Moving files to a new hard drive

[rubbernecker]

I have read many posts about this but can not find this answer.

I am going to move files with the Folder Location Arrangement as described in Tech Note 333521 by Adobe, which basically has you moving the files around within the Organizer folder location tree.

My question is this (and I have about 20,000 pictures and am using version 5). Can I simply select the My Pictures folder from the C: drive and drag it to the New Hard drive and release it? Or should I go in stages and move subfolders over instead of going straight to the parent directory?

Any help would be appreciated.

[Juergen D]

I strongly advise against moving 20,000 pictures in one swoop. Your computer will probably lock up and you may loose files in the process.
Move subfolders, one by one, or several together depending on the contents. In total I would not move more than a couple hundred files at a time.

Juergen

[Byron Gale]

I concur with Juergen's advice... do it in bite-sized chunks, not the whole enchilada at once.

The Organizer in V5 is one of the very few applications that will predictably crash my PC if I don't give it a periodic "rest" while doing laborious chores... like viewing lots of images in full-screen preview. I would not risk my catalog by over-taxing it without allowing it to release resources.

Additionally, I observe that when moving images in Folder Location view, the view does not always (ever!) update properly after the move, and it can appear that images have moved incorrectly. So when I move files this way, I have to switch back to Date view, and then return to Folder view to see the correct information.

Byron

[NickLewis]

Third vote for stages here....

Do it in small pieces, and check thoroughly that it's working as expected as you go along.

Yes, it's a pain to do that, but the extra time it takes will be tiny in comparison to the extra time and angst that will result if a large move falls over!

Nick

[Codebreaker]

I concur with the previous advice but would suggest doing a backup before hand as well.

Colin

[Juergen D]

...and a >File >Catalog >Recover.

Juergen

[Codebreaker]

....and plenty of coffee :-)

[Larry Hitner]

Angst is right. I moved my photos from the C drive to the D drive by click and drag. I tried to move about 1500 images. Windows Explorer had them but not PE 5. I tried everything in PE5 including get photos> search> all hard drives. I finally used get photos> search>all file and folders and they downloaded. I am now a believer in Organizer>File>Move.

[jojo99]

I agree with all the excellent advice you have heard already.
Codebreaker is right, you really shoud do a backup first, especially if you have tags and collections.
Good luck with the move :)