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chrise14514335
New Participant
October 1, 2018
Answered

Using an external drive with Lightroom CC

  • October 1, 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 14421 views

Hi all, this is my first venture into the forums. Lightroom and Photoshop seem to be maxing  out our hard drives, between the original raw images and everything that the programs generate. I know that the programs themselves have to live on a computer, but can everything else (originals, copies, catalogs, thumbnails, etc.) live on an external so the  computer hard drive won’t fill up?

Let’s say I’m setting up Lightroom cc for the first time. What options do I need to tick off?

(Please be as concise as possible. I don’t think I need to read ’War and Peace’ or a NYT article to make this happen. Also, If linking to tutorial videos, please make sure the videos are under 5-min, and don’t begin with the host saying “Hey Guys...”)

Does anyone have any recommendations for a USB-C, Thunderbolt 3 SSD?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer JP Hess

    Depends on If you are really talking about Lightroom CC (the cloud-based Lightroom) or if you are talking about Lightroom Classic CC. Lightroom Classic CC stores all of your images locally on local hard drives. And those local hard drives can be internal hard drives or external hard drives. If you are talking about the cloud-based Lightroom then all of your master images are stored in the cloud automatically, and you can configure it to store copies on external hard drives. There is no performance hit by storing your images on external hard drives if you are using Lightroom Classic CC. And you will find that there isn't really any benefit to storing your images on SSD drives. A rather evasive answer, I know. But it would be nice if you would clarify what version of Lightroom you are referring to.

    5 replies

    G
    Guest2022
    New Participant
    November 2, 2022

    Rude. How is that for concise.

    DdeGannes
    DdeGannes
    Community Expert
    July 2, 2020

    There are presently two Lightroom applications that can run on your computer.

     

    Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.
    A
    Anonymous
    July 2, 2020

    "I don’t think I need to read ’War and Peace’ or a NYT article to make this happen."  I love this +1.

     

    "If you are talking about the cloud-based Lightroom then all of your master images are stored in the cloud automatically, and you can configure it to store copies on external hard drives."  Not sure why you are confused Jim?  It's very clear.  I have a very similar problem.  As a qualifier I have made my living as a professional photorapher-editor for 30 years. 

     

    My suspision is that Adobe has done this so they can sell "cloud" space.  Plain & simple.  It makes no sense at all whatsoever to take clear, consise usability out of the hands of the user & confuse the issue with "Lightroom" writing images to multiple locations, which are confusing to decipher at best.  Having an application write raw files to "the cloud" is bizarre.  Imagine importing 4000 raw files and working on them "from the cloud".  Got a spare week or 2 to do this?

    JP Hess
    JP Hess
    Inspiring
    July 2, 2020

    Never did say I was confused. All I was asking for was clarification as to which version of Lightroom the OP is referring to. Adobe confused the public with their naming convention, and it's sometimes difficult to know which version is being referred to.

     

    As far as raw files in the cloud is concerned, if users are shooting with an iPhone for example, and use the Lightroom app for the phone, then as soon as the images taken it CAN be in the cloud. I'm not arguing with you. If you don't want to use the cloud then don't. Some people like it, some people don't. I prefer LrC. I use Lightroom to take pictures with my iPhone so that when I get home they are immediately available in LrC. That's it! That's the only reason I really use Lightroom (for the cloud). Different strokes for different folks.

      JP Hess
      JP HessCorrect answer
      Inspiring
      October 1, 2018

      Depends on If you are really talking about Lightroom CC (the cloud-based Lightroom) or if you are talking about Lightroom Classic CC. Lightroom Classic CC stores all of your images locally on local hard drives. And those local hard drives can be internal hard drives or external hard drives. If you are talking about the cloud-based Lightroom then all of your master images are stored in the cloud automatically, and you can configure it to store copies on external hard drives. There is no performance hit by storing your images on external hard drives if you are using Lightroom Classic CC. And you will find that there isn't really any benefit to storing your images on SSD drives. A rather evasive answer, I know. But it would be nice if you would clarify what version of Lightroom you are referring to.

      kglad
      kglad
      Community Expert
      October 1, 2018

      [moved from Adobe Creative Cloud to Lightroom Classic CC — The desktop-focused app]

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