neillaubenthal

I'm currently using an internal drive catalog on my Mac Studio and a different one on my laptop…which necessitates an export/import after I get home from a trip. I'm considering switching to going to a single catalog on an external SSD and move it back and forth when I'm on the road to eliminate that cycle. I would keep the catalog, current year images, and Smart Previews on the SSD and older year photos on an external OWC RAID…this is what I'm currently doing with the Studio since its internal drive is too small for all the originals anyway.

The internal drives are slightly faster of course…but since I would be using a Thunderbolt external SSD it's not a significant shortcoming.

Backups aren't an issue for me either as a long time IT sysadmin. I've got plenty of backups at home and on the road will continue to carry a pair of Samsung T7s to backup the external SSD just like it's currently backing up the internal SSD catalog and on the road originals.

I know that both methods work and think I've figured out all the pros and cons of both methods…but figured it was worth asking to see if anybody had tried this and found a show stopper that sent them back to the dual catalog approach. I would be using one of the rugged OWC external SSDs for the catalog and current year images and the same pair of T7s I'm already using on the road…and at home everything gets backed up via Time Machine, CarbonCopyCloner jobs to other externals and the attached RAID, and BackBlaze of course so I'm not really concerned with taking the master catalog on the road as there will always be an up to date copy as of the day I left back at home.

Thanks.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

As a long time system admin person, you are asking UHH members?

I follow the Adobe forums and, other than some speed degradation, there appears to be no reason that you can't keep the catalog on the same external you have your images on.

I recall that the current subscription allows you to install Lightroom on as many machines as you have. It only allows you to be "logged in" on two at a time and, in the contract, you've agreed to use one at a time.

Please tell us here how well it works!

MJPerini

What you propose is exactly what I do, and as long as you are disciplined about proper backup, works better than trying to sync two machines.
This is especially true with the latest M2 flash SSD’ like those from OWC. There is no discernible difference in speed vs internal.

In my own case, the majority of my travel is between two homes ( main residence & one at the ocean) what I have landed on is 1 very fast external working drive with backups in both locations & cloud. Because I used to travel to other locations more I created a travel backup that is easy to carry. I can (usually) access the cloud while traveling as well. I’ve never lost a picture .( not because I have never had a mishap but because I’m careful about backup)
Good luck

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I have multiple catalogs and their associated image files stored on multiple external drives. I've found no issues in five years of doing that. Backup is annoying, but necessary...

Cameralark Loc: Torrington, CT

When I read your post it sounded like me writing it. For several years I have been doing almost exactly as you do. I have two homes and do a lot of foreign travel. I use one catalog that resides on a 4TB Samsung T7. My previews and cache also reside on that drive. I currently have two years of images on that drive. I have a second 4TB Samsung T7 that is for backing up which I do using Goodsync. I travel with a MacBook Pro to my second home and while traveling. At my primary residence I have a Mac Studio. When switching from one machine to the other all I need to do is plug in the main 4TB T7. It is best to open the catalog from within it rather than from the Lightroom icon on your desktop. That way you always know you are opening the correct catalog.

When I shut down Lightroom I back-up the catalog to whichever machine I am on.
I also have two 14TB drives for my other images, one of which I keep in my primary residence and the other in my second residence.

In addition I use Smugmug to cloud store images I have rated 3 and above in Lightroom.

This system works seamlessly and I do not detect any slowdown from keeping the catalog and images on the external drive.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I was going to mention backup but I see Bill already touched on that. Presuming you have some sort of automatic backup software on your desktop, that's the place to leave the external drive when you don't need it in the field just to make sure everything is backed up.

The advantage of an external drive is that when your external drive gets too small you just copy it to a larger external and give it the same name so the path is no different. The old drive can be used for an additional backup or repurposed for other data. I don't consider it necessary to use an SSD for the external. The program benefits from being on an SSD but the data are not I/O bound unless you have REALLY large images (or psb files)

goldstar46 Loc: Tampa, Fl

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Dear Neill...

In your post, you wrote:
.... "I'm currently using an internal drive catalog on my Mac Studio and a different one on my laptop…which necessitates an export/import after I get home from a trip...."

My "Buring Question" to you is: "Do you do any type of BACKUP while you travel?
............... I did not see this in your post..

When I do travel, I basically, also do something similar, except it is with Windows, on a Dell i7 system which has two M.2 SSD Drives inside... Then, In addition to that, I carry a USB C, an external enclosure that contains

..."Addlink S90 Lite 4TB NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 3D NAND SSD - Read Speed up to 5000 MB"
....... Which was bought on Amazon.com...

Although I am not a trained IT pro... I am someone who has done extensive work on computers and built an average of 150-250 units per year in a non-profit I used to participate in... I too had given many thoughts on the 'theory of having my "Lightroom Live on an external Drive'.. but then decided against it for a few reasons... and let me say why...

First and foremost, your "Lightroom Operation data transfer speed' is regulated by the controller board of the external hard drive..... AND, that can vary from Brand to Brand, and from Model to Model of any given external hard drive... Just IMHO. -- And, even if you maintain the entire LRC Catalog, along with and including your current images you are working on this external hard drive... Your performance is going to be governed in your case and my case... by the actual 'transfer speed' achieved by the 'board' of the drive...

With the above said..... Speed differences in small amounts may not matter to some and that is "OK"...

I will tell you that... recently, about 6 months ago... when I was preparing for a 10-week cruise over in the E.U., I decided to buy a new DELL laptop (Precision 3571), which had two internal slots for the newer version of the M.2 SSD 2280mm form factor, and I arranged to have a 1TB in Slot 1, and, when I got the device, I bought and installed a 4TB M.2 SSD, as stated above from Amazon and put it into my Slot #2 of the laptop...

As we traveled I off-loaded my images... All LRC information, catalogs, and images were kept on the larger drive which was in Slot 2... which gave me a much faster operation... and also kept everything... LRC and images, away from the O.S. Drive should I ever have a Software Malfunction... or a hardware malfunction...

In the above, if anything ever happened, I would be able to remove "Drive 2" and put it somewhere else...

BUT, in addition to the above every day or two, I would do a complete backup from Drive 2 to my External M.2 SSD which was in the external enclosure... even though it was slower, via USB C protocols...

===
In Closing, the above operations allowed me to have the 'top speed' of internal operations of my new DELL laptop system... Keeping all systems intact... But, still gives me the protection of a 'second copy' onto the external drive... Then, when I get home, I have 'originals' on the laptop and the 2nd as a backup on the external...

NOW, at home, I am the kind of person who wants everything in one place... So, I sit down at my desktop machine... attach my above external drive... and while operating from within my LRC on the actual home desktop, I will use the "Import from another catalog" function.... which is in fact, the entire catalog residing on the 'backup drive'

My final thoughts is that with the above:
1- I travel with a laptop which has the most speed I can get,
2- By using an external M.2 SSD in the enclosure, I have a 'backup as I travel'
3- When I get home, my transfer is a 'simple' 1-step operation... and.
4- NOW, for a 'temp' period of time, I - actually - have 3 copies of all of the data for safety...

NOTE: Many years ago, I did have a hard drive failure which caused me to lose data, and I swore I would never let that happen to me again... ha ha (BTW, I also have a 25TB NAS, and I also use the Cloud) ha ha

The above is what I use, It does work for me as someone who travels extensively, and YES... There are many other ways it can be done with other methods being "OK" -- Just offing the above as "Info" for though.

I will be curious as to the thoughts of others, so I will follow this thread...

Cheers
Goldstar46
George Veazey
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DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Having a laptop in the field allows you to do backup in your travels.
You download the files from the card to the laptop. You leave the files on the card -- don't reformat the card just yet. The card becomes your backup for the originals.
If you have a desktop at home where you keep all your stuff, you can even create a temporary catalog and edit your shots in the field. If you have one laptop for everything you just do your editing there.

If you have a separate desktop at home where you keep all your images, you copy all your images to the desktop (wherever you keep your files, internal or external drive). You also download your temporary catalog to the desktop, wherever you keep your primary catalog. Open the primary catalog and merge the new photos with the old catalog.
File > Import from another catalog.

If you go with the temporary catalog, you can either do final edits at home with the temporary catalog or do the final edits on the primary catalog. I find it easier to do the final edits in a standardized environment rather than in the field, but that's me.

When you finish the final edits and get everything backed up on your primary computer, you delete the temporary catalog and the files in the field computer and reformat the card.

tcthome Loc: NJ

What is cache? Delete! Looked it up.

goldstar46 Loc: Tampa, Fl

[quote=DirtFarmer]Having a laptop in the field allows you to do backup in your travels.
You download the files from the card to the laptop.
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Dear Dirt...

.. In one of my particular occasions, I had a complete computer failure on a trip to Paris was almost 4 weeks long and I did not have enough memory cards to store the data during my travels

Because of what has happened to me in the pass, I have made arrangements to have backups to all of my backups.

I don't take a chance....

Cheers
Goldstar46
George Veazey
#####

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

I have my LrC catalogues and images on my ssd external with no problems.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I'm sure it would have been possible to buy memory cards in Paris

goldstar46 Loc: Tampa, Fl

==============================================

OK Dirt...

The above-posted incident was back in 2018 at a time when my wife and I had just started to do our extensive travels to distant foreign countries... and I was not as 'thoughtful' in my planning as I am now...

Let me add a little more context here... Yes, I did find them (cards) but it took 3 days and was an absolute inconvenience... I was traveling in a foreign country, with 3 ladies whom I had responsibility for...

Yes, I was resourceful enough to find them, but I do plan differently for my travels today...

For starters, I currently travel with 2x-1TB CFexpress cards, which I use as my 'Stay-in-Camera' card in one slot... they never get taken out, and never get formatted for the entire duration of a given Trip... I have a Canon EOS R5 with Dual Card Slots...

Next, I use slot 2 for my SD cards, which I do use for 'initial recording' and then transfer to my laptop... Sometimes I can shoot from several hundred to over several thousand images in a given day @ 46Meg for RAW...

Next, I now have about 8 SD cards which I carry that range from 128 to 256 GB... and they are kept in a pelican case.. Then, I now have my new laptop (Dell 3571) that I bought last Sept... with two M.2 SSDs, one being 1TB, and seconding being 4TB

Lastly, I now carry an external M.2 MVMe, Gen 4 SSD external, that is also used for backup...

As for me, in the above first post... I was in Paris... but most all of our trips and extended holidays are... on cruise ships... and I do not want to put up with the hassle of trying to find memory cards in some 'godforsaken' little port... like Santorini, Greece... that was during our last 10 week long Cruise of the Mediterranean Sea...


Hope that adds a little more context to my post and gives you a better understanding.. I apologize for not adding enough details...

Cheers
Goldstar46
George Veazey
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GLSmith Loc: Tampa, Fl

On both my PC (windows 11) & LapTop (MacBook Pro) my LightRoom Classic catalog is on 1 external 4TB SSD & DataBase/BackUp on a seperate 4TB SSD..No issues

neillaubenthal

Yeah…even long time sysadmins like to do the old "trust but verify" thing. I know there's no issue with putting either the catalog or images or both on any drive connected to the computer (or even on a shared drive on the network mounted on the desktop) from LR's perspective and I know that both the internal/export/import method and the external moved between multiple computers works just fine (even between macOS and Windows computers) and only have 2 computers to worry about.

I've about decided to give this a shot and see if it works better for me…there will be plenty of backup happening either way and I can always go back if I decide I like the first way better.