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williamc32956547
williamc32956547
Participating Frequently
January 29, 2025
Answered

Need advice with raw files and storage

  • January 29, 2025
  • 4 replies
  • 1662 views

Hi, I have been using LR for whille now and I'm running out of space, here is my work flow to better ilustrate my question, import images to LR (saved on a folder call local raw files) > edit images, discard the bad ones etc > export final images to a NAS as a  final destination. here is my question, should I get rid of all the pictures on the "local raw files" or keep them they are taking way too much space and I don't think I will ever need them, but I curious to hear from you guys and gals what should I do. I own a sony  @7R5 the files are humongous.  thanks.

Correct answer Jao vdL

This is your problem. You are storing raw files on the internal and are running out of space there. The simple way to deal with this is to move older raw files to folders on your NAS or an external disk). You can do this inside Lightroom if the NAS disk is already referenced in the folder structure or by moving the folders outside of Lightroom and then reconnecting the folders at their new location. Internal disks are often simply not large enough to store all your raw files.

4 replies

GoldingD
GoldingD
Legend
February 2, 2025

I think it is important to inquire about where are you keeping your backups

  • Your catalog backups
  • Your photo backups
  • Your LrC program backups, including presets, metadata files, preferences, etc.

 

Your running out of room due to limitations of an internal hard drive, presumably the boot drive, makes me assume that you do not have external drives, or extra internal drives (as in a laptop), and as such grabs my attention as to, hmmm, does the author have backups.

 

williamc32956547
williamc32956547Author
Participating Frequently
February 2, 2025

I recently bought a synology NAS, that's where the LRC backups live, also photo back ups etc. thank you, most contributors are sugesting external SSD to store old RAW files.

GoldingD
GoldingD
Legend
February 2, 2025
quote

I recently bought a synology NAS, that's where the LRC backups live, also photo back ups etc. thank you, most contributors are sugesting external SSD to store old RAW files.


By @williamc32956547

 

Good, you would be surprised at how many members (normally new ones) have no backups.

Please remember that you should have a 3-2-1 backup strategy, that is having three copies of your Lightroom catalog and photos stored on two different types of media, with one copy kept off-site. So say one an external drive, one on that NAS, and one on the Cloud (or perhaps another external drive that you send or keep offsite, like a family members home, think theft, and think natural disasters like a wild fire). Oh and none of those backups should be on the same drive as the working catalog/photos

 

Also, one point about RAW is to never ever delete them, as those are your masters, your negatives, BUT, yes, you could certainly off load them from your catalog onto that NAS.

Conrad_C
Community Expert
Conrad_CCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 2, 2025
quote

…should I get rid of all the pictures on the "local raw files" or keep them they are taking way too much space and I don't think I will ever need them…

By @williamc32956547

 

I like to keep raw files because of two things:

The editing software keeps improving. 

My skills keep improving. 

 

Sometimes I need to find and use an old picture, and it was shot raw, and I realize that with today‘s tools and newer skills I learned, that could be a much better picture today. For example, sometimes a raw file from an old camera was originally thought to be too noisy to use, but can now be rescued and made into a usable photo using AI Denoise. Or, I find an old photo and realize it can be made much better today with the advanced masks we have now.

 

You can still decide to delete the raw files if you want, but it sounds like that won’t stop them from building up again. Depending on what kind of Windows PC you have and what upgrades it can take, I think your long-term options for keeping the raw files are any of these:

  • Upgrade the main internal storage drive to a larger capacity. 
  • If there is an additional storage slot in the computer, add another internal drive and store raw files there.
  • Add an external drive, and move the local raw file storage to that drive.

If you choose one of the options where you move the location of imported new files, it’s easy to show Lightorom Classic where those files moved to, so that it doesn’t mess up the catalog. You’ll still move them off to the NAS eventually. 

 

Here’s what I do, and I’m not saying you have to do it this way:

My laptop doesn’t have a lot of internal storage. So if I’m going to work with photos, I plug in an external SSD that contains all of my photos. I have also set Lightroom Classic to directly import new photos to that external SSD, so those files never actually touch the internal storage.

    williamc32956547
    williamc32956547Author
    Participating Frequently
    February 2, 2025

    thank you, I will move the raw files to a external SSD.

    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    Conrad_CCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 2, 2025

    Just make sure you have at least one backup of everything. So if you started using an external SSD as storage for all photos, definitely continue to keep a backup of that SSD on the NAS.

     

    Or if you are going to use the SSD for temporary raw editing and continue to use the NAS for long term archiving, then both need to be backed up on other volume(s).

    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    February 1, 2025

    I will make a couple of points.

     

    1. You don't really say which disk is running out of space. If it is your internal disk, do NOT import photos to a disk that is low on space and then move them later. Import them directly from the camera to your NAS or external disk.
    2. You can move the photos that are on this disk which is running out of space while keeping them in the Lightroom Classic catalog. I would highly recommend this. Use Option 2 here: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/move-photos-another-hard-drive-leaving-catalog/
    3. The idea of saving exports and not the original photos is a poor practice in my opinion, even if you say "I don't think I will ever need them". Better to keep the originals, not the exports, and then you can export the edited photos from LrC just in the case where you might need them again.
      williamc32956547
      williamc32956547Author
      Participating Frequently
      February 1, 2025

      thanks,  the drive I'm running out of space is my internal drive. that's where the imported files from my camera are stored.

      J
      Community Expert
      Jao vdLCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      February 1, 2025

      This is your problem. You are storing raw files on the internal and are running out of space there. The simple way to deal with this is to move older raw files to folders on your NAS or an external disk). You can do this inside Lightroom if the NAS disk is already referenced in the folder structure or by moving the folders outside of Lightroom and then reconnecting the folders at their new location. Internal disks are often simply not large enough to store all your raw files.

        selondon
        Community Expert
        selondonCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        February 1, 2025

        @williamc32956547 

         

        Which version of Lightroom are you using?

        williamc32956547
        williamc32956547Author
        Participating Frequently
        February 1, 2025

        LightRoom Classic 14.1.1

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