Sometimes it feels only Adobe understands

[Zeee]

I have my entire file system of all my photographs backed up on multiple external hard drives. On my computer I have a 1TB SSD for program files and the operating system and a 2TB hard drive for the the last 5 years of photographs. How would Lightroom handle that as I switched from drive to drive?

My setup is similar, multiple hard drives for images and for backup,. external and a separate file server mapped drives.

I have read of one catalogue that was for 13 million files. I doubt all the files were on one drive. As I stated since the catalogue itself is a database there is no known limit to it.

Lightroom Classic does not care where your files are located as long as they are on local or NAS drives. In my case, I have 180,000 image files located on two different 8TB spinning drives. Those drives and the folders/files they contain show up in Lightroom Classic Library Module for navigation just like thery would in the OS. Files and folders that have not been imported will only show up in Lightroom Classic when you are in the "Import" function.

IMO if you open LrC's Library page and it knows all of the external drives it is easier to use it to move folders around instead of the OS. They are all there in front of you.

Info for others. When you plug in a new drive LrC won't recognize it because it has never worked with it. There may be other ways to do this but I just put one file into a folder. Using the OS I move that folder to the external drive and import that folder from that there. Once LrC sees where it comes from it will always remember it.

Also info for others. Using LrC to move files/folders around is not always the best option. If you are moving tens of thousands of files then it better to use the OS. Move by using the root folder. When the OS is done then go to that root folder in the LrC and it will show an exclamation mark! just right click on it and point it to where you moved it. Moving a mass amount of files is not something you do every day. I've only done that about 3 times. Moving/copying files to a new drive is one example.

 

[Zeee]

Lengthy post but in a nutshell. I have folder with the files o the desktop. I import from the desktop into LrC. I leave that folder on the desktop while I do the first major edits. When done editing using LrC I drag that folder to my external drive. That's it.

I understand but it seems more complicated than my system where I just copy files to my drives.

I drag a folder from the desktop to the LrC icon to import. I then drag that same folder to an external drive where the all the drives are in front of me to pick and choose from. Takes seconds because all my import instructions were set up long ago. Pretty easy when I compare it to the chitshow life throws at me every day, but that is just me. I'm not counting the pre-cull using DPP. That is a personal step and you can cull using LrC. I'd likely use it for DXO, C1, etc. It took me much longer to write this post that it would have to make those two moves. :-D

Again I'm not trying to convert you and never will. This is all about making sure people are getting accurate information. They can decide what is or is not complicated or what they like or don't like.

 

[Ken Seals]

I have my entire file system of all my photographs backed up on multiple external hard drives. On my computer I have a 1TB SSD for program files and the operating system and a 2TB hard drive for the the last 5 years of photographs. How would Lightroom handle that as I switched from drive to drive?

My setup is similar, multiple hard drives for images and for backup,. external and a separate file server mapped drives.

I have read of one catalogue that was for 13 million files. I doubt all the files were on one drive. As I stated since the catalogue itself is a database there is no known limit to it.

Lightroom Classic does not care where your files are located as long as they are on local or NAS drives. In my case, I have 180,000 image files located on two different 8TB spinning drives. Those drives and the folders/files they contain show up in Lightroom Classic Library Module for navigation just like thery would in the OS. Files and folders that have not been imported will only show up in Lightroom Classic when you are in the "Import" function.

IMO if you open LrC's Library page and it knows all of the external drives it is easier to use it to move folders around instead of the OS. They are all there in front of you.

Info for others. When you plug in a new drive LrC won't recognize it because it has never worked with it. There may be other ways to do this but I just put one file into a folder. Using the OS I move that folder to the external drive and import that folder from that there. Once LrC sees where it comes from it will always remember it.

Also info for others. Using LrC to move files/folders around is not always the best option. If you are moving tens of thousands of files then it better to use the OS. Move by using the root folder. When the OS is done then go to that root folder in the LrC and it will show an exclamation mark! just right click on it and point it to where you moved it. Moving a mass amount of files is not something you do every day. I've only done that about 3 times. Moving/copying files to a new drive is one example.

You lost the quoting in this post. My post included the second and third paragraphs in red. This looks like those words are yours.

 

[Zeee]

I have my entire file system of all my photographs backed up on multiple external hard drives. On my computer I have a 1TB SSD for program files and the operating system and a 2TB hard drive for the the last 5 years of photographs. How would Lightroom handle that as I switched from drive to drive?

My setup is similar, multiple hard drives for images and for backup,. external and a separate file server mapped drives.

I have read of one catalogue that was for 13 million files. I doubt all the files were on one drive. As I stated since the catalogue itself is a database there is no known limit to it.

Lightroom Classic does not care where your files are located as long as they are on local or NAS drives. In my case, I have 180,000 image files located on two different 8TB spinning drives. Those drives and the folders/files they contain show up in Lightroom Classic Library Module for navigation just like thery would in the OS. Files and folders that have not been imported will only show up in Lightroom Classic when you are in the "Import" function.

IMO if you open LrC's Library page and it knows all of the external drives it is easier to use it to move folders around instead of the OS. They are all there in front of you.

Info for others. When you plug in a new drive LrC won't recognize it because it has never worked with it. There may be other ways to do this but I just put one file into a folder. Using the OS I move that folder to the external drive and import that folder from that there. Once LrC sees where it comes from it will always remember it.

Also info for others. Using LrC to move files/folders around is not always the best option. If you are moving tens of thousands of files then it better to use the OS. Move by using the root folder. When the OS is done then go to that root folder in the LrC and it will show an exclamation mark! just right click on it and point it to where you moved it. Moving a mass amount of files is not something you do every day. I've only done that about 3 times. Moving/copying files to a new drive is one example.

You lost the quoting in this post. My post included the second and third paragraphs in red. This looks like those words are yours.

Sorry about that. Not sure how that happened. You want me to try and fix it. I won’t be home for several hours.

 

[Zeee]

I have my entire file system of all my photographs backed up on multiple external hard drives. On my computer I have a 1TB SSD for program files and the operating system and a 2TB hard drive for the the last 5 years of photographs. How would Lightroom handle that as I switched from drive to drive?

My setup is similar, multiple hard drives for images and for backup,. external and a separate file server mapped drives.

I have read of one catalogue that was for 13 million files. I doubt all the files were on one drive. As I stated since the catalogue itself is a database there is no known limit to it.

Lightroom Classic does not care where your files are located as long as they are on local or NAS drives. In my case, I have 180,000 image files located on two different 8TB spinning drives. Those drives and the folders/files they contain show up in Lightroom Classic Library Module for navigation just like thery would in the OS. Files and folders that have not been imported will only show up in Lightroom Classic when you are in the "Import" function.

IMO if you open LrC's Library page and it knows all of the external drives it is easier to use it to move folders around instead of the OS. They are all there in front of you.

Info for others. When you plug in a new drive LrC won't recognize it because it has never worked with it. There may be other ways to do this but I just put one file into a folder. Using the OS I move that folder to the external drive and import that folder from that there. Once LrC sees where it comes from it will always remember it.

Also info for others. Using LrC to move files/folders around is not always the best option. If you are moving tens of thousands of files then it better to use the OS. Move by using the root folder. When the OS is done then go to that root folder in the LrC and it will show an exclamation mark! just right click on it and point it to where you moved it. Moving a mass amount of files is not something you do every day. I've only done that about 3 times. Moving/copying files to a new drive is one example.

 

[Zeee]

I have my entire file system of all my photographs backed up on multiple external hard drives. On my computer I have a 1TB SSD for program files and the operating system and a 2TB hard drive for the the last 5 years of photographs. How would Lightroom handle that as I switched from drive to drive?

My setup is similar, multiple hard drives for images and for backup,. external and a separate file server mapped drives.

I have read of one catalogue that was for 13 million files. I doubt all the files were on one drive. As I stated since the catalogue itself is a database there is no known limit to it.

Lightroom Classic does not care where your files are located as long as they are on local or NAS drives. In my case, I have 180,000 image files located on two different 8TB spinning drives. Those drives and the folders/files they contain show up in Lightroom Classic Library Module for navigation just like thery would in the OS. Files and folders that have not been imported will only show up in Lightroom Classic when you are in the "Import" function.

IMO if you open LrC's Library page and it knows all of the external drives it is easier to use it to move folders around instead of the OS. They are all there in front of you.

Info for others. When you plug in a new drive LrC won't recognize it because it has never worked with it. There may be other ways to do this but I just put one file into a folder. Using the OS I move that folder to the external drive and import that folder from that there. Once LrC sees where it comes from it will always remember it.

Also info for others. Using LrC to move files/folders around is not always the best option. If you are moving tens of thousands of files then it better to use the OS. Move by using the root folder. When the OS is done then go to that root folder in the LrC and it will show an exclamation mark! just right click on it and point it to where you moved it. Moving a mass amount of files is not something you do every day. I've only done that about 3 times. Moving/copying files to a new drive is one example.

You lost the quoting in this post. My post included the second and third paragraphs in red. This looks like those words are yours.

Sorry about that. Not sure how that happened. You want me to try and fix it. I won’t be home for several hours.

I made a new post but I could not delete or edit the old one. I'll quote and explain to ignore it. Perhaps a mod can delete it.

 

[Zeee]

I have my entire file system of all my photographs backed up on multiple external hard drives. On my computer I have a 1TB SSD for program files and the operating system and a 2TB hard drive for the the last 5 years of photographs. How would Lightroom handle that as I switched from drive to drive?

My setup is similar, multiple hard drives for images and for backup,. external and a separate file server mapped drives.

I'm making a correction as some of the quotes got mixed up.

This next paragraph is mine.

I have read of one catalogue that was for 13 million files. I doubt all the files were on one drive. As I stated since the catalogue itself is a database there is no known limit to it.

This one is Ken Seals

Lightroom Classic does not care where your files are located as long as they are on local or NAS drives. In my case, I have 180,000 image files located on two different 8TB spinning drives. Those drives and the folders/files they contain show up in Lightroom Classic Library Module for navigation just like thery would in the OS. Files and folders that have not been imported will only show up in Lightroom Classic when you are in the "Import" function.

The rest is mine

IMO if you open LrC's Library page and it knows all of the external drives it is easier to use it to move folders around instead of the OS. They are all there in front of you.

Info for others. When you plug in a new drive LrC won't recognize it because it has never worked with it. There may be other ways to do this but I just put one file into a folder. Using the OS I move that folder to the external drive and import that folder from that there. Once LrC sees where it comes from it will always remember it.

Also info for others. Using LrC to move files/folders around is not always the best option. If you are moving tens of thousands of files then it better to use the OS. Move by using the root folder. When the OS is done then go to that root folder in the LrC and it will show an exclamation mark! just right click on it and point it to where you moved it. Moving a mass amount of files is not something you do every day. I've only done that about 3 times. Moving/copying files to a new drive is one example.

 

[Night Pixel]

Thanks folks for sharing your different organization methodologies. It is fascinating to see you many different approaches there are to a common issue.

 

[Zeee]

I wish these types of videos (link below) were available in 2011. Perhaps they were. I definitely went through this in the first two weeks trying to figure it out. I and others I've read about had to get to the point of separating the files from the catalogue in how you think/perceive it works. I'm glad I persevered because off all the catalogue system does for me. Not all wants or need cataloging which is fine.

The files are just your files and you treat them the same way you would any other developer. My workflow after setting up import instructions which is a one time event. It can be changed at any time. I will not include pre-culling, key-wording, collections, etc as those are personal and everyone has their own workflow systems.

This is my basic bare minimum workflow I all of the time.

1. I create a file on my desktop and name it based on the shooting event.

2. I get the files into that folder and drag it into the LrC icon.

3. I edit the files.

4. When done using LrC I drag that folder to the external drive where I store my files.

5. That's it.

I'm also not going to include the set up time when you first get/use LrC. Like any other new developer you take the time to explore all the features and create your workflow.

Lots of other good videos out there.

This answers some of the misunderstandings out in the world of the socials.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-catalogs-top-10-misunderstandings/

--
The Golden Grift