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Author Topic: Where to keep LR files  (Read 3588 times)

PeterAit

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Where to keep LR files
« on: November 05, 2018, 10:31:45 am »

I bet this has been asked before, but...

I have 2 SSDs. One is for the OS and programs. The other holds the LR catalog and all photo files. Is this the ideal configuration or would I benefit from moving the catalog to the OS disk?
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Alan Klein

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2018, 11:39:16 am »

How do you tell where all this stuff is working?  I just loaded the LR program where it decided to load.  I have a single SSD.

digitaldog

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2018, 11:58:14 am »

I bet this has been asked before, but...

I have 2 SSDs. One is for the OS and programs. The other holds the LR catalog and all photo files. Is this the ideal configuration or would I benefit from moving the catalog to the OS disk?
Leave everything as you have it! There's a number of advantages to storing all photo's, the library, presets (see store presets with Catalog preference) etc on one dedicated drive. For one, making backup's to multiple other drives (cloning).
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Zen8

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2018, 11:59:15 am »

How do you tell where all this stuff is working?  I just loaded the LR program where it decided to load.  I have a single SSD.

When you first install LR it asks you where you want to install it. If you don't select a location then for a Mac it installs it in Pictures. I don't know where it installs on a PC.         

Kiwi Paul

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2018, 12:02:43 pm »

I bet this has been asked before, but...

I have 2 SSDs. One is for the OS and programs. The other holds the LR catalog and all photo files. Is this the ideal configuration or would I benefit from moving the catalog to the OS disk?

I have the catalog installed on the same SSD as the photos, I use the same SSD on my laptop and Desktop so I can just pick up from where I left off using either computer.
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Zen8

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #5 on: November 05, 2018, 12:19:14 pm »

My catalogue resides on my HD. My files are on an external drive which are backed up. Nothing wrong with keeping it all in one place as long as the HD has enough free space. Adobe recommends 20%. A unofficial rule of thumb is 100GB.           

FYI. It is better to just have one master catalogue. If you have multiple catalogues you have to be diligent to make sure all your links from the files to the catalogue's are maintained. Some people use the OS to move files around, which you can do but the link becomes broken. You need to click on the folder that shows a ? and re-establish the link. If you do this over a period of time and forget to re-link updates that involve the catalogue can become a nightmare. I always move folders around using LR.

Below is my catalogue in the external drive called Photos. Folders by year and subfolders for each year named by event and date. What makes LR unique is you can create collections and use key-wording. Keep the catalogue simple and use those tools for quickly finding your files, etc.

As for storage, for 1TB of files my catalogue is 88MB. The catalogue is just a record of your adjustments so that is why it is small.       


 

Zen8

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2018, 12:24:00 pm »

Forgot to say you can move your catalogue to another location.     

Zen8

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2018, 12:50:50 pm »

I have the catalog installed on the same SSD as the photos, I use the same SSD on my laptop and Desktop so I can just pick up from where I left off using either computer.

I have an iMac with a powered ED and MacBook Air with a portable ED for the files. When I travel I create a new catalogue on my laptop and name it based on the trip. When I get home I copy the catalogue to the portable ED, plug it into the iMac and use the "Import from another catalogue" command, it merges it into the master catalogue and moves all the files of the ED. All the edits are retained. There are so many things you can do with this catalogue system.     

Zen8

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2018, 12:51:29 pm »

digitaldog

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #9 on: November 05, 2018, 01:03:23 pm »

I have an iMac with a powered ED and MacBook Air with a portable ED for the files. When I travel I create a new catalogue on my laptop and name it based on the trip. When I get home I copy the catalogue to the portable ED, plug it into the iMac and use the "Import from another catalogue" command, it merges it into the master catalogue and moves all the files of the ED. All the edits are retained. There are so many things you can do with this catalogue system.     
So here's what I do and why I dedicate a drive just for LR files and photo's.
Desktop has a dedicated drive for all LR files and photo's. Before going on location, I simply clone all newer files to the location drive which is just one of about 4 other backups of JUST this data.
Take that location drive with me, shoot; everything that was on the desktop machine travels with me. Add files to it on location.
Get back, clone the other direction; travel drive to desktop. Two backups, identical clones. Very fast (only new files or changes are updated). No need for Export and Import catalog; the backup application (SuperDuper on Mac) does all this super fast. And it's brain dead easy. And I end up with multiple backups should something happen to one of the drives.
IF you keep some of the data on a boot disk and some elsewhere, this becomes far more difficult, confusing and slow. This is why if you work with multiple systems, or even just one, keeping everything on the biggest drive you can that is dedicated for just this data, makes more sense (to me) then spreading files over multiple drives or having multiple catalogs.
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Zen8

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2018, 01:09:38 pm »

I left the catalogue on my HD because I read somewhere it would be faster. I don't know if I see any real difference. I wouldn't have an issue keeping it with the catalogue on the ED.       

You can also use smart previews, leave the ED at home and keep editing the files.   

faberryman

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #11 on: November 05, 2018, 01:15:42 pm »

I have the LR program on my system SSD, and my LR catalog and images on an external drive, with another external drive for backup. I usually don't edit (or really look at my files) when I travel, unless I am attending a workshop where we show our work for the day, so I just back up my SD cards daily to a hard drive. I wait until I get back home and edit them on a big monitor where I can see what I am doing. I recently spent the better part of a week in the redwood groves of northern California. Due to other engagements, I didn't look at what I had done for a couple of weeks. But I was a film shooter for 40 years before picking up a digital camera, so I am not in a great white rush.  It keeps the multiple drives/synchronization thing simple.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2018, 01:22:51 pm by faberryman »
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Zen8

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #12 on: November 05, 2018, 01:36:50 pm »

I have the LR program on my system SSD, and my LR catalog and images on an external drive, with another external drive for backup. I usually don't edit (or really look at my files) when I travel, unless I am attending a workshop where we show our work for the day, so I just back up my SD cards daily to a hard drive. I wait until I get back home and edit them on a big monitor where I can see what I am doing. I recently spent the better part of a week in the redwood groves of northern California. Due to other engagements, I didn't look at what I had done for a couple of weeks. But I was a film shooter for 40 years before picking up a digital camera, so I am not in a great white rush.  It keeps the multiple drives/synchronization thing simple.

Yeah I shot film for over 30. For short trips I don't edit but for longer ones I do. Gives me something to do. I have to admit I hate editing on a small screen and I never really know what angle to keep the screen at. I have read up on it but still annoying.     

digitaldog

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #13 on: November 05, 2018, 01:38:45 pm »

I don't edit on the road. But I DO import from the cards so I have (again) two backups. I don't format the card until I get back and clone that location drive. Also, when importing as DNG, I'm sure that the data imported is verified. Only then, and with two backups will I format the camera card.
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Alan Klein

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #14 on: November 05, 2018, 04:22:25 pm »

This might be helpful

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/optimize-performance-lightroom.html

That poage does not even mention SSD's to help improve speed and operating efficiency.  What does SSD's do then?

digitaldog

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #15 on: November 05, 2018, 04:25:49 pm »

SSD's are just really fast but expensive and there's probably a point of diminishing return depending on how large a drive you'll need for all your photo's, previews, catalog etc.
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Zen8

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #16 on: November 05, 2018, 04:44:51 pm »

That poage does not even mention SSD's to help improve speed and operating efficiency.  What does SSD's do then?

Sorry. I thought it might with other areas of efficiency. As digataldog stated SSD's are faster. Also on my Laptop the drive is an SDD and about a year ago it converted to Apple File System (APFS) which is supposed to be more efficient and faster. The older system was Hierarchy File System (HFS) which was about 20 years old.           

Even before APFS my 2015 4GB laptop with SSD smokes my 2011 16GB iMac. No disk to fail. I looked into upgrading my iMac to an SSD but my guy said it really wasn't worth it. I have read people raving about it. Glad I didn't because I can't install Mojave. I was going to get a new comp next year and it will have an SSD. Currently all my ED's are disks.                         

Alan Goldhammer

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #17 on: November 06, 2018, 08:06:57 am »

That poage does not even mention SSD's to help improve speed and operating efficiency.  What does SSD's do then?
I cannot comment on MacOS computers as I have always built my own PC workstations.  An SSD is best for the operating system and associated programs.  The computer will boot up and load programs much faster than a traditional hard drive.  As the Adobe web page notes, keeping the catalogue and images, fast hard drives are necessary.  Costs for large capacity SSDs are coming down in price so one might move in that direction.  However, in my experience a traditional hard drive is plenty fast for all the LR work that I do.  The speed of the hard drive will make a difference in the catalogue and previews but I don't think it makes much of a difference if any in editing images.
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JRSmit

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #18 on: November 11, 2018, 04:04:10 am »

I use windows 10, and have a dedicated ssd for the catalog and the acr cache. That is accessed the most when running LR. So the most performance gain from a really fast SSD, be it one that does not show a performance cliff.
The image files are on dedicated HDD's as the total size amounts to over 5 TB. The image files are not accessed as much as catalog or caches.
In this way i have the performançe, and backup and cloning is dead easy. I do not use the backup of LR, as it is an incomplete backup. I keep all the template stuff with the catalog. I also make a backup of the LR stuff in the roaming folder. Such as camera profiles.
I have a backup program doing the backups and actually setvup to keep 2 computers synced, in case one dies i can still continue on the other, without a significant production stop. I use lightroom  as my system to print for my customers.
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Alan Goldhammer

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Re: Where to keep LR files
« Reply #19 on: November 12, 2018, 07:59:24 am »

I use windows 10, and have a dedicated ssd for the catalog and the acr cache. That is accessed the most when running LR. So the most performance gain from a really fast SSD, be it one that does not show a performance cliff.
The image files are on dedicated HDD's as the total size amounts to over 5 TB.
Just curious about how big your catalog is with the size of your image file.  What size SSD do you use for the catalog?  I could do this with my PC as I have enough SATA connections on the motherboard and some mounting space for an SSD or two.
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