Saving my photo library somewhere else

Question

(MacOS) I'm about to lose my Adobe subscription (graduation) and mostly want to make sure that I don't lose my 15,000 photo library that I have in Lightroom. I have the storage to move it to either a cloud or an external hard drive, but I'm struggling to know the best way to go about it. What would be the best way to make sure I have a backup somewhere? Both catalog but also the actual photos.
I'm also confused about where I can find my Lightroom library. I'm using Lightroom CC, and can't find my photo library in the Creative Cloud application. On the home page, under "recents" some photos show up, but I can't find the rest of them in the app. I thought I was supposed to be able to since the photos aren't being stored anywhere else on my computer?
Sorry for the rambly post, two seperate questions/issues really. Thanks for your help.

Claire H. · Answer

Hi @17446460_0537, Congratulations on your graduation! Great questions, and you're absolutely right to think ahead before your subscription ends.

1. What happens when your subscription ends: Once your Adobe subscription expires, your photos won’t be deleted immediately, and you can access them for a limited time. Learn more about that here: https://adobe.ly/3IgJ87y

2. Backing up your Lightroom CC library: Lightroom CC stores your photos in Adobe’s cloud by default. To make sure you don’t lose anything, go to Preferences > Local Storage and enable “Store a copy of all originals locally.” Choose a location on your external hard drive or computer with enough space.

3. Exporting your photos: You can also manually export them by selecting them all and using File > Export. Save them as original files or high-quality JPEGs to an external drive or another cloud service.

4. External hard drive and other cloud options: Storing your library on an external hard drive is a great long-term solution. Depending on your comfort level, you can also upload your exported photos to services like Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, or OneDrive.

5. Finding your photos in Lightroom CC: Use the “All Photos” view or search by keyword/date. If you only see a few in “Recents,” double-check that you’re signed into the correct Adobe account and that the syncing is complete.

Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope this helps! ^CH

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