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Using multiple external hard drives with Lightroom

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
October 3, 2025
4 replies
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When I begin to process a folder of images in Lightroom, I first save the folder to my desktop. I then edit in Lighroom, and the edits are saved to the catalogue on the internal hard drive. Once I have completed the processing, I save the image folder to two external hard drives, and also save a copy of the catalogue to the external hard drives (note that I have never needed to use the backup catalogue). I then delete the folder on the desktop. Sometime later I may revisit the images to do further processing. I have realised that sometimes I plug the external hard drives into the D drive, and sometimes the E drive of my computer, and wonder whether this matters - can Lightroom still find the images if the drive letter is different? Would it be better to have one drive dedicated to processing, and the other drive be purely for backup? Should I stop editing images on the desktop?

Windows

Correct answer Conrad_C

Although your post is marked Windows and talks about drive letters, some of the responses you’re getting are about Macs where drive letters don’t even exist. Although I use a Mac, I’ve heard that for Windows the potential problem is that when you connect the same drive later, Windows might automatically assign it a different drive letter than it had before, which will cause Lightroom Classic to ask you to relink everything.

To prevent that problem from happening, the solution is to manually assign a drive letter to that volume, as described on this web page from the Lightroom Queen website:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-change-a-drive-letter-on-windows/

Conrad_C

Correct answer

Community Expert

Although your post is marked Windows and talks about drive letters, some of the responses you’re getting are about Macs where drive letters don’t even exist. Although I use a Mac, I’ve heard that for Windows the potential problem is that when you connect the same drive later, Windows might automatically assign it a different drive letter than it had before, which will cause Lightroom Classic to ask you to relink everything.

To prevent that problem from happening, the solution is to manually assign a drive letter to that volume, as described on this web page from the Lightroom Queen website:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-change-a-drive-letter-on-windows/

J

Judith MorganAuthor

Participant

Thank you, I will do that.

E

ExUSA

Legend

I have one external drive for RAW files, another for finished, and two more for backups plus a drive with archival backups. It all works fine, all are imported to Lightroom. I never export finished images (they always go through Photoshop) so most of the backups etc are manual via the Finder.

dj_paige

Legend

No value, in my opinion, to place photos on the internal hard drive. Import them directly to an external drive and then do all work on your photos from the external drive. The difference in speed will be so slow you will never notice it. And this also eliminates the extra step of moving the photo to an external drive. Regarding the problem of the drive letters changing, this happens on Windows, but if you assign the drive a letter towards the end of the alphabet (like T U V W X Y Z) this won't happen any more.

I save the image folder to two external hard drives

Not clear what this means. There is no "save" capability in Lightroom Classic. Whatever it means, this is a poor practice. You want to make actual legitimate backups of your catalog file and all of your photos so you have at least two exact copies of everything. Lightroom Classic has a built-in catalog backup which runs automatically at whatever time interval you choose, that's how to make proper backups of the catalog file. Photos must be backed up by other means, the best choices are programs that make automatic backups at regular intervals. The poorest choice is for a human operator of the computer make backups, because most humans forget or get busy or get lazy and the backups don't happen.

Lastly, you are using Lightroom CLASSIC, not Lightroom. It is confusing given the names chosen by Adobe for its software, there is also different software named Lightroom, so to avoid confusion, please refer to your software as Lightroom Classic and not Lightroom.

J

Judith MorganAuthor

Participant

Thank you for your detailed answer. My real concern is about the location of the original images. I back them up to two external hard drives. I guess my question is can I edit from either hard drive, or should I keep one for edited and the other for purely for backup. Can Lightroom cope with the original image being in more thna one location?

dj_paige

Legend

My real concern is about the location of the original images.

Your original images can be on any drive (internal, external or network drive) that you want them to be on.

I guess my question is can I edit from either hard drive, or should I keep one for edited and the other for purely for backup.

You can edit them from any hard drive. The meaning of a drive in this context (it contains backups, or it contains originals) is entirely up to you. If a drive is considered to be a "backup" drive, then in my opinion you should never never never ever use the photos on that drive, except in the unfortunate situation where some or all of your photos on the original drive become unusable.

Can Lightroom cope with the original image being in more thna one location?

Just like any other software program, your files can be on any drive you want them to, including having the "original" files on multiple drives. But one thing you should not do, as I said, is work with files on the "backup" drive, as I said, leave these unused and untouched except for the case where the originals become unusable. Do not put "originals" and "backups" on the same drive.

Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

"Would it be better to have one drive dedicated to processing, and the other drive be purely for backup?"

IMO Yes. The C:drive (in a dedicated Documents/Photos folder) could be that drive if it has sufficient space for permanent storage of photos and catalog. If an external drive- it would need to be always connected (or photos would show as 'Missing').

"Should I stop editing images on the desktop?"

IMO Yes. And remember, your edits are all stored in the Catalog. Original files are not changed, so you can basically 'Edit' the photos anywhere on any connected drive. (And you lessen clutter on the PC desktop.)

"sometimes I plug the external hard drives into the D drive, and sometimes the E drive of my computer"

To overcome this problem rename the 'Photos' drive with an alphabet letter further along the alphabet. eg. "P" (for Photos), then this complication will not (or virtually never) happen. (Photos will always be referenced on the "P" drive whenever you plug it in to USB.)

DRIVE LETTER CHANGE RENAME | Microsoft Docs

"Sometime later I may revisit the images to do further processing."

Revisit them in their folder where you permanently stored them at import.

When you Import your photos from the camera set the Destination to the Drive where they will be permanently stored (eg. the 'P' drive.) , and Lr-Classic will always refer to the photos on that drive. It lessens the chances of corruption when coping and deleting files from the Desktop (unnecessary steps!).

Save a copy (Backup) of your photos to another physical hard-drive. (I like an exact mirrored folder structure.)

Save a copy of the Catalog to another physical hard-drive, or use the Backup-on-exit dialog to save a catalog backup to the other drive.

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .

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