Godfrey, I appreciate your knowledgeable and thoughtful replies to these Lightroom questions. It's very generous of you. Regards, Bob S.
On Sat, Aug 24, 2013 at 10:36 AM, Godfrey DiGiorgi <[email protected]> wrote: > Your questions beg more questions in search of an answer .. > > On Aug 24, 2013, at 4:53 AM, Eric Weir <[email protected]> wrote: > >> When I attempt to adjust either white balance or exposure under >> Library/Quick Develop a "loading" image with spinning wheel displays and the >> wheel just keeps spinning. What's going on? > > What OS are you running Lightroom on? > What version of Lightroom are you using? > How much RAM do you have installed? > How much FREE disk space is available on the volume where your Lightroom > catalog folder is located? > How much FREE disk space is available on the startup volume for your system, > if that is different? > How is the volume that your Lightroom catalog folder is located on connected > to the system if it is not the startup drive? > > How many photos are in your Lightroom catalog? > Have you used the command to build 1:1 previews for the photos you are > working on? > Are the photos digital captures or scanned film images? > > That's the sort of information that makes answering questions that this a bit > easier. But it might not be needed in this instance. > >> I've determined that a backup catalog is loaded. But when I load the >> standard catalog---other than backups I have only one---several of my most >> recent folders are missing. How do I make this backup catalog my catalog? >> And is the fact that the catalog that is loaded is a backup the reason for >> the "loading" message that just hangs? > > How did you determine that you have a backup catalog loaded? > > If you are running from a backup catalog, and your "standard" catalog is > missing the recent folders you imported, then somehow you chose a different > catalog from the "standard" for your recent imports. > > Some context to make things clearer: > A Lightroom catalog folder, at minimum, contains a .LRCAT file and a .LRDATA > file/folder. The .LRCAT file is the catalog database file that Lightroom > stores information about the image files into. The .LRDATA file/folder* > contains the various previews and thumbnails that Lightroom uses to display > the image files with in the several different modes and sizings that are > needed. > > * I call it a "file/folder" because on OS X it is presented by the Finder as > a single icon whereas on Windows it is presented as a file directory—it's > actually the same thing on both, but OS X has the concept of 'bundling' file > directories that users should not work inside of directly into single icons > to help keep things from getting inadvertently messed up. > > A Lightroom catalog folder also often includes by default a Backups directory > where it writes copies of the .LRCAT file when it does a backup operation. It > puts this directory inside the catalog folder by default since it cannot know > where else it ought to be until you tell it. Normally, the first time > Lightroom comes up with the backup dialog, you should tell it right there to > put the Backups directory somewhere else, typically on a volume located on a > separate hard drive, to minimize the risks of loss. There can be other > folders and files in a Lightroom catalog folder, but that's enough for now. > > When Lightroom makes a backup, it is important to understand that what a > Lightroom backup consists of is a copy of the current .LRCAT file stored in a > new subdirectory, named by date, created inside the designated Backups > directory. It does not copy the .LRDATA file/folder, nor does it copy the > original image files. > > So: > > If you are actually using a backup catalog, what's happening is that when you > go to edit, Lightroom sees that the .LRDATA preview data for your image files > is incomplete. If you're in the Library module and using Quick Develop, you > can have selected one or many images from the currently available set that it > will need to apply the edits to, so it need to update the previews for all > the images in the currently chosen set if they are not complete. That's how > you get the "loading" image that spins and spins as it works to traverse all > the currently available images and create all the many different previews and > versions needed to do its job. If you're on a slowish computer with limited > RAM or limited disk space, this can take quite a while to complete. > > To set Lightroom to ALWAYS open with a specific catalog, open Lightroom > Preferences, General tab, and use the "When starting up use this catalog" > item's popup menu to select the catalog you want it to use. (You have two > dynamic choices - "open with the last catalog that was being used" or > "present me with a selection dialog" - and then a list of recently opened > catalogs specified by path name.) > > To set where to put the Backups folder, open the Catalog Settings dialog and > set Lightroom to "Backup on next exit". From the backup dialog, you can > choose where to put your backups by clicking the "choose" button. > > Hope that helps.™ > > Godfrey > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > 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 [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
