Tommg

I'd like to ask a LR question:
I have the newest versions of LR & PS on both my desktop pc and my laptop pc. I keep all of my pictures in a "Master Photo folder" on an internal drive dedicated only for photos, currently almost 200,000 photos ... lr catalog is stored in the same folder in a separate folder. I have a different(smaller) group of folders on my laptop with it's own lr catalog.
Yesterday I made a copy of all the photos on the desktop,along with the lr catalog, on an external HD. I would like to be able to access all of the photos on the external drive on the laptop via the external drive. I need to know how to access the photos via lr on the laptop, I'm fairly sure that I will need to use the catalog that I copied from the desktop but don't know the details of how to make that work - help, please. I'll be traveling and need to work on these files along the way.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

There's a few things that are missing from your technical details:

What OS are you using?
Have you updated your desktop to use that copied LRCAT file on your external HD?

Let's start with the external HD. I'd rename the LRCAT file to differentiate that file from whatever you left on the local HD. All you have to do is assure LR is closed, navigate to the file in the OS folder view, and rename the file, maybe adding a Dec2020 date or -master designation. Then, double-click the renamed file to launch LRc. Confirm all you images are found from the LRCAT relocated to the external HD.

If not done already, you probably need to update the highest level folder location of the images with the relocated 'master' LRCAT. This is done by opening the folder view in the LR Library, finding the highest level folder (or folders), right-clicking that folder(s), select 'Update Folder Location' and navigate / assure the folder is identified as the external HD version. If you rename the same folder on the local drive (say add an 'x' to the name), this helps to assure you're using only the external HD files.

Now for sharing, you can simply plug / un-plug the external HD between the two machines to share. A more complicated approach that applies only when working within your home network is to 'share' the drive from the primary computer so the laptop can 'see' that drive on the network. That's probably a set-up that is more complicated than a message board.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Adobe would seem to be the people to answer this. They have an extensive education/tutorial/help section.

big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada

Very easy to do. Open the cat file from the external using the laptop. LR will open and show thumbnails of all photos but will have a ? because LR does not know where your photos are. Of course they are on the external drive but LR thinks they are on the WS internal drive. Right click (or Mac equivalent) on one of the photos and choose "locate file" or equivalent vernacular. Once the single file is found, LR will then update all the missing photos with the new location and Bob's your uncle.

Now the BIG problem... once you make changes on the laptop/external the WS/internal has no way of knowing there are any changes and you end up with outdated data. You have 2 solutions and the first is to plug the external into your WS and use the internal drive as a backup. Using a sync program such as SyncBack will do the job. You also should not have to refind your files as they are still on the external with the same name... Unless you are on a PC and then you have to make sure that both WS and laptop use the same drive letter. (me, I use the letter P for photos)

The 2nd solution is to sync both in and external drives on the WS before you start working on the WS. The drawback to this is that you will probably have to refind your files if using a Mac. If using a PC then if the external is mapped as P on the laptop and you have the internal mapped as P then no problem. Of course the external on the WS will have a different letter as you can't have 2 P drives.

Special note: I strongly suggest to backup (simply make a copy somewhere other than your photos folder) the catalog before doing a sync. On occasion the sync may hiccup and your catalog gets corrupted. It happened to me but as I have multiple backups I had no problem.

Hope this helps.

wiz302pa Loc: Henderson, NV

WS ??

Tommg

Thanks for the reply, not sure I can understand all of it but I'll try.
Operating system is windows 10 latest update
My desktop has 4 internal hard drives; C: operating system and some files the computer places there on it's own. D: data drive ... only contains my personal data, no other files
P: the drive that contains only my pictures in a master folder, catalog folder, saved prints folder and ps auto recover folder F: disk that I store 1 of the backups of the picture master and 1folder for the backups of Data files

I do not plan to use the external drive that I prepared for my trip on a permanent basis ... I'll just use it on this 1 trip, don't know if that makes a difference or not. Once back from this trip I'll continue to use the master picture folder on the P: drive.

big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada

Desktop Work Station

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

So, your copied LRCAT file 'thinks' all the images are on the C: drive. To make the copies on the now P: drive the master, this is where you need to update the LR catalog / folders inside LR, as described above. By renaming the highest folder on C: from say "pictures" to "picture-x", this assures the images become "missing" inside LR until you update their location inside LR to the P: drive.

To assure this external drive is plug n play between the main desktop and the laptop, you have to connect that external drive as drive P: when connected to the laptop. You can go into drive management inside Windows as an ADMIN and make this assignment on the laptop. Google the How-To if needed.

big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada

In that case, install the external drive on the laptop as your P drive and keep the file structure the same as on the WS-internal, for example if the internal has everything inside a folder called "My Photos" and on the external you call it "Copied Pictures" then LR will be lost and you will, have to re-find all your files. Once done, then make any and all changes. When done, Copy and over write all data on your external to your WS-P drive including catalog. This should give you an up to date catalogue on your WS-P drive. Actually very simple and easy but time consuming copying all that data as you are already aware.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

The mistake is, that Lightroom is a jealous mistress, and only supports 1 way of managing files. You have to choose the images you want and export as a catalog to another folder, drive, etc. Then on your laptop, you need to import that catalog.

THis way all your edits, classifications ,folder organizations, etc remain the same.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Nonsense. Copy the files to a new target drive (your original image files and the entire folder with the LRCAT), update LR inside LR to the new drive name. Move forward with a portable drive that can be connected to multiple computers.

Pierre1965

Hi Paul,
I need help with LR and you make this all sound very simple. So much of this is beyond the scope of my abilities or willingness to apply myself to the process of learning LR as a retiree at the age of 73. I'm curious if you offer your services at a fee or hourly compensation for help with LR issues? My last version of LR is 4.4 and it has mostly served very well in the last 8 or so years. Please advise and thanks in advance for your response.

Jacques Chartier

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I sent a PM response.