Using Ligthroom without cloud storage

[danytancou]

Hi all,

I searched for an answer to this question, but what I found is from a while ago, and it seems that the only answer to my dillema is to use LR Classic, so I don't have to deal with storing pictures or anything else in teh cloud. However, it seems to me this software no longer exists. I'll explain my issue briefly, and hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.

I've been using LR4 ever since it was current. I currently have about 8TB (eight terabytes) worth of pictures (about 3.5 million) catalogued, but it's getting a bit slow. My picture collection has been increasing by about a quarter million / ~1TB per year, and will probably not slow down for the next couple of decades.

I'm thinking about upgrading to the Cloud version of LR (or whatever it's called these days) in the hopes that it will be faster. However, uploading my pictures to Adobe cloud storage is obviously impractical: I'd need to wait the better part of three months for all my pictures to upload, I'd need to pay my ISP to allow me to uplopad so much (I checked), soon enough even the max 10TB storage that Adobe offers will not be enough for me, and the cost for that is probably as astronomical as what I was quoted by my ISP for the transfer.

My question, therefore, is simple: is it possible to use whatever version of LR is the most current without storing pictures in the cloud? I don't care if the catalog itself needs to be in the cloud (in fact that's better for me, tbh) but the pictures themselves in the cloud are a waste of time & money.

If LR won't do this for me, is the Organizer in Photoshop Elements similar to LR? Is there anything else I can use? As long as I can move my LR catalog there, I don't care. (I rarely edit pictures, and mostly only use LR to tag them for content.)

Thanks!

[Rob_Cullen · Accepted solution]

Lightroom-CLASSIC certainly exists!! Currently at Version 9.4. (the latest successor to v4, etc)

Is is available in the 'Photography Plan (20GB)' by subscription, along with Photoshop, (Lightroom Mobile & Desktop), & Bridge.

(There is also a 'Photography Plan 1TB' that is the same, but with extra 'paid' storage- you do not want!)

https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom-classic.html?promoid=9WGN4565&mv=other#

And you do not need to use Cloud services other than to install and activate (sign-in) the software.

Lightroom-CLASSIC is the latest verion of the software you have known as Lightroom v4. It will simply convert your Lr4 catalog and you 'carry-on' as before with the new added features.

Other photo 'Organizers' (Ps-Elements or Bridge) are basically File Browsers with extra features for photos, but they do not match the DAM functionality of Lr-CLASSIC.

[danytancou]

Oh what a huge relief that is! OK, I'm going to sign up for the Photography Plan (20GB) asap! 🙂

Anything I should be aware of regarding the catalogue conversion from LR4 (4.4) to Lr-Classic 9.4? If this information is available, please just point me to it, don't waste your time typing it up! 🙂

Thank you so, so much!

Dany

[Jim Mundy]

Hey Dany,

In general, the process is pretty straightforward, and the best resource for doing it would be the adobe LRC FAQ linked below:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/catalog-faq-lightroom.html

For the most part, you should simply open your old catalog in LRC and it will convert. I would highly recommend making a backup of your old catalog prior to conversion just to be safe.

I hope all goes well and feel free to report back if you run into problems!

Jim

[JP Hess]

Switching to Lightroom Classic will necessitate upgrading your catalog, but that will be done automatically the first time you start the new updated Lightroom. You will find your old catalog and will know that it needs to be upgraded and will notify you accordingly. Allow the upgrade to proceed. It may take a few minutes to complete, but when it does you should be able to continue in the new Lightroom Classic without interruption. The upgraded catalog will have the same name as the old catalog except it will have a -2 appended to its name. Your original catalog will remain intact and unchanged.