Lightroom 2 advice needed

[mjs1973]

I installed LR2 last night, but I'm still afraid to start using it. I want to make sure I have all of my photos organized before I start importing them into LR. Currently I have 2 external HD's one has images from 2004 through mid 2007. The other has images from mid 2007 to current. Well, it will be current once I get the images from my PC's HD moved to the external. My PC has two 320gb HD's. I'm thinking I want to add a 1TB HD, either internal or external to house my LR library, then continue to use my current external drives as backups, as well as a DVD copy.

What do you experienced LR users think of this idea? Is it a good idea to import ALL of my older images into the LR library or is that going to cause it to slow down too much?

I want to make sure I do this as right as I can the first time so when I do need to add another drive in the future, the transfer of info will be as smooth as possible.

[steelerdirtfreak]

I am still fairly new to LR2 and not sure how to best explain things myself, but it might help if you check out these videos:
http://www.kelbytraining.com/player/index.html#124

You can watch the 1st three for free...
I signed up for the monthly plan and it's unbelievable how much I've learned in the last month or so.
(And I'm not getting any kind of referral deal, I just really like these courses and have really been helped by them)

[SmartWombat]

I've not got LR2 yet, but in LR1 I've got nearly 200000 images in one catalogue.
It's working fine, except for a slight slowdown on startup where it checks the location of my photos to make sure they can all be edited/displayed.
I expect LR2 to be quicker.

[dl4449]

I just got Lightroom 2 and i only imported the files that i knew that i wanted to work on.I didn't think i would go back a coulpe of years and edit pictures. Also LR2 will make a backup copy for you at time of import to an external or internal drive .
I would highley recomend the book by Scott Kelby there is a lot of things that it will do.
Hope this makes sence
Troy

[SmartWombat]

The main reason for Lightroom initially for me was image management, not processing.
I'm hoping to find the time to go back and keyword the last 9 years of photographs.
I'd settle for keywording this year's

[mjs1973]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I do have Scott Kelby's LR2 book and I'm working my way through it. I have only gotten though the importing chapter so far.

I do not plan on going back and reworking a ton of my old images, but I'm sure there are a few that I will want to revisit. My main reason for wanting all of my images in the library is so that I can better manage them. Right now, if I want to find an image, it could be on one of my external drives, or on my PC's hard drive.

From what I understand from Kelby's book, I will be able to add all of my images to my Library, without having to move all of my image files. The thumbnails will be stored in my library so I can find them. If I read the book right, I will be able to make changes to the thumbnails in the library even though the actual files are on an external drive that isn't turned on. Once the drive is turned on, I can apply those changes to the actual file.

I haven't used LR2 yet for anything. I ordered a 1TB drive today and once that gets here, I will set that up as my LR2 drive and then begin to dive deeper into the program. I do plan on having LR make a backup copy of my RAW files to a separate drive.

[dizzy]

I've only been using LR2 for a few weeks now. initially, I went through a years worth of shots sorting keywords for everything only for my laptop to crash after the operating system corrupted following a windows update. Bad times! I've got to start again now. I was wondering how you go about importing all of the files in one go? i.e. all of the folders in my pictures. At the moment I seem to have to navigate in to each folder individually and import them. Very time consuming and most annoying!

[mjs1973]

I've only been using LR2 for a few weeks now. initially, I went through a years worth of shots sorting keywords for everything only for my laptop to crash after the operating system corrupted following a windows update. Bad times! I've got to start again now. I was wondering how you go about importing all of the files in one go? i.e. all of the folders in my pictures. At the moment I seem to have to navigate in to each folder individually and import them. Very time consuming and most annoying!

That sucks! I'll be honest, I haven't used LR much at all since I started this post. When I imported my photos, I did it in 2 batches because I have my photos stored on 2 separate hard drive. On each hard drive I have a folder that contains all of my photos in separate folders. So on one HD I have a folder nameed My LightRoom Photos. Within that folder, I have a folder for each year, and then within the year folder I have a folder for each date I took photos.

So when I imported my photos into LR, I selected my "My LightRoom Photos" folder, and imported the whole works.

[Len J]

I've only been using LR2 for a few weeks now. initially, I went through a years worth of shots sorting keywords for everything only for my laptop to crash after the operating system corrupted following a windows update. Bad times! I've got to start again now. I was wondering how you go about importing all of the files in one go? i.e. all of the folders in my pictures. At the moment I seem to have to navigate in to each folder individually and import them. Very time consuming and most annoying!

A few thoughts:

- As mjs1973 points out...store your catalogs of photos under master folders and then import the master folder...........if you want to not have to import each folder. Mine are set up under the following heirirchy:

Pictures folder
-----Year subfolder
-----------Shoot subfolder (Date and location labeled)
------------------Raw pictures

If I wanted (and I don't for other reasons), I could just import the folder "Pictures" and it would import everything.

- Backup. You need to have an external hard drive where you copy the following:
1.) Your picture library (Including all .xmp files)
2.) A copy of the Lightroom catalog
3.) A copy of the Lightroom Previews file

I update this backup anytime I add new data. (I actually have 2 external drive copies, one at work and one at home). Most importantly, if I am going to do any major software or hardware update, I make sure that my backups are up to date....you never know when an update will screw up your files. I would recommend you get into this habit. Had you done so, you would not have to start over. As your collection of pictures grows, your catalog and preview files becomes harder and harder (& or more time consuming) to replace. Consider this as valuable as your photos and back-up accordingly.

Tough way to learn this lesson....I learned it almost the same way when I lost a ton of valuable work when I had a crash....not fun.

Len

[dizzy]

Sorry, I was being a complete fool! I have them organised in my pictures, year, shoot date and they're all backed up to External hard drive. Unfortunately, I'd completely missed the little button at the bottom of the box saying 'import all contents of this folder'... Went to year folder, clicked that button, job done. Silly sod.

[Len J]

Sorry, I was being a complete fool! I have them organised in my pictures, year, shoot date and they're all backed up to External hard drive. Unfortunately, I'd completely missed the little button at the bottom of the box saying 'import all contents of this folder'... Went to year folder, clicked that button, job done. Silly sod.

Been there, done that, got the tee shirt.

It's called learning.

Glad it worked for you.
Do you back up your catalog and preview files.?

Len

[dizzy]

Been there, done that, got the tee shirt.

It's called learning.

Glad it worked for you.
Do you back up your catalog and preview files.?

Len

I did it the other day when it asked me if I wanted to! Clever program!! :thumbsup: