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Serendipity43
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Concern about applications finding catalogs after consolidating external drives

I have several partitioned, external drives connected to my iMac 24. The largest of the external drives is quite old, and I’d like to replace it. That’s the primary reason for the update. I’d also like to consolidate all the drives onto a single 2T external drive. I have Carbon Copy Cloner, so I believe this can be done, but I worry that some applications, especially Lightroom, will not be able to find existing catalogs after the consolidations. I’d greatly appreciate any insights or suggestions or reassurances that members might offer.


richard

Posted on Oct 5, 2026 7:59 AM

2 replies

den.thed
User level: Level 10 (99,154 points)

Oct 5, 2026 9:03 AM in response to Serendipity43

The first problem, is that CarbonCopyCloner can not consulate the libraries into one library.

That is something that you are going to have to do either before or after you clone to the new drive.


The second problem, with cloning each of the other drives the new external drive.

Is setting up the Partitions on the new drive to hold each of the clones with adequate room to grow.


In order for us to provide you with a more accurate path to follow.

We need more details about each drive, including used space and what currently resides on it.

KiltedTim
User level: Level 10 (238,530 points)

Oct 5, 2026 8:06 AM in response to Serendipity43

Contact the app developers for assistance.

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256370819