Lightroom external hard drive

My external hard drive does not appear in my folders panel in Lightroom 5.3. What should I do?

Try opening the import dialog.
You should see the drive listed there.
Import one image to that drive and go back to the Library module - it should be visible.
Tony Jay

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  • Using Time Machine to back up an external hard drive dedicated to Adobe Lightroom 5

    I recently began to use Adobe Lightroom 5 (I continue to use Aperture, as I have for years).    All of the Lightroom image files and catalogs are on one external hard drive, which I use on my iMac, my Macbook Pro, and in the digital labs of a school where I'm taking a course.
    Not yet having developed a protocoI for creating a back up of all my Lightroom image files and catalogs that I could use in the event of my Lightroom-dedicated drive's failure, I have just done a drag and drop of the whole drive's contents to another external drive (which, as it happens, I have been using for some time for my Aperture vaults).
    I am thinking of removing the dedicated Lightroom drive from the excluded list of my iMac's Time Machine (which uses yet another external drive), so that I can easily and automatically create back ups of changes to the Lightroom external drive without having to do the cumberome and inelegant drag and drop at some yet-to-be-determined frequency.  (The Macbook Pro uses a Time Capsule for its Time Machine; I envision using only the iMac's TM external drive for Lightroom backups.)
    What is the simplest and most desirable way to actually execute the backup?  I envision that it would be this: that every time I want to do a Lightroom back up, I'd mount the Lightroom external drive on the iMac (or keep it mounted if my work session has just been on the iMac) and then ask Time Machine to "Back Up Now." When the backup is finished, I'd dismount the dedicated Lightroom drive.
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    Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac

  • Hi, how do I back up my iPhoto library to Lightroom, so its also on an external hard drive, where is the Back up utility?

    Hi, somehow I imported all of my iPhoto library into Lightroom, which is saved to an external hard drive, but now I cannot remember how I did that...and I am looking to update the additional photos i've put into iPhoto to Lightroom...
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    As a mich more powerful app I think you'll find that Lightroom is also quite capable of "uploading, screening, and deleting unwanted photos."
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    Since early December I have had innumerable problems with LR and my external hard drives. I have 3 external hard drives all Western Digital, 2 x 320gb Passport and 1 x 1tb Elements. I labelled the hard drives as the computer named them when I first installed them (E&F). Since then LR calls them whatever it wants when I plug them in so there are always question marks beside my photos as LR thinks I have plugged a different hard drive in.
    Although I only have 1 x 1tb WD Elements hard drive LR calls it something different if I disconnect it and reconnect it so it then starts trying to find all my photos again.
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    Then the issue is most likely WIndows XP. When one attaches a remote drive, Windows XP can arbitrarily assign it to any one of the drive letter assignments, D: through Z:. A: and B: are reserved for diskette drives, and C: is typically assiged to the boot drive where Windows XP resides.
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    Another approach is to use the Windows mount command. If you're brave, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/205524.
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  • I use an external hard drive for my Lightroom library and I notice that all the images shown on there are DNG. On my MAC hard drive I have images shown as NEF. I desperately need to free up space on my hard drive, can I safely delete these NEFs?

    I use an external hard drive for my Lightroom library and I notice that all the images shown on there are DNG. On my MAC hard drive I have images shown as NEF. I desperately need to free up space on my hard drive, can I safely delete these NEFs?

    dj_paige wrote:
    however, I do point out that obtaining an additional hard drive and not throwing anything away seems a preferable solution to me.
    heidie22, dj_paige has a very good point there. I would not through away the NEF files; I would archive them to a external drive.
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  • How can I edit lightroom 5 smart previews on mac book pro (mbp) when the lightroom 5 master image files are on my external hard drive is disconnected from the mbp

    How can I edit lightroom 5 smart previews on mac book pro (mbp) when the lightroom 5 master image files are on my external hard drive is disconnected from the mbp? So far when I try to disconnect the external HD from the mbp, I get the following pop up window: The disk "external hard drive A" couldn't be ejected because "Lightroom" is using it. Quit that application and try to eject this disk again. When I do that and restart Lightroom 5, the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - Select Catalog screen pops up but doesn't list my external hard drive A as a choice.
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    Your internal HDD. by default, is named 'Macintosh HD'. From what information you supplied, it looks like there is already a Lightroom catalog installed on you local (internal) HDD using the standard naming convention Adobe uses as well as a Lightroom catalog on your external drive which you created. To be sure of which catalog Lightroom is loading when it starts up, To do this, start Lightroom as you normally would. After it starts, select the Lightroom menu item, then select the Catalog Preferences item and finally, navigate to the General tab. The Location information will tell you exactly what catalog Lightroom is opening by default. This will likely be the Photography Mac Book Pro Versions catalog on your external HDD. Once that is confirmed, you are ready to proceed. As an additional test/verification, you can shut down Lightroom and, this time, start Lightroom while holding down the ALT/OPTION key. This will cause Lightroom to pause and display a screen which will allow you to chose a different catalog to open. Navigate to the /Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom folder and select the Lightroom 5 Catalog.lrcat file. When Lightroom comes up, there should be no previews or folders as this catalog should be empty. Now you can be certain which catalog is being used and which catalog has all your data and you are ready to migrate your current catalog. Shut down Lightroom.
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  • Using an external hard drive with Lightroom

    I have older photos on an external hard drive and my newer ones on an internal hard drive.  If I plug in my ext hd and load those photos into Lightroom, do I have to always have it plugged in to be able to edit/view those photos?

    For Lightroom 4 and earlier, yes you must have the drive plugged in to edit or view the photos (although Lightroom will display a thumbnail in the Grid module even with the drive not plugged in)
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  • Moved files to external hard drive, can't find my edits in lightroom

    I'm using Lightroom 4 on a Mac.
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    Note: I backed up my computer before I moved all my pictures, so if I need to put them back on my mac's hard drive I am able to do that.

    Update
    I was able to solve my problem. If anyone comes across the issue I was trying to fix, I suggest trying to move the files from WITHIN lightroom.
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    I  have a new Mac Pro computer and have migrated my files from my older computer to the new computer. In trying to open a Lightroom catalog on an external hard drive  I keep on getting the message "lightroom cannot use the catalog named " " because it is  not writable and cannot be opened. I have fixed all the "permissions" and yet it will still not open. How do I fix this?

    Hello Forum Members,
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  • Lightroom with 2 external hard drives and SSD

    Hi,
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    I use two external hard drives for storing photos and Lightroom backups - I do not have any photos stored on my Mac. As a result, they are almost full (25000 images) and I need to replace them with two higher capacity devices. I don't really know how to do this and still keep Lightroom 5 'onside'. I guess that I'd have to sync my drives one at a time with the new ones using Chronosync. Then, I'm also guessing that if I name the new drives exactly as I named the old ones, then Lightroom would carry on accessing the images as if nothing had changed. Am I correct with this assumption? If anyone out there has a better solution for me then I'd be very grateful for the advice. Thank you.

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    Rob

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