# Help in choosing location of lightroom catalog and photo library



## Carola (Dec 29, 2014)

Hello, all. I Have just migrated from windows to MAC; will be using IMAC about 75% of the time to catalog & edit my photos and Macbook Pro about 25% of the time.  I'm thinking a 4TB external for my photo library + back up but where is best place to store LR catalog given I'm using 2 computers?  Anythoughts greatly appreciated!


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## clee01l (Dec 29, 2014)

Welcome to the forum.  More info is needed. 
Why are you using two computers?  I have both an iMac & a rMBP.  I do not try to work on my master catalog on the rMBP.  Instead I use a travel catalog that I will import into the master catalog when I return from a trip. 

If the 4TB EHD is used for backups and master image  inventory,  where do you backup the master images that are on the 4TB EHD?
Are you using TimeMachine for backups?


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## Carola (Dec 29, 2014)

Hi Cletus...I tried to change my status to beginner because I am clueless as to many things including what is a travel catalog.  To answer your question I want to use LR on my IMAC most of the time in my studio and my macbook pro when I'm traveling or even at a friend's house. Yes am using Time Machine. I would have a 2nd 4TB drive for backup.  Hope that answers your question.  I have used Lr 2 before but only for editing, never really used it correctly. (Want to get my foundation set up correctly w/LR5 before I begin to catalog.). Also making decision as to which is best external hard drive(s) to use.


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## clee01l (Dec 29, 2014)

Thanks for filling in the details. 
A travel catalog is the name that I give to a small portable catalog that I use when in the field.  I can merge the contents into the master catalog when I return.  Most of my image inventory is stored on the Firewire800 connected EHD.  It is a slower connection than Thunderbolt or even USB3. (My iMac does not have USB3)  For this reason I only keep images that are not currently being worked on the EHD.  (Still that is ~650GB)  Recent images (the last three months) I keep on my fastest (internal) drive along with my catalog and Previews folder.  While you can keep everything on the 4TB EHD, you might want to consider an arrangement similar to mine if performance lags. 

When I go to the field, I can start with an empty travel catalog or export a small subset of my master catalog as an exported catalog to take with me and work on during the trip. The two LR functions that are important for this to work is the "Export as Catalog" and "Import from another Catalog" functions.  With this portable small catalog, I don't need to take anything more than my rMBP.  I can leave the EHD at home, taking only camera and laptop.  Since my master images are at home, they are safe and the backup is safe.  If the laptop gets lost or stolen I don't have to worry about restoring all of my images.   When I return from the field, I copy the package (catalog and new images) to the iMac and use the "Import from another catalog" to merge the data fro the travel catalog to the master catalog. 

Now that is how I do it. Your proposal to create a complete package on the 4TB EHD and share that  between computers will work too.  If you continue down the route that you have proposed for yourself, I would recommend getting a Thunderbolt portable drive to have the fastest connection between the EHD and the computer.  I don't think you will be happy with performance if the EHD is USB2.  

Your MBP may only have a dual core processor and this can be a limiter.  My rMBP is dual core and 8GB of RAM.  It is noticeably slower than my quad core iMac with 16GB RAM.  I routinely process 36mp D800E & D810 RAW files so I would never want to be limited to my rMBP as my main computer.


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## Carola (Dec 30, 2014)

*Equipment & Lightroom Catalog location*

Thank you for the long detailed answer, Cletus.  I really appreciate the detail. A travel catalog seems to be definitely the way to go for me vs lugging around any 4TB EHD.  That will leave me with the same configuration but won't have to transport the EHD back & forth. My Macbook Pro is Quadcore 2.3Gh and memory 16GB. 1600 MHZ DDr3. However at present I'm running Windows via Parallel on 8GB of that.  Not sure if I want to continue running windows, I do slideshows w/proshow and Most of my friends find IMOVIE hard to use.

I went to the Apple store last night to see EHDS with thunderbolt connection and was amazed at the difference in heaviness between the 2TB and the 3 or 4TB.  The latter are certainly not portable. I had previously looked at Seagates which are quite light but lack a thunderbolt connection and I've been advised to get an EHD with both Thunderbolt and USB capability.

So I guess I'm down to which EHD(s) to purchase. I plan to have online backup as well.  Thanks much again! Will start separate item re "which EHD"  Many thanks again!








clee01l said:


> Thanks for filling in the details.
> A travel catalog is the name that I give to a small portable catalog that I use when in the field.  I can merge the contents into the master catalog when I return.  Most of my image inventory is stored on the Firewire800 connected EHD.  It is a slower connection than Thunderbolt or even USB3. (My iMac does not have USB3)  For this reason I only keep images that are not currently being worked on the EHD.  (Still that is ~650GB)  Recent images (the last three months) I keep on my fastest (internal) drive along with my catalog and Previews folder.  While you can keep everything on the 4TB EHD, you might want to consider an arrangement similar to mine if performance lags.
> 
> When I go to the field, I can start with an empty travel catalog or export a small subset of my master catalog as an exported catalog to take with me and work on during the trip. The two LR functions that are important for this to work is the "Export as Catalog" and "Import from another Catalog" functions.  With this portable small catalog, I don't need to take anything more than my rMBP.  I can leave the EHD at home, taking only camera and laptop.  Since my master images are at home, they are safe and the backup is safe.  If the laptop gets lost or stolen I don't have to worry about restoring all of my images.   When I return from the field, I copy the package (catalog and new images) to the iMac and use the "Import from another catalog" to merge the data fro the travel catalog to the master catalog.
> ...


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