Zero Out Hard Drive Question

I have been using my 27" iMac for various software testing. Now that my testing is complete I want to wipe the drive and start fresh. In Disk Utility there are many options to choose from when going to Erase > Security Options. Is there any benefit to Zeroing out the drive before re-installing Snow Leopard? Or can I just select the Don't Erase Data option and reinstall deleting the home folder when prompted. Does Zeroing out free any more space up?

Michael710 wrote:
I have been using my 27" iMac for various software testing. Now that my testing is complete I want to wipe the drive and start fresh. In Disk Utility there are many options to choose from when going to Erase > Security Options. Is there any benefit to Zeroing out the drive before re-installing Snow Leopard?
no, there is no benefit to this at all. zeroing out is only needed to prevent data recovery. it serves no other function. apparently, it doesn't even map out bad blocks on the hard drive.
Or can I just select the Don't Erase Data option and reinstall deleting the home folder when prompted.
"don't erase data"?? there is no such option in disk utility. just erase the drive using the erase tab. this will erase everything on your hard drive. or better yet, reformat the drive using the partition tab. then quit disk utility and proceed with the install.
Message was edited by: V.K.

Similar Messages

When the Apple Store tests a zeroed out hard drive, is their test as intensive as wd lifesaver etc. software's in napping out bad sectors etc.

When the Apple Store tests a zeroed out hard drive, is their test as intensive as wd lifesaver etc. software's in napping out bad sectors etc.
I do know one test at the Apple store is a three or four hour test that is very thorough for the whole Mac Pro computer, system by system test, I'm curious what kind of test they perform if you're testing the hard drive for bad sectors or whatever I'm a novice
I mean is it as effective or more effective than the software called wd lifesaver?
Does anyone have any idea what software they use or is their test only testing the systems of the computer and not just the hard drive?
I am moving from PC to Mac right now I have not even use my 2009 Mac Pro yet I was told to have the hard drives zeroed out and tested to start with a clean slate this is what I'm trying to do.
Thank you

The chip on the hard drive itself basically takes care of bad sectors. If an operation tries to write to such a sector, the drive will mark it bad and move onto the next one. That's why zeroing the drive effectively does the operation of mapping bad sectors - the whole drive is checked.
Their general hardware test does not do a full drive check, as far as I remember - the memory check can take a long time, though, since they're looking for random errors.
So for your Mac Pro, you should feel confident that doing a one-pass zero (don't do more than one pass, it's a waste of it me), will be enough initialization for the drive. And many drive experts don't even bother with that, relying on modern drive chips/firmware to do the job of checking for bad sectors on the fly.
Matt

Tom -- why need to zero out new drive on format?

Hi Tom,
Page 5, FCE workshop book, you recommend zeroing out a new drive. Why?
Is it sufficient just to reformat to Mac formats? I thought zeroing out was just necessary if you wanted to erase previously held data (to prevent recovery)?
Or is there a performance benefit to do so?
Thanks.

Tom may have his own reason. Here is mine -
Zeroing out a new drive is plain old 'good practice.' It exercises the entire drive mechanism over an extended period of time by writing zeros to every location on every platter in the unit. This way your disk directory as well as all data locations are assured of being 'empty'. Doing this, especially to a new drive, will add to your confidence that your new drive is working properly.
If you just erase the disk, only the directory is emptied. This is like removing the table of contents page from a book, but the rest of the book is still there !
There is folklore that zeroing out the drive inspects the platter surface and identifies and sets aside unusable sectors. They are not the same processes. Modern hard drive technology and manufacture have progressed far beyond the level they were at in the 80's when low level formatting utilties that performed these surface scans were common. Today most drives can only be low-level formatted at the factory. For what it's worth, I have not found any confirmation that zeroing out via OSX Disk Utility performs surface scans; but there are third-party utilites like TechTool that can.

Zeroed out my drive -- why are 2 files still there?

I set my computer to zero out my drive over 7 passes last night. I just checked it and it appears that it worked -- it states that only 73.3 MB of the drive are currently being used by 2 files. What are these 2 files and how can they be there if everything on the drive has been erased?
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Launch Terminal (in Applications/Utilities). type the following command (replacing "yourdrivename" with your drive's name - if you have spaces, you will have to escape them with a backslash "\" like: your\ drive\ name ):
ls -al /Volumes/yourdrivename
You will see that there are two files (. and ..) that are required by Unix for every directory (folder). "." is the current folder, ".." is the next-higher-up folder in the tree.
Required by Unix.
Russ

K8T Master 2 FAR; Hard Drive Questions About

Greetings!
I just got off the Google bus and stubbed my toe on your doorstep. What luck!
I have many questions, and it's getting harder to find answers for a mainboard that's not being sold "new" anymore. I did see some other topics that go along lines similar to my own, but I figured it would be a good idea to open a new thread with my specific questions.
I have decided to split my questions into three parts. This is part one, "hard drive" questions.
HARD DRIVE RELATED:
Western Digital recently announced a new high-capacity SATA Raptor drive, with 150 GB of storage:
1) Can I mount two of them into my K8T Master 2 FAR system and "hardware stripe" them for Windows/XP?
....1A) If yes, is there a minimum recommended BIOS that I should be running?
....1B) If no, then would it be feasibile to "software stripe" them in Windows/XP Pro?
If I decide to proceed, I will be well-prepared to accept the risk of data loss that would occur if one drive were to crash.
I currently run my system with a removable SATA drive caddy for my system drive. This makes it easy to swap OS's by swapping hard drives without opening my CPU case. If I go with a dual-striped SATA drive arrangement and two Raptors, then I'll replace that removable caddy with a unit that can accomodate two SATA drives.
....1C) Once in a blue moon, I get a BSOD after having swapped SATA drives. It happens when I first boot Windows/XP after having run Linux. Hot-swappable claims notwithstanding, I always swap drives while the system is powered down, although I don't typically shut off the hardware switch at the power power supply. Are there any known issues or reports of other people having similar occurrences?
I also run some IDE devices for data and archival purposes. My system is typically set up as follows:
CH 0/0 - Data drive
CH 0/1 - DVD burner
CH 1/0 - Data drive
CH 1/1 - Data drive
Recently, my system stopped "seeing" any hard drives on CH 1 drive 1. Known good drives won't show up in the BIOS, and auto-detect doesn't "see" a drive in that position. I have tried more than one drive, and the problem stays on that channel and position. I swapped cables with a known good cable, and the problem stays on that channel and position. For the time being, I have disconnected one of the data drives...but I'd really like to resolve this issue if possible.
....1D) Are there any known problems or issues with "disappearing IDE devices" in the K8T Master 2 FAR?
Thanks in advance!

Can't say, this is the first time I hear about SATA caddies....
Maybe a bad contact or so?
Sata is pretty sensitive to connection problems, or even folded cables for that matter...

System is freezing up on import. I have tried to reboot my computer three times, but that hasn't worked. I have tried clearing out hard drive space and that hasn't worked.

I have tried to reboot my computer three times, but that hasn't worked. I have tried clearing out hard drive space and that hasn't worked.

Mdgc wrote:
My imac will not authorize itune movie downloads to my ipad.
What exactly does this mean? Your iMac doesn't authorize anything. Are you getting an error message or what message are you getting with regard to authorizing? The iPad is not authorized? What?
No do not restore yet.

MBP Late 2008 Hard Drive Questions

Hi,
I have used PC most of my life and have used Mac OS when related to graphics and video, i find both to have their own benefits. I finally bought my first mac, it got delivered yesterday, the macbook pro late 2008, i got it on a good sale which however limited me to get the 320GB 5400rpm model, and i actually was aiming to get 320GB 7200rpm model. Now that i have this laptop, i wanted to install a new 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive since this laptop model allows you to do that yourself without voiding the warranty. In order to do so, i got this and plan to use my current 5400 rpm drive as a USB:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Hitachi/DIY0A57547F8/
first of all, as someone new to mac, and even though i have been super impressed by the quality of this product, my first disappointment is the fact that apple offers you to easily replace the hard disk in the mbp but does not sell the hard disk at the apple store or on phone, or allow you to bring the laptop in for HD replacement, and expects you to fill this nice beautiful laptop with third party products, (i wanted a hard disk with the an apple sticker on it just like my current one has - i know its a Hitachi... but apple has the thick black apple sticker on it!! ), i was on phone with apple for 30 mins and they eventually couldn't sell it to me after being confused about it, all they could offer me was a replacement laptop with a 10% restocking fee charge (approx $250). i contacted a mac authorized service center and they quoted me "$332" for that hard disk from apple (Hitachi 7k320), its at $95 (and a -$20 rebate) at buy.com - without the apple sticker, same model.
now that disappointment aside, i am still optimistic with my choice and have the following questions, please correct me if any of my understanding anywhere in this post is incorrect:
1. when i install my new hard disk, what type of disk formatting should i use? - i want to be able to boot from windows xp x64 professional, i will be using it almost as much as i will use mac osx (for graphics n video), since i want to be able to run some particular PC applications on full speed that i constantly use and also play some PC games (i know many people here may argue that i dont need windows at all, however i assure you i have some good necessity for it ). Will the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) formatting allow me to boot from xp later? any tips related to this area?
2. There are 2 ways to install my new hard disk.
Route 1: http://eshop.macsales.com/techcenter/techtips/sparedrive.cfm
Route 2 (considering since my mbp is new and fresh out of the box 1 day ago): http://eshop.macsales.com/techcenter/index.cfm?page=/manuals/mac/clondata.html
which one would you recommend?
3. Once i have the hitachi 7k320 installed, and the 5400rpm that came with the product removed, should i expect any different or limited service/warranty from apple care? if anything ever goes wrong in the mbp (except the hard disk), i can send it to apple with the replaced hard disk in it and it will all be acceptable and OK, right?
4. Has anyone here installed a Hitachi 7k320 drive in a MBP Late 2008? if yes, were there any sort of noise/vibration issues after installation?
5. What brand would you prefer for an internal drive for the MBP Late 2008? it originally comes with a Hitachi.

1. Prep the new drive as follows:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one (1.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. 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 Options 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.
7. After formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Complete your OS X installation. You can restore other pre-bundled software using the Install Pre-bundled Software installer that is on the OS X Installer Disc One.
In order to install Windows you will need to use Boot Camp Assistant in the Utilities folder to create the Windows partition on your hard drive and assist with the installation. You can install the 32-bit version of XP w/SP2 or SP3 or Vista 32-bit or 64-bit. Windows drivers are included on your OS X Installer Disc One and should be installed after you boot into Windows.
If you must use the 64-bit version of XP you cannot use Boot Camp, but you could use VM software such as Parallels or VM Fusion. See the following:
Windows on Intel Macs
There are presently several alternatives for running Windows on Intel Macs.
1. Install the Apple Boot Camp software. Purchase Windows XP w/Service Pak 2 or Vista. Follow instructions in the Boot Camp documentation on installation of Boot Camp, creating Driver CD, and installing Windows. Boot Camp enables you to boot the computer into OS X or Windows.
2. Parallels Desktop for Mac and Windows XP, Vista Business, or Vista Ultimate. Parallels is software virtualization that enables running Windows concurrently with OS X.
3. VM Fusionand Windows XP, Vista Business, or Vista Ultimate. VM Fusion is software virtualization that enables running Windows concurrently with OS X.
4. CrossOver which enables running many Windows applications without having to install Windows. The Windows applications can run concurrently with OS X.
5. VirtualBox is a new Open Source freeware virtual machine such as VM Fusion and Parallels that was developed by Solaris. It is not yet fully developed for the Mac - some features are not yet implemented - but it does work otherwise.
6. Last is Q. Q is a freeware emulator that is compatible with Intel Macs. It is much slower than the virtualization software, Parallels and VM Fusion.
Note that Parallels and VM Fusion can also run other operating systems such as Linux, Unix, OS/2, Solaris, etc. There are performance differences between dual-boot systems and virtualization. The latter tend to be a little slower (not much) and do not provide the video performance of the dual-boot system.
See MacTech.com's Virtualization Benchmarking for comparisons of Boot Camp, Parallels, and VM Fusion.
Boot Camp is only available with Leopard. The Boot Camp Beta that was used with Tiger has expired and is no longer available for use. So contrary to the other poster's comment, Boot Camp isn't truly "free." You must purchase Leopard to get it.
As for warranty if you read yours you will find the caveat that if you perform a DIY replacement your warranty is not affected unless you cause consequential damage in which case the warranty will not cover that damage.
I have installed several Hitachi drives in my laptops, but not the current model. I've no complaints.

Freezes while zeroing the hard drive

Hello,
I recently purchased a high-res 1.67GHz Aluminum Powerbook to replace my aging PowerBook. The first thing I wanted to do was to erase the hard drive entirely and install a fresh copy of Tiger, so I started up from the system disc (Install Disc 1 that was originally included with the laptop), and, as I am wont to do, launched Disk Utility from the startup disc so that I could zero out any data already on the disc.
Unfortunately, the computer froze entirely after only zeroing out approximately a third of the hard drive. After leaving it for some time and seeing no change, I force-shutdown the laptop by holding the power button. Subsequent attempts to zero out the data on the hard drive resulted in the same problem over and over again. After perhaps seven or eight tries, each with the erasure freezing prematurely somewhere between 1/3 and 2/3 of the way through, I finally succeeded in zeroing the drive and then installing the system.
That was not the end of the troubles though, since I have been receiving other problems as well after I finished installation. I've posted regarding those problems elsewhere since they're not directly related to the installation process, and you can find those problems here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1327523
I later ran the included Apple Hardware Test on the computer, and it checked out as okay on the Extended Test. Since I wasn't satisfied with those results and I didn't know what else I could check, I also booted into Single-User mode and ran memtest (tested all RAM, three loops), but it all checked out fine as well.
My initial guess would be some sort of a hard drive issue, but I don't know how to test for that aside from the Apple Hardware Test which I already ran (and which it passed). The hard drive also checks out as being Verified for S.M.A.R.T. status. I had also thought RAM, but memtest is the most thorough way to test it that I know, and it conclusively came out as being okay. My other thought was the logic board, but the Apple Hardware Test gave it the okay, and I have no idea how to test it more thoroughly.
So, is there any other clue as to what the problem might be?

Since I cannot edit my post, allow me to update you here. I didn't stay with the computer during the zeroing process, but I checked up on it several hours later to find no error messages reported or other anomalies, so I presume that the zeroing process completed normally. By all indications, that seems to be the case, since the drive appeared to be wiped as I would expect.
Unfortunately, the Install Disc included with the Aluminum is not one that I can boot from using my Titanium (it told me as much, and prompted me to restart from a different startup disk when I booted from it on my Titanium). So, I've gone ahead and exited Target Disk Mode for now and am installing the OS once again by starting the Aluminum up from the Install Disc.
I've also updated the other thread I linked to in my first post with some information that might be pertinent regarding the steps I've gone through in trying to isolate the cause of the kernel panics. It's a somewhat lengthy post, so I'll avoid copy-pasting it here and instead just provide a link to the post:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6276046#6276046

After installing mavericks my computer no longer boots. I had 10.6.8. I've been told I need to zero my hard drive. Is that the same as erasing? Is zeroing absolutely necessary? If u zero will I have any OS at all?

My MacBook is mid 2010 or 2011 and was running 10.6.8. After installing mavericks my computer tries to boot, says it has to restart and that circle goes on and on. Disk utilities says everything is running okay and reinstalling mavericks twice didn't help. I was told my hard drive needs to be zeroed. How is that different from erasing and is it necessary as opposed to erasing? After I back up on an external drive (I know I should have done that before hehe) and erase or zero, what will happen to my operating system? Will I have the ability to reinstall mavericks or do I need to out a copy of it on the external hard drive? I'm wondering this because I don't know if my computer will be running snow leopard or anything at all after I erase or zero since I'm not entirely sure what those terms entail. Thanks for any help!

Ooops.
I upgraded my 10.6.8 system to 10.7.5. ..No problem, but my practice is to connect an ESATA dock to my macpro. install to the drive in the doc, use migration assistant to migrate my data and apps.   use the os in the doc for 2 weeks, if no issue then I delete the OS partiton in my Internal System Drive, do a carbon copy clone to the internal drive.
I just did the similar to upgrade to mavericks.   I installed to a new hardrive in my docking station.   (black widow esata dock). I noticed 10.9.1 is slow stayed with 10.7.5 as my operating system. now and then I would boot 10.9.1 fire up the console utility and fix the issues that made it slow....
Now I am at the "burn in stage" mavericks is now running fast and stable.   I'll use all my apps and if it does not break with the applications I run I will eventaully cc my 10.7.5 OS drive to the docking station, file the drive away.. and take my 10.9.1 drive in the doc and cc it to my internal system drive.
I always wipe out a partion when installing a new OS. Zeroing out is a bit more thorough, you will know if your drive is junk... but it's overkill for me.
I figured repartion is ok.
I'm 2 weeks away from doing a carbon copy clone from my 10.9.1 os drive in my dock to my internal drive.
by the way.. I am running Mavericks on a 8 core macpro 2,1. I have a modified bootloader that has an arbitration layer EFI32 to/from EFI64 emulated.
pretty cool.
And from new system standards, the old macpro stacks up pretty well:

External Hard Drive Questions

This is more of an opinion question.
I have a MBP with an 80GB hard drive which always seems to be full up. I also have a 250GB hard drive which is nearly full up. The 250GB is not used for backup, i have all my photos and big files on there and none of my files are actually backed up
I was thinking about getting another 500GBish hard drive and using it for more space and also time machine - can it be used for both? Can anyone recommend a good cheap hard drive?
How well does time machine work with laptops? would i have to plug it in every night? does it have a sort of separate trash kept on my computer which is only deleted when i plug in the Mac to the External hard drive. Or is anything i delete without the external hard drive attached deleted forever?
Or, is it worth the hastle and cost to upgrade my MBP internal hard drive?
Thanks very much
Message was edited by: pumpkin person

okay so what would a cheap hard drive from PC World be like - like this Western Digital Elements Desktop 500GB 3.5" - although i imagine that link will probably time out.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk:80/martprd/store/pcwpage.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@2000027328.1216206856@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccjadeejdfdkigc flgceggdhhmdgml.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=638717&categoryoid=-32889
I think i want to stick with Time Machine just because it looks so flash and easy to use really, plus i would have to pay for Super Duper
I dont really feel confident switching the hard drive myself, i tried doing the RAM once which is alot easier and i competly messed it up and had to take it to an apple store. How much would an apple store charge if i asked them to do it?
Would it be okay to have time machine running at the same time as also having separate media on the same hard drive? How much space would time machine take up?
Thanks very much for your replies

Itunes & external hard drive questions "original file could not be found"

I recently got my first apple, a Powerbook G4, and I am trying to figure out how to store and access my music files that are on my external hard drive. I have some music stored on my laptop and the majority of it on the hard drive. I can play the files on my computer's hard drive(itunes finds them), but the files on the external hard drive will not play, unless i seek it out manually. The message says "the song could not be played because the original file couldn't be found. Would u like to locate it" My question is how to get the files in my library to play when they are stored on my external hard drive. Any advice would be appreciated.

There's something missing in your explanation. If you're getting the "original file..." message, that would indicate that you may have had all your music files on your laptop drive at one point and them moved some of them to the external drive without using the proper procedure.
If you don't have a lot of playlists, star ratings, and that sort of information that you're trying to preserve, then Mike's suggestion is an easy way out. If you do have a lot of that kind of information, then you may need to see if you can restore your setup to its former condition, when it was all working, and then use proper procedures to move files to the external drive or whatever it was that you were trying to do.

New Mac user-External Hard Drive question...

Just purchased my 1st Mac/the new Mac mini. Arrived today & am very impressed.
Set-up, right out of the box, was incredibly SIMPLE and I cant believe what a little dynamo this thing is! I've thought about 'switching' to a Mac from PC for quite a while, but was always a little nervous, so I've patiently watched & waited from the sidelines- until now - and it was well worth the wait.
My 'question' is, can anyone recommend a good external hard drive I can use interchangeably between my PC & my new Mini? Still using the PC until I get completely acclimated with Mac platform/etc - I'd like something with at least
1TB storage. Thanks!

derosky wrote:
I'm a new Mac user. My question is: Do I need a external hard drive to create a back up? Can I create abackup on a DVD or Hard Drive in MB. Please explain this to me. When I want to configure Time Machine it displays me no Drives to create a back up.
Time Machine requires an external hard drive
You can back up by other means to CDs or DVDs
If you are a .MAC customer you get a decent backup program that backs up to your iDisk and/or to CD-DVD
You would NOT want to back up to your internal drive since that would accomplish nothing - a dead or messed up HD is no good for either the beginning part of the other part where the backup is
LN

G4 Hard Drive Question

Hello-
I have been having some on again off again troubles with my G4 PowerMac.
I recently fixed up a kernal panic issue and everything has been working fine, I removed some memory and everything appeared to be great.
I was listening to a show on the computer when something froze. I restarted the computer, nothing shocking, and when it booted back up it seemed to be fine. But when the OS X prompt began, where there is the bar moving from left to right in the box on the screen, and it just stuck on that screen and didn't move.
So I shut the computer down and inserted an OS 10.4 disc and ran off of that. After verifying and then seeing if there were any repairs(which there weren't). So I restarted off of my second Hard Drive, which I initially had installed 10.4 on, and everything worked out well. But I went to install 10.4.9 and midway through I got a kernal panic and restarted the computer. From there nothing has happend with the computer, I get a big blue screen when I try to start up.
I put in another hard drive and got it to come up in the disc utility when I restart of the OS disc but I cannot get that sucker to boot up!
Anyone have any ideas? I cannot find my Hardware disc to test this...so hopefully something can come of this.
Thanks

Alamayer, welcome, since you have a second hard drive I am assuming you have all of your crucial data backed up. So I would suggest at this that you do an Erase and “Zero all Data” before re-installing your OS. This will map out any bad blocks that may be present and give you a fresh start.
Boot up again from you install CD and open Disk Utility from the Install window. Select the drive to be formatted in the upper left hand column of the Disk Utility window. First select First Aid and run the Disk Verify and look at the bottom of the window to see the S.M.A.R.T. status. If your disk is "verified," it's a valid disk with nothing wrong at this time. If you see "About to Fail" in red letters, back up your disk immediately and have the disk replaced. It will fail. Now select Erase from the upper menu and select Options from the tab below. Select Zero all Data and click OK. This will take some time depending on the size of your drive. Click the Erase button below and partition the drive as you like, you can create as make as many partitions as you like or keep just the one. Now name the HD then format the drive to Mac OS Extended (journaled) and click the Partition button below. Now quit Disk Utility and continue with the installation process.
Joe
Power Mac G4 Gigabit Ethernet Mac OS X (10.3.9) 1.5 GB Ram, ENCORE/ST G4, Tempo SATA, ATI Radeon 9000, Adaptec 4000

A different laptop to external hard drive question

hey folks - I am hoping someone can help me (or clarify things for me)
My question is about shootig remotely, downloading files onto lightroom in the field, then transferring the whole lot to my external hard drive when I get home (so there is NOTHING left on my laptop except the lightroom application and an empty catalog when I am done)
I see people asking a similar question all the time on blogs and FAQs, but the answers do not actually answer my problem/question. The answers I see all the time are about exporting and importing catalogs... maybe this is the solution, but I can't see how it answers my parameters above.
Here is the equipment I am using:
- MacBook Pro
- Lightroom 2.1
- External Western Digital hard drive/firewire
- Nikon DSLRs
- Card reader
Here is the situation:
I have the lightroom application loaded onto my laptop. I have a massive repository of my "negatives" on my external drive. I have one big "catalog" on the external drive in the same folders with my "negatives". (so, to view those photos, I open that external drive catalog and view/edit the massive group of photos).
However, when I am on the road, I shoot and download the nagatives onto my laptop hard drive and add the files to a catalog that I have on my laptop -- so, based on my understanding of how lightroom works, these new imports (on the road) have 1) the actual negatives, 2) the metadata/lightroom files thumbnails and details of my edits, and 3) these are included in the "catalog" on my laptop hard drive. So, then, while still on the road, I edit the new photos, crop, color correct etc.
Then, when I get home, I would like to completely transfer/migrate EVERYTHING I just wrote above (except the actual lightroom application and the "catalog" that sits on my laptop) into the existing catalog and negative folders on my external drive... I would like it all to blend into my main system run off my external drive as if I had originally imported the files into my main catalog on my external drive... and I would like my laptop to be like it never had anything to do with the import/edits on the road (no files whatsoever in terms of originals, lightroom files, etc.)
All of the instructions/answers I can find on line tell me how to "export" my catalog to my external hard drive (essentially creating a duplicate version on my external hard drive - showing how you can do this to take images to clients, etc.).
Can anyone point me to an explanation of the process to completely TRANSFER (not copy) all related files from my laptop to my exiting catalog and negative file folders on my external when I come back from the field?
sorry if this is confusing - I may not be interpreting the instructions I am seeing correctly.
any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
steve
www.holleyimage.com

I ended up creating a folder within LR on the ext drive-then moved my folders from the internal and another ext drive. I intend to delete those exported (fr LR) files I mentioned in my last post. each one of them had an additional file under it (X something) that said it contained metadata. I fear that by exporting those files, I've now lost the metadata in the files in the catalog. If that's the case, obviously, I'd like to get it back if I can. also, is there a way to make sure I have everything in my new external drive that was on the other two drives? (they were pretty disorganized and I'm not sure all the image files were imported to this catalog. can I import the files I'm not sure I have to the top level folder on my new drive and tell it not to import suspected duplicates and then move any imported files (within LR) to the proper folders?
and one final question: when I exported all the image files into the new drive, LR said it couldn't export about 1000. they are in a separate folder and when I look inside, I see question marks on them. I suspect I already have them in the catalog and these are duplicates because when I didn't know what I was doing, I ended up with a lot of duplicate previews. do you think I should remove that folder with the previews in it and will that take them out of the catalog as well?
thanks in advance for your help
debby (virginiaDeb)

Lenovo U410 HARD DRIVE Question

Hey,
So within the first 2 months of owning the U410 the battery just decided to stop charging. I also changed my password and forgot it and had no way to log back in. Reinstalling WIndows wouldn't work because it didn't recognize any drives. Anyways, this was bought from Microsoft so I had zero bloat ware and basically one partition.
When I sent my laptop in to Lenovo to fix the battery they had to reimage the drive to gain access to the account. That being SAID I got the computer back and to my dismay, I only had 466gb and 30gb SSD. I originally had 700gb + 30gb SSD. I believe Lenovo actually changed the hard drive without telling me. What do you guys think?
In the Intel Rapid Storage it says 30gb SS and 466gb HD. I think they are using the standard computer design number for one GB, in metric units (which Lenovo uses) 466gb becomes 500gb. So I really think they changed my hard drive! I'm getting SO PISSED WITH LENOVO.

hi hibi49,
Welcome to the Lenovo Community.
Sorry to hear about your trouble. Usually, after sending the unit for repair, you should get a repair order on what has been done on your system. You can check there if they have replaced the HDD. As an alternative, check this website to look-up your repair status.
If it's not indicated in the repair order that they've changed anything and you're seing 500GB HDD + 30GB SSD under BIOS (you can access the BIOS by pressing Fn+F2 or F2 during boot-up), I recommend you contact Lenovo to report the incident so that they could investigate what went wrong with the repair and on how to go about getting your original 700GB HDD.
Hope this helps.
Did someone help you today? Press the star on the left to thank them with a Kudo!
If you find a post helpful and it answers your question, please mark it as an "Accepted Solution"! This will help the rest of the Community with similar issues identify the verified solution and benefit from it.
Follow @LenovoForums on Twitter!

Zero Out Hard Drive Question

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for