How do I move a Lightroom catalog and photo library to a new hard drive?

Question

I have a new, larger hard drive and want to move my Lightroom catalog to it, and possibly my photo library as well. What files need to be moved, what can be left behind, and what is the safest way to relocate everything without losing edits or folder links?

user1620 · Accepted Answer

The catalog itself is a single file. If you simply move it, you're done with the catalog moving. There is also a subdirectory with a gazillion files which is your cache, you do not need to move that since it will be recreated as needed.

It's not clear if you want to move the images as well, if you don't you're done. If you do, then you can move them in Lightroom using drag-and-drop on the folder view in the left pane and Lightroom will adjust its library but it will be a very slow process.

You can move the files outside of Lightroom using the operating system. In this case, the files will have a question mark next to them in the grid view. Click on it and it will let you select the path where that files is. When it does the dialog will have an option to look for other files around it at the same location. Use that option, if you do not want to manually relocate each file.

How do I move a Lightroom catalog and photo library to a new hard drive?

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