which lightroom?

There are two different current versions of Lightroom.

There is Lightroom 5.3 and there is Lightroom Classic 11.3.1, non of them is free. But you can get a free test version for a few days.

Based on your description it sounds like you have currently Lightroom 5.3 on your computer.

When you say that in the past the photos were saved on an external hard drive it should have been Lightroom Classic.

When you have Creative Cloud you should login and download Lightroom Classic.

Ralf

I use Lightroom Classic (LrC 11.3.1) / Photoshop (Ps 23.3.1) / Lightroom (Lr 5.3) with Creative Cloud on a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017, Intel Core i7 / 16GB / 500GB SSD) with macOS Monterey Version 12.3.1

There is no 'Free' version of Lightroom for a desktop system (PC, Mac)

There is no 'Free' version that uses or allows you to use Adobe Cloud storage, or permit syncing.

v5.3 is the 'Mobile' version ported to work on PC and Mac computers, sometimnes referred to as "Lightroom-Desktop".

If you have been syncing photos from iPhone > Adobe Cloud , then there are two possibilities-

1) Lightroom v5.3 (on your Mac) is opening the Cloud catalog and viewing/editing your photos stored 'in the Cloud'.

2) Lightroom-Classic v11.3 is Downloading the photo files to Folders on your Mac hard-drive, and allowing you to view/edit the photos.

COMPARE LR & LR-CLASSIC (Lr Queen)

Logging in to your Account with Adobe will inform you of the Plan you are subscribing (& paying) to.

https://account.adobe.com/

LIghtroom 5.3 is the latest version of Lightroom, which isn't free, and it isn't the same as the old Lightroom (2017 and earlier, last version was Lightroom 6.14), and it is a cloud-based application, your photos are stored in the cloud.

If you want the same look and feel as the old Lightroom, and photos stored on your local computer, you want to subscribe to the Photography Plan and use Lightroom Classic.