Should I store my Lightroom catalog on a cloud storage service like iCloud Drive or Dropbox?

Question

I have just started using Lightroom after years of using photoshop. I work on both a iMac and MB Pro. I have moved my catalog into iCloud Drive but just need to ensure that my photos are there too as my MB Pro says photos are missing (but gives me a preview and allows me to edit).
 
I will locate where it imports my raws but does anyone see an issue with this aside from drives not being in sync?
 
Thanks.

Jao vdL · Accepted Answer

You can use iCloud Drive, Dropbox, creative cloud drive, etc. to sync your catalog and images between computers. It will work. The caveat is that there is a significant opportunity for catalog corruptions loss of edits when the catalog is open on both ends Or the catalog file is opened on another computer before syncing has finished ( which takes a long time of you’re dealing with a catalog that is 100’s of GB). That is why they recommend against it. The other solution, just storing the catalog and the images on an external drive on the other hand will work flawlessly.

p.s. Because Adobe got pestered so much on this syncing between computers, they came out with the Lightroom cc app which does the syncing but is much less full featured than classic. You can sync from classic to cc and theN do edits on another computer or a tablet and the edits will sync back to classic.

Luis Martell · Answer

This has been answered but I'd like to clarify one of the essential problems with any "sync solution" contrasted to a "backup solution".
most Sync solutions like iCloud and Dropbox watch for a "file change" to trigger coping/updating a file.

The Lightroom Catalog is a database. These types of files stay open or "live" during your use of the program and often make change as you use of the software. To copy a "live" requires software that understand and can contol that file, locking it if needed, while writing/updating the copy of the file/database. iCloud and Dropbox DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO THAT. You will likely create corrupted copy's of the Lightroom Catalog.

Back up on the other hand, is copying a closed file, not live. The back up does not get updated in the sense of synchronizing. What I mean is if you delete the file on the local computer it will not be deleted from the back up typically. Or if you make another back up you will have two copies, one for each version of the file. This can be very beneficial if unintentionally you backed up a corrupt version of the file, as you could then recover the older version that's in good condition.

One of the responses explained that with Lightroom (non-Classic), which is designed for online use and on multiple devices, the catalog is saved to Adobe Cloud constantly. These live backups are made by the software to the cloud safely and intelligently. This is because Adobe programmed it that way by design. If you are a Lightroom Classic user the programs can share catalogs and avoid corruption. But even that setup most be done exactly as Adobe designed it. You can't just do your one thing.

So if you want is to use your iCloud or dropbox space, simply use the program normally and close out of it completely and then move a copy to your Sing folder and allow it to synchronize but not while it is live. The other option is to put photos into those services but keep the catalog synchronized through Lightroom (non-Classic).

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