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Mitch29285394k8ot
Participant
April 6, 2023
Question

Delete photo from C Drive only?

  • April 6, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 221 views

Hello all! Have a question on photo/file management in LRC. I recently set-up my NAS and configured it under Publish Services >> Hard Drive. My primary reason for this was to set-up an 'off-site' storage solutionaway from my laptop for a more efficient use of  local laptop disk storage capacity as well as disaster recovery. So my instance of LRC is now set-up where my photos are on my 'Local Disk (C:)', in my various 'Collections', on my 'Publish Service Hard Drive (NAS)', as well as in my 'Publish Service' Smug Mug plug in.

 

My goal is to free up capacity on my local lap top C: drive now that my NAS is configured and actively storing my files. I tried deleting a test file from my C: drive which was also propegated through my NAS as and it's own Collection. Although I was able to successfully delete the test file from my local hard drive LRC also deleted it from the other locations as well. 

 

Is there a way to only delete selected photo files just from my local C Drive without deleting them from the other locations? I don't want my C drive getting overloaded and bogged down with all of these files. I'd like my NAS to cover the storage and backup responsibilities, not my C Drive.

 

Thanks

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2 replies

JohanElzenga
Community Expert
JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 7, 2023

A publishing service is an export operation. The only difference with a normal export is that Lightroom keeps track of changes that were made after you exported, so you can export a changed image again. The exported file is a copy that is not in the Lightroom catalog, so catalog-only information like flags, stacking, virtual copies, memberships of collections and books is not saved with that exported file, also not if you use 'original' as file type (which creates an XMP sidecar file as well). That means that removing the original from Lightroom causes you to lose all that information, making a publishing service a poor substitute for a proper catalog backup and images backup.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga
    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    April 6, 2023

    I don't think setting up a publish service to your NAS is a real backup, and so when you talk about disaster recovery, this won't do it. Backups must be identical copies of your original files, plus your catalog file also needs to be backed up.

     

    My goal is to free up capacity on my local lap top C: drive now that my NAS is configured and actively storing my files.

     

    Again, I really don't think publish service is the way to go. You can COPY the original image files from your C: drive to the NAS, and then reconnect in LrC (instructions in this document, see Part 2 — Updating Folder Location), and once all that is working, delete the photos from your C: drive to free up space.

    M
    Mitch29285394k8otAuthor
    Participant
    April 6, 2023

    Thanks, curious as to why the publish service to the NAS is not a real back-up? In the service config the image format is set to 'original' regarding identical copies of the original.

     

    If a photo is deleted from the C: drive, LRC will also delete it from the related Collection as well. Anyway around impacting the Collection when photo is deleted from the C: drive?

     

    Thanks!

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