How to Move Lightroom to External Hard Drive - Catalogue and Photos for LR Classic
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- čas přidán 26. 01. 2023
- Welcome to this quick video, where I explain how easy it is to move your Lightroom Classic Catalogue and Photos to an External Hard Drive to free up space on your computer, plus make it easier when you replace your computer.
This video includes how to move both the Catalogue and the Photos, on a Mac
#lightroomexternalharddrive #lightroomtip #lightroomworkflow - Jak na to + styl
Watching this for my non-Mac desktop PC and I thought it made perfect sense. A helpful tip for those who think Richard is going too fast or slow: click the settings gear on the video > playback speed > adjust to your preference, maybe turn on the subtitles. 😂
Thank you so very much. Just followed your very easy instructions and successfully moved all my LR images and Cat with no issues.
Excellent tutorial Richard, a potential minefield made straightforward thanks to your video.
very helpful and clear...thank you!
Wow that’s Awesome… Just what I needed
Very helpful. Thank you!
Thanks, it was very useful and clear!
Pleasure. Thanks for watching!
Hi thanks for posting this, I'm a bit lost as to the way you are doing this. my catalogs if for the whole year so has lots of pics, should I move the images into a library folder one at a time, and if I over the catalog with it with will that work on both hard drives. It might take few days to do it when I have time. This stuff make in nervous as Ive fucked it up in the past.
Thanks Richard. Will the move to the new hard drive preserve all my settings, preferences, etc.? Thank you!
Another great video Richard. I was planning to move the catalog and photos to an external hard drive (WD Elements 10TB). Until I heard that if you move the catalog to an external hard drive. Lightroom with be slower than on your internal drive. Have you noticed any slowdowns? Thank you 🤓
Thanks Richard for explaining and making this easy for us!
Thank you, very clear. When I move my files it does not maintain my file edits.
Thank you very clear! How can I create a catalogue? And how can I move photos from one catalogue to another?
Thanks for watching!
If you want create a new catalogue, then in LR Classic, just head to FILE > NEW CATALOGUE.
This will let you create a catalogue of your chosen name, and save it wherever you want. To move a photo from one catalogue to another, you would just need to remove the photo from your first catalogue by RIGHT CLICK IMAGE > REMOVE PHOTO > REMOVE FROM LIGHTROOM *_(**NOT DELETE FROM DISK!!!)_*
Then, making sure you are in the newly created catalogue, just add your existing image to that catalogue - czcams.com/video/bYZInURk5Co/video.html may help.
Don't forget, adding to a catalogue does not duplicate the images, it just tells Lightroom where to look for the image. You could have the same image in 10 different catalogues, but it can still be the same one image.
Think of a room, with a table in it. The room has 4 windows. The table is the image. The windows are 4 catalogues. You can look at the table through all 4 windows, but it is the same table...
Hope that helps...a bit!! :)
Thanks for a quick an easy explaination :D However moving folders from on e hard drive to another harddrive in Lightroom containing 80000 photos take forever... yikes. I am wondering if there is a quicker way to move and then link in bulk - the wrong way you showed - i know that ;-)
HI Richard, amazing tutorial - and your photos are stunning. I was wondering what brand of 20 TB hard drive you use?
Western Digital, but will be looking for SSD drives next for speed. Thanks for watching...
What if i already have the photos on my external drive and i need to move only my LR catalog there? is it possible to transfer only the catalog with no conflict? So i have a Lacie D2 10TB and a Samsung T7 4TB, which configuration or destination is the best for Lightroom to work smoothly and safely? dump everything on Lacie or split and keep the photos i already have stored on Lacie and add the catalog there and maybe dump the app itself on the SSD to work faster? or maybe im talking rubbish
thank you
You're welcome, thanks for watching
After procrastinating the task of moving my LR photos from one external hard drive to another I am finally comfortable with your tutorial. Excellent and timely! 2 questions as I am nervous about the move. I have 30,000 images organized by year date month and location in a hierarchy that makes sense to me. Will I maintain the same hierarchy and do I move the entire library at once or..... safely just year by year? Second question is what if I simply wish to copy library to another hard drive keeping this external as a back up. What is the process for 'copy" instead of move. Thank you in advance. Now I can once again delay the process as I wait for instruction.....hopefully.
Thanks for the watching, and the question! Your hierarchy is similar to mine. I cannot recall how I did it originally, but if I were to do it now, I would move it month by month (or event by event) to understand how long it takes, then just keep coming back and doing the next bit. If confident, i would then do it year by year. I am assuming you have your current library / folders backed up? (if not, you should! 😀)
This is my old to new process
1. Old HD 1 (6TB)
2. Old HD 1 BackUp (6TB)
3. New HD 1 (20TB)
4. Old HD 1 BackUp (20TB)
I moved number 1 above, to number 3 above, within LR. Knowing I still had number 2 above just in case. I then used my usual back up process to duplicate 3 onto 4. So I now have all images on 2, 3 and 4. I could then archive 2 (which means unplugging and putting in a cupboard to me!), and use 3 and 4 moving forward.
In terms of copying I am not sure this can be done within LR, but using the above process, gives you copies anyway. It can be a long process with lots of photos, and patience is definitely key. If you are concerned, you could move one year to your new folder, and then Back Up, then the next year, and Back Up etc.
Hope this helps!!
Does it make sense to make one catalog "Photos" and in this catalog to have all years like 2021, 2022, 2023 and all the lightroom files in the same catalog? So only one main catalog, which contains each year and the lightroom files? If not, why?
Hi, thanks for watching. Yes, for my need I only really us one catalogue. I do have a second catalogue, but that is just with sample photos for the tutorials / videos etc that I do.
I would recommend not just calling it 'Photos'. I would at least add the month, year in. For example, my catalogue is called 'Lightroom Catalogue-November 2022'
Occasionally Lightroom will tell you you need to update the catalogue, I think usually after a lightroom update has been released. If you have the month in the name, you can see which is the most recent.
In terms of the folder structure. It depends.
I have 2 External Hard Drives. One for clients, and one for personal. My folder structure is as follows
HD Work > Client > Year
HD Personal > Year
The catalogue is stored on my HD Personal. The reason for this is when a clients work is done, it is done and the images are archived when the HD is full. However, the personal Hard Drive I am continually looking at older images, etc, so I want the catalogue stored with these images.
Hope that helps!!
Doesnt movin the catalog from the comps hd to an external makes the process of reading much slower since its not in the machine/comp?
It does!
Are there no problems involved with running the LrC catalogue off of an external harddrive? I just saw some forum saying that you should keep the catalog on your internal disks, but having it like you did, catalogue in the same place as the images, seems to me like the more convenient solution.
I do a lot of timelapse work, mostly of plant growth and star movement. Never less than 900 frames, sometimes a few thousand. I've been using an external 8TB disk for all storage for a long time. LR is 'aware' of where the RAW files are kept and defaults to the external drive for all catalogs and exports.
I also use LR to produce those timelapse videos. These serve as a preview before using a different application. They can also be individually very big (up to 4Gb). When exporting these timelapse videos, LR will use the internal drive as a work-area before deleting them after export.
Mostly, this is not an issue save, I'd had occasion when the internal drive has approached capacity. Had I been keeping my catalogs and exports on the internal drive, then I would have run out of space. I'm trying to find a workaround for this.
Performance? On individual edits, no difference. For synchronizing a few thousand frames, less than a minute. You don't have to wait for all the thumbnail/preview images to update. That appears to be a separate workstream in LR.
Been working this way for over a year with no issues. I can back up the external drive easily.
Also, I prefer to use the (more expensive) internal SDD for static files such as programs. For more volatile data, I use the external drive.
Useful? Yes & no,
I want to export a catalogue to the filesystem, so I can use Bridge. I'm concerned there might be unpleasantry surprises. For example, how are virtual copies handled?
Can I use this same process if I want to move my LR Catalog to Dropbox? So I can use two computers.
This is a great question, and one that I may explore but at the moment I am sorry I don't know the answer....Thanks for watching
When you moved the catalog over to the new hard drive, you didn't have to find the photos for LR to see? Normally you have to do that, but you didn't.
You are correct, I didn't and your query makes perfect sense. I can only assume it is because the Catalogue and the photos are on the same drive, on both occasions.
I can't recall the exact folder structure, but for example, before the move
Hard Drive A/Photos/Lightroom/Catalogue
Hard Drive A/Photos/Lightroom/Photo Library
And After the move:
Hard Drive B/Photos/Lightroom/Catalogue
Hard Drive B/Photos/Lightroom/Photo Library
I know when I move files in Premier Pro, which happens more often as I am still sorting out a system for that, when I move a folder I have to constantly ask it to reconnect, but one I have reconnected some, on occasion, it automatically find the others.
To be honest, I am not exactly sure, but if I get a chance, I may move the catalogue to a different hard drive and see what happens.
Hope that helps!
With moving the catalog file to an external hard drive. Will that mess with the updates from Adobe CC since lightroom is no longer linked via the computers internal storage?
Hi. Never has with me. The programme/application itself is still in the default place. Only the Catalogue is moved, so I have never had an issue. Hopefully works out ok for you too!! Thanks for watching!
@richardchubbUK when you open up lightroom. Do you go through the lightroom application or do click on your catalog shortcut?
@@ZachGroney I have the shortcut/icon in my Dock at the bottom of the screen which I click on, and it opens LrC and my catalogue. To be sure, I just navigated to my Catalogue, and it opened the application as normal.
starts at 2:57
what about the normal lightroom instead of classic?
Hi, to be honest, I am not a Lightroom (Cloud) user too much, so decided to focus on Classic. I am not 100% sure about catalogues and how they work with the non classic version.
I don’t want to transfer photos. I just want to put the program onto the new laptop from the old one.
Never had to do this as all my images are in the office, on a external hard drive. However, couldn't you follow the process twice...once to an external hard drive, then again back onto your new laptop from the external hard drive? In my head that works, but perhaps create a new catalogue, with dummy images and test it first? Alternatively, perhaps someone has invented a way to transfer between laptops, as I imagine it is not a rare occurrence! Sorry if not much help!!
But this is in lightroom C not lightroom?
Hi, yes, it is for Classic. I have changed the description to add that. To be honest, I am not even sure Lightroom (cloud version) has a catalogue? I don't use it, so please feel free to correct me if I am wrong as I am always willing to find out new stuff!! :)
Probably well intentioned but for all that’s holy why does it take 5 of 10 min to demonstrate a simple process.
Very long winded. ZZZzzzz
Sorry it wasn't useful for you, it is one of the better performing videos on my channel, so others seem to have found it useful. Thanks for the feedback though 👍
I disagree. It helped me massively!
Completely useless for Windows users. In addition, I don't know why it takes 3 minutes until he announces it's for MAC or gets into the tutorial itself.
Thanks for the feedback. Some people have said the video is too long winded, others have said I need to slow down..I make the videos with the speed and format I am comfortable with, so I am sorry it wasn't helpful for you. I have added that it is for Mac in the description to help others.
I mean.. it’s exactly the same process for windows though
It is clear but you are going way to fast. This is a critical and complex action but I can barely follow you. I would slow down and create a more simple file structure. Its just me. I dont learn with fast mouse clicks. You might assume to high a level of understanding of what you are talking about. But it wouldnt be the only time Ive been lame. Slow down. Maybe start with a "concept' What you doing from a big picture approach. Then go into the steps.
Apologies for that, I do go at a pace that is natural for me I guess. It is funny as one of the first comments on this video was
"Very long winded. ZZZzzzz"
I guess it is tough to please everyone, but thank you for watching and I will bear your feedback in mind for future videos. 👍