wow, thank you. been looking for this most basic explanation for a long time now, finally. geez why can't all these damn tutorials just explain this basic functionality? you're a life saver. Everything else makes sense for me to use now based on this.
I dont mean to be offtopic but does any of you know of a tool to get back into an instagram account..? I was dumb lost my password. I appreciate any tips you can offer me
@Raiden Trace i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site through google and I'm in the hacking process atm. I see it takes quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
Thank you so much! This saved me so much time and easy to follow! I have a shoot this weekend and running low on Mac space, this worked perfectly and can now upload shoot to my new catalog on an external drive, thank you great video. - KW
Some videos I have watched on this topic do go on a bit and can be difficult to extract the basic info I need/want. Yours does not and is to the point with clear instruction, brilliant thank you.
Wow - I just went to Amazon to find a 500GB SSD EXTERNAL unit. Slim pickin's under 250 dollars. Please recommend one to consider. I just want one that is fast and reliable. Don't worry, I won't complain if your recommendation fails in a a couple of years.
Hello, Forest! I have a question. My external hard drive is full and I need to set up a new one. I did this once before, but I do not think I did it right because it transferred all the images from the old main external hard drive to the new one. Which takes up space. I need to set up a new main hard drive but I am unsure if I should do it this way or if there is another way to set up a new external hard drive? And keep all my presets I have created etc? It's been too long since I learned this and I definitely need a refresher!
Hey Andi! Great question. Go ask it over on community.rmsp.com as it's much easier to help over there as we can share screenshots, and talk back and forth without the RUclips comments getting in our way.
I think it would be best practice to get into the habbit of simply opening LR normally, and selecting "Open Catalog" and having a folder with shortcuts to all your catalogs in one place. Its a few years later now so maybe they have improved this.
Great stuff. I think that this just solved my problem of not being able to find the photos on my external hard drive. It must have opened up another catalogue stored on my internal hard drive.
Exactly what I have been looking for, thank you! Well done. I have been thinking I would like to use an external drive exclusively for my Lightroom Catalog. I also want to remove the catalog from my computer and use the external drive version exclusively. Or, could I use my NAS for the catalog? I have all my photos on the NAS. Will the Lightroom Catalog work from a network drive? Thank you for any thoughts on my questions. Kind regards.
Great question! You can’t actually store a catalog on a NAS as Adobe won’t actually allow it. I would recommend storing the catalog on your internal HD and the photos on the NAS which it sounds like you’re doing already 👍
Yep! I think you’re on the right track. With a NAS it usually makes the most sense to store the catalog on the internal. That way you can make Smart Previews (you should look those up) of the images you want to be able to edit when you’re away from home! Super seamless solution!
@@forestchaput Thank you again. Does Lightroom allow me to remove Smart Previews? They take a lot of space and I don’t use most from years past? In I don’t ever edit images away from my office, where the NAS is located. Thanks in advance. AM
Excellent, wish I would have seen this sooner! Now that I have the new catalog established and selected, I have a photos directory and subdirectories on that same external hdd, do I import those into that newly created catalog? The import is chomping at the bit to import all the photos, my only hesitation is I'm seeing the destination as "My Catalog" with an onboard (not external) HDD icon after it, but the newly created catalog is showing in the header of the LR application. MacBook default icons freak me out.
What a brilliant Teacher - I shall be subscribing , young man . Not sure whether you'll see this question but....... If I create a new catalog on my external drive will it be empty of photos ?
If i export my catalog to a hard drive as a backup for 2023 images, am i going to have full access to the files? on another computer? I'm planning on having one catalog a year (2023,2024..)
Yes you can! That's a great way to do it! Alternatively you can make a shortcut to your catalog file and put it on your desktop for faster launching of the program.
I accidently somehow put 3 small imports into the default catalog on my MacBook instead of the catalog I always use on my external SSD but did not know it. I could not find those 3 imports on SSD and I was told to open parent folder and sync those images. That worked and they showed up on my external SSD catalog. Now there is 2 sets of photos but don’t need or want them in the catalog that’s on my Mac. Can I just delete the entire contents of that default catalog on my Mac without hurting anything or is it necessary even if it is not being used? I have not seen a video yet explaining what to do with the default catalog after setting up new one on external SSD. Help and Thank You.
Really nicely done vid on this image management side of Lightroom. I have to say that Adobe has made this aspect of the application a hot mess. Why is this completely unlike the Photoshop? That's another discussion. Well done and thank you.
Great vid! Thank you. Are you saying if you don't want to take up space on your computers hard drive you can make a catalog on an external hd so no photos are on your computer? If so, how many catalogs can you have? Do i have to make a new catalog for each time i shoot something different e.g. street photography would be one catalog and landscapes would be another? Also how would i move all my photos i already have in the one catalog to their individual catalog? One more thing sorry, if i wanted to import some street photography would i open the street photography catalog before so that they import into that catalog? Thanks in advanced!!
Great questions, Dean! Yes, storing your catalog(s) and photos externally can definitely clear up a lot of space on your internal hard drive. You can have as many catalogs as you want although I prefer to keep one catalog and segment my images within that catalog with Lightroom "Collections." Other photographers will create different catalogs for different subject matter or events, the choice is yours! To import images into another catalog, first create the new catalog, then open the new catalog. Once inside, go to "File -> Import from another catalog" and select the old catalog you are wanting to import from. That will allow you to get images from one catalog into another. As for importing, yes, whichever catalog is open when you hit the import button will be the catalog that the images are imported into!
I loved your video, good information and I will definitely add this to my workflow. However, I need to move my current catalog because it is in the picture folder on my system hard drive and its taking up room. How do I move that catalog to an external hard drive and then reconnect it to lightroom? Thank you in advance.
Great question! You can actually just move the entire "Lightroom" folder that the catalog lives in from the pictures folder to the external HD. Once it's moved over, just double click the catalog file inside that folder living on your external. Just like that you will be done!
Maybe be a dumb question. But If I have made a new Catelog in my external disk, and I import new photos using this catelog, will they be imported into a folder on that external disk as well? Because I created a new catelog, but when I imported photos from my SD card into Lightroom, it imported them into Anne folder that is on my Computer Hard Drive. Which defeats the purpose of my external hard drive.
Question-- in order to use a hard drive for the catalog does the hard drive need to be plugged in at all times? Also, if this is the case and I have a new hard drive for every new calendar year- I will need a new catalog for every calendar year as well, correct?
Yes! When importing, turn on “Make a Second Copy” and specify where you want that copy to go. Alternatively, use Carbon Copy Cloner to do a hard drive backup when the import is complete.
Great question! You would buy a larger SSD, copy everything over to the new drive, and be sure the new drive is named the EXACT same as your old one. As far as Lightroom is concerned the new drive will appear just like the old one and you will be all set!
thank you sooo much for this video! it took me several videos to find how to start editing photos on my external hard drive. Do you have one for adobe photoshop?
Thanks man! As always, when I’m struggling with a LR technical question, I inevitably end up on one of your videos. Quick question: if I want to, at least for now, just have one LR catalog, can I have it referencing photo files on different drives? i.e. Can I keep most of my photo folders on an external HD but keep my most recent photo folders that I’m actively working with (and syncing to Adobe cloud via Collections) on my internal drive, but have them all referenced by my single LR cat file? Thanks again for all the help as always...
You sure can! One catalog can reference images on multiple locations. I personally have most of my files on an external being referenced and another few on my internal that I keep there so they will be backed up to the cloud.
Right, OK great. That seems like the system I’m heading towards once my gig of Adobe cloud storage (and MacBook HD) have filled up. Do you keep Smart Previews on the internal drive for all your images that AREN’T on the internal HD so you can reference them or do light edits when not connected to your external drive, or is this all on a desktop so it doesn’t matter anyway? (Also, any recommendation for a big fast SSD to start using as my main working storage for LR?) Thanks again. Nobody does better what you do on this channel.
Thank you! I sometimes use Smart Previews although I find carrying around a small SSD to be easy enough to not warrant the size Smart Previews take up on my internal. I would look at the Samsung T5 drives. They are the gold standard in external SSDs.
Nicely explained, however I am unclear how I can start from scratch. This is, is it possible to install lightroom catalog from the start on an external drive? I would like to install the Lightroom program files on my C: drive (windows) and the supplementary files - the catalog plus whatever else is required - on the external drive. Any suggestions? Tony
What if you just want to store the photos automatically to a different drive but keep the application local? i.e. LR on an SSD so it can run faster but photos saved to drive z or whatever...
Thank you for this video. Before buying LR, I have already organised my photos in my external hard drives by year/dates and events. Some of the latest sets are on my PC organised in the same way. [Some of these photos are old ones - (1) scanned from films and (2) old Photos. Meta data of these sets will not have the dates, camera and other information.] It looks like this video has all the information I need. I do not wish to move or copy the photos from where they are now. Only thing I need to do is to create a Catalog and tell LR where the photos are. How do I tell LR where the photos are? When I connect external drives (not all at the same time) I get different drive letters. (1)Would it be ok to copy the Catalog from one drive to another outside LR using the operating system. (2) Would this work with different drive letters? Thanks again.
0. To import photos that already live where you want them and you simply want to add them to Lightroom just use the "Add" option when importing. This will leave them where they are but add them to your Lightroom catalog so that you can work on them. 1. Yes, catalogs can be moved without issue (assuming Lightroom isn't open and running when you move them). 2. You will want to be sure each hard drive has one and only one drive letter. Check this video to learn how to do that: ruclips.net/video/RVCdjSCk5Jc/видео.html
Thank you very much for the quick response. This is what I am going to do with my three external HDs. (1) Create drive letters for them. (2) Create a new catalog in one drive. (3) Copy the catalog created to other two drives.
That sounds great except you will only want one copy of the catalog. Choose a drive to store it on (it could even be the internal) and keep it there. Multiple copies of the same catalog can cause some issues.
Thanks. I am used to having one original and two copies. That is the advice I was given to have a proper backup system. Thought that is a sound advice and would do the same with LR Catalogs. If one becomes corrupted I will have two backups to rely on.
Yes, definitely a good idea! I thought you meant you were going to have three catalogs that were all copies of one another and you were going to use different ones each time you used Lightroom. You are on the right track!
I did exactly as you said and created the new catalog, but when I import new photos they are going to my picture folder on my laptop instead of my external
That's a common question! Make sure when you're importing that you set the "Destination" to be on the external hard drive. By default, the import dialog box will always import into the Pictures folder on the internal hard drive.
I have LR 6 on a Windows 10 laptop and I don't see those files you mentioned in the first part of this video. I only have a folder named Lightroom Previews.Irdata and a file named Lightroom. In your video where you explain how to create a new catalog, it looks completly different on my laptop. I would like to store all my original pictures on an external HD and like to exchange my LR catalog between my laptop and desktop PC.
Awesome! I'd love to help. It will look a bit different Mac to PC but the process should be mostly the same. Are those two things you described inside a folder called "Lightroom" located in your Pictures folder?
Hi. Thanks for your quick reply! What would be the best workflow working with LR if I store all my original pictures on an external HD and switching between my Windows 10 laptop and my Windows 7 desktop PC? By the way, those things I described are inside a folder called LR. I managed to create a LR catalog on my external HD. I also created a folder on my external HD where I store all my original pictures in. During import I have chosen for the minimal preview instead of 1:1. Is this a good workflow working with LR?
That's a perfect workflow! Just make sure during import that you have the destination set to be that folder you created on your external hard drive. The photos need to be sent there on import. Other than that, you should be all set! One thing to keep in mind is that you need to always launch the catalog by double clicking on it on the external hard drive. Otherwise you may end up launching into the wrong catalog on either of your computers. If you always launch LR by double clicking on the catalog, you will be good to go!
Ok thanks! By the way, under Preferences in LR in the General tab you can chose which catalog LR should open when LR starts. I have read that it is always better to use 1:1 preview when you import pictures? Is that true, or better chose minimal preview?
Question: I have MacBook Pro & 6tb WD MyCloud Mirror. I would like to keep as much storage as possible on NAS. I also have unlimited storage through my FTP host I'd like to direct a backup to. What would you say is best set up? Any input from anyone is appreciated
Excellent tutorial. I just bought a macbook air and i have a couple questions. I'm going to use lightroom on it using this method. What happens if for some reason one day I don't want to carry the hard drive with me and I want to import 50-100 photos and then I want to have them in my external hard drives catalog? how do I move them without duplicating or making a new catalog? another question, I used Windows in the last few years, would I be able to use my catalogs from there?
Great questions! If you want to sometimes work without the hard drive plugged in, the best thing to do is create a small temporary catalog on your internal hard drive. Use that while you are away, then merge that smaller catalog into your main catalog on the external when you are back with your external hard drive. When you merge the two catalogs, the process is super simple. Just open the main catalog (on the external) and go to File > Import From Another Catalog. Select the smaller, temporary catalog and you should be good to go! Lastly, yes, your Windows catalogs will work totally fine on a Mac.
Does "Importing From Another Catalog" also move the actual photo files to the external drive? Or will the imported files stay on the internal hard drive and be referenced by the main catalog in that location?
Hi! Great video! But I´m running into some problems. I have a new Macbook Pro, and an external SSD drive, formatted to "Mac OS extended (case sensitive, journaled)". The drive is currently being used only for Time Machine and have lots of space. When mounted to the Mac, the disk doesn´t seem to show in Lightroom (by default), and when I chose File, Create catalog, and choose the external drive, chosse a name for it, this is the massage I´m getting: "Lightroom cannot create a catalog named “PTs catalog” on volume “/Volumes/BiggieSmall/PTs catalog” because Lightroom cannot save changes to this location." Do I have to format the external drive and make it another file system? Or what could be the reason for this message?
Okay; quick update. I found the solution: Before starting the process in Lightroom, I manually made a folder on the external drive that I called Pictures. Then I did the steps from the video, and had no problems creating the catalog. I guess (as I´m no expert) that Lightroom or the external drive wouldn´t let me create a file on the root level on the disk. I might be terribly wrong, but that´s my guess :-D
The video isn't explain it correctly. When you select ''import'' , at the right hand side will show up a destination folder where you want the files to be imported to. If you don't select the correct folder it doesn't matter if you have created your catalog on your external hd , your files will be imported to ''Pictures'' folder inside your Macintosh HD even tough you have created a new catalog on the external hd.
Yep! You are exactly right. Lightroom will always try to import images to your internal hard drive, regardless of where your catalog is located. That's why it's super important to check the import destination each time you import photos. Once you change the destination once though, Lightroom *should* remember that new location as the default however that doesn't always happen. I find that it reverts back to the internal every so often.
Would this help with performance issues ? i'm using a surface pro(4) and it used to run really crisp and the more I use lightroom it seems to be getting a little slower. Such as when I use the sliders or anything it takes about 3 seconds for it to reflect the difference onto the picture.
Just on lightroom. Everything else seems to run normally. So for example I was just on it a few min ago and even switching pictures after editing one took it about 4 seconds to switch over.
Okay. Are there any pending updates for Lightroom? You can check by going to Help -> Check for Updates within Lightroom. If not, I would run through this great list Adobe made on how to optimize the performance of Lightroom. It's very comprehensive and can go a long way to making Lightroom run a lot faster. I bet your catalog just slowed down through normal use and not because of any problem. helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/optimize-performance-lightroom.html
Sorry, I think the problem in LR folder itself. It is grows in size, because Catalogs Previews and Smart Previews created at the time of importing the new images to a catalog. In my case, all the images sit on external hard drive, but the LR Catalog on a computer hard drive. Lately, by importing huge amount of new photos, I notice rapid decrease of Free space on my computer. The question is, what to do? What happens if I remove Catalogs Previews and Smart Previews from LR folder on my computer's hard drive? The task for me is to move LR from one computer to another but keep images and LR catalog(s) on an external hard drive. Catalog Preview 27 gb Smart Preview 70gb
Great question. I would move my catalog to my external hard drive to save space on the internal. Here's a video on how to do that: ruclips.net/video/3H6w6UdSEAQ/видео.html
HELP? I'm trying to create catalogue on External HD... 4tB ext with Thunderbolt connection. -- Getting msg: Lightroom Catalogs can not be opened on network volumes, removable storage, or read only volumes Lightroom cannot create a catalog named “Heather ExtHD Lightroom Catalogue” on volume “/Volumes/LaCie/Heather ExtHD Lightroom Catalogue” because Lightroom cannot save changes to this location. ---
Hi - It's a LaCie... I have done a backup/TimeMachine to it... I've just moved my catalogue file over to external drive, and have just manually linking to the missing photos from each dated photo folder... BUT... now I'm trying to make sure all my files are properly named.. I feel I've made it harder than it needs to be as your video was nice and straightforward, but I had that error message...
That's okay. It will all work out in the end! Just might take a bit more time to get organized. I'm glad you got the catalog moved over. Sometimes Lightroom is a little strange on where it let's you store things.
This video is very helpful thank you. Just have a question. I have watched so many different videos on this topic but still can't find one that I am truly looking for. Problem: I have two computers. One desktop and one laptop. Preferably I work on my desktop but on occasion need to edit on the go. Lightroom does not allow 2 copies of the exact same (syncing) profiles/programs on 2 computers. Just one computer and one mobile device (ie ipad or phone). and this is where it gets so complicated and disrupts my whole workflow. So I have an external hard drive, with my catalog set up the way you and most videos suggest. And when I want to work, I open my catalog from my external HD. Okay good so far...but then al my presets, brush tool presets, export presets any special tool basically that I have created on one computer is obviously not on the other so to remember all these settings and recreate them is tedious. Do you have any suggestions regarding a workflow for this where If I am working from my external hard drive that everything always backs up and saves onto my HD so that I don't have to go look for all these folders of Lightroom, copy and paste them on my hard drive, under the right folders and then open/install them again on my other device. Please help me.
Hi Rene, I think the solution is simpler than you may think. I think your workflow sounds great, I would just change one preference and you should be all set. Go to the "Presets" tab in Lightroom's preferences. Once there, turn on "Store Presets with this Catalog". This will make it so that the presets are stored on the external hard drive with the catalog and not on your internal hard drive. This will ensure that your presets are the same on all of your computers! Let me know if you have any other questions!
Hi, Thank you so so much! As easy as that :D so will it also save any brush tools, adjustment layers, export data (basically everything LR uses to operate) automatically save it on my external HD instead of my internal HD. Once again, really appreciate this video and your help.
Great question! Photoshop doesn't use a catalog so no worries. I don't think you can install it on an external HD though. I'm fairly sure that the Creative Cloud application manager will only allow local installations.
This is true unless you click that icon without your external hard drive plugged in. If you do that, Lightroom can get confused and open the incorrect catalog.
Suppose my whole PC got super slow due to various problems( say old hardware), I bought new latest system and installed fresh Lightroom. My question is it possible to copy past my Lightroom Catalog from my retiring PC?(so that I can see my previous work on new PC)
Whoops - I guess i have another question....I'm confused again. I have ordered a Samsung external drive - great - but in the meantime I am trying to understand file management a little better, and have obviously misunderstood something. ( I hope this question is somehow related to your video, but it may not be - sorry). My catalog location in my Mac User>Pictures>Lightroom folder is where I've decided to put all my future .lrcat files (I will use [address].lrcat, since I do real estate photography and want a separate lrcat for each address). What I did, was to create a new catalog, "123MainStreet" and then click import without any quick adjustments, select the images I want to develop, click develop, make some adjustments, and then synch those adjustments to all selected images, THEN EXPORT as jpegs to a specific folder (a subfolder named for the address in my documents folder) -- and guess what happens?! All the selected developed image files were placed in the folder I wanted them in (user>documents>123MainStreet) AND ALSO in the Pictures>Lightroom folder where the .lrcat file is. Why did it place full-sized file copies in BOTH folders???? I really do not want anything but Lightroom's lrcat files in the Pictures>Lightroom folder. Besides, it is a waste of space to have two exact copies of the same files. I'll bet you know instantly what I did wrong. Thanks for any help or comments.
The images in the Pictures->Lightroom folder were copied there when you imported the images off of the memory card. The images in the Documents folder got there when you exported them (I imagine that was your export location). My recommendation is to ALWAYS keep the images that were imported into the Pictures folder. Leave those there and don't ever touch them. As for the exported images, I would deliver them to a client or put them on the web (whatever you are planning to do with them) and then delete them from the documents folder. If you ever need them again, you can simply re-export them from the associated Lightroom catalog. Hopefully that makes sense.
Thank you so much for your reply! I DO see what you mean - the images are indeed different in the two places. One set is not edited, and the other, exported set IS edited. Sorry to be so dense here - but in actuality I was not using an SD card for this test; I just navigated to a different folder on the computer where my out-of-camera files are placed. It helps me organize to put the specific raw files needed from the camera into a separate space (usually temporarily) so I can go through them closely in Bridge first. I do that for two reasons: (1) because out of the 100+ images for a listing, I delete at least 25% before doing any sort of edit; and (2) my SD cards typically have three or four different sessions on them before I re-format them. In short, the BEGINNING/original images were from a folder on the computer rather than a memory card. Either way, I still don't "get" why the un-edited images went to the Lightroom and the edited/adjusted images went where I wanted them to? Like I said, just dense. Can you suggest a different approach, please? By that, I mean I don't want the UNedited picture files in the Lightroom folder, but only in my original out-of-camera folder. I was under the impression Lightroom only made a small data copy of each image anyway. Please forgive me if I am asking the wrong questions or using the wrong terms. Thanks, again.
Hi I just found your video. I just got the Lightroom subscription 2 days ago and me being the UNtechie person that I am opened my Lightroom and decided I wanted to play. All of my pictures and particularly the raw files that I wanted to experiment on are on my external hard drive. I selected 3 images and imported them and worked on one feeling quite content with myself...only to wake up the next day trying to open up Lightroom on my laptop and it saying I don't have enough space on my laptop's hard drive to run Lightroom...I think Lightroom somehow copied EVERYTHING from my external hard drive into itself including videos and somehow made them uncompressed...I gave my laptop to my boyfriend where he uninstalled Lightroom and the Adobe Cloud and reset my laptop to how it was before I downloaded Lightroom....I'm not sure what I did wrong...
That's strange. Lightroom shouldn't do anything without you asking it to. I wonder how close your internal hard drive was to being full before you started using Lightroom? The program itself does take up a bit of space and maybe that put your internal over the edge of being full.
wish you had explained in what situations one should create a new catalog, why move the catalog to external drive, is it necessary, how to move photos between catalogs, etc ...jumped ahead too quickly.
whhhhhyyyyyyyyyy !!!!! if somebody could tell me how to get my old catalog back that would be great I don't know why I did this. I really wish I didn't make a new catalog now all my pictures are gone
Hello! Sorry about any confusion that our video may have caused. Because this video is directed toward a beginner, we can see how it could cause some confusion if you’re walking through the process after using LR for a while! The good news is that I’m sure your old catalog isn’t actually gone. Your pictures should be safe. What you can do to find the old catalog is go to your Pictures folder on your computer and look for the “Lightroom” folder. Inside you should find a catalog file that ends in .lrcat. If you double-click that file to open it, you should see your images. If you would indeed prefer to move the old catalog to the external hard drive, you can select the entire “Lightroom” folder inside of your Pictures folder and move it to your external hard drive. Then, just delete the other catalog folder you created on the hard drive because of this video. That should clean it all up!
I don't understand WHY supposedly technical people just don't get it. Your title states "How to Set Up Lightroom Classic CC on an External Hard Drive" NOT HOW TO SETUP A CATALOG! TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.
I’m not sure what you mean? This video walks through the process of creating a new catalog on an external hard drive, just like the title states. Sorry if you didn’t like it.
YOU"RE still missing it. I am wanting to put the PROGRAM on an external hard drive. That means LR and PS would be on NOT on the computer but on an external hd.
Ahh. Gotcha. Because of how little space the program takes on a computer, I find most people want to put the catalog on an external and leave the program on the internal. You run into a lot of speed issues as well storing the program externally. I also don’t know if it’s possible on a Mac. You can do it on a PC though! Sorry for the misunderstanding.
I had 1tb on my old computer that crashed. I just bought a new i7 windows but it only has 128gb SSD drive. After installing Office and Outlook and McAfee I only have 78GB left. I love the speed of the SSD drive but worried about space. It would simplify things by installing LR and PS on my G drive the external drive with all my 10,000+ photos. If I can't or it causes issues I am still within my window or returning the laptop and I will just get the hard drive. slower 1TB
I literally revisit this video every time I buy a new hard drive. :D Thanks!
I'm glad it's so helpful!
wow, thank you. been looking for this most basic explanation for a long time now, finally. geez why can't all these damn tutorials just explain this basic functionality? you're a life saver. Everything else makes sense for me to use now based on this.
Thank you! Glad I could help.
I dont mean to be offtopic but does any of you know of a tool to get back into an instagram account..?
I was dumb lost my password. I appreciate any tips you can offer me
@Sterling Zaire Instablaster :)
@Raiden Trace i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site through google and I'm in the hacking process atm.
I see it takes quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Raiden Trace it worked and I finally got access to my account again. Im so happy:D
Thanks so much, you saved my ass!
Thank you so much! This saved me so much time and easy to follow! I have a shoot this weekend and running low on Mac space, this worked perfectly and can now upload shoot to my new catalog on an external drive, thank you great video. - KW
You're welcome! I'm so glad this helped you!
Been so long since the last catalog I've set up. I am looking to set up a new one in a 256mb jump drive. Thanks for the refresher.
You’re welcome!
Some videos I have watched on this topic do go on a bit and can be difficult to extract the basic info I need/want. Yours does not and is to the point with clear instruction, brilliant thank you.
Awesome, thank you!
LOVE that we get to see Forrest through the whole video! Nice touch!
Great information. This is exactly what I was looking for.
Perfect video to explain how LR catalogues work. Great work.
Thanks!
As dated as this vid is, it's "EXACTLY" what I've been looking for. Thanks so much!
Great to hear!
Wow, this is another nice tutorial, thanks for sharing!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Easy to follow and straight to the point!! You are awesome !!!
You are awesome! Thanks for watching!
THANK you for de-mystifying THE most mystifying thing about Lightroom. I never understood this, until now!
You are welcome! Thanks for watching!
Wow - I just went to Amazon to find a 500GB SSD EXTERNAL unit. Slim pickin's under 250 dollars. Please recommend one to consider. I just want one that is fast and reliable. Don't worry, I won't complain if your recommendation fails in a a couple of years.
I personally love the Samsung T3 SSD's. They are awesome! www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1217667-REG/samsung_mu_pt500b_am_500gb_t3_portable_solid.html
Thank you so much, my friend. Just ordered that very one.
You are welcome! I think you'll enjoy it!
Hello, Forest! I have a question. My external hard drive is full and I need to set up a new one. I did this once before, but I do not think I did it right because it transferred all the images from the old main external hard drive to the new one. Which takes up space. I need to set up a new main hard drive but I am unsure if I should do it this way or if there is another way to set up a new external hard drive? And keep all my presets I have created etc? It's been too long since I learned this and I definitely need a refresher!
Hey Andi! Great question. Go ask it over on community.rmsp.com as it's much easier to help over there as we can share screenshots, and talk back and forth without the RUclips comments getting in our way.
@@forestchaput OKay! Will do. Thanks!
I think it would be best practice to get into the habbit of simply opening LR normally, and selecting "Open Catalog" and having a folder with shortcuts to all your catalogs in one place.
Its a few years later now so maybe they have improved this.
Thanks that was really clear and helpful.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you so much, finally I understand how to it to externe
Glad it helped!
Great stuff. I think that this just solved my problem of not being able to find the photos on my external hard drive. It must have opened up another catalogue stored on my internal hard drive.
I'm so glad it was helpful for you!
Exactly what I have been looking for, thank you! Well done. I have been thinking I would like to use an external drive exclusively for my Lightroom Catalog. I also want to remove the catalog from my computer and use the external drive version exclusively. Or, could I use my NAS for the catalog? I have all my photos on the NAS. Will the Lightroom Catalog work from a network drive?
Thank you for any thoughts on my questions. Kind regards.
Great question! You can’t actually store a catalog on a NAS as Adobe won’t actually allow it.
I would recommend storing the catalog on your internal HD and the photos on the NAS which it sounds like you’re doing already 👍
@@forestchaput Great reply, thank you! I’ll keep doing what I’m doing?
Yep! I think you’re on the right track. With a NAS it usually makes the most sense to store the catalog on the internal. That way you can make Smart Previews (you should look those up) of the images you want to be able to edit when you’re away from home! Super seamless solution!
@@forestchaput Thank you again. Does Lightroom allow me to remove Smart Previews? They take a lot of space and I don’t use most from years past? In I don’t ever edit images away from my office, where the NAS is located.
Thanks in advance.
AM
Yep. You can create them and remove them as needed.
Excellent, wish I would have seen this sooner! Now that I have the new catalog established and selected, I have a photos directory and subdirectories on that same external hdd, do I import those into that newly created catalog? The import is chomping at the bit to import all the photos, my only hesitation is I'm seeing the destination as "My Catalog" with an onboard (not external) HDD icon after it, but the newly created catalog is showing in the header of the LR application. MacBook default icons freak me out.
This should help! ruclips.net/video/3Ybw-COPGY4/видео.html
@@forestchaput, Thank you! So since the catalog and photos are resident on the external hdd, all I have to do is add.
What a brilliant Teacher - I shall be subscribing , young man .
Not sure whether you'll see this question but.......
If I create a new catalog on my external drive will it be empty of photos ?
It will!
Thank you for this. Straight to the point and very helpful
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it!
If i export my catalog to a hard drive as a backup for 2023 images, am i going to have full access to the files? on another computer? I'm planning on having one catalog a year (2023,2024..)
You can set the default when opening Lightroom to give you a list of catalogues to open, plus the option of creating a new or opening one not listed
Yes you can! That's a great way to do it! Alternatively you can make a shortcut to your catalog file and put it on your desktop for faster launching of the program.
I accidently somehow put 3 small imports into the default catalog on my MacBook instead of the catalog I always use on my external SSD but did not know it. I could not find those 3 imports on SSD and I was told to open parent folder and sync those images. That worked and they showed up on my external SSD catalog. Now there is 2 sets of photos but don’t need or want them in the catalog that’s on my Mac. Can I just delete the entire contents of that default catalog on my Mac without hurting anything or is it necessary even if it is not being used? I have not seen a video yet explaining what to do with the default catalog after setting up new one on external SSD.
Help and Thank You.
Really nicely done vid on this image management side of Lightroom. I have to say that Adobe has made this aspect of the application a hot mess. Why is this completely unlike the Photoshop? That's another discussion. Well done and thank you.
Totally agree!
Great vid! Thank you. Are you saying if you don't want to take up space on your computers hard drive you can make a catalog on an external hd so no photos are on your computer? If so, how many catalogs can you have? Do i have to make a new catalog for each time i shoot something different e.g. street photography would be one catalog and landscapes would be another? Also how would i move all my photos i already have in the one catalog to their individual catalog?
One more thing sorry, if i wanted to import some street photography would i open the street photography catalog before so that they import into that catalog?
Thanks in advanced!!
Great questions, Dean! Yes, storing your catalog(s) and photos externally can definitely clear up a lot of space on your internal hard drive. You can have as many catalogs as you want although I prefer to keep one catalog and segment my images within that catalog with Lightroom "Collections." Other photographers will create different catalogs for different subject matter or events, the choice is yours! To import images into another catalog, first create the new catalog, then open the new catalog. Once inside, go to "File -> Import from another catalog" and select the old catalog you are wanting to import from. That will allow you to get images from one catalog into another. As for importing, yes, whichever catalog is open when you hit the import button will be the catalog that the images are imported into!
Rocky Mountain School of Photography thank you very much!
I loved your video, good information and I will definitely add this to my workflow. However, I need to move my current catalog because it is in the picture folder on my system hard drive and its taking up room. How do I move that catalog to an external hard drive and then reconnect it to lightroom? Thank you in advance.
Great question! You can actually just move the entire "Lightroom" folder that the catalog lives in from the pictures folder to the external HD. Once it's moved over, just double click the catalog file inside that folder living on your external. Just like that you will be done!
Great info, thanks a ton!!!
Glad it was helpful!
From the bottom of the left if you are in the library module select import or export then you will see copy, move or add
straight to the point!! thank you!
Thanks!
you're an excellent teacher, thank you !!!
Thank you!
Maybe be a dumb question. But If I have made a new Catelog in my external disk, and I import new photos using this catelog, will they be imported into a folder on that external disk as well? Because I created a new catelog, but when I imported photos from my SD card into Lightroom, it imported them into Anne folder that is on my Computer Hard Drive. Which defeats the purpose of my external hard drive.
Question-- in order to use a hard drive for the catalog does the hard drive need to be plugged in at all times? Also, if this is the case and I have a new hard drive for every new calendar year- I will need a new catalog for every calendar year as well, correct?
Yep and yep!
When adding pics into Lightroom Classic for a SD on a MAC, can you also put them into TWO external hard drives at the same time?
Yes! When importing, turn on “Make a Second Copy” and specify where you want that copy to go. Alternatively, use Carbon Copy Cloner to do a hard drive backup when the import is complete.
This was so helpful! Thank-you!
I'm glad it was helpful!
Since I have my LRC catalogue and raw images on my external ssd, what happens in time when that external ssd is full and I need to start another ssd?
Great question! You would buy a larger SSD, copy everything over to the new drive, and be sure the new drive is named the EXACT same as your old one. As far as Lightroom is concerned the new drive will appear just like the old one and you will be all set!
thank you sooo much for this video! it took me several videos to find how to start editing photos on my external hard drive. Do you have one for adobe photoshop?
Glad I could help!
Thanks man! As always, when I’m struggling with a LR technical question, I inevitably end up on one of your videos. Quick question: if I want to, at least for now, just have one LR catalog, can I have it referencing photo files on different drives? i.e. Can I keep most of my photo folders on an external HD but keep my most recent photo folders that I’m actively working with (and syncing to Adobe cloud via Collections) on my internal drive, but have them all referenced by my single LR cat file? Thanks again for all the help as always...
You sure can! One catalog can reference images on multiple locations. I personally have most of my files on an external being referenced and another few on my internal that I keep there so they will be backed up to the cloud.
Right, OK great. That seems like the system I’m heading towards once my gig of Adobe cloud storage (and MacBook HD) have filled up. Do you keep Smart Previews on the internal drive for all your images that AREN’T on the internal HD so you can reference them or do light edits when not connected to your external drive, or is this all on a desktop so it doesn’t matter anyway? (Also, any recommendation for a big fast SSD to start using as my main working storage for LR?) Thanks again. Nobody does better what you do on this channel.
Thank you!
I sometimes use Smart Previews although I find carrying around a small SSD to be easy enough to not warrant the size Smart Previews take up on my internal.
I would look at the Samsung T5 drives. They are the gold standard in external SSDs.
Rocky Mountain School of Photography Great, thanks so much man!
now I don't know how to get back to my old Lightroom thanks a lot
Nicely explained, however I am unclear how I can start from scratch. This is, is it possible to install lightroom catalog from the start on an external drive? I would like to install the Lightroom program files on my C: drive (windows) and the supplementary files - the catalog plus whatever else is required - on the external drive. Any suggestions? Tony
Yep! Just open Lightroom and go to File->New Catalog. That will let you put it wherever you want!
@@forestchaput Many Thanks!
What if you just want to store the photos automatically to a different drive but keep the application local? i.e. LR on an SSD so it can run faster but photos saved to drive z or whatever...
Thank you so much I think I understand it alot better now
You are welcome!
Thank you for this video.
Before buying LR, I have already organised my photos in my external hard drives by year/dates and events. Some of the latest sets are on my PC organised in the same way.
[Some of these photos are old ones - (1) scanned from films and (2) old Photos. Meta data of these sets will not have the dates, camera and other information.]
It looks like this video has all the information I need.
I do not wish to move or copy the photos from where they are now.
Only thing I need to do is to create a Catalog and tell LR where the photos are. How do I tell LR where the photos are?
When I connect external drives (not all at the same time) I get different drive letters.
(1)Would it be ok to copy the Catalog from one drive to another outside LR using the operating system.
(2) Would this work with different drive letters?
Thanks again.
0. To import photos that already live where you want them and you simply want to add them to Lightroom just use the "Add" option when importing. This will leave them where they are but add them to your Lightroom catalog so that you can work on them.
1. Yes, catalogs can be moved without issue (assuming Lightroom isn't open and running when you move them).
2. You will want to be sure each hard drive has one and only one drive letter. Check this video to learn how to do that: ruclips.net/video/RVCdjSCk5Jc/видео.html
Thank you very much for the quick response.
This is what I am going to do with my three external HDs.
(1) Create drive letters for them.
(2) Create a new catalog in one drive.
(3) Copy the catalog created to other two drives.
That sounds great except you will only want one copy of the catalog. Choose a drive to store it on (it could even be the internal) and keep it there. Multiple copies of the same catalog can cause some issues.
Thanks.
I am used to having one original and two copies. That is the advice I was given to have a proper backup system. Thought that is a sound advice and would do the same with LR Catalogs. If one becomes corrupted I will have two backups to rely on.
Yes, definitely a good idea! I thought you meant you were going to have three catalogs that were all copies of one another and you were going to use different ones each time you used Lightroom. You are on the right track!
I did exactly as you said and created the new catalog, but when I import new photos they are going to my picture folder on my laptop instead of my external
That's a common question! Make sure when you're importing that you set the "Destination" to be on the external hard drive. By default, the import dialog box will always import into the Pictures folder on the internal hard drive.
Great video. So if I do this can I then take that external hard drive to a different computer and open up the catalog on the other computer?
Yep!
I’m so confused because when I click pictures and click Lightroom I have a ton of Lightroom catalog’s? What do I do?
I have LR 6 on a Windows 10 laptop and I don't see those files you mentioned in the first part of this video. I only have a folder named Lightroom Previews.Irdata and a file named Lightroom. In your video where you explain how to create a new catalog, it looks completly different on my laptop. I would like to store all my original pictures on an external HD and like to exchange my LR catalog between my laptop and desktop PC.
Awesome! I'd love to help. It will look a bit different Mac to PC but the process should be mostly the same. Are those two things you described inside a folder called "Lightroom" located in your Pictures folder?
Hi. Thanks for your quick reply! What would be the best workflow working with LR if I store all my original pictures on an external HD and switching between my Windows 10 laptop and my Windows 7 desktop PC? By the way, those things I described are inside a folder called LR. I managed to create a LR catalog on my external HD. I also created a folder on my external HD where I store all my original pictures in. During import I have chosen for the minimal preview instead of 1:1. Is this a good workflow working with LR?
That's a perfect workflow! Just make sure during import that you have the destination set to be that folder you created on your external hard drive. The photos need to be sent there on import. Other than that, you should be all set! One thing to keep in mind is that you need to always launch the catalog by double clicking on it on the external hard drive. Otherwise you may end up launching into the wrong catalog on either of your computers. If you always launch LR by double clicking on the catalog, you will be good to go!
Ok thanks! By the way, under Preferences in LR in the General tab you can chose which catalog LR should open when LR starts. I have read that it is always better to use 1:1 preview when you import pictures? Is that true, or better chose minimal preview?
Question: I have MacBook Pro & 6tb WD MyCloud Mirror. I would like to keep as much storage as possible on NAS. I also have unlimited storage through my FTP host I'd like to direct a backup to. What would you say is best set up? Any input from anyone is appreciated
Excellent tutorial. I just bought a macbook air and i have a couple questions.
I'm going to use lightroom on it using this method.
What happens if for some reason one day I don't want to carry the hard drive with me and I want to import 50-100 photos and then I want to have them in my external hard drives catalog? how do I move them without duplicating or making a new catalog?
another question, I used Windows in the last few years, would I be able to use my catalogs from there?
Great questions! If you want to sometimes work without the hard drive plugged in, the best thing to do is create a small temporary catalog on your internal hard drive. Use that while you are away, then merge that smaller catalog into your main catalog on the external when you are back with your external hard drive. When you merge the two catalogs, the process is super simple. Just open the main catalog (on the external) and go to File > Import From Another Catalog. Select the smaller, temporary catalog and you should be good to go!
Lastly, yes, your Windows catalogs will work totally fine on a Mac.
Rocky Mountain School of Photography awesome! Great answer and I will definitely do this. I’m subscribing to your channel. Thanks a lot
Thank you for the sub!
How is your Macbook Air performing in Lightroom ? i am thinking of getting the 2017 I5 8g/256g model
Does "Importing From Another Catalog" also move the actual photo files to the external drive? Or will the imported files stay on the internal hard drive and be referenced by the main catalog in that location?
Hi. We just bought an IMac. We are two users and both have LR/PS accounts on our laptops. How can we both work on the IMAC on our own accounts?
That depends, do you want to be able to edit the same set of images or different images?
Thanks mate, very helpful
Glad we could help!
after i do this am i able to delete liightroom from my computer and js work with the hardrive?
You can delete your old catalog from the internal, but not the program itself.
How about a networked HDD like NAS drives?
Unfortunately a Lightroom Catalog can't live on a networked drive. It's a bummer!
whould this take up space on my computer or would it go to the external drive
The program would take up space on your internal. The catalog and images would be stored on the external.
Hi! Great video!
But I´m running into some problems.
I have a new Macbook Pro, and an external SSD drive, formatted to "Mac OS extended (case sensitive, journaled)". The drive is currently being used only for Time Machine and have lots of space.
When mounted to the Mac, the disk doesn´t seem to show in Lightroom (by default), and when I chose File, Create catalog, and choose the external drive, chosse a name for it, this is the massage I´m getting:
"Lightroom cannot create a catalog named “PTs catalog” on volume “/Volumes/BiggieSmall/PTs catalog” because Lightroom cannot save changes to this location."
Do I have to format the external drive and make it another file system?
Or what could be the reason for this message?
Okay; quick update.
I found the solution: Before starting the process in Lightroom, I manually made a folder on the external drive that I called Pictures. Then I did the steps from the video, and had no problems creating the catalog.
I guess (as I´m no expert) that Lightroom or the external drive wouldn´t let me create a file on the root level on the disk. I might be terribly wrong, but that´s my guess :-D
That's strange, I've never heard of that problem before but I'm glad you found a solution!
I am having the same problem! I will test out what you did. I hope it works!
On mac its still creating a folder in the macintosh HD , even tough I opened the catalog created on my external hd
Hmmm. Are you sure that's not the old Lightroom folder from before you made the new catalog?
The video isn't explain it correctly. When you select ''import'' , at the right hand side will show up a destination folder where you want the files to be imported to. If you don't select the correct folder it doesn't matter if you have created your catalog on your external hd , your files will be imported to ''Pictures'' folder inside your Macintosh HD even tough you have created a new catalog on the external hd.
Yep! You are exactly right. Lightroom will always try to import images to your internal hard drive, regardless of where your catalog is located. That's why it's super important to check the import destination each time you import photos. Once you change the destination once though, Lightroom *should* remember that new location as the default however that doesn't always happen. I find that it reverts back to the internal every so often.
Would this help with performance issues ? i'm using a surface pro(4) and it used to run really crisp and the more I use lightroom it seems to be getting a little slower. Such as when I use the sliders or anything it takes about 3 seconds for it to reflect the difference onto the picture.
Hmmmm. That's strange. It might help. Has your computer gotten slower in general or do you just notice the speed decrease when using Lightroom?
Just on lightroom. Everything else seems to run normally. So for example I was just on it a few min ago and even switching pictures after editing one took it about 4 seconds to switch over.
Okay. Are there any pending updates for Lightroom? You can check by going to Help -> Check for Updates within Lightroom. If not, I would run through this great list Adobe made on how to optimize the performance of Lightroom. It's very comprehensive and can go a long way to making Lightroom run a lot faster. I bet your catalog just slowed down through normal use and not because of any problem. helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/optimize-performance-lightroom.html
Sorry, I think the problem in LR folder itself. It is grows in size, because Catalogs Previews and Smart Previews created at the time of importing the new images to a catalog. In my case, all the images sit on external hard drive, but the LR Catalog on a computer hard drive. Lately, by importing huge amount of new photos, I notice rapid decrease of Free space on my computer. The question is, what to do? What happens if I remove Catalogs Previews and Smart Previews from LR folder on my computer's hard drive? The task for me is to move LR from one computer to another but keep images and LR catalog(s) on an external hard drive. Catalog Preview 27 gb
Smart Preview 70gb
Great question. I would move my catalog to my external hard drive to save space on the internal. Here's a video on how to do that: ruclips.net/video/3H6w6UdSEAQ/видео.html
HELP? I'm trying to create catalogue on External HD... 4tB ext with Thunderbolt connection. -- Getting msg: Lightroom Catalogs can not be opened on network volumes, removable storage, or read only volumes Lightroom cannot create a catalog named “Heather ExtHD Lightroom Catalogue” on volume “/Volumes/LaCie/Heather ExtHD Lightroom Catalogue” because Lightroom cannot save changes to this location. ---
Hmmmm. It sounds like your hard drive might be formatted incorrectly. Do you have other things on that hard drive, or is it empty?
Hi - It's a LaCie... I have done a backup/TimeMachine to it... I've just moved my catalogue file over to external drive, and have just manually linking to the missing photos from each dated photo folder... BUT... now I'm trying to make sure all my files are properly named.. I feel I've made it harder than it needs to be as your video was nice and straightforward, but I had that error message...
QUESTION - In the Navigator, should the "folder triangles" be solid / does it mean something if the triangle is dotted?
That's okay. It will all work out in the end! Just might take a bit more time to get organized. I'm glad you got the catalog moved over. Sometimes Lightroom is a little strange on where it let's you store things.
It's no problem at all having a dotted triangle, just depends on the organization structure.
This video is very helpful thank you. Just have a question. I have watched so many different videos on this topic but still can't find one that I am truly looking for.
Problem: I have two computers. One desktop and one laptop. Preferably I work on my desktop but on occasion need to edit on the go. Lightroom does not allow 2 copies of the exact same (syncing) profiles/programs on 2 computers. Just one computer and one mobile device (ie ipad or phone).
and this is where it gets so complicated and disrupts my whole workflow.
So I have an external hard drive, with my catalog set up the way you and most videos suggest. And when I want to work, I open my catalog from my external HD. Okay good so far...but then al my presets, brush tool presets, export presets any special tool basically that I have created on one computer is obviously not on the other so to remember all these settings and recreate them is tedious.
Do you have any suggestions regarding a workflow for this where If I am working from my external hard drive that everything always backs up and saves onto my HD so that I don't have to go look for all these folders of Lightroom, copy and paste them on my hard drive, under the right folders and then open/install them again on my other device.
Please help me.
Hi Rene,
I think the solution is simpler than you may think. I think your workflow sounds great, I would just change one preference and you should be all set. Go to the "Presets" tab in Lightroom's preferences. Once there, turn on "Store Presets with this Catalog". This will make it so that the presets are stored on the external hard drive with the catalog and not on your internal hard drive.
This will ensure that your presets are the same on all of your computers!
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Hi,
Thank you so so much! As easy as that :D so will it also save any brush tools, adjustment layers, export data (basically everything LR uses to operate) automatically save it on my external HD instead of my internal HD.
Once again, really appreciate this video and your help.
You're welcome! Glad I could help.
Hello again, question, is there a way to install Photoshop to an external hard drive? Would I have to create a catalogue too? Thank you
Great question! Photoshop doesn't use a catalog so no worries. I don't think you can install it on an external HD though. I'm fairly sure that the Creative Cloud application manager will only allow local installations.
according to what I see I my mac, once I create a new catalog, lightroom will open that new one from the dock because it was the last one I was using.
This is true unless you click that icon without your external hard drive plugged in. If you do that, Lightroom can get confused and open the incorrect catalog.
Hi there Rocky will lightroom work on a old laptop with 2 gb ram and 2 ghz cpu. cheers bill
I don't think so. Here are the minimum specs for Lightroom. helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/system-requirements.html
much appreciated you are a champ
How would you import photos into lightroom on that same external hard drive?
Rene Cortez create a new catalog on the hard drive and import into that hard drive selecting import from another catalog while in the library module
i DON'T KNOW HOW TO CONTINUE USING lIGHTROOM USING NEWLY CREATED CATALOGUE? DO I HAVE TO IMPORT ALL FOLDERS/PHOTOS AGAIN TO ACCESS THEM??
If you make a new catalog it will be empty by default. You would use the "Import" function to add new images to it.
Suppose my whole PC got super slow due to various problems( say old hardware), I bought new latest system and installed fresh Lightroom. My question is it possible to copy past my Lightroom Catalog from my retiring PC?(so that I can see my previous work on new PC)
Definitely! All you need to do is move the catalog to your new computer via a flash drive or external hard drive and you'll be all set!
Whoops - I guess i have another question....I'm confused again.
I have ordered a Samsung external drive - great - but in the meantime I am trying to understand file management a little better, and have obviously misunderstood something. ( I hope this question is somehow related to your video, but it may not be - sorry). My catalog location in my Mac User>Pictures>Lightroom folder is where I've decided to put all my future .lrcat files (I will use [address].lrcat, since I do real estate photography and want a separate lrcat for each address).
What I did, was to create a new catalog, "123MainStreet" and then click import without any quick adjustments, select the images I want to develop, click develop, make some adjustments, and then synch those adjustments to all selected images, THEN EXPORT as jpegs to a specific folder (a subfolder named for the address in my documents folder) -- and guess what happens?!
All the selected developed image files were placed in the folder I wanted them in (user>documents>123MainStreet) AND ALSO in the Pictures>Lightroom folder where the .lrcat file is. Why did it place full-sized file copies in BOTH folders???? I really do not want anything but Lightroom's lrcat files in the Pictures>Lightroom folder. Besides, it is a waste of space to have two exact copies of the same files.
I'll bet you know instantly what I did wrong. Thanks for any help or comments.
The images in the Pictures->Lightroom folder were copied there when you imported the images off of the memory card. The images in the Documents folder got there when you exported them (I imagine that was your export location).
My recommendation is to ALWAYS keep the images that were imported into the Pictures folder. Leave those there and don't ever touch them. As for the exported images, I would deliver them to a client or put them on the web (whatever you are planning to do with them) and then delete them from the documents folder. If you ever need them again, you can simply re-export them from the associated Lightroom catalog.
Hopefully that makes sense.
Thank you so much for your reply! I DO see what you mean - the images are indeed different in the two places. One set is not edited, and the other, exported set IS edited.
Sorry to be so dense here - but in actuality I was not using an SD card for this test; I just navigated to a different folder on the computer where my out-of-camera files are placed. It helps me organize to put the specific raw files needed from the camera into a separate space (usually temporarily) so I can go through them closely in Bridge first. I do that for two reasons: (1) because out of the 100+ images for a listing, I delete at least 25% before doing any sort of edit; and (2) my SD cards typically have three or four different sessions on them before I re-format them. In short, the BEGINNING/original images were from a folder on the computer rather than a memory card.
Either way, I still don't "get" why the un-edited images went to the Lightroom and the edited/adjusted images went where I wanted them to? Like I said, just dense. Can you suggest a different approach, please? By that, I mean I don't want the UNedited picture files in the Lightroom folder, but only in my original out-of-camera folder. I was under the impression Lightroom only made a small data copy of each image anyway. Please forgive me if I am asking the wrong questions or using the wrong terms. Thanks, again.
how come I cannot find picture folder in finder section.
Apple hides it by default now. Go to Finder -> Preferences. Then, on the "Sidebar" tab put a check on the Pictures folder option.
Can I delete the default Catalog from my Macbook HD?
Yes you can!
THANKSSSSSS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have nice day
You are welcome!
Rocky Mountain School of Photography what about photoshop
Hi I just found your video. I just got the Lightroom subscription 2 days ago and me being the UNtechie person that I am opened my Lightroom and decided I wanted to play. All of my pictures and particularly the raw files that I wanted to experiment on are on my external hard drive. I selected 3 images and imported them and worked on one feeling quite content with myself...only to wake up the next day trying to open up Lightroom on my laptop and it saying I don't have enough space on my laptop's hard drive to run Lightroom...I think Lightroom somehow copied EVERYTHING from my external hard drive into itself including videos and somehow made them uncompressed...I gave my laptop to my boyfriend where he uninstalled Lightroom and the Adobe Cloud and reset my laptop to how it was before I downloaded Lightroom....I'm not sure what I did wrong...
That's strange. Lightroom shouldn't do anything without you asking it to. I wonder how close your internal hard drive was to being full before you started using Lightroom? The program itself does take up a bit of space and maybe that put your internal over the edge of being full.
Ahhhhh, thank you so, so, so, very much...
great info
Thank you!
Excelllent !
Forrest is hot. Also wish I woulda known this a long time ago!!!!! 😜
wish you had explained in what situations one should create a new catalog, why move the catalog to external drive, is it necessary, how to move photos between catalogs, etc ...jumped ahead too quickly.
i just want to access my external drive through lightroom, not make a catalog.
Thank you!
You are welcome!
I’m so confused 😫😫😫
whhhhhyyyyyyyyyy !!!!! if somebody could tell me how to get my old catalog back that would be great I don't know why I did this. I really wish I didn't make a new catalog now all my pictures are gone
Hello! Sorry about any confusion that our video may have caused. Because this video is directed toward a beginner, we can see how it could cause some confusion if you’re walking through the process after using LR for a while! The good news is that I’m sure your old catalog isn’t actually gone. Your pictures should be safe. What you can do to find the old catalog is go to your Pictures folder on your computer and look for the “Lightroom” folder. Inside you should find a catalog file that ends in .lrcat. If you double-click that file to open it, you should see your images.
If you would indeed prefer to move the old catalog to the external hard drive, you can select the entire “Lightroom” folder inside of your Pictures folder and move it to your external hard drive. Then, just delete the other catalog folder you created on the hard drive because of this video. That should clean it all up!
(This is to old) Rocky Mountain School of Photography is correct, not old for Lightroom Classic.
No it's not. Everything in this video still applies to Lightroom Classic. Not sure what you mean?
@@forestchaput You are right! My apologies. Can you do one for the Current lightroom?
title of the video was misleading and I'm doing things that I don't need to do wtf?
I followed your advice to a T and now all my new files are corrupt and I've lost hundreds and hundreds of photos!!
I don't understand WHY supposedly technical people just don't get it. Your title states "How to Set Up Lightroom Classic CC on an External Hard Drive" NOT HOW TO SETUP A CATALOG! TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.
I’m not sure what you mean? This video walks through the process of creating a new catalog on an external hard drive, just like the title states. Sorry if you didn’t like it.
YOU"RE still missing it. I am wanting to put the PROGRAM on an external hard drive. That means LR and PS would be on NOT on the computer but on an external hd.
Ahh. Gotcha. Because of how little space the program takes on a computer, I find most people want to put the catalog on an external and leave the program on the internal. You run into a lot of speed issues as well storing the program externally. I also don’t know if it’s possible on a Mac. You can do it on a PC though! Sorry for the misunderstanding.
I had 1tb on my old computer that crashed. I just bought a new i7 windows but it only has 128gb SSD drive. After installing Office and Outlook and McAfee I only have 78GB left. I love the speed of the SSD drive but worried about space. It would simplify things by installing LR and PS on my G drive the external drive with all my 10,000+ photos. If I can't or it causes issues I am still within my window or returning the laptop and I will just get the hard drive. slower 1TB
Thanks so much for your replies.
No good. This is form moving the catalogue NOT the program.
You can’t move the program, it has to stay on the internal.