Find And Import All Photos ...........

I used MS Photos and it solved my problems.

I'm surprised it works as well as it does.

That was sort of implied when I suggested putting the images where the OP wanted them permanently before importing them to Lightroom. I just didn't say it.

Let me add to both of these answers: when you import images into a LR-Classic catalog, you can Copy, Move, or Add the images. Let's say you have a folder of images on your hard drive. If you "Copy" those images to an external hard drive, you will have the folder of images both on your hard drive AND on the external hard drive. If you "move" the images then they will be removed from your hard drive and placed on the external hard drive. If you "Add" the photos, they will remain in place but will be "added" to the catalog.

You probably want to use the "Move" option. 

HOWEVER; if you do move them to an external hard drive be sure you have a reliable backup system available. For example: I have  4 TB drive that holds all of my images (and other items). I have a 2nd 4TB dirve that I back up to once a week (or just after importing a bunch of images) just in case the first drive fails. I have my computer and the external drive back up to a cloud service just in case the house burns down. My images are precious, treat yours the same way.

But you don't even need Lightroom to copy photos to an external drive.

I'm not sure what you are referring to as "regular" Lightroom. There are two versions of Lightroom. Lightroom Classic stores images in folders on your hard drive, and utilizes a local catalog which is stored locally on your computer. Lightroom stores all images in the cloud, and can optionally store a copy locally on your computer. However, the primary thrust of Lightroom (not Classic) is storage in the cloud.

Your best choice would be to put the images where you want them to be permanently, and then import them into Lightroom Classic. The images are never "in" Lightroom Classic or even in Lightroom for the cloud. They are simply added to the catalog which is a database that keeps track of where the images are located as well as what adjustments you have made to those images. Lightroom Classic does not have any mechanism to actually store your images. Lightroom stores your images in the cloud.