Which external drive (brand/model) is the best to be compatible with Lightroom?

[Ewa5C4A]

I use a WD Passport external drive to store my photos.

Each time I have the same issue: I can see the drive in my library with photos already imported and can see it when trying to import. However, after selecting photos to import nothing happens. The import progress bar not showing anything, the drive reading is very slow when browsing in Finder.

Then, I usually try to cancel the import and close Lightroom but even if the import gets cancelled, Lightroom usually freezes and I have to force shutdown.

Sometimes I manage to import photos from one folder, and then the next one freezes.

Btw hard disc access via Finder only starts to slow down after I try to browse it via Lightroom. If I don't use Lightroom at all, the disk works fine.

So it is difficult to import anything at all in this case.

I suspect it is some incompatibility issue or software/OS compatibility issue. I remember that I had no such problems in the past.

What external drive do you use with Lightroom? What brands/ models?

I use Mac OS Sonoma atm. I import only folders that contain JPG photos.

[dj_paige]

I doubt this will be solved by purchasing a new hard disk, unless your hard disk itself is malfunctioning. Run diagnostics on it. Also, it may be that the disk isn't connected properly to the computer, or the disk is "going to sleep" or some other similar problem. Best to try to fix the problem rather than jumping to the conclusion that you need to buy a new hard drive. There are plenty of threads here about import freezing. I suggest you search for them.

By the way, Lighhtroom Classic uses operating system calls to access files, so there's really nothing in LrC that causes a freeze. It sounds like a hardware issue.

[Ewa5C4A]

I suspect McAfee had something to do with my issue as after I uninstalled it, it improved.

However, I noticed the external drive slows down after a while even without using Lightroom and without McAfee installed.

I am still digging why...

[dj_paige]

Run diagnostics on you hard disk.

[GoldingD]

Sound like an issue with the hard drive, not with MACOS, or LrC.

Consider:

• The USB cable
• The USB (I assume USB) port the able is plugged into
• A driver issue
• Improper partition for MACOS
• The Drives lack of free space
• A issue on the drive

Solutions might be

• Use a differnt USB cable
• Use a sifferent USB port
• Run a WD diagnostic app on the drive
• Free up space
• Return/replace defective drive

You may want to visit WD My passport support pages, and/or Apple support pages, for this problem, for example:

https://community.wd.com/t/my-passport-for-mac-doesnt-work-properly-running-very-slow/239449/6

[Ewa5C4A]

Since my post I have:

* Freed some space (currently 11% free) - no change

* Run Disk utility's First Help - all fine

* Tried to run a quick and extended test with WD Utility - tests stop at 10% and then report failed. I have filed a support ticket with WD

However, there is an issue with Lightroom anyway. For example, I open Lightroom, do some stuff there (other than import) and close the Lightroom. Lightroom does not want to close and I want to force close. Already waited for long time and it didn't close on its own.

[DdeGannes]

You need at least 20 - 25% free disk space on the drive, that's why the utility test failed also.

[GoldingD]

 Freed some space (currently 11% free) - no change

Is that the hard drive our catalog is stored in?

[Ewa5C4A]

Yes, 11% free on the external drive that is having the issue.

[Conrad_C]

On the question of brands, it shouldn’t matter, mostly. There may be specific unreliable models to avoid (I don’t know what those are), but normally, any decent drive should work.

I use a number of different brands of hard drive and SSD connected in many ways including:

• Regular external hard drive or SSD, like yours 
• Bare SSD inserted into generic USB-C external enclosure I found on Amazon 
• 4-bay DAS enclosure with multiple models of bare drives in the 4 slots 
• 2-bay drive dock 

They all work with Lightroom Classic on my Mac.

A hardware problem may be with a specific unit, enclosure, or cable, so switching out any of those might help. A cable can go bad. A software problem may be interference from an old/incompatible driver or other software, which is why one suggestion was to check for things like anti-malware software.

[Ewa5C4A]

I only have the original cable that comes with the drive. I tried using another cable from another (same model) drive but no change, it is still slow and freezes after a while.

In the meantime, I got the response from WD support and they asked me whether I use the original cable, and yes.

Also, they suggested me to backup the data from the drive, format and see if the issue persists. I obviously thought about it myself, it's no brainer. The only issue is that the drive is 5TB and 89% full. If I had such a space on my laptop do the backup I wouldn't need an external drive, ridiculous.

[Conrad_C]

Also, they suggested me to backup the data from the drive, format and see if the issue persists. I obviously thought about it myself, it's no brainer. The only issue is that the drive is 5TB and 89% full. If I had such a space on my laptop do the backup I wouldn't need an external drive, ridiculous.

By @Ewa5C4A

I had to do that recently with one of my external SSDs, when Apple Disk Utility said there was a major problem with the file system and I decided the simplest/fastest solution was to update its backup, reformat it, and restore it from its backup. I’ve learned that lesson enough times (a drive or its file system going bad) that I make myself buy at least one backup drive for any drive containing information that I can’t afford to lose.

In other words, if I decided I needed a 5TB external for working files, I would never buy just one. I actually buy three. One as the working drive, and two as rotated mirrored backups. (There is a saying in IT that “if you have only one backup, you have no backups” due to the chance of one backup becoming corrupted and unable to be a lifeboat at the moment you need it to be one.)

The only time I don’t do that is if the new external drive is for temporary data where losing it isn’t an issue, such as for cache/scratch files. Then I just buy one drive. But if the data is important in any way, it can’t be left to exist in only one place.

[Ewa5C4A]

I have a "backup of the backup". Actually, I also have 2x or 3x backups for most data but I do not have them with me right now. So I will try it in 2 weeks when I get back home.