jacklewis014 wrote:
When Catalina was first released this Forum reported compatibility issues and errors. I run Lightroom 5 and have held off upgrading to Catalina. Does anyone know if the errors have been fixed? Is it safe to upgrade to Catalina? Thanks for the help.
Lightroom 5 will NEVER work with Catalina. If you want to use Lightroom in Catalina, you need to subscribe to the Adobe Photography Plan, available in several incarnations. The least costly is $9.99/month and includes TWO versions of Lightroom, Classic and CC, plus Photoshop CC and Bridge, and some other goodies.
Apple completely dropped compatibility with all 32-bit applications when they released Catalina. HOWEVER, there is a workaround:
Install the latest version of Parallels Desktop in Catalina. Then install (into Parallels) an earlier version of MacOS that is compatible with your version of Lightroom. Then, install Lightroom in that MacOS. To make this work, you need generous system resources, including drive space, RAM, VRAM, and so forth.
Another way to make it work is to keep your old computer on the version of MacOS that runs Lightroom 5, and buy a new Mac for everything else. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? It depends on your circumstances, wants, and needs. You might want to wait for the new Apple Silicon (non-Intel) Macs, coming over the next two years, although Intel support will be there for five years or so as they transition away from Intel chips.
ALL computer hardware and software become obsolete over time. Old systems become vulnerable to hackers when Apple or Microsoft ceases security upgrade support for them. The same is true for software applications and utilities, especially Adobe Flash (which just got updated today on my system).
My souped-up Late 2013 iMac will run Catalina, but I have yet to upgrade because my Epson Scan scanner driver loses Digital ICE support when I use Epson Scan 2 (I have both installed). Unfortunately, Catalina is the end of the line for OS upgrades, so I'll be looking to buy a new computer within the next two years. That's fine with me... Much of my software will require it, anyway.