Please wait! We’re still not ready.
Updating to MacOS Catalina may still cause issues. Want proof? Check out this December 6th, 2019 blog post from Howard Oakley of Eclectic Electric Company regarding weird problems with Catalina.
We at Lightroom Guy are always keeping our eyes on MacOS issues and we’re still holding off on updating to Catalina. It’s not ready for prime time. At least not for us, so we can’t recommend updating to Catalina to our clients and readers.
It’s been two months since our October 10, 2019 post, on holding off with Catalina, warning that Adobe had considerations about updating to Catalina. We heard from clients that even Apple offers (although privately) to roll back users to Mojave, if Catalina poses problems after installation. A tacit admission they know they have left some people in a ditch.
In the meantime however, there is a way for Mojave users to at least update their security settings while they wait. And, we’re very aggressive about security updating. This particular update is vaguely hidden under the “Update Now” Catalina prompt and is easily overlooked. The text is smaller and says, “Other updates are available.” More info.
That “more info” link, leads to Mojave and Safari updates. So, updating to MacOS Catalina isn’t necessary to get updated security.
Sit tight while we continue to monitor the situation regarding updating to MacOS Catalina. We expect to give the go-ahead sometime after the beginning of the year.
We’ve been getting quite a few questions about this issue. So we thought it would be a good idea to address it in a blog post. Should you update to Lightroom version 9 and upgrade your catalog? The short answer is: yes!
By all means, upgrading to the latest version and upgrading your catalog is perfectly safe and you should proceed without worry!
If you want more info on what’s new in version 9, the Lightroom Queen has a good summary: What’s New in Lightroom Classic 9.0 (November 2019)?
Why Do I Need to Upgrade My Catalog?
At its heart, Lightroom is a database. The lrcat file stores all the information about your photos, where they are, what develop settings you have applied and much much more. There is a lot of information packed into the lrcat! Occasionally, the underlying structure of the lrcat needs to be upgraded so that new features and performance improvement can be implemented.
It has been at least since version 7 that we needed to upgrade our catalogs. There have been a lot of process and performance improvements since then so it is natural that an upgrade is needed for version 9.
What Happens When I Upgrade?
The first thing Lightroom will do is ask you which catalog you want to upgrade. Most folks only have one catalog. However, no two photographers work the same way! In some cases it is helpful or necessary to have more than one catalog. You can, if you need, point Lightroom to a different catalog using the “Choose a Different Catalog.”
Once you have selected the catalog you want to upgrade, Lightroom will duplicate your existing catalog so that if anything goes wrong, there is a backup copy of your original! A quick side note, you can easily rollback which version of Lightroom you are using in the Adobe Create Cloud app but, that’s better addressed in different blog post!
After you find the catalog you want to upgrade, simply hit the “Upgrade” button and Lightroom will go to work. You will see a new dialog box with a progress bar.
What Do I need to Do After It Has Finished?
Nothing! Once Lightroom has upgraded the lrcat file, Lightroom will launch your catalog and you should be able to proceed as normal.
As mentioned, when Lightroom does the upgrade it will make a duplicate copy before starting. If you look in the folder where your current catalog is located you will see a bunch of files with “-2” at the end. This is normal and you can leave these as is.
However, as an optional step, you can clean these up and store your old safely catalog. First quit Lightroom. Then simply rename your old catalog (the one without a -2). Then, make sure all of the attendant -2 files for the catalog have exactly the same name. The best thing to do is to remove the “-2” from the file name.
![Upgrade Catalog Lightroom 9 - [Animated GIF] Renaming the file names of a Lightroom catalog](https://lightroomguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/catalog-upgrade-rename.gif)
Contact Us
If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out to us! Use the contact form or leave us a comment down below!
New Lightroom Guy Website:
Same Great Content + More!
It has been a long road, but we finally have our new Lightroom Guy website up and running! As many of our regular readers know, we offer a number of professional services relating to digital photography, computers, software and travel. As our tagline indicates, we offer “Expert Support for Digital Photography.”
While our old website was great for putting our blog posts forward, it wasn’t always clear that we operate as a professional services company. Indeed, our website is our primary source for getting in touch with new clients. So, we wanted to make it clear to people visiting the site that we are more than just a blog.
The New Site & The Blog
We will continue to devote a good amount of energy into writing blog posts that focus on practical and informative topics that provide a real value add for our readers. If your primary purpose for visiting our site is to read our blog, we will always keep a direct link from the home page to the blog as well as feature headlines from the last couple of posts. You can also bookmark a link directly to the new Lightroom Guy website blog using this URL:
https://lightroomguy.com/lightroom-guy-blog
Our Services
As for our professional services, you can read more about them on the Services page. Not too many folks out there specialize in what we do; no doubt that is why we are always so busy! And while a few talented photographers dabble on the side in teaching and supporting Lightroom, we look at the bigger picture and think about photography from end-to-end.
From the taking of photos, all the way through to the critical steps of backing up and archiving, we have you covered by providing expert level support. Sure, we teach tried and true developing processes and provide the support you need for making prints and books. However, at our core, we’ve helped hundreds of photographers by fixing their broken catalogs, removing duplicates and setting up best practices to make working with Lightroom a pleasure, not a task.
We Are Bespoke
While we’re Adobe Certified Experts in Lightroom, we don’t limit ourselves to dealing with only one software solution. We look holistically at the client and their needs and build solutions that work for them. Because no two photographers work the same way our services are bespoke to each person. We tailor our support based on our years of experience as professional photographers as well as the deep knowledge gained by working with thousands of clients over many years.
Travel
Part of the philosophy that drives us is the idea that everyone can become a better photographer by learning how to manage and develop their images. When we take a step back from that, we see that coaching our clients in the actual act of taking photos is a crucial part of that equation. Learning to decide which images are your best photos, guides you to making better decisions when you’re taking them. So, what better way to practice photography than to travel? =)
While we both travel a lot, putting together and running photography itineraries is a new part of our business. We are leading off with DA leading a photo trip to Greece in mid 2020 and David is working on a specialized photo safari in Tanzania for early Fall of 2020 … check out the Greece itinerary now and look for the safari itinerary, which will be posted soon, here on the new Lightroom Guy website!
Get In Touch
As always, we are here to support photographers in achieving their goals. We’re active in our local community, through the American Photographic Artists NYC chapter. And, we are always happy to answer questions and tackle your issues … we are just an email away!
Thanks for visiting the new Lightroom Guy website.
Backblaze Update 7.0 Has Just Been Released
It was just announced that the latest Backblaze version 7.0 is Catalina ready and offers new options for extended version history recovery. Instead of the usual 30-days backup that is included with a Backblaze license, you can now choose an option to recover deleted files for a year or forever. This is a major change in Backblaze strategy.
Backblaze is our choice for offline backups that complement our local Hard Drive backups. Up until now, with a standard account, Backblaze deleted missing data after 30-days. Missing data includes deleted files or data from an unconnected external hard drive. This works for the most part and we’ve not had any issues with this feature. But, it could be a problem for those who travel extensively and turn off their home or office computers.
If you’re already a subscriber, you will receive a prompt to the web download of the Backblaze update 7.0. The options to extend your version history will appear in the Backblaze Backup window of your system preferences.
To clarify what version history is: if you delete a file by mistake, or save over a file by accident, you can recover the earlier versions. That would be for either 30-days and now one year or forever with Backblaze 7.0.
Backblaze is a Lifesaver
Backblaze has been our go-to offline backup for years. For my production computer, I’m upgrading to the one year option. It’s saved me more than once on my travel laptop, where I will continue to use the standard Backblaze 30-day backup.
Pricing is very competitive as well. Backblaze is $60 annually for unlimited data backup and 30 days of versions. One terabyte or 20 terabytes is $60. To make that a full year of backed up versions, it’s $24 additional per year. Finally, there’s a “forever” option, that keeps your data online (obviously) forever. That option is about $5 per month per terabyte.
To find out more check out Backblaze.com.
Do Not Update to MacOS Catalina
Apple does this: abandons technology for the next shiny toy. In this case, 32 bit support has been replaced with 64 bit support only.
The October 9th MacRumors story, “32-Bit Apps ‘Not Optimized for Your Mac’ No Longer Working on macOS Catalina,” says “Apple warned that it (Mojave) would be the last version of macOS that would support older 32-bit apps. Apple has been phasing out 32-bit apps for the last 10 years and is now ready to take the final step, even if Mac users may not be ready to lose access to older apps.”
Lightroom has a few issues, including tethering for Nikon cameras. And, I use Lightroom’s tethering feature with my Nikons in the studio. I know a few of our clients do as well.
The most recent release of Photoshop still has 32 bit tools that require updating and will not work in Catalina. There are also file naming issues and some broken plug-ins. And, we don’t know the timetable for updates on those tools.
Adobe reports that if you’re a power user (but we think every user should use caution), “You may want to remain on your current version of macOS until these issues have been resolved.” Adobe has released a list of known compatibility issues with MacOS Catalina for Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.
Apple pushes out updates with the expectation that they will find out what’s not working as users update. We prefer to wait on these major updates for exactly that reason. Do not update to MacOS Catalina. It won’t hurt to hold off. And if you do not update to MacOS Catalina right away, you might be saving yourself some serious grief. Wait a week. You could even wait a month. And while you’re waiting, search for Catalina compatibility of all your existing programs (at least the ones you use).
You can also read more about this in the October 8th PetaPixel post, “Do not Update to macOS Catalina Yet if You Use Photoshop or Lightroom.”
So, keep an eye on the above links until an “all clear” is reported by Adobe and, do not update to MacOS Catalina.
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for our newsletter and receive our free Lightroom Keyboard Shortcuts help sheet
We send approximately 4 - 6 newsletters per year and we will never share or sell your address to any third party.