Help with workflow, file management

[poo poo larue]

I've been a LR classic user forever and use the original flow I was taught (import photos, edit, export those to print), now hard drive is full and that workflow can't be used.  What do I need to do to remove photos to free up space and how do I do it?  I have years of photos (12 or so), hundreds.  Many thanks in advance

[dj_paige]

You can move the photos to an external drive in such a way that the LrC Catalog knows the photos are on the external drive. See "Part 2 — Updating Folder Location" of this document for step-by-step instructions with screen captures.

In addition, I would recommend importing the photos directly to the external drive straight out of the camera.

[poo poo larue]

Thank you for the article, I will read that and alter my go forward approach.  What i'm stuck on is how to effectively use the external drive to edit with LR without importing the photos first.  I'm an old dog that hasn't kept up on the latest and am stuck in 1999...

[dj_paige]

All photos must be imported into Lightroom Classic. Not sure why you think you can skip the Import step.

[poo poo larue]

Apologies for not explaining myself better.  If i'm reading correctly the  article you provided for me to review, it appears I should be using smart previews instead of the full res image.  Those obviously take up less room on the drive and can be associated with the original that is kept on a separate drive.  I had been using my hard drive to work off of and am outta room.

[dj_paige]

If i'm reading correctly the article you provided for me to review, it appears I should be using smart previews instead of the full res image.

I don't think I said anything about smart previews; and the article part that I mentioned, "Part 2 — Updating Folder Location" does not mention smart previews either. The recommendation is that the photos can be moved (following the instructions) onto the external drive, no smart previews needed.

[poo poo larue]

The article does speak to using smart previews for editing at the very bottom of the article.  Part 2  was very informative and I will use that.  Thank you for sharing that.

[JohanElzenga]

The article does speak to using smart previews for editing at the very bottom of the article.  Part 2  was very informative and I will use that.  Thank you for sharing that.

By @poo poo larue

You only need smart previews if you want to be able to edit images while the external drive is offline. Lightroom can handle images on multiple drives, and as long as these drives are online, you don't need smart previews.

[JohanElzenga]

I think you misunderstand how Lightroom Classic works. Lightroom Classic must import the images in order to work with them, but importing means referencing the images in the catalog, not physically copying them into the catalog. The images can be on an external drive and will remain there.

[poo poo larue]

Thank you Johan, I think you're spot on.  Dj_paige provided a great article that references that notion.  Now I'm a bit nervous about copying and moving files from the hard drive to their new external drive location....think I need an emotional support photo dog lol