LR catalogue on external disk (Mac Studio) fastest workflow

[valentina26596696prnh]

Hi, I have a mac studio max, with 64gb ram and 2 tb of disk space.

I'm searching for a fast external drive to work my files, where i can put both the catalogue and the RAW files (canon R5). 

I use a NAS for storage and back up, but I'm looking for a fast disk with a fast workflow where I can work the files and catalogue as well, then when I'm done I'll trasfer them on the NAS (i have months where I have to work on 2000/3000 pics a day for weeks and I need lightroom to be as fast as possibile and not slow down)

I've done some good fast work on the Sandisk ssd but I was wondering if anybody have some better solution (it can also be a desktop solution, not necessarly portable)

Thank you all! 🙂

[dj_paige]

Perhaps this question will help me understand the issues here: what parts of your workflow are slow now?

As far as I know, just about any SSD ought to be fast enough if everything is working properly. I say that because disk speed is almost never the bottleneck causing preformance problems (again assuming everything is working properly and the disk has a reasonable amount of free space).

[valentina26596696prnh]

since my mac studio is new, for now everything is smooth, but I do have the catalogues on the mac SSD (both from LR and CaptureOne) and after a while they tend to occupy a lot of disk space, reducing the overall performance.

That's why I'm thinking of using another disk to for catalogues and such, in order to avoid getting my OS disk full byt he end of the year 😄

I also use Da Vinci and was thinking of using an external drive for the same reason, but it has to be a fast one.

Thunderbolt is faster then UsbC right?

[dj_paige]

I do have the catalogues on the mac SSD (both from LR and CaptureOne) and after a while they tend to occupy a lot of disk space, reducing the overall performance.

Ok, stop right there. You are assuming that you will have future problems because of disk space, which could of course happen. The solution is simply to get more disk space, usually no need to move the catalog, but you probably want to move the photos. For LrC, the method to move photos is given here in "Part 2 — Updating Folder Location" of this document: https://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm .

As far as your question about Thunderbolt and USBC, and about which drives are fastest, the speed of the disk and the speed of the transfer from disk to memory is almost completely irrelevant. If you had the fastest disks possible, you might notice only a very very tiny improvement in Lightroom Classic speed, as disk speed is almost never a bottleneck.

[valentina26596696prnh]

thank you,

yes I'm talking about future problems because of what happened in the past, so I know that I'm gonna have disk problem eventually 😄

Of course the files I'm gonna move them after I've finished working, but If I were to create the catalogue on an external SSD I will not have speed issues right? 

[dj_paige]

Catalogs on an SSD ought to be relatively fast, unless they are connected to the computer with a very slow connection. That's why I think if you have the space on the internal drive, I would leave the catalog there.

I want to say that your repeated concerns about LrC speed problems while discussing disk speed is a red flag for me. You didn't tell us what speed issues you have in the past. Please do so and please be specific and detailed. There are many speed problems in LrC that faster disk speed will not help with.

[valentina26596696prnh]

Yes sorry 😅 

The main issue was during the importing of the pictures and the generation of the previews. I remember i changed the settings in order to charge smaller previews but with my old computer didn't helped that much 

[dj_paige]

Assuming no disk malfunction, this is not a disk speed problem. Unless the disk you are storing the photos on is extremely low on free space, it is not a disk problem at all.

[TheDigitalDog]

This may be worth viewing: 

https://www.computer-darkroom.com/blog/will-an-ssd-improve-adobe-lightroom-performance/

And of course:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/optimize-performance-lightroom.html