do it, it either just drops all the pictures in together or it separates them by events, but my iphotos are arranged in albums, not events so that doesn't help
    Export them one album at a time.
    This User Tip
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921
    has details of the options in the Export dialogue.
    But given the above... why are you doing this? You're defeating the non-destructive workflow by doing it. Are you trying to back up?
    .I can't save photos automatically to folders/albums in iphoto bc it doesnt show in the finder,
    Not clear exactly what you're asking here, but does the above open some ideas?
    I can't upload to facebook without doing it from iphoto
    Yeah you can... For help accessing your photos in iPhoto see this user tip:
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4491
    It's the first one...
    and I obviously can't save to external drive easily just yet.
    Yeah you can but what exactly are you trying to save, and, again, why? Different purposes have different workflows.
    Should I just be saving all of my photos in Pictures in the finder?
    That's a personal choics, but not if you plan on using iPhoto. And as I started with iPhoto is not compulsory... As to why you shouldn't with iPhoto:
    For more on iPhoto and file management see this User Tip:
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6361
    Reasons for bothering to learn...
    I use Events simply as big buckets of Photos: Spring 08, July - Nov 06 are typical Events in my Library. I use keywords and Smart Albums extensively. I title the pics broadly.
    I keyword on a
    Who
    What
    Where basis (The When is in the photos's Exif metadata). I also rate the pics on a 1 - 5 star basis.
    Using this system I can find pretty much find any pic in my 50k library in a couple of seconds.
    So, for example, I have a batch of pics titled 'Seattle 08' and a  typical keywording might include: John, Anne, Landscape, mountain, trees, snow. With a rating included it's so very easy to find the best pics we took at Mount Rainier.
    File -> New Smart Album
    set it to 'All"
    title contains Seattle
    keyword is mountain
    keyword is snow
    rating is 5 stars
    Or, want a chronological album of John from birth to today?
    New Smart Album
    Keyword is John
    Set the View options to Sort By Date Ascending
    Want only the best pics?
    add Rating is greater than 4 stars
    The best thing about this system is that it's dynamic. If I add 50 more pics of John  to the Library tomorrow, as I keyword and rate them they are added to the Smart Album.
    In the end, organisation is about finding the pics. The point is to make locating that pic or batch of pics findable fast. This system works for me.

  • How can transfer images from lightroom to LaCie external drive?

    How can i export images from lightroom toLaCie external drive?

    Hi welcome!
    It's possible that your description of what you want to do is a bit ambiguous.
    Are you wanting to move your images from an internal drive to an external drive?
    Are you wanitng to actually export images out of Lightroom with the destination being an external drive (a very different propostion to the above option)?
    Is there something else that you are actually wanting to do?
    Also Lightroom does not hold the images themselves.
    Lightroom has a database (called a catalog) that references the location of images that have been imported.
    Tony Jay

  • Lightroom - how to restore backed up files (not Lightroom catalogue) from one external drive to another?

    How to restore backed up files (not lightroom catalogue) from one external drive to another.
    I recently backuped my photo files from one external drive to another. The backup (carbon copy cloner) pointed to some corrupt files on the original drive.
    I have deleted those files and am finding good copies of them  in Time Machine backups.
    I want to get rid of the original external drive; use the recent backup as my main external and then back it up onto a brand new drive.
    What I am not sure about is how to point lightroom to the backups so it knows to look on the new drive instead of the old drive and all those exclamation marks and question marks go away.
    There are close to 60,000 images in numerous folders all with one 'parent folder.'
    My best guess is from Lightroom Help - Create and Manage Folders -  Locate Missing Folders
    Can I point to the one parent folder and all the subfolders will come back?
    Is this the process to recover files into lightroom and will there be a problem with so many photos?

    http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm

  • How do I export itunes library onto an external hard drive so i can put the music on my new mac book?

    How do I export itunes library onto an external hard drive so i can put the music on my new mac book?

    iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
    do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
    iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
    Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music:  Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive.  Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.

  • How do I copy iphoto libraries from one external drive to another?

    Two of three of my iPhoto's libraries could not be upgraded to Mavericks because there was not enough room on a partitioned external drive. How do I copy them to a larger external drive? ( Iphoto 11)

    Drag them there. The volume they’re put onto needs to be formatted as Mac OS Extended.
    (111592)

  • How do I get my Mac to recognize external drive filled with 5 projects, created at Apple Store?

    How do I get my Mac to recognize external drive filled with 5 projects, created at Apple Store? I created 6 hrs worth of projects on computer in apple store with my external. came home my computer did not recognize it at all. went back to apple, they said oh click the news reel bottom left that will do it, came back home and nope....not recognizing it, in fact it says no events exist on this disc. I want to get the 5 projects and put up on vimeo tonight. ugh.

    Hi Tom,
    I'm so impressed with how you help everyone solve their problems. I will do my best here, but my husband will be home soon and knows how this large external is formatted.
    How late do you all work there? I'm on east coast. Is the screen shot you wanted? I opened up external and
    this is what I see.
    Drive is connected to usb in back of computer. N

  • How do I Retrieve imovie projects from and external drive back into my mac internal drive

    How do I Retrieve imovie projects from and external drive back into my mac internal drive?
    Thank You

    Every working drive, Internal or External, should produce an Icon on your Desktop. If you cannot see those, click on the Desktop (to get Finder) and choose Preferences off the Finder Menu. The general pane has checkboxes for "Show these items on the Desktop:"
    Double click the Icon for your External Drive to open it. Open the folders on it until you find the Items you want to copy. Drag them to the Icon of your Internal Drive, or open the folder where you want them to land and drop them in there.
    A drive that does not appear on the desktop after you have asked it to may be damaged. But it would be smart to do a Restart to see if it is recognized again at next Startup.

  • When syncing my ipod, how do I get it to look at external drives for music stored them?  It just tells me it can't find something and gives me no option to tell it where it is located.

    When syncing my ipod, how do I get it to look at external drives for music stored them?  It just tells me it can't find something and gives me no option to tell it where it is located.

    Hi SouthMountainSound,
    It sounds like the tracks may be missing from your iTunes library. When tracks in iTunes display a it means the file cannot be located; it may have been moved or deleted. If it cannot be located, this may cause the issue of not being copied to your iPod. For this issue, we will need to refer to the following article:
    iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408
    Alternatively, if your media was downloaded from the iTunes Store, you may be able to download it again free of charge:
    Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519
    Thanks,
    Matt M.

  • HT1473 How do I import my library from an external drive to Itunes quickly

    How do I import my library from an external drive to my Itunes on my computer quickly?  When I pull up ITunes, I only show Add File to Library and so I would have to manually add each file one by one, isn't there a faster way?  In the old Itunes there used to be Import Library?

    Press ALT or CTRL+B to display the menu bar. This gives access to File > Add Folder to Library.
    If the external drive contains a complete self-contained iTunes library that you want to open, press and hold down shift as you launch iTunes and keep holding until prompted to choose or create a library. Click choose and browse to the iTunes Library.itl file on the external drive.
    If you have devices that sync with your previous iTunes library either open the copy on the external as above, or copy the entire iTunes folder into your internal drive and keep the external as a backup.
    tt2

  • How can I backup my files to an external drive

    how can I backup my files to an external drive??  Can't seem to drag files to the external drive icon

    Is the drive formatted for the Mac? Is it a new drive? If so it's not formatted properly:
    Drive Preparation
    1.Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
    5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
    6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

  • How do I export images from aperture to flash drive

    How do I export the whole album from Aperture to flash drive.?

    The same way you would export to any file system:
    Connect the flash drive and once it is mounted you can export to it in the regular manner.

  • How do I export iPhoto library to a flash drive and can photos be viewedon a PC?

    How do I export iPhoto library to flash Drive and can it be viewed On a PC?

    This User Tip
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921
    has details of the options in the Export dialogue.

  • How do I export photos or video to external hard drive

    How do I export photos or video from my ipad3 to external hard drive?

    You can copy photos and videos from the camera roll in the iPad's Photos app to an external drive via your computer - on a PC you can use the windows camera wizard, on a Mac you can use Image Capture, iPhoto or Aperture
    Copying photos and videos : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4083

Maybe you are looking for