Use a different Mac temporarily

[Jeff5E33]

Hi. I store my Raw files on an external drive and my LRc catalogue is on my Mac. I will be away from my Mac for a few weeks. Can I use a different Mac with my external drive and if so what will happen to the edits I make. will I have to use Lightroom instead of Classic? 

[dj_paige]

You can use Lightroom Classic. Please see: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-to-lightroom-catalog-multiple-computers/

[Conrad_C]

If your goal is to be able to work with all of the images you’ve been using in Lightroom Classic on your current Mac, then simply use your external drive to bring your current catalog(s) and original images to the other Mac. You were not specific about how you use your external drive, but basically, as long as it has enough space for both your Lightroom Classic catalog folder(s) and all of the original photos, just bring that and plug it into the other Mac.

If your Creative Cloud subscription is for a single-user license, then you can easily install Lightroom Classic on the other Mac because two activations are allowed. Leave your current installation alone, then on the other Mac, download the Creative Cloud app, sign into it, and install Lightroom Classic. When you are done with the other Mac, sign out of Creative Cloud there and optionally uninstall the software.

You probably don’t want to use Lightroom, because it will requiring uploading everything to the cloud that you want to work with, the images will become completely disconnected from their local folders, and will no longer be able to use many Lightroom Classic features. That’s OK if you were planning a permanent migration to Lightroom, but if you need to stay in Lightroom Classic then don’t start using Lightroom for this.

There is one more thing to keep in mind: Settings and presets. Those are stored in the Library folder of your macOS user account, and the Library folder is hidden by default. If you want the Lightroom Classic setup on another Mac to match your current Mac, be sure to copy those files too. The locations of those files are in this Adobe help article:

Preference file and other file locations | Lightroom Classic

[Jeff5E33]

Hi. Thanks for the detailed reply and my apologies for taken so long with my reply. I only have my RAW files and associated sidecar files on my external drive. The LrC catalogue is on the internal drive on my Mac Mini. How do I add the library to my external drive without upsetting the path 

[JohanElzenga]

Copying the catalog folder to the external drive does not upset any paths. Just open it in Lightroom Classic and you're good to go.