Help with new software

[Willie T]

I have read this forum for about 3 years, and I am really grateful to have such a great resource to refer to. You guys have helped me technically and creatively, and have made my hobby a more rewarding experience.

After 3 years on the same computer I am setting up a new system and want to get it right. Here's what I'm doing:

Moving from PC running Windows XP and Photoshop Elements 4, to PC running Vista with Photoshop Elements 7 and Lightroom. I have about 10,000 images on the old pc in the elements catalog, which is backed up to an external hard drive. I'm starting with basically a blank sheet of paper on the new PC.

My question: After I load the software onto the new computer, what is the best way to migrate my photos. I would like to keep the tags and collections set up in Elements 4 intact, but I'm not planning to use the organizer in Elements 7. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[johnrellis]

Willie,

There are three ways of approaching this:

1. Install LR on the old computer; import the PSE 4 catalog into LR; install LR on the new computer; and move the LR catalog from the old to new computer.

2. Move the PSE 4 catalog from the old to new computer using the PSE backup/restore method, in the process converting it to PSE 7; install LR on the new computer; import the PSE 7 catalog into LR.

3. In PSE 4, write the metadata to the photos using File > Write Keyword Tag; move the photos to the new computer; import the photos into LR.

Method 3 is distinctly inferior, since it won’t preserve your collections, stacks, or version sets, and there are many bugs in the Write Keyword Tag command.

Method 2, moving the PSE catalog from one computer to another and then importing to LR, is quite feasible, but it’s a fussy process when upgrading PSE and moving from XP to Vista at the same time. Adobe has a tech note on how to do the PSE move.

Method 1, importing the PSE catalog into LR on the old computer and then moving the LR catalog, may be simplest. I’m not a LR expert, but reading some of the forums and documentation, LR appears better designed than PSE for managing and moving catalogs.

Perhaps a LR expert here can chime in on the ease of moving LR catalogs from one computer to another.

[Willie T]

John,

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I really like option 1, especially if LR will keep all my tags, collections, and version sets intact. Do you know this to be the case?

Tim

[johnrellis]

I can't speak authoritatively to LR. But from reading the manual and seeing posts on some forums, people have reported that LR 2 does indeed import PSE catalogs successfully (versions 3 through 6, not clear about 7). LR has the concepts of tags, stacks, and collections that are similar to PSE.

So maybe someone here can speak more authoritatively. Also, you might download the free trial of LR and try importing your catalog.

[dj_paige]

Lightroom will convert PSE catalogs, but I'm not sure about PSE7 catalogs. Definitely should convert PSE4 catalogs.

There is no concept of version sets in Lightroom, your PSE version sets will be converted to stacks. Collections and tags remain intact.

[Willie T]

Great. Thank you for the info.