Skip to main content
D
david6C19
Participating Frequently
April 24, 2021
Answered

Not clear about storage

  • April 24, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 471 views

I have 500,000 photos. The more I import, the huger the Lightroom database gets and eats up my storage space. I paid for 2 terabytes of Lightroom space. Thought importing from my hard drive goes directly to the cloud storage. I keep running out of space on my internal hard drive because the working database on my internal drive that Lightroom sets up gets so big I run out of space. This is causing the platform to be unusable for my needs, despite the benefits that such well written software has, number one, facial recognition. What is the purpose of this database, surely not storing actual duplicates of my imported stuff?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Jim Wilde

It probably wouldn't be practical, or even possible, for Lightroom to replicate your drive and folder structure in the cloud....it's really more about using albums and other metadata such as keywords to organise your images. Having said that, the local copies aren't simply stored into a giant pool, if you dive down into the Originals folder you will find that all the images are stored in a folder structure based on capture date.....so finding a local copy on the local drive should be easy. But maybe rethink the part about finding it locally to "share it elsewhere"....the local copy, like the originals in the cloud, are unedited and so would not show any edits that you may have made. Instead, start looking at the built-in sharing capabilities, which would of course always include the relevant edits.

1 reply

Jim Wilde
Community Expert
Jim WildeCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 24, 2021

The problem is the way that import works. Basically, because of the time it will take to upload images to the cloud and as a form of protection, Lightroom first copies the images from their existing location (be that camera memory card or existing hard drive) into Lightroom's designated local storage location. The default location is on the local system drive, but that be changed in Preferences to any other locally attached drive, including NAS. 

 

Once imported, Lightroom starts to upload them to the cloud, and once the upload is complete the local images can become eligible for automatic deletion (of course nothing will be deleted if in Preferences you have checked the option to "Store a copy of all originals locally"). However, that automatic deletion is subject to some complex rules to determine when a local copy should be removed, and it's fair to say that those rules are not agressive enough. Consequently, the local copies can hang around longer than desired by the user. You can, however, safely delete the local copies manually should you need to free up some space.

    D
    david6C19Author
    Participating Frequently
    April 24, 2021

    aha.  that makes sense.  a lot of sense.  this means i have to set that temporary storage to another drive, thats big, and dedicated just to temporary working space.  my main folder is subbed to year folders, and then within each year, more folders related to event or date.  so it's easier to upload a large folder, than to go through each folder one by one within the tree.  i do wish there was a way that my folder tree can be replicated when uploading, as it appears to be simply dumping all the pictures into a giant pool, and not being able to show the path of a particular's original when i'm looking at it from the cloud, in order to find a specific photo on my own ssd when i need to share it elsewhere.

     

    Jim Wilde
    Community Expert
    Jim WildeCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    April 24, 2021

    It probably wouldn't be practical, or even possible, for Lightroom to replicate your drive and folder structure in the cloud....it's really more about using albums and other metadata such as keywords to organise your images. Having said that, the local copies aren't simply stored into a giant pool, if you dive down into the Originals folder you will find that all the images are stored in a folder structure based on capture date.....so finding a local copy on the local drive should be easy. But maybe rethink the part about finding it locally to "share it elsewhere"....the local copy, like the originals in the cloud, are unedited and so would not show any edits that you may have made. Instead, start looking at the built-in sharing capabilities, which would of course always include the relevant edits.

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices