How can I split a large catalog and expoert a portion to a server

Question

Hello folks,
I store my photos year by year on an extra fast internal SSD on my Win PC. After a couple of years I want to split a comlete year of photos and save it on a server, because I wil normally rarely work on these photos.I mean split in the sense of "arciving" this part of the photos and somehow split the catalog. The idea is having finally a smaler amount of photos on the disk and a smaler catalog to work with.Looking foreward to an answer.Arno

Rob_Cullen · Accepted Answer

The MENU command- [File > Export as Catalog] was designed for these situations.

Or (in your case) the more selective commands-

[Export this Collection as a Catalog]

[Export this Folder as a Catalog]

Exporting and Importing a Classic Catalog - Lightroom Killer Tips

In Summary you would-

1) Select a Folder, or a Standard Collection, of photos that you want to archive (either by year, or other criteria)

2) [Right-Click] the Folder or Collection and choose the appropriate menu item, include Negative files so as to copy them to the external drive that will be the location for the archive.

3) After checking the exported catalog works by opening it, AND that the original 'Negative' files are stored on the external drive, you can Delete all the photos in the Folder or Collection in your master catalog. (You also have other backups of your photo filesd, I presume!)

dj_paige · Answer

The idea is having finally a smaler amount of photos on the disk and a smaler catalog to work with. @My5Cent: If disk space is a problem, moving the photos (not the catalog) will clear up a lot more space than splitting the catalog up and then moving part of the catalog. You can leave the photos in the catalog while at the same time moving the photos to an external drive. For instructions on doing this, see this document, particularly the section entitled "Part 2 — Updating Folder Location". The idea that a smaller catalog provides other benefits (particularly speed benefits) also does not hold water (EXCEPTION: making backups of smaller catalogs will go faster than with big catalogs). So I advise against doing this, I do advise moving the photos only to an external drive; and I also request you discuss the real problem you are trying to solve.

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