Big thanks, Godfrey. I just ordered the Martin Evening Book. I'll deal with this catalogue mess after a look that this book. I shall also try some of your solutions below--in a few days, that is :-). I'll let everyone know how it goes--or didn't :-) Cheers, Christine
On Jul 11, 2012, at 12:59 PM, Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote: > On Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 9:59 AM, Christine Aguila <christ...@caguila.com> > wrote: >> I greatly appreciate everyone's help here, but things are a mess with this >> catalogue. The more I look try to compare the two folder structures on the >> 2 main drives, the more messy it seems to be. I think I'll ignore this for >> a few days, and try again when I've stopped weeping :-). > > Probably a good idea. You sound a bit overwhelmed, it's best not to > work through a logical puzzle when you're too emotionally involved. > > Here's a workflow: > > First look at the the Lightroom catalog's Folders panel. For every > folder in the Folders panel, right- or control-click on it and choose > the "Show Parent Folder" if the option presents itself until all the > folder trees are visible back to the top of the volume. If all folders > ultimately sit under a single parent, that makes things easier. > > Now take a look at the "Lightroom 2" volume in the Finder (or Windows > Navigator if you're running Windows). If you copied the folder tree to > your "Lightroom 2" hard drive in the course as it was on "Lightroom > 1", the solution is simple: in Lightroom, control-click on that > top-level parent and choose the "Update folder location" command, then > pilot your way to that same folder on "Lightroom 2", and choose it. > Lightroom should now recognize where all the files are. > > If you didn't copy the folder tree exactly as it was on Lightroom 1 to > Lightroom 2, now you have the more onerous task of finding files and > folders, matching them up with the same command as above, to a > disparately organized file system. It's doable, and for 8000 files in > the catalog it won't take that long if you work methodically and > calmly, one group of files at a time. You can usually find groups of > files by a key filename and capture date, then set the folder location > in Lightroom for that file and all neighboring files will then be > recognized. It takes some time, but it's worth it not to lose all your > metadata annotations (keywords and such) and any processing you've > already applied. > > As an alternative, the fastest and simplest thing to do to get the > whole file repository organized into a single tree is to create a new > catalog (don't delete the old catalog folder! and create the catalog > folder outside of the old one) and do a mass import. Create a "Photos" > directory at the top level of the external drive, set the import > destination starting point to that directory, set Lr to "Move" the > files there, and have it organize the files by capture date on import. > It will create a complete subdiirectory tree based on date sequence, > rooted at that single folder. If you don't care about metadata > annotations and prior processing work (and there are occasions when it > isn't important!), the job is done ... go forth, annotate and start > editing your images afresh. > > If you do care about your prior work, the reason to keep the original > catalog folder is that once the files are reorganized like this, you > can start Lightroom with the old catalog and work through it, hunting > up the images by file name and capture date more easily and then set > the location in the old catalog properly. In this case, consider the > new catalog you used to move the files around into an organized tree > to be a temporary, you can discard it. The result of doing this all > the way through is that your original files are now in a singly rooted > directory tree structure, the catalog has all the appropriate data in > it, and from this point on it is easy to maintain. > > To finish off, drag the entire "Photos" directory to the new volume > "Lightroom 3" to back up the directory structure and files. That > copies everything to the new hard drive. Do the same thing with the > catalog folder. Now you have a complete backup. > > To KEEP the system backed up, I recommend using external utility > software (Lightroom's backup function replicates only the .LRCAT file; > you want to backup both the catalog and the photo files from their > source locations to the Lightroom 3 backup drive). I use ChronoSync by > Econ Technologies (OS X only), but any good file synchronizing > software utility should work the same. With ChronoSync, I create two > synchronizer documents: one synchronizes the image directory tree from > Lightroom 2 to Lightroom 3, the other synchronizes the catalog folder > from internal drive to Lightroom 2. I then create a container > document, put the two synchronizers in it, and set that to run > automatically every night or on demand when I need it to. > > (You still want to have the Lightroom backup run once a week or so as > it includes database verification and cleanup in the process. You > should set Lightroom to put these backups on the "Lightroom 2" volume, > in a folder separate from the Photos folder.) > >> I think it's time to rethink my workflow and photo management system, and I >> think I need some tutorials on advanced photo management and catalogues >> skills. It's to the adobe videos for me, and perhaps a purchase of a book. >> >> If anyone knows of a good book for Lightroom 4, I'd appreciate the >> recommendation. I have the Scott Kelby book for the early Lightroom version >> (1 or 2 ), and thought it ok, but I found him a bit wordy. If there's >> another book you'd recommend by a different author who gets right to the >> point, I'd be very grateful. > > Of course, I have some bits on this stuff on my articles page: > http://www.gdgphoto.com/articles > See #s 06, 07, and 08. The "Lightroom Learning Resources" article is > old and needs to be updated, but might have some useful info for you. > > I bought the latest book by Martin Evening recently and it is an > exhaustive reference for Lightroom 4: well written and clear. > <http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Photoshop-Lightroom-Book-Photographers/dp/0321819594/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342029392&sr=8-1&keywords=martin+evening+lightroom+4> > > For online video tutorials, I find Julianne Kost's set for Lightroom 4 > to be the best starting point, and free (funded by Adobe). > http://jkost.com/lightroom.html > > Take a deep breath and relax. ;-) > -- > Godfrey - godfreydigiorgi.posterous.com > > Announcing "Ways Together" .. my new photo book! > See it on Blurb at http://www.blurb.com/user/GDGPhoto > > Come to the reception and book-signing: > ModernBook Gallery > 49 Geary Ave, San Francisco, CA > August 2nd, 5:30-7:30 pm > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
