Linking ehd to iMac

[Manuductor]

I use a MacBook Air at home and an iMac at our summer home. I have two WD My Book Thunderbolt Duo, 6 TB mirrored hard drives (ehds), Daisy chained,with my photos in them; . The first is full (102K photos) with about 140K GB free. The second contains about 7K photos, and has about 2.6 TB free. Before leaving home, I backed up, then unmounted the ehds. When I got to our summer home, I connected the ehds but only # 1 opened in Lightroom, the second did not. The icon appears on my desktop; I can open it and see the photos that are there, but I cannot access it in Lightroom. I am using the latest cc version. I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

 

[clee01l]

The Lightroom Folder panel only displays volumes that are in the catalog. Did you bring the catalog file from the MBA along with the master images?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Sounds like you use a different catalog, and haven't imported any images from that second ehd yet.

 

[Manuductor]

The Lightroom Folder panel only displays volumes that are in the catalog. Did you bring the catalog file from the MBA along with the master images?

Thanks Cletus. How do I find that out? Where do I look and what do I look for? I brought the MBA with me but connected the drives to the iMac. Do I now unmount them, then attach them to the MBA? If so, what steps do I take to bring that catalog into play on the iMac when I reattach the drives? I couldn't find anything in the Missing FAQ. Thanks.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

If you want to work with these two computers more often, then the easiest solution is to place the main catalog on one of the EHDs, and work with this catalog on both computers. Right now, the main catalog folder is probably inside your 'Pictures' folder on the MBA. That is the default location. The catalog file is called '<Catalog name>.lrdata', but you have to copy the entire folder to the EHD, not only that file.

Connect the EHDs to your MBA, and copy the catalog folder from that MBA to one of the EHDs. Then you have to start Lightroom on the MBA and use 'Open Another Catalog' and select the catalog on the EHD, to let Lightroom know it should use that catalog from now on. After you've done that, you can connect the EHDs to the iMac, start Lightroom on the iMac and use 'Open Another Catalog' to do the same on the iMac. Now Lightroom on both computers knows it should use the catalog on the EHD, so your work will always be 'in sync'.

To make sure that any preset you save on one computer is also available on the other one, you can also check the option to save the presets with the catalog. That option is in the Lightroom preferences, and you have to check this on both computers. If you have existing custom presets, let us know, because they won't be carried over. You have to move these manually, but we can tell you how to do that.

 

[Manuductor]

If you want to work with these two computers more often, then the easiest solution is to place the main catalog on one of the EHDs, and work with this catalog on both computers. Right now, the main catalog folder is probably inside your 'Pictures' folder on the MBA. That is the default location. The catalog file is called '<Catalog name>.lrdata', but you have to copy the entire folder to the EHD, not only that file.

Connect the EHDs to your MBA, and copy the catalog folder from that MBA to one of the EHDs. Then you have to start Lightroom on the MBA and use 'Open Another Catalog' and select the catalog on the EHD, to let Lightroom know it should use that catalog from now on. After you've done that, you can connect the EHDs to the iMac, start Lightroom on the iMac and use 'Open Another Catalog' to do the same on the iMac. Now Lightroom on both computers knows it should use the catalog on the EHD, so your work will always be 'in sync'.

To make sure that any preset you save on one computer is also available on the other one, you can also check the option to save the presets with the catalog. That option is in the Lightroom preferences, and you have to check this on both computers. If you have existing custom presets, let us know, because they won't be carried over. You have to move these manually, but we can tell you how to do that.

Thank you, Johan. Very clear and helpful. I have a photographer friend coming over Tuesday who is familiar with computers and LR so I will wait for him before I try fooling around. My wife calls it that because she says I am a fool to try things like this; I wind up deeper in the weeds. But I will keep your reply for later in the week to puzzle over it so I can understand how these things work. Best, Matt