# Import - ADD vs COPY



## ammlamb (Jan 16, 2012)

[h=6]can  you tell me why LR wants to ONLY "copy" (to a new location) photos that  I am trying to import (which are on an external HD)?  I'm assuming that  the external HD location has something to do with it, but I don't want  them copied or moved - I want them on that external drive, but I also  want them in my LR catalog.....??  help?  thanks!!
[/h]


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## Jim Wilde (Jan 16, 2012)

Hi, welcome to the forum!

Just to clarify, are you saying that when you try to import from this external drive, the "Add" option is dimmed and cannot be selected?

If so, can you double-click on the Computer icon on your Desktop and check whether the external drive is listed under "Hard Drives" or "Devices with Removable Storage"?


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## henriqueribas (Jan 16, 2012)

That's really weird.
This kind of thing should only appears with Memory Cards (where you are allowed to COPY AS DNG or COPY, only), not with internal files or external drives...

Can you show us a print screen with this problem?


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## ammlamb (Jan 16, 2012)

Yes - the "add" button is dimmed - I can't click on it...

I checked the external HD - it IS listed as a "device with removable storage" - is this changeable?


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## Jim Wilde (Jan 16, 2012)

Well that's obviously causing the import problem, but I don't know if it's changeable, to be honest. Need to do a bit of research.

What type of hard drive is it? What disk size, and what file type?


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## clee01l (Jan 16, 2012)

ammlamb said:


> Yes - the "add" button is dimmed - I can't click on it...
> 
> I checked the external HD - it IS listed as a "device with removable storage" - is this changeable?


 Is the drive assigned a drive letter?.  Did you connect it while LR was running or was it connected when Windows booted?


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## ammlamb (Jan 16, 2012)

it is a "click free" external HD - 931 GB

It seems to "work fine" with LR once the files are on there, but what I have had to resort to doing is to "copy" (import) them to the same drive - just a different folder, then go out of LR to explorer and just combine those folders....then LR recognizes the folders just fine - edits, exports, does whatever - I just can't seem to get it to just ADD them in the first place.  That extra step of copying them and then moving them seems to be not very wise..........


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## ammlamb (Jan 16, 2012)

the drive IS assigned a letter (h - and each time this device is re-connected it assumes this same letter
every time I plug the device in it re-opens LR and wants to import anything that has not previously been imported - I'm always having to "cancel" that action...


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## Jim Wilde (Jan 16, 2012)

That 'auto open LR import' can be easily fixed, but that still likely won't get round the main problem. What file system is the drive?


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## ammlamb (Jan 16, 2012)

file system is "NTFS"


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## Jim Wilde (Jan 16, 2012)

Thanks. No help. You might have to take this problem over to the Windows 7 forums to see if they have any idea why the device is listed as "Removable Storage". Couple more questions first: how is the drive connected? USB2, USB3, eSata?

And can you double-click on the Computer icon on your Desktop, which should give you a display like the attached. Can you take a screenshot of your display and post it back....might give us a pointer. Thanks.


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## ammlamb (Jan 16, 2012)

(having trouble figuring out how to attach this so it is readable - hopefully this will work!)

thanks for the help!!


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## Hal P Anderson (Jan 16, 2012)

ammlamb,

Welcome to the forum!

I looked up Clickfree, and the drives are evidently doing something non-standard for an EHD. They do automatic backup of your system, evidently without any intervention on your part. I imagine that whatever kind of magic they do to accomplish that is confusing to Lightroom, and is probably the source of their being labeled as Removeable Storage. You might want to get in touch with their support department and ask them some pointed questions.

Hal


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## clee01l (Jan 16, 2012)

I seem to recall click-free being a problem with someone before.  The USB device that you have called Click Free is not a plain HDD in an enclosure. (and How are you sure that it is formatted NTFS?) Clicfree is both Hardware and software. The makers designed it for a backup solution and not for extended data storage. 

Any usb drive containing images (from SD cards to a true HD) will cause LR to show the import screen if that are plugged in after the system boots.   While this is an annoyance, it is not a problem.   What is a problem is that the ClickFree may always be representing itself to LR as a removable drive. 

My recommendation would be to contact ClickFree Support about this issue.


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## Jim Wilde (Jan 16, 2012)

Thanks Hal....but I don't think it has anything to do with Lightroom. I vaguely recall a similar problem last year, and it's do with the fact that the onboard software for some reason is designed to make it appear to the OS as a CD drive (you can see that from the screenshot). I'm going to try to dig back through the archives to see if we resolved that problem, though I think a visit to the clickfree site is probably required by ammlamb......


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## Jim Wilde (Jan 16, 2012)

Hmmm....reading this doesn't fill me with confidence that there's an easy fix....


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## ammlamb (Jan 16, 2012)

yeahhh - that doesn't seem "simple" - does it?
ok - well, it looks as if I may be stuck with the workaround solution - dang!

really appreciate all the help!!


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## Hal P Anderson (Jan 16, 2012)

I agree, Jim. Not a Lightroom problem. 

And ammlamb should maybe reconsider keeping any real data on a drive that is tasked with backing up the rest of the system, if for no other reason that any data that gets put there won't be backed up.

Probably the best solution would be to buy another _ordinary_ 1TB external and use that to keep the master images on, letting the Clickfree do the job it was designed to do.

Hal


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## Jim Wilde (Jan 16, 2012)

Good advice from Hal....that's certainly what I'd be doing. 

Sorry that we couldn't help more, ammlamb.


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## ammlamb (Jan 17, 2012)

I actually am not using that drive for backup at all - I have another external drive that does that....and have been searching for and trying out online services, but that is a whole other drama!  I just thought that this drive could be used as a drive, since I turned off the automatic backup feature, no?  Hopefully this drive is "stable"!  

I appreciate everyone's input - thanks so much!


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## Jim Wilde (Jan 17, 2012)

Well sure it can be used just as a drive, with that one issue of how it's presented to the OS (and thus how it's seen by Lightroom). Personally, it would drive me nuts!  

There are possibly ways around it, maybe reformatting on another system to try to get rid of that CDFS partition, renaming it on the other system, then hopefully when you connect it back to the original system it will be 'seen' as a proper hard drive. But that would also involve having another drive available to copy the data to, and would of course confuse Lightroom until the reformatted drive with its data restored was reconnected (preferably with the same H drive letter). Don't know if that would work, but it's something I would probably try if I had that type of drive.....either that or the hammer! :shock:


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## Hal P Anderson (Jan 17, 2012)

Jim,

There's a good chance that that "Drive G:" that you would like to see re-formatted off of aamlamb's drive is flash memory of some sort pretending to be a CD-ROM (instead of a disk partition pretending to be a CD ROM). There's no way to tell from here, of course, but that's the way I would have designed it. 

Hal


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## Jim Wilde (Jan 17, 2012)

Maybe Hal....but looking at this Overclockers thread reformatting isn't going to work.....which does rather suggest it's firmware, and not a disk partition. Either way it sounds like a PITA to get rid of. I find it bizarre that manufacturers do things like that....


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## Hal P Anderson (Jan 17, 2012)

Me too. A clever kludge, but a kludge, nonetheless.  

That was an interesting thread you pointed to. The OP there was sophisticated and willing, and he tried just about everything, and that partition just wouldn't budge. 

Hal


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## Jim Wilde (Jan 17, 2012)

Yep....it'd definitely be the hammer, I think. :shock:


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