# CR2 files: what am I doing wrong?



## grassflats2 (Dec 29, 2021)

Just got a laptop to use LR with on the road. Both ACR and LR are up to date on my Macbook. I use LRC on my iMac. I have multiple RAW files stored in Dropbox. When I try and open them in LR on my laptop I get a message saying the file is not supported (it's a CR2 file) or it's corrupted. The files won't open in PS on the laptop either. I figure this is something simple since I'm a newbie to the subscription versions. Appreciate some help.....


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## Johan Elzenga (Dec 29, 2021)

Did you perhaps use the Dropbox option to store the files online only? In that case the local file is just a small link. If you do not have an internet connection, or if there is another reason why Dropbox can't download the file, then this would be the result.


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## grassflats2 (Dec 29, 2021)

Johan Elzenga said:


> Did you perhaps use the Dropbox option to store the files online only? In that case the local file is just a small link. If you do not have an internet connection, or if there is another reason why Dropbox can't download the file, then this would be the result.


They were stored as online only, but even when I download them (check mark next to the file in Dropbox or when I actually moved it to the desktop) I get the same message. Have a great internet connection. And still getting the same message with PS....


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## grassflats2 (Dec 29, 2021)

Johan Elzenga said:


> Did you perhaps use the Dropbox option to store the files online only? In that case the local file is just a small link. If you do not have an internet connection, or if there is another reason why Dropbox can't download the file, then this would be the result.


...and another thing I just noticed. When I am using CR3 files in Dropbox, even online, when  I click on the file  get a preview in the Macbook finder and it will open in LR and PS. However, CR2 files don't show a preview, just an icon. Is the Monterey OS not compatible with CR2 files??? Doesn't compute.


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## Johan Elzenga (Dec 29, 2021)

Of course Monterey is compatible with CR2 files. This must be a Dropbox issue, not an Apple or Adobe one.


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## grassflats2 (Dec 29, 2021)

Johan Elzenga said:


> Of course Monterey is compatible with CR2 files. This must be a Dropbox issue, not an Apple or Adobe one.


And without thinking, I knew that, since I run Monterey on my desktop with no issues. I'll keep trying to figure this out.


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## clee01l (Dec 29, 2021)

Johan Elzenga said:


> Of course Monterey is compatible with CR2 files. This must be a Dropbox issue, not an Apple or Adobe one.


The tokens that Drop box uses to represent the file stored at DropBox probably does not have a thumbnail.   The CR2 and CR3 files have an embedded JPEG thumbnail.  The OS (Monterrey uses a CODEX to read these JPEGs and show the thumbnail in Finder.  
I don’t know why DropBox would strip off the thumbnails but the token file that represents your CR2 is a) not a RAW and b) has not thumbnail image.  If you replace the token with a real CR2 file it may have the JPEGB thumbnail but Finder is not updating its image cache were the thumbnails are stored.


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## aearenda (Dec 29, 2021)

grassflats2 said:


> I have multiple RAW files stored in Dropbox.


This certainly feels like Dropbox has a 'placeholder' file there and has not synced the full file locally. 

What happens if you copy a raw file directly to your laptop from your camera?


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## grassflats2 (Dec 29, 2021)

aearenda said:


> This certainly feels like Dropbox has a 'placeholder' file there and has not synced the full file locally.
> 
> What happens if you copy a raw file directly to your laptop from your camera?


 It definitely is a Dropbox thing. I got to my desktop and again LR (or LRC) won't open the Dropbox CR2 files, but it will open the same files stored on an external hard drive (I use Dropbox as a back-up to the external drive). But I can access and open CR3 files from Dropbox with both LR and LRC.  Something about the way CR2 files are stored in Dropbox appears different than CR3 files.  Can't copy directly from a camera, but since it opens CR2 files on the external drive, I assume it would also from a camera.


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## aearenda (Dec 29, 2021)

There's an app called 'Poser' (seriously) that saves its files with the cr2 extension as well - maybe Dropbox is getting confused between these in figuring out how to manage the files (I bet it tries to compress them behind the scenes). I can think of a couple of ways to prove that something of this sort is happening, but they don't solve the problem. 

If you're only using Dropbox as a backup, maybe you could zip the images before being copied to Dropbox?


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## grassflats2 (Dec 29, 2021)

aearenda said:


> This certainly feels like Dropbox has a 'placeholder' file there and has not synced the full file locally.
> 
> What happens if you copy a raw file directly to your laptop from your camera?


OK. Think I'm figuring it out. If I take a CR2 file from the external drive and copy it into another folder in Dropbox it opens. It's the one huge folder that holds about a GB of CR2 files that is the problem.....and the way I set up that folder, I cloned the external drive folder into Dropbox with Carbon Copy Cloner. I'm thinking that did something to the CR2 files in that folder on Dropbox. I'll try just copying the external drive to Dropbox directly without cloning it and my suspicion is that will solve the problem. From that same Dropbox folder, it also won't load DNG files....so it's likely to be the cloning process as opposed to a Dropbox problem per se.


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## aearenda (Dec 30, 2021)

grassflats2 said:


> I'll try just copying the external drive to Dropbox directly without cloning it and my suspicion is that will solve the problem.



I would be interested to hear how that goes, but horrified if CCC caused the problem, as I rely on it for my backups (but not with cr2 files)! It has a setting you can use to read back the copied files and check their integrity - have you tried that?  See the attached screenshot (where it is unset but circled in red).

I still think Dropbox is doing something behind the scenes. Have you double-checked that it is keeping the original files locally?


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## grassflats2 (Dec 31, 2021)

aearenda said:


> I would be interested to hear how that goes, but horrified if CCC caused the problem, as I rely on it for my backups (but not with cr2 files)! It has a setting you can use to read back the copied files and check their integrity - have you tried that?  See the attached screenshot (where it is unset but circled in red).
> 
> I still think Dropbox is doing something behind the scenes. Have you double-checked that it is keeping the original files locally?


Just to let you know....I'm still working on this. I ended up deleting the Dropbox folder. When I went to back up the drive directly through Dropbox it wouldn't open a dialog. It turns out that original drive  was formatted with MacOS Extended; according to Dropbox, this is the comment about formatting and functionality as backups to Dropbox:  "This feature only supports external drives with filesystem type NTFS (Windows) and APFS or HFS+ (Mac)."
So I copied that hard drive to another external and I'm uploading the entire drive via that other drive. Seeing as it will take two days, I'll get back to you when I figure more out. At this point, I am not sure that the issue is with Dropbox, CCC files, or exactly what.  

There is also this comment, which may make using the Dropbox files for editing on the road impossible (I'm doing all this to avoid having to pay a lot more for Adobe storage when I already have tons of room on Dropbox):  "Changes (like editing, adding, or moving) can’t be made to backup files in Dropbox. If you’d like to make changes to these files, make them on your external drive and re-sync with Dropbox. Re-syncing happens automatically every hour."


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## aearenda (Dec 31, 2021)

"MacOS extended" and HFS+ are the same thing , HFS+ being the older name for it.

I think your discovery about only making updates on the external drive explains what is happening. It sounds like you are trying to access a Dropbox backup of that drive directly from the online version. I don't use that feature of Dropbox, but this doesn't sound like it will ever work as you want it to.


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## grassflats2 (Jan 1, 2022)

aearenda said:


> "MacOS extended" and HFS+ are the same thing , HFS+ being the older name for it.
> 
> I think your discovery about only making updates on the external drive explains what is happening. It sounds like you are trying to access a Dropbox backup of that drive directly from the online version. I don't use that feature of Dropbox, but this doesn't sound like it will ever work as you want it to.


Here's why I don't think that's true. In other folders that I have in Dropbox I have some CR3 files that I can access and edit even when listed as online only. It appears right now to be only the one copied hard drive folder (with CCC) on Dropbox, containing both CR2 and DNG files that seems to be immune to allowing the RAW files to be used.


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## aearenda (Jan 1, 2022)

I was still wondering about the CR3 files, but I assumed they were in that drive folder as well. If you copy a CR2 file to one of the folders where the CR3 files work, does the CR2 file work from there?


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## grassflats2 (Jan 1, 2022)

aearenda said:


> I was still wondering about the CR3 files, but I assumed they were in that drive folder as well. If you copy a CR2 file to one of the folders where the CR3 files work, does the CR2 file work from there?


Interestingly, yes. I moved a CR2 file from the original external drive into another Dropbox folder, made it online only, and could edit it after it automatically downloaded with LR. That's why I think it was something about the way CCC cloned that drive. It was an old version of CCC because it was cloned some time ago. In any event, I've deleted that backup folder from Dropbox and I'm trying another way to store the backup. But it will take a day or so to upload everything.....


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## aearenda (Jan 1, 2022)

Yes, I had just re-read the thread and saw that you already successfully tried opening a CR2 from another Dropbox folder, and was about to reply again! But have you tried putting a CR3 on the external drive and seeing if that will open from the Dropbox copy? I don't think it will, just like the DNGs - or maybe they all will, using the new way of doing the backup. We will have to wait for the new backup to finish, as you say. Meanwhile, happy new year!


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## grassflats2 (Jan 1, 2022)

aearenda said:


> Yes, I had just re-read the thread and saw that you already successfully tried opening a CR2 from another Dropbox folder, and was about to reply again! But have you tried putting a CR3 on the external drive and seeing if that will open from the Dropbox copy? I don't think it will, just like the DNGs - or maybe they all will, using the new way of doing the backup. We will have to wait for the new backup to finish, as you say. Meanwhile, happy new year!


Yes, I think when it's finished a lot will be cleared up....unless I've messed up setting up the backup. Will post when it's done. And Happy New Year to you as well.


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