Editing on 2 computers

[colinm85]

Hi all,

  Sorry to ask this question, but I cannot seem to find an answer no matter how much I search. I am a long time Lightroom user, and currently have Lightroom 6 installed on my desktop. I have bought a new laptop, and I want to be able to edit my photos on both PCs. I cannot seem to find information on the best way to do this. I thought Creative Cloud would be the answer, and it may be, but I cannot find anything that specifically tells me how to do this. So let me be very specific about my ask.

I currently have my catalog on my desktop. If I load pictures to my desktop, they will be cataloged in my desktop catalog. Now, how do I get to edit these photos on my laptop, and keep my catalog in sync? I really thought that was the point of CC, but if I only get 20 Gb storage, I cant keep all my photos in that. And even if I could, the catalog would still be on my desktop.

Can anyone help? Is CC right for me? Any help appreciated. Thanks

Colinm85

[JoeKostoss]

colinm85 wrote:

...I travel, and putting my catalog on an external hard drive leaves me vulnerable to losing the drive, having issues with it etc...Comments?

That's why God created backup EHDs, which you leave at home.

[Abambo]

May be it helps to show you my work environment:

• A NAS for my backups with RAID disks and a lot of space
• A desktop workstation when I'm at my HO with a 6Tb photo disk, the catalog is on an SSD.
• A Laptop for my travels and out of office edits with a 2Tb external disk (catalog and pictures on the same disk).

My exchanges are done (mostly) one way: laptop->desktop->back-up, rarely I need older files from my desktop to be edited on my laptop.

This configuration decides my work pattern: When I go shooting, I import the pictures to my external disk from my Laptop. At my HO, I import the catalog (File->import from an other catalog) to my desktop. Then I do a back-up. After that only I reformat my cards. I have currently still plenty of room on my external disk, but when arriving at it's limits, I will probably delete the older files from the catalog. But it may be also that by then, that I can afford and buy additional external space (my external disk is a SSD).

Additional security would be to add a second external disk. I think currently, that I do not need that. But I would definitively need a mirror for my NAS at a remote location.

[colinm85]

So now I've done a little research, and I think I have it. Can someone confirm that this is right, or tell me what's wrong with it. I want to be able to process pictures on both my desktop and laptop.

1. Today I have Lightroom, my pictures and my catalog on my desktop, and nothing on my laptop.

2. I should get a box or dropbox subscription, and copy my catalog to it, meaning that any changes I make to the catalog on my desktop will be synched to the cloud solution (let's call it box).

3. I should install Lightroom on my laptop, and copy the catalog from box to my laptop, and use the catalog on my laptop as the location for any edits I make on my laptop, meaning that any changes that are made from my desktop will be synched to my laptop thru box, and any changes I make on my laptop will be synched to my desktop thru box.

NOTE: at this point, I am never using the box catalog for anything except as an intermediary for changes made on either computer. This also means I don't have to be online to do any edits, and that I do not ever need access to my photographs once they are loaded on my desktop and imported into the desktop catalog and synched to box and the laptop - let's say I will always do that. I get that I will always have to make sure that any changes I make on either computer, online or offline, will have to be synched to box, and to the other computer before I can use the other computer.

Is that right, or should I put my catalog on box and point both computers at it, meaning that I need to be online to be able to use Lightroom?

[John Waller]

The steps you've described are required to make this workflow work.

Regarding your last point: that's right. You cannot point LR to the catalog in Box in the Cloud. It must be local. The whole point is not to have to be online to be able to use Lightroom.

Don't start editing on the second computer until you know that Box has finished syncing the Catalog file (containing edits from the previous session) from the Cloud.

The key is to ensure that when you're done editing, you close Lightroom every single time so there are no lock files to prevent Box syncing the catalog to the Cloud. Otherwise you'll get stuck in the nightmare of sorting out non-synced Catalogs and - potentially - conflicted copies. That discipline is the key to making this workflow successful.

[colinm85]

Thanks. So exactly as I outlined before asking the question that you answered, although I may not have the specifics about how box works right. Again, thanks for the help

[John Waller]

Yes. I think my edited version was posted after you replied.

Doesn't matter. Think you've got the workflow.

[robertw25933794]

You could always go the smart preview route. This would

allow you more editing than just standard previews.

All edits stored in the catalog and always with you.

[rolliefingers]

This is Mac specific, but thought I would ask in case someone here is also a Mac user. Based on this article (Use target disk mode to share files between two Mac computers - Apple Support ) does it seem like this should work? It does to me but I know I might be missing something.

[Just Shoot Me]

The catalog file has to be on a hard drive physically connected to the computer you are using LR on. It can not be a networked drive.

Target disk mode should work in this case as it disables the OS on one Mac and makes the hard drive in that one Mac appear as just a hard drive to the other Mac connected by the firewire/USB/Thunderbolt/USB-C ports on both computers.

[rolliefingers]

So, I tried this and was successfully able to access my Catalog on my laptop using my desktop in Target Disk Mode. However, once, the computers were disconnected, my laptop couldn't locate the Smart Previews I had built.

Isn't this the entire point of using Smart Previews, to develop images when not connected to the Catalog? Is there something I'm missing?

Thanks!

[Abambo]

rolliefingers  wrote

Isn't this the entire point of using Smart Previews, to develop images when not connected to the Catalog? Is there something I'm missing?

Thanks!

No! Smart previews are part of the catalog. You do not need to access the source pictures to edit when working offline. The catalog is the pivotal point of Lr. No catalog, no editing!

Question besides: How did you look for the smart previews if not through the catalog?

Very important: NEVER EVER CHANGE THE CATALOG FROM 2 ACCESS POINTS AT THE SAME TIME. Lr is NO multiple point, concurrent access application and does not handle such situations. The catalog is strictly single user, single access point. That's the reason why constructs like using dropbox are so dangerous, if the catalog is shared to multiple computers via dropbox (or any other similar mean).

[peterb53790828]

I do things differently. I store the images on my local NAS server in folders.

I have created two individual catalogs - one on each computer containing the pictures on the NAS.

Each computer then has its own smart previews etc. - but every time I edit a picture on, say computer 1, - data is written to the NAS folders and images.

When I start Ligthroom on computer 2 I can see that there are metadata updates. I then import the updates from the NAS and get all the edits imported to computer 2.

If upload new pictures to the NAS from one of the computers, I have to import them on the other computer.

Hope this is a solution too

[rolliefingers]

I'm getting lost.

"Smart Previews in Lightroom Classic CC allow you to edit images that are not physically connected to your computer." How to use Smart Previews to view and edit photos in Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC

Doesn't that mean that I don't need to be connected to the catalog?

[Abambo]

rolliefingers  wrote

I'm getting lost.

"Smart Previews in Lightroom Classic CC allow you to edit images that are not physically connected to your computer." How to use Smart Previews to view and edit photos in Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC

Doesn't that mean that I don't need to be connected to the catalog?

No, that means your original pictures do not need to be available to your computer. As the catalog is the database where Lightroom stores all relevant data for image edits, it is not possible to edit pictures without access to the catalog.

See also here: Photoshop Lightroom catalog FAQ

What happens when you import pictures is that Lightroom adds the picture location to the catalog (eventually after copying the picture from the camera/SD- or CF-card) and creating the different previews needed for fast navigation and editing. After that, the original picture can be disconnected (like being on a network disk or an external disk) and you still can edit the picture. When you want exporting the picture, you need to connect the pictures location again.

[dd-b]

Adobe needs to get rid of the prohibition against the catalog being on a network drive!  It's easy enough to *tell* if somebody else is connected, and refuse the simultaneous connection (or, you know, use something modern like sqlite that actually *supports* simultaneous users).

As it is, I can't use my laptop to edit files on the NAS since they're cataloged in the catalog on the desktop.

In many corporate environments there is little or no local disk, making lightroom flat-out unusable (so they have to go to the competition) .

Maybe somebody should write a driver for windows that makes a network disk appear local....

For that matter, integrating catalog and editing is *wrong*; it's a classic lock-in strategy, make people give you control of their content to use your tool.  Integrated tools are nearly always second (or third or fifth!) best in most of the categories they cover.