Using Lightroom Classic on two computers

[bfluegie]

I’ve been editing my photos on my 5 year old Dell XPS-13 (8th generation i7) for a while now since my other option had been a 15 year old Dell studio XPS desktop (1st gen i7-920). I mostly use Lightroom Classic with occasional jumps to Photoshop. The laptop has a 4k display and the desktop has a 24” FHD Dell display. I want to transition my catalog and photos to a new tower computer but I also travel and want to do some sorting and culling on the laptop. The XPS-13 is great for travel.

Last year I purchased a Lenovo tower computer with the following specs:

• 6 GHz Intel Core i7 12-Core (12th Gen)
• 32GB of 4800 MHz DDR5 RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti (8GB GDDR6X)
• 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD

The primary use for the computer is Lightroom and Photoshop. No gaming. I originally planned to add another M.2 NVMe drive for photo storage. But given that I would like to do some work while traveling I wonder if an external SSD be a better option. I currently keep photos from the current year on my laptop internal 2TB drive, at least until I have completed post, and store older photos on a 2TB external HDD. All are also backed up to additional external drives.

I will eventually add more RAM and upgrade the monitor for the new tower computer, but for now I will use what I have. I just have been stalled out trying to decide if I should add internal storage (the existing 1TB isn’t quite enough for all my photos and other files) or go with an external SSD to be used on both computers. I don’t want to excessively slow down my performance.

Just wondering what others in similar situations do. All suggestions are welcome.

 

[mclewis]

I’ve been editing my photos on my 5 year old Dell XPS-13 (8th generation i7) for a while now since my other option had been a 15 year old Dell studio XPS desktop (1st gen i7-920). I mostly use Lightroom Classic with occasional jumps to Photoshop. The laptop has a 4k display and the desktop has a 24” FHD Dell display. I want to transition my catalog and photos to a new tower computer but I also travel and want to do some sorting and culling on the laptop. The XPS-13 is great for travel.

Last year I purchased a Lenovo tower computer with the following specs:

• 6 GHz Intel Core i7 12-Core (12th Gen)
• 32GB of 4800 MHz DDR5 RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti (8GB GDDR6X)
• 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD

The primary use for the computer is Lightroom and Photoshop. No gaming. I originally planned to add another M.2 NVMe drive for photo storage. But given that I would like to do some work while traveling I wonder if an external SSD be a better option. I currently keep photos from the current year on my laptop internal 2TB drive, at least until I have completed post, and store older photos on a 2TB external HDD. All are also backed up to additional external drives.

I will eventually add more RAM and upgrade the monitor for the new tower computer, but for now I will use what I have. I just have been stalled out trying to decide if I should add internal storage (the existing 1TB isn’t quite enough for all my photos and other files) or go with an external SSD to be used on both computers. I don’t want to excessively slow down my performance.

Just wondering what others in similar situations do. All suggestions are welcome.

This is what I would do:

Put more storage in the desktop computer. Have all the photos on this computer and the master Lightroom catalogue with everything in it. Back up with your preferred method. Use the laptop for travel and just have on it the photos taken while travelling. The Lightrrom catalogue on the laptop just has these photos in it. When back home import the travel catalogue into the master catalogue on the desktop PC.

 

[bfluegie]

This is what I would do:

Put more storage in the desktop computer. Have all the photos on this computer and the master Lightroom catalogue with everything in it. Back up with your preferred method. Use the laptop for travel and just have on it the photos taken while travelling. The Lightrrom catalogue on the laptop just has these photos in it. When back home import the travel catalogue into the master catalogue on the desktop PC.

Thanks @mclewis. That's the way I was leaning. It seems the simplest and also will allow the fastest processing on the main computer. I just tend to overthink things sometimes. Occasionally while traveling I tinker around with some of my older photos. But this isn't a usual thing. I can solve that by taking a small SSD with a backup of my photos and catalog along with me. An extra backup can't be a bad thing, and my main catalog and photos stay safe at home. I would still work on the new photos on the laptop drive with a separate catalog. On the rare occasions when I work with my older photos I can also merge those changes into my main catalog when I get home.

 

[DMKAlex]

Use the laptop for travel and just have on it the photos taken while travelling. The Lightrrom catalogue on the laptop just has these photos in it. When back home import the travel catalogue into the master catalogue on the desktop PC.

I would like to hear more about the above.

How do you transfer the laptop properties into the desktop?

Do you export the catalog on the laptop with the negative and them import it from the desktop? Do you need to copy the image file onto the desktop first?

Thanks.

 

[JerseySailor]

I would like to hear more about the above.

How do you transfer the laptop properties into the desktop?

Do you export the catalog on the laptop with the negative and them import it from the desktop? Do you need to copy the image file onto the desktop first?

Thanks.

I'm all ears for this issue too!

 

[Jim B (MSP)]

Take a good look at

How do I use Lightroom Classic on my laptop when I go on vacation? | The Lightroom Queen

With Summer fast approaching, and travel becoming easier now, many are thinking of taking a vacation. For most of us, taking photos is one of the

www.lightroomqueen.com

 

[DMKAlex]

Take a good look at

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/classic-on-vacation/

That's very helpful.

Thanks.

 

[mclewis]

Use the laptop for travel and just have on it the photos taken while travelling. The Lightrrom catalogue on the laptop just has these photos in it. When back home import the travel catalogue into the master catalogue on the desktop PC.

I would like to hear more about the above.

How do you transfer the laptop properties into the desktop?

Do you export the catalog on the laptop with the negative and them import it from the desktop? Do you need to copy the image file onto the desktop first?

Thanks.

I just copy the catalogue file to the desktop computer and use the import catalogue function. I copy the image files to the desktop computer and then as the images from the imported catalogue have broken links just tell LR where those images are.

 

[ChuckB]

I recently upgraded from LR 6.14 to LR Classic. I also bought a new laptop for travel - a Mac M1 Airbook. LRC is now installed on both my old Windows desktop and the laptop. I use an SSD to store ALL MY PHOTOS and .lrdata files so all I need to use LRC on either computer is plug in the SSD.

But, while traveling I will use only the laptop and leave the SSD at home. I don't need my library for the 3 weeks of travel. The storage on the laptop is plenty for a short trip. As in the LR Queen article, it's no big deal to export the trip files to the SSD when I get home.

Backup on the road - however you want to do it, but do it. I take enough SD cards that I don't need to re-use any of them, so all the photos are there. For suspenders to go with the belt, I have an old Colorspace UDMA to back up the SD cards. So, the photos are in 3 places.

Have a great trip!

 

[LongTimeNikonUser]

Use the laptop for travel and just have on it the photos taken while travelling. The Lightrrom catalogue on the laptop just has these photos in it. When back home import the travel catalogue into the master catalogue on the desktop PC.

I would like to hear more about the above.

How do you transfer the laptop properties into the desktop?

Do you export the catalog on the laptop with the negative and them import it from the desktop? Do you need to copy the image file onto the desktop first?

Thanks.

I use Goodsync to synchronize Lightroom (and Outlook and ...) between desktop and laptop. I actually sync the main LR catalog to the laptop, so I don't need to do an import when I get home. The key here is going to a site like LightroomQueenforums.com and reading the blog entries about which LR files to back up. Those are the LR files that you will need to synchronize.

One side benefit is that all installed plugins can also be synchronized.

I know that there are plenty of free file sync programs, but in my experience they don't work as well as the paid version of Goodsync. Highly, highly recommended.

 

[DMKAlex]

Take a good look at

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/classic-on-vacation/

I read the link with interest. But nothing like trying it out hands on.

I am going to document my experience so other would have a better understanding.

My objective is to capture and process my photos and videos on my laptop when I travel. Then import them into LRC on the desktop for long term storage and management.

When I get home, I want to transfer the files and LRC data (mainly, keywords I have assigned on my laptop LRC).

I have found that LRC handles photo and video files slightly differently. The keywords I assigned to the still photo stay with the photo files. So the process of transferring is very simple. Just create a new folder in the desktop and transfer all the photo files from the laptop there. Then import the new folder and it will be in the desktop LRC catalog. All the keywords are transferred with the files.

However, keywords assigned to video files are not with the files themselves. They are stored in the laptop's LRC catalog. That would require exporting those information.

After processing the videos in the laptop, import them into LRC catalog. Assign keywords to the videos, then select those videos and export them as catalog. I do not check the "with negative" option.

Then transfer the video files to a folder in the desktop. Put the catalog folder created in the previous step on a USB and plug it to the desktop. While the regular catalog is opened on the desktop, import the catalog from the USB. When it is done, the new video and the data will be on the desktop LRC.

If the laptop and desktop have different folder structure, the thumbnails of those new video cannot be linked to the actual file. Right click on one of the thumbnails and click "Show in Explorer". It will ask you to locate the file. When you locate the file, all the files in the new folder will be linked.

And you're done.

 

[bfluegie]

Great info here, thanks. I have merged Lightroom catalogs before, but it's been a few years so it was good to get a refresher before I make the big move. I have decided to upgrade my tower with a 2TB NVMe SSD.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1666018-REG/samsung_mz_v8p2t0cw_2tb_980_pro_pcie.html

I've built computers before so I'm pretty confident I can do it without breaking anything. But as long as I'm going to have the case open I thought I'd ask if there is anything else I should add. I think the 32 GB of memory should be OK for a while, and prices seem to be higher than they were a year and a half ago when I thought I'd build a computer.

Thanks again.

Barbara