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Known Participant
May 31, 2025
Answered

install app

  • May 31, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 270 views

Is there a way to install LrC and PS to external drive instead of storing on internal drive?

Correct answer dj_paige

So, I quibble with the above in certain cases ... if your photos are stored on the internal drive, then they take up a lot more space than the Lightroom Classic program, and a lot more space than the catalog and previews. So, if you are in that situation, moving the photos would be the first thing to do.

2 replies

Conrad_C
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 31, 2025

dj_paige showed you how to set the installer to put applications on an external volume, but be aware that there are still some user configuration files that will always live on the startup volume of your computer itself, such as preferences, presets, templates, caches… Because your post is marked macOS, you will find most of these files inside locations like these:

/Library/Application Support/Adobe

/Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/

/Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/

 

As far as I know there is no way to keep the entire installation, including all configuration files, on an external volume.

 

Also, if your goal is to free up space, remember that for Lightroom Classic what typically takes up the most space is not the application itself, but the catalog folder, especially the preview cache file (…Previews.lrdata). If your catalog folder is large, or the folder containing the referenced photos is large, you can save more space by moving one or both of those to an external volume instead of the application.

dj_paige
dj_paigeCorrect answer
Legend
May 31, 2025

So, I quibble with the above in certain cases ... if your photos are stored on the internal drive, then they take up a lot more space than the Lightroom Classic program, and a lot more space than the catalog and previews. So, if you are in that situation, moving the photos would be the first thing to do.

skorg264Author
Known Participant
May 31, 2025

Thanks. Photos are already on an external drive. I could only afford a 256GB Mac mini which is why I'm trying to offload as much as possible to external drives. I may get an SSD to add to Mac Mini to up storage. Way cheaper than adding to when buying from Apple. 

dj_paige
Legend
May 31, 2025

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/apps/manage-installed-apps/change-install-location-creative-cloud-apps.html

 

Please note that LrC may operate more slowly (particularly in the Library Module) if you install it on an external drive and place the catalog file on an external drive as well.