Question for Mac Users: I am thinking about installing a new processing program and putting it on my external hard drive because of space issues. If I do, will Lightroom, on my...

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I am thinking about installing a new processing program and putting it on my external hard drive because of space issues. If I do, will Lightroom, on my internal drive, recognize it as a plug-in? I have heard that it probably will not. Does anyone have any experience with this situation?

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

jaymatt wrote:

I am thinking about installing a new processing program and putting it on my external hard drive because of space issues. If I do, will Lightroom, on my internal drive, recognize it as a plug-in? I have heard that it probably will not. Does anyone have any experience with this situation?

John,
I have two external drives (one for general backup and one for photos). I have a MacBookPro and when the external drive is installed according to the instructions, it became an icon on my monitor display. I load all shots to the external drive and from there into LightRoom.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

UTMike wrote:

John,
I have two external drives (one for general backup and one for photos). I have a MacBookPro and when the external drive is installed according to the instructions, it became an icon on my monitor display. I load all shots to the external drive and from there into LightRoom.

I have the external drive icon on my desktop; what do yo think about putting the new program there?

JennT Loc: South Central PA

I have a 2.11T I Mac 27 inch 2017 model. with 1.98 TB free
----everything else in on external hard drives

I use the subscription LR classic and photoshop ---
Works for me!

barryb Loc: Kansas

what is your processing program? I have a MacBook Pro, multiple external drives plus time machine backup drive, but not sure if I would put a major program on an external drive, as that could possibly slow the program down.

Wallen Loc: Middle Earth

jaymatt wrote:

I am thinking about installing a new processing program and putting it on my external hard drive because of space issues. If I do, will Lightroom, on my internal drive, recognize it as a plug-in? I have heard that it probably will not. Does anyone have any experience with this situation?

Did i read it right, you wanted to put a software on the external drive? If it is a portable app/software, no problem it should work. If not, you might have issues, specially when you insert it on another port as it will become a different address.

External drives are meant to increase storage space, not operating system/installed software space.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Wallen wrote:

Did i read it right, you wanted to put a software on the external drive? If it is a portable app/software, no problem it should work. If not, you might have issues, specially when you insert it on another port as it will become a different address.

External drives are meant to increase storage space, not operating system/installed software space.

I’m thinking about putting Luminar 4 on the external drive because of space issues on my Mac.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

You can put the data where you want but my experience is MacOS wants the programs to be in /Applications.

jbk224 Loc: Long Island, NY

jaymatt wrote:

I’m thinking about putting Luminar 4 on the external drive because of space issues on my Mac.

Programs belong on the internal hard drive. They don't take up much space. The program will 'fetch/access' the file on the external drive and do all processing internally. This will be faster than having the program located on the external drive. As noted here, you can set up your files to be stored and 'referenced' on your external hard drive. If you have your original files currently stored on your internal HD; I would move them to an external drive-- creating more space. Be sure to follow the protocol for relocating the files and then re-syncing them with your current PP program.

ABJanes Loc: Jersey Boy now Virginia

jaymatt wrote:

I am thinking about installing a new processing program and putting it on my external hard drive because of space issues. If I do, will Lightroom, on my internal drive, recognize it as a plug-in? I have heard that it probably will not. Does anyone have any experience with this situation?

It may not be that expensive to swap out your hard drive for something larger. I did it with my last MacBookPro.

ABJanes Loc: Jersey Boy now Virginia

jaymatt wrote:

I am thinking about installing a new processing program and putting it on my external hard drive because of space issues. If I do, will Lightroom, on my internal drive, recognize it as a plug-in? I have heard that it probably will not. Does anyone have any experience with this situation?

https://www.lifewire.com/upgrading-macs-drive-2260371

jims203 Loc: Connecticut

Install a 512 or 1TB Solid State hard drive inside your computer. Have all applications on that drive. Since the operating system and programs are in “ram” it will run 10x faster. Keep your images on an external drive but the Lightroom catalogue must be on the internal drive too. You will be amazed at the better performance. Your plug-ins and Luminar all need to be on your internal drive for them to work.

photomax

jaymatt wrote:

I am thinking about installing a new processing program and putting it on my external hard drive because of space issues. If I do, will Lightroom, on my internal drive, recognize it as a plug-in? I have heard that it probably will not. Does anyone have any experience with this situation?

I am a Mac user, using Catalina and I have a 2T G-drive ssd that works fine with Lightroom for me.

jbk224 Loc: Long Island, NY

jaymatt wrote:

I am thinking about installing a new processing program and putting it on my external hard drive because of space issues. If I do, will Lightroom, on my internal drive, recognize it as a plug-in? I have heard that it probably will not. Does anyone have any experience with this situation?

Some questions:
1. Do you have your Raw and/or .jpg files stored on your internal hard drive?
2. If so, how big is the folder?
3. What model computer do you have?
Jon

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

jaymatt wrote:

I have the external drive icon on my desktop; what do yo think about putting the new program there?

Apparently, you can do this, although I've heard that you can't. This guy says it will work fine.

https://www.quora.com/On-Mac-OS-can-I-install-applications-on-a-removable-drive