Lightroom Help..

I moved all my lightroom files(photos and catelog) to a different hard drive but now all the photos dont have the changes i made on them. Why is this? is it possible to keep the changes? I want to use a second external hard drive to have the photos. How do I do this??

Well, it sounds like you used a system file browser to move the files, whereas the "best" way (less problems) is to use Lightroom to move them -- that way the Lightroom catalog keeps track of them and keeps the metadata associated with them. So, to start with how did you move them, in Lightroom or in a system browser? And, after moving them what did you do?

Then, when you say you don't have the changes, be specific about what you are seeing/not seeing and how you are viewing them -- are you saying they show up in your Lightroom catalog and yet you don't see the edits, or are you trying to view them in another image viewer and don't see the edits?

Lightroom does not actually apply editing and other metadata until you Export images, so a viewer other than Lightroom will not "see" that stuff as long as the images are just in Lightroom without exporting.

But, if you are saying that in Lightroom you see the images but not the edits, then something got thrown off when you moved things and you will need to be very specific about how you did the move and what exactly you did following the move.

Did you move the catalog file as well as the files in the pictures folder?

http://thelightroomlab​.com …o-an-external-hard-drive/

Check this video out, it might help you

Edit: this may also help you

http://thelightroomlab​.com …dobe-photoshop-lightroom/

tonylong wrote in post #12518625
Well, it sounds like you used a system file browser to move the files, whereas the "best" way (less problems) is to use Lightroom to move them -- that way the Lightroom catalog keeps track of them and keeps the metadata associated with them. So, to start with how did you move them, in Lightroom or in a system browser? And, after moving them what did you do?

Then, when you say you don't have the changes, be specific about what you are seeing/not seeing and how you are viewing them -- are you saying they show up in your Lightroom catalog and yet you don't see the edits, or are you trying to view them in another image viewer and don't see the edits?

Lightroom does not actually apply editing and other metadata until you Export images, so a viewer other than Lightroom will not "see" that stuff as long as the images are just in Lightroom without exporting.

But, if you are saying that in Lightroom you see the images but not the edits, then something got thrown off when you moved things and you will need to be very specific about how you did the move and what exactly you did following the move.

I did use the system browser. After moving them I opened lightroom with the copied catalog on my new hard drive. I used lightroom to view the files and they didnt show the changes to some of the photos, but for some they did show changes. Thanks for the help.

I watched those videos before I made the transfer, I guess I didn't play close enough attention

If you just re-imported them after moving them then you likely lost all the "stuff". If, though, you noticed the little question mark icon on the moved folders and had right-clicked on a folder and chosen to locate the missing files/folders, and browsed to locate a folder, then the LR catalog should have properly applied your metadata to the images.

But, what exactly happened to you is hard to say without you giving us a very finely detailed account. Or, learn from this and move on!

tonylong wrote in post #12519696
If you just re-imported them after moving them then you likely lost all the "stuff". If, though, you noticed the little question mark icon on the moved folders and had right-clicked on a folder and chosen to locate the missing files/folders, and browsed to locate a folder, then the LR catalog should have properly applied your metadata to the images.

Even then, the easiest way might be to quit LR, and restart it using a backup catalog (you have one, right?) and then right click the "?" icon.
Probably easier then re-doing all the edits.

tonylong wrote in post #12519696
But, what exactly happened to you is hard to say without you giving us a very finely detailed account.

^^^^ This. First and foremost.