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donheff
Inspiring
July 31, 2023
Answered

Absolute basic question: does import duplicate photos?

  • July 31, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 1727 views

I have never used Lightroom but got it when I purchaed a PS license.  I see lots of posts about disk space problems but none that describe what causes these problems.

 

I have 19K images filed as I like them in a bunch of folders.  I see on Lighhtroom that I can import without moving.  BUT, I do not want to duplicate the files as they already take up a fair amount of disk space.  Does the catalog simply build a DB of pointers to the files where they are or will it create copies, effectively doubling my disk use?

 

I am using LR Classic on Windows 11.  All image files (that I want to catalog) are in my One Drive Pictures folder.

 

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer dj_paige

If you import via ADD, the photos are left where they are and not copied anywhere else. LrC uses a database, which points to the files where they are.

 

If you import via COPY, then — can you guess what happens?

2 replies

dj_paige
dj_paigeCorrect answer
Legend
July 31, 2023

If you import via ADD, the photos are left where they are and not copied anywhere else. LrC uses a database, which points to the files where they are.

 

If you import via COPY, then — can you guess what happens?

    D
    donheffAuthor
    Inspiring
    July 31, 2023

    Thank you.  That is what I was looking for. Axel's reference page also answered that question.

    AxelMatt
    Community Expert
    AxelMattCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 31, 2023

    With the default settings in Lightroom there are no duplicates are imported. Each photo is only available once in the catalogue. In the catalogue you can put the photos in one or more collections and so you can oranize the photos as yiou want and need.

    Here you'll find more informations about catalogues: How Lightroom Classic catalogs work (adobe.com)  

     

     

    My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
    D
    donheffAuthor
    Inspiring
    July 31, 2023

    Sorry Axel, I probably wasn't clear.  I am not concerned about importing duplicates - in fact I have some duplicates I created intentionally in separate folders.  What I don't want to do is create 19,000 new image files in the catalog that are simply copies of the 19,000 images on One Dirve.  I want my images to stay on One Drive.  My question is about the catalog -- does it create pointers to images where I have them stored or does it copy all of the images and create a new set of files in the catalog?

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