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Ryan33032682sv74
Participant
April 7, 2025
Question

Light room and Hard drive space, running out of internal HD space

  • April 7, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 188 views

How do I stop Lightroom from putting a copy of a file that is on an external hard drive with a catalogue that’s on the same external hard drive and yet it still puts a copy on my internal hard drive. And then it prefers it over the original on the external hard drive.  I have run out of storage on my 2t internal HD. 

1 reply

kglad
Community Expert
kgladCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 7, 2025

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.



<"moved from cc desktop bugs">
Claire H.
Community Manager
Claire H.Community Manager
Community Manager
April 7, 2025

Hi @Ryan33032682sv74, welcome to the Lightroom Ecosystem forum! Let's try to troubleshoot this issue with the following steps:

  1. Check Catalog Settings: Ensure that your Lightroom catalog is set to store previews and other temporary files on the external hard drive. You can do this by going to Edit > Catalog Settings > File Handling And adjusting the settings accordingly.
  2. Move the Catalog: If the catalog is not already on the external hard drive, move it there. Close Lightroom, navigate to the folder where your catalog is stored, and copy the .lrcat file and any associated files to your external hard drive. Then, open Lightroom and go to File > Open Catalog to select the catalog from the new location.
  3. Update Folder Locations: In the Library module, right-click on the folders with question marks and select Find Missing Folder. Navigate to the new location of the folder on your external hard drive.
  4. Check Preferences: Ensure that Lightroom is configured to use the external hard drive for storing files. Go to Edit > Preferences > General and make sure the external hard drive is selected as the default storage location.
  5. Re-link Files: If Lightroom is still preferring the internal hard drive, you may need to re-link the files manually. In the Library module, right-click on the files and select Update Folder Location to point Lightroom to the external hard drive.

If none of these steps resolve the problem, please let me know, and we can try something else. Hope this helps! ^CH

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