External Hard Drive for Lightroom

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
March 5, 2017
2 replies
12080 views

Hello, new Lightroom user here.

I'm looking to set up Lightroom as efficiently as possible and would appreciate input from the community as to the most effective route. I use a 27" iMac, 3.4 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2048 MB RAM, and currently keep everything on my internal hard drive.

Previously, I used Aperture and kept my library, ~80GB, on my hard drive and never experienced a hiccup. (I also have a (Apple) Photos library there, ~110GB.

Would I achieve better performance in the long run with my catalog and/or photos on an external hard drive? I currently have two external FireWire 800 hard drives connected over Thunderbolt in excellent condition that I would prefer to use for this (provided they are fast enough for the task). I've read about the benefits of USB 3 and Thunderbolt, however much of it has been inconclusive.

I can provide additional information, if needed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Scott

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer JoeKostoss

I keep my photos and a backup copy of my catalog on an external hard drive connect with a USB3; the working copy of my Catalog is on my computer hard drive (27" iMac). I don't think you will see a difference either way in performance by using an EHD, but it sure will clear up space on your internal hard drive.

S

scotth4068054Author

Participant

It's been three weeks since I posted and used that time to study Lightroom and look into discs. Unfortunately, Lightroom has been giving problems with activation on a valid subscription so I haven't been able to use it much.

Tanuj Sandal, I'm the OP and I didn't mark anything as the correct answer. I'd appreciate if you were to uncheck it and give me, the OP, the freedom to choose what I deem correct.

JP Hess

Inspiring

I don't think the activation problem you are having has anything to do with where your images are stored. I have my catalog and Lightroom on an SSD, my images are on conventional internal drives as well as external drives. There seems to be something not right with the Creative Cloud Application Manager. I have been having to sign out and sign back in sometimes almost on a daily basis. It's not a big deal, but just a bit annoying.

S

scotth4068054Author

Participant

Hi JimHess. The activation issue is not related to the image location. I was mentioning that I couldn't work in LR due to the activation due. The Develop module, I believe, was deactivated because my current account (which ends in December) was registering me as a trial user.

JoeKostoss

Correct answer

Community Expert

I keep my photos and a backup copy of my catalog on an external hard drive connect with a USB3; the working copy of my Catalog is on my computer hard drive (27" iMac). I don't think you will see a difference either way in performance by using an EHD, but it sure will clear up space on your internal hard drive.

S

scotth4068054Author

Participant

Excellent, thank you. I currently have half my 1TB internal drive free, and that's with the photo libraries on them. I was just researching some G-Technology USB 3 drives and they are a reasonable price.

Would my existing FireWire 800 drives be fast enough to keep the photos on? I shoot with a Canon 6D, RAW, and only a dozen or so photos weekly. My edits are basic, no major retouching work, HDR, or anything else.