How to Move Lightroom Classic to External SSD

[heinelg]

I've been using the Adobe Photography plan (Lightroom Classic and Photoshop) for years but I have exhausted the mac's internal drive space. Previously I moved all of my photos, catalogs and backups to an external SSD but I am still getting warnings about insufficient disk space so I would like to move these apps to the external SSD also. My question is how should that be done? Should I just uninstall the apps from the internal drive then download and install them on the external SSD and then open LR from the lrcat file or is something else required?

Thanks!

macOS 15.3.2, LR Classic 14.2

[dj_paige]

You move the photos and catalog file, and then once you are sure everything has been moved properly and everything is working, then go ahead and make sure your previews and other similar files that LrC creates are deleted from the internal HD. You would not normally want to move/reinstall LrC itself.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/move-photos-another-hard-drive-leaving-catalog/

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/find-move-rename-catalog/

[heinelg]

Thanks, but you have missed my point. I have an internal 500 GB drive with less that 40 GB available and I am constantly getting out of memory warnings. I have already moved all music and all of the LR  catalogs and backups to the external SSD and LR works fine. I have also moved some large apps to the external SSD, and MS Office must remain on the system drive, and the remaining large apps are LR and PS, so can they be installed on the external drive? And if so, what is the best way to do that?

[Ian Lyons]

@heinelg 

You can specify a non-default different location for application(s) via the Creative Cloud app's Preferences > Apps tab. See attached screenshot

[heinelg]

Thanks @Ian Lyons! I've updated the location in CC Cloud's preferences. Now, how do I move these apps to the external SSD? Should I just uninstall the apps from the internal drive then download and install them on the external SSD and then open LR from the lrcat file or is there another way to do it? Also, what about plugins to LR & PS - do I have to reinstall them after LR & PS are in the new location?

[Ian Lyons]

You'll need to uninstall LrC, Ps, etc from the internal disk, then reinstall onto the external disk. Double click on the lrcat file to launch LrC the first time.

Install the plugins the way you usually do.