How do I set up a second computer so the photos update when I get back to first computer

Question

I will be living in two places for the near future, and I'd like to have the ability to use Lightroom Classic on both computers, going back and forth from one place to the other and use my most recent edits. I am a photographer, and I will be shooting and editing for three month periods in each place, back and forth. I want to be able to just pick up where I left off when I move from one location to the other.

I'm running Windows 11 on both computers. I was advised by Adobe that the only way to do this is to use an external drive, and work off that, taking it from one computer to another. I haven't tried using Lightroom Classic on an external drive, but I'm sure it's not as fast as using my local drive.

Is there another way, or should I consider Lightroom instead of Lightroom Classic?

JohanElzenga · Answer

You do not have to run the Lightroom Classic catalog from the external drive, although that is the easiest and safest way. What you can also do is use the external drive to copy the catalog folder from one computer to the other one. Then you can run Lightroom Classic with its catalog on the faster internal drive. It's a bit trickier (you could forget to copy the catalog back to the external drive when you are about to switch again) but apart from that it should work. Copy the entire catalog folder, not just the catalog file, and use 'Store presets with this catalog'. Lightroom is definitely an alternative to consider, but Lightroom lacks certain options (hierarchical keywords, smart collections, virtual copies, reference view) that may be important to you.

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