LR Catalog Storage Location?

Report · Jan 25, 2022

Dear community,

I am planning my back-up strategy and feel overwhelmed with the variety of workflows.

I would appreciate if you would share your opinion/workflow regarding the following questions:

01. Where to ideally store and work in the LR catalog: On the laptop/ on a HDD / on a SSD ?

I read that storing and working in LR from a SSD could easily corrupt your files and that working on a HDD on the other hand is slowing LR down. Working in the catalog and storing it exclusively on my laptop makes me anxious because in case the laptop crashes, I loose all my edits.

02. Can I backup my LR catalog to Google Drive or One Drive in order for my edits to be safe in a cloud?

I read that there is a difference between the backup catalog and the working catalog but I can't figure what the difference exactly is?

In a nutshell: I want my LR catalog with all my edits to be safe and backed up. FYI: I work on a Macbook Pro.

I would very much appreciate your thoughts on that because it's giving me quite a headache.

Thanks a lot !!!

Report · Jan 25, 2022

Your working LrC catalog should be on an SSD if available. There is no differnce in reliabilty between an SSD and HDD, but they both can fail. This is why you need a good backup plan for both the LrC catalog and your photos. This may be helpful.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/backup-lightroom-files/

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/where-should-i-put-my-backups/

Report · Jan 26, 2022

Dear Todd,

thanks a lot for your answer and the links, the articles are really concise!

So maybe the following combination would make sense: Working on a SSD for a certain time and using a HDD for storage both catalog and photos? Supposedly the lifespan of HDD is better than of SSD? I heard you can use HDD about +-10years , but SSD have a limit.

I couldn't find any info on whether it's recommended to backup the catalog on Google Drive for example?

Does anyone has experience with storing the catalog additionally on clouds as Google Drive, One Drive or Drop Box?

Report · Jan 26, 2022

Working on a SSD for a certain time and using a HDD for storage both catalog and photos?

I don't know what you mean. Catalog should be on the SSD and photos on the HDD.

Supposedly the lifespan of HDD is better than of SSD? I heard you can use HDD about +-10years , but SSD have a limit.

Documentation of this claim?

The lifespan of all disks is finite, and you can never know when the disk might crash. That's why you must have a good backup plan. I store my backups on a local hard drive, and also in the cloud (this applies to both photos and catalog file). I don't think it matters what cloud service you use to store your backups.

Report · Jan 26, 2022

Working on a SSD for a certain time and using a HDD for storage both catalog and photos?

What I mean by that: I would work primarly from my SSD. However I would create a copy of the catalog and the photos additionally on a HDD instead of on a second SSD. The plan is to always have the catalog and the photos on two external drives plus in a cloud.

Supposedly the lifespan of HDD is better than of SSD? I heard you can use HDD about +-10years , but SSD have a limit.

It's just something I heard from a colleague and it's been stuck in my head since.

Can I ask in what cloud you store your backups? The reason I ask so specifically is that I have a lot of free storage on Google Drive. However based on my research most photographers use Dropbox or OneDrive for that and I was wondering why no one mentioned Google Drive for that purpose.

Report · Jan 26, 2022

What I mean by that: I would work primarly from my SSD.

Recommendation: catalog is always on the SSD. Always (not primarily) work with the catalog on the SSD.

Photos can go on a HDD. No need to put photos on the same disk as the catalog.

Can I ask in what cloud you store your backups?

All of my backed up files (not just Lightroom Classic files) are stored in Carbonite.

Report · Jan 26, 2022

Thank you very much for your support !! All the best!

Report · Jan 25, 2022

01. Where to ideally store and work in the LR catalog

The catalog can take advantage of being on your fastest hard drive. So a SSD would be recommended. One thing to keep in mind, how is that SSD connected, internal, or external, if external, how fast is the port it is plugged into. Also, keep available hard drive space in in mind, maintain at least 25% free space on that hard drive, the catalog needs space.

Note that the Camera RAW CACHE can also take advantage of a fast hard drive.

Your location for the actual photos does not matter performance wise.

Report · Jan 26, 2022

Thanks a lot for your help! So far everyone's on the same page and recommeding working on a SSD.

Report · Jan 26, 2022

"What I mean by that: I would work primarly from my SSD. However I would create a copy of the catalog and the photos additionally on a HDD instead of on a second SSD. The plan is to always have the catalog and the photos on two external drives plus in a cloud."

For the LrC Catalog backup I suggest using the below settings. This will prompt you to backup the LrC Catalog everytime you exit Lightroom. I suggest doing the backup after every editing session that would be painful if you had to do the editing all over because of a corrupted catalog issue. The resulting ZIP backup file should be copied to a separate external drive used just for backup and to the Web with whatever cloud storage you would like to use. Ditto for your photos, which should be backed up when copied from your cameras to your primary working HDD for pictures. I suggest using a file synchronization software for this purpose so that new picture files can be added, modified files updated, and deleted files removed automatically. Does that make sense?

For Cloud backup some suggestions here:

https://www.tomsguide.com/buying-guide/best-cloud-storage-for-photos