Lightroom Classic CC doesn't allow catalogs on external drives?

[rkade13]

The literature on the adobe site implies that you can have your photos and catalogs on an external drive, but I can't open my catalogs (which are on an external drive that is connected via usb to my mac).  Has anyone figured out how to make this work?  I don't want to have all my photos on my computer's hard drive (it's a lot of photos).

[john beardsworth]

It does allow catalogues on external drives. What error message are you getting?

[rkade13]

"The catalog could not be opened due to an unexpected error." The catalogs have been on this attached external hard drive for year, but this update seems to have messed something up.

[Joe Foe Toe]

Be aware that moving photos should only be done in LR and be aware that drive letters changing on external drive can confuse things, too, if you use multiple externals.

[Just Shoot Me]

How is that drive formatted?

What are the permissions set to on that external?

How did your catalog (or catalogs) get placed on that external drive?

[rkade13]

These catalogs have been on this drive for years.  Last year I divided the catalogs into smaller catalogs, but had no problems until the recent update.  I import the photos directly onto those drives/catalogs.

[Just Shoot Me · Accepted solution]

What recent updates. If you are talking about OS X updates that is more than likely the problem. Apple, OS X, is notorious for changing drive, folder and file permissions when certain updates are applied.

If you are running Windows (as you haven't bothered saying which OS you are using) MS is also doing that.

[rkade13]

While I had the permissions on this drive set to allow me and my other admin to read and write to that drive, LIghtroom apparently requires there be no restrictions on the drive.  I set permissions to everyone being able to read and write to the drive and I was able to access the catalogs.  Thanks so much, all!