Hybrid Cloud / Local Storage Challenge

[Rogus Ratus]

OK to start with, please note I went from using no Lightroom to using Lightroom Cloud desktop on my Mac. I have never used Lightroom Classic.

I have a 4TB cloud account and I keep a local copy of RAW files in an external SSD. This is acheived by pointed to the SSD in my cache setting where I also have "keep a copy of originals raw files" checked so at any time my raw images are both in the cloud and on my SSD. My SSD actually fills up when my cloud account gets to 3.6 TB because I assume Adobe compresses on their servers but thats not relevant here.

I am at the limit of what I want to pay for cloud storage so I want to explore the "Local" tab in Lightroom. What I would like is to use other photos from another SSD to supplement my cloud storage, or move less important folder/albums etc, to the local SSD - but I see two problems:

1) Can I really only have local files folders on the Mac Pictures folder on the main Disk - I don't see a setting to change this? and
2) Because I have enabled saving of originals in cache it looks like they are going to fill my cache SSD so I am not going to gain any space.

Anyone been through something similar and have any answers?

Many thanks

[Rogus Ratus]

I know this is a little specialised (although it shouldn't be)so bumping.

[Noel Orridge]

Hi @Rogus Ratus! Thank you for reaching out! I apologize for being late to the conversation. 

The Local option you mentioned only saves the images on your system drive. There is no preference to relocate this to an external SSD anywhere. You can import photos directly into “Local,” which will keep them on your Mac's internal drive (in the Pictures folder), not in the cloud. This allows you to have both cloud photos and local-only photos in the same app. This approach doesn't require Lightroom Classic. 

Another approach is to include Lightroom Classic in your workflow. Classic lets you store photos anywhere, including external SSDs, multiple drives, and more. You can move older or less important images out of the cloud and keep only what you need online.

You still use Lightroom Cloud for mobile and current projects, but Classic becomes your main library. You choose which albums sync to the cloud, so your storage stays under control.

Hope this helps!

[Rogus Ratus]

Thanks for clarifying. It looks like you understand my problem. I would rather not use Classic and would prefer Adobe improve the setup with Lightroom Cloud. In the meantime if I have large collections that are of less interest I will just export them to save space. Not ideal really. Thanks anyway.

[Jao vdL]

No need to export. Simply do an archive on any album you want to move offline. You'll get a dialog that you can use to choose to store the images whereever you want. 

[Jao vdL]

> 1) Can I really only have local files folders on the Mac Pictures folder on the main Disk - I don't see a setting to change this? and

Local images can be anywhere, including on external disks. Just point the local browser to any location where you put your images. This is easiest if you reveal the local file structure by clicking on the item that looks like a window right next to the three colored close/minimize/maximize lozenges in the upper left corner of the main window. Also when you have online images that you want to archive locally, which removes them from the cloud and stores them only locally, you get a dialog that allows you to specify any location you want. 

>2) Because I have enabled saving of originals in cache it looks like they are going to fill my cache SSD so I am not going to gain any space.

You are better off not having a copy of all your cloud stored images available locally. Lightroom will automatically downoad what it needs and manage local storage for you if you use the default option of not doing that. Of course if you want to have a copy of all your images locally for security it is fine to do that but it is really not necessary. The best way to do it is to just keep your images in the cloud and when you don't need them there anymore, use the archive function as I descrobed above to move images to local storage. Again that can be anywhere on your system, including external disks, NAS servers, etc.