Lightroom Export as Catalogue - file limits?

[julian_love]

I have an LR catalogue with about 65k images on my Mac Pro, which is backed up to a Sonnet box stood next to it using Chronosync

I'm now trying to create off site backup of just my best images. So I set the filter to show only images with 3+ stars, which is about 3,500 pictures.

I thought the easiest way would be to export these 3.5k images as a catalogue - that way I maintain the develop settings, folder hierarchy, collection structure etc of all the pictures.

So I select all 3.5k images and choose File / Export as Catalogue... and I select "include Negative Files" as I need the original raw files too.

The operation appears to complete after about 15 minutes, but then informs me that about 700 of the images were not copied to the new location!! There is plenty of space on the other drive, so why is this not working properly? 

Any ideas?

Thanks

Julian

[Simon Garrett]

I've also got over 60k images in one LR catalogue and I've had no problems (so far  ), and I've read comments on http://forums.adobe.com/community/lightroom?view=discussions of people with several hundred thousand images in one catalogue (with no problems or slowing down). 

[johnbeardy]

The question was really about limits on File > Export as Catalog. I don't know of any, so see if you can identify if it's failing at one file. Or try exporting to a local folder.

[Simon Garrett]

The question was really about limits on File > Export as Catalog. I don't know of any, so see if you can identify if it's failing at one file. Or try exporting to a local folder.

Doh! Didn't read the question well enough. 

[AFairley]

Are the 700 images actually there (in the original location)?  If you go to sync your entire catalog (i.e., sync the top level folder or driver), does the initial options box tell you there are missing files that will be deleted from the catalog?

[francois]

I have an LR catalogue with about 65k images on my Mac Pro, which is backed up to a Sonnet box stood next to it using Chronosync

I'm now trying to create off site backup of just my best images. So I set the filter to show only images with 3+ stars, which is about 3,500 pictures.

I thought the easiest way would be to export these 3.5k images as a catalogue - that way I maintain the develop settings, folder hierarchy, collection structure etc of all the pictures.

So I select all 3.5k images and choose File / Export as Catalogue... and I select "include Negative Files" as I need the original raw files too.

The operation appears to complete after about 15 minutes, but then informs me that about 700 of the images were not copied to the new location!! There is plenty of space on the other drive, so why is this not working properly?  

Any ideas?

Thanks

Julian

Hi Julian,
I had some free time and decided to perform some tests on my Mac Pro. I selected 6k images (RAW Canon CR2 and Nikon NEFs). I checked negative files but unchecked previews. The export was fast but Lightroom (version 4.2 running on Mac OS X 10.8.2 - export on a freshly erased 1 TB drive) displayed a message indicating that 1140 files hadn't been copied.

I tried a second time with only 3800 files and everything went smoothly.

I tried a third time, with 5800 files and the export finished with any mention of "not copied" or missing files.

Edit: I tested a fourth time. This time, I quit Lightroom and relaunched it. I selected 7.5k files and exported as catalog. Surprisingly, everything went fine and I checked that no file was missing in the exported catalog.

[John Caldwell]

Your exporting to a networked volume? If so, I'd look there for the problem. Export to a hard-wired volume, then upload to the networked volume - would be my guess. I'd exported .10,000 files as catalog without trouble.

John Caldwell

[francois]

Your exporting to a networked volume? If so, I'd look there for the problem. Export to a hard-wired volume, then upload to the networked volume - would be my guess. I'd exported .10,000 files as catalog without trouble.

John Caldwell

I can't speak for Julian but in my test, I exported to a local HD. I experienced the issue only once.

[wolfnowl]

I've had a few instances in Lightroom where even moving images from one folder to another on the same drive (from within the Library module) generates an error saying that one or a few files could not be moved.  Selecting the outliers and trying again moves them successfully.  Don't know if this is a Lightroom glitch or not.  Different operation than the OP, but similar result.

Mike.

[francois]

I've had a few instances in Lightroom where even moving images from one folder to another on the same drive (from within the Library module) generates an error saying that one or a few files could not be moved.  Selecting the outliers and trying again moves them successfully.  Don't know if this is a Lightroom glitch or not.  Different operation than the OP, but similar result.

Mike.

When I experienced the issue, I checked to see whether the system mentioned some error but found nothing… At least on my computers, the issue seems very isolated and I rarely export as catalog, with negative files. I tend to copy files first then export the catalog. It might not be efficient, though but I've be doing so since the "beginning" of Lightroom.