Please add the ability to store smart previews and lrlibrary file on a non-local drive

[darinkgrant]

Not being able to store these anywhere but locally significantly impacts people with small start-up drives (mac Mini) and ample attached storage.  I have had to turn off smart previews to save 80 GB on my drive.

[Sameer K]

Hi there, this is a great question. I'll help you figure this out.

By design, the Catalog's support databases (Smartpreview, Previews, lrData, sync data, etc.) must be next to the Catalog. Currently, this can not be changed.

You can keep the entire Catalog & the related files to the Lightroom Catalog on the external drive. There are a few things to keep in mind when you do this.

• Use good-quality storage & connection cables.
• Take regular Catalog backups on the internal drive.
• Ensure the drive is not disconnected when Lightroom Classic is running to prevent unexpected damage to the Catalog.
• I am referring to external drives, not NAS or network drives.

Check this for more knowledge before you make this transition: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/catalog-faq-lightroom.html

Thanks!
Sameer K

[Jim Wilde]

You've posted this question in the Lightroom Classic forum, though your thread title would suggest that you are actually referring to the cloud-centric Lightroom desktop app.

If you talking about LrClassic, then the answer from @Sameer K is correct.

But if you are talking about the Lightroom desktop app then currently what you want isn't possible. However, there is certainly an existing feature request in the system asking for the ability to have the LrLibrary file on a non-system drive, have a look for that and add your vote. The more votes a feature request gets, the better the chance that Adobe will react positively.