# Workflow for a trip using LR CC mobile and Classic to stay within 20Gb limit



## Tim Pindar (Aug 26, 2018)

Hi all, I've absorbed all the information I can on how LR CC and LR Classic interrelate, but still have a conundrum about the 20Gb limit.

I'm soon going on a 3 week trip to the Middle East during which I'll take a lot more than 20Gb of RAW images - let's assume 40Gb. Ideally I  want to use my iPad Pro (which has 256Gb storage)  as a backup, and also to do some preliminary sorting, rating and adjusting  of my photos in LR CC app whilst I'm away. 

So my starting point is to plan to import the photos into the iPad Pro each evening, using the Lightning to SD card reader, and then let them auto-import into LR CC on the iPad Pro. I'm expecting to turn off cloud sync during the trip, as I don't want to swamp any hotel wifi capacity or other bandwidth limits. Then, when I get home, I would switch on Sync and let all the photos download into LR Classic on my desktop, which is my preferred desktop program - I don't use the desktop LR CC. Then I could get them off the iPad Pro easily enough.

My fear is that the above workflow will bust my 20Gb limit along the way. This would though only be a temporary situation, as I don't intend to keep much in the cloud at all once they've gone across to LR Classic. Is that correct?

The only way out I can see is to only  import a selection of the best photos into LR CC on the iPad Pro whilst I am away, and leave the rest in the iPad Pro camera roll as a backup, then at home importing them straight to Classic from the original card. But that eradicates a lot of the sorting/organising benefits from the mobile workflow.

Is there a better solution to this? Is there a way of syncing the photos from the iPad Pro in chunks, to keep within the 20Gb limit?

Thanks in advance for any help.


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## Andy Glavac (Aug 26, 2018)

Tim , I also have an I-pad pro and tried using it on a trip . The photo transfer is very slow and yes you will fill memory fast . I now use a small computer and a 1 TB external hard drive.
Have a great trip


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## Tim Pindar (Aug 26, 2018)

Cheers Andy, thanks.

Still hoping to find a way! Not too worried about slow transfer, it’s the limit that concerns me.


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## PhilBurton (Aug 26, 2018)

Tim Pindar said:


> Cheers Andy, thanks.
> 
> Still hoping to find a way! Not too worried about slow transfer, it’s the limit that concerns me.


You could pay Adobe for more cloud storage.  Or, for less than you would spend in a year on that extra cloud storage, you could buy an portable external hard drive. from here:  Portable Hard Drives - Newegg.com.

If you are concerned about possible loss or breakage, buy two drives.  I suggest that you concentrate on WD and avoid Seagate.  WD drives are more reliable than Seagate drives by a wide margin.


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## Tim Pindar (Aug 26, 2018)

PhilBurton said:


> You could pay Adobe for more cloud storage.  Or, for less than you would spend in a year on that extra cloud storage, you could buy an portable external hard drive. from here:  Portable Hard Drives - Newegg.com.
> 
> If you are concerned about possible loss or breakage, buy two drives.  I suggest that you concentrate on WD and avoid Seagate.  WD drives are more reliable than Seagate drives by a wide margin.



Thanks for replying. 

Yes I could pay for more storage, but I only expect to need it for a very short period now and again,  so I was hoping for a better solution. 

Thanks for the information on portable drives. However unless I’m misunderstanding, this isn’t right for me as I won’t have a laptop with me.  I’m hoping to make use of the LR CC app on the iPad to organise and work on my photos on the road, but I’m trying to work out how later I can get them from there into LR Classic on my desktop without hitting the 20Gb limit temporarily.


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## PhilBurton (Aug 26, 2018)

Try this search


Tim Pindar said:


> Thanks for replying.
> 
> Yes I could pay for more storage, but I only expect to need it for a very short period now and again,  so I was hoping for a better solution.
> 
> Thanks for the information on portable drives. However unless I’m misunderstanding, this isn’t right for me as I won’t have a laptop with me.  I’m hoping to make use of the LR CC app on the iPad to organise and work on my photos on the road, but I’m trying to work out how later I can get them from there into LR Classic on my desktop without hitting the 20Gb limit temporarily.


Try this search for ideas: digital camera to external hard drive copy


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## Tim Pindar (Aug 28, 2018)

Thanks for the search idea for HDDs. 
However I still come back to the puzzle of how to make use of LR CC mobile for organising, rating, editing, etc whilst away, and then get the photos into LR Classic when I return, without temporarily exceeding the 20Gb limit. Is there a way to do a partial sync?


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## Tim Pindar (Aug 28, 2018)

Tim Pindar said:


> Thanks for the search idea for HDDs.
> However I still come back to the puzzle of how to make use of LR CC mobile for organising, rating, editing, etc whilst away, and then get the photos into LR Classic when I return, without temporarily exceeding the 20Gb limit. Is there a way to do a partial sync?



I may have found the answer to my question.

Is this correct? If I start the sync to LR Classic on my return, and hit 20Gb, the rest of the sync will be "pending". Then, the 20Gb of photos which are already sync'd into LR Classic can be removed from cloud sync (from the Classic panel) at which point the rest will start to sync across.


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## Zenon (Aug 28, 2018)

I don't know about that part but here is the bulk downloader. 

Download synced Lightroom photos and videos from the cloud to a computer


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## clee01l (Aug 28, 2018)

Faced with your dilemma,  I abandoned my iPad some years ago and opted for a real computer running a real operating system.   Consider for a moment that the 256GB iPad uses that 256GB for both RAM and storage and must store all of the apps plus CPU processor RAM, Plus data for all apps.  Consider also that modern camera cards approach that 256GB storage.  
Some other points, transferring image files via the internet (over WiFi) and maybe cellular will be sketchy at best.   
That 20GB limit at Adobe will likely exceed the capacity of one camera card.   It does not get better from here. 

The first time I tried to used my iPad as a field substitute for a computer it failed miserably.   It is not really practical to move large volumes of data through the cloud, Adobe's cloud or anyone else's (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)

Before there was an Adobe Cloud, I relegated my iPad to email and web browsing and took a small but fast laptop to the field.   On it I ran LR (desktop current version) and had a 1TB EHD for backups and other data storage. 
When Adobe introduced  Lightroom CC of the PC, stopped running Lightroom Classic on the laptop and only run Lightroom CC for field work.   When I get home, I let Lightroom CC sync to the cloud where I have a fast internet connection.   The Adobe Cloud then will sync back to my Master Lightroom Classic  catalog (again via a fast internet)

I have also signed up for a 1TB Lightroom CC storage limit at Adobe so that  I do not need to do a lot of housekeeping on my cloud stored image files to stay within that 20GB limit.


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## Zenon (Aug 28, 2018)

I travel with a Macbook Air and a 2TB EHD. My only complaint is the screen size. One half (which is way too much) is partitioned for time machine. I never use up the other 1TB for files when I travel.  I guess that 1TB of cloud comes in handy for you.


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## johnbeardy (Aug 28, 2018)

Tim Pindar said:


> Is this correct? If I start the sync to LR Classic on my return, and hit 20Gb, the rest of the sync will be "pending". Then, the 20Gb of photos which are already sync'd into LR Classic can be removed from cloud sync (from the Classic panel) at which point the rest will start to sync across.



Yes. To keep your collection organisation, first unsync the collection, then remove the photos from All Synced Photos.

Note that Adobe's bulk downloader isn't relevant as it can only download whatever's up there, which is limited to 20gb in this case.


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## Tim Pindar (Aug 29, 2018)

clee01l said:


> Faced with your dilemma,  I abandoned my iPad some years ago and opted for a real computer running a real operating system.   Consider for a moment that the 256GB iPad uses that 256GB for both RAM and storage and must store all of the apps plus CPU processor RAM, Plus data for all apps.  Consider also that modern camera cards approach that 256GB storage.
> Some other points, transferring image files via the internet (over WiFi) and maybe cellular will be sketchy at best.
> That 20GB limit at Adobe will likely exceed the capacity of one camera card.   It does not get better from here.
> 
> ...



Thanks for this, clee01l. 

Having just got the iPad Pro256Gb  and Apple pencil, I'm keen to try using it for this trip. Maybe  it's better than the iPad you tried some years ago? In any event there are many people saying it's a great tool for mobile workflow so I'll give it a go. 

You say you now run LR CC for field work and sync when you get home to your fast connection, which is what I plan to do (from the iPad Pro). I'm trying to avoid the 1Tb plan though...


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## Tim Pindar (Aug 29, 2018)

johnbeardy said:


> Yes. To keep your collection organisation, first unsync the collection, then remove the photos from All Synced Photos.
> 
> Note that Adobe's bulk downloader isn't relevant as it can only download whatever's up there, which is limited to 20gb in this case.



Thanks for confirming. This sounds like a plan.


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## Brimar (Jul 11, 2019)

Tim
Appreciate this is an old thread but I am in a similar position and would be very interested to see whether your plan worked or not. I have the Ipad Pro 10.5" (although I might upgrade  to the newer version later in the year). I am contemplating biting the bullet and paying for a 1TB plan but would prefer to avoid if there is a work around. I am currently using Lightroom Classic as part of the CC Photography package and not Lightroom CC. I am also in a bit of a quandary, should I forget Lightroom Classic and move over to Lightroom CC?  But perhaps this is another question for another part of the forum!


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## johnbeardy (Jul 11, 2019)

It'll work. Start sync in Lightroom Classic, follow the instructions about removing  photos from All Synced Photos and the 20gb will free up.


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## Tim Pindar (Jul 11, 2019)

Brimar said:


> Tim
> Appreciate this is an old thread but I am in a similar position and would be very interested to see whether your plan worked or not. I have the Ipad Pro 10.5" (although I might upgrade  to the newer version later in the year). I am contemplating biting the bullet and paying for a 1TB plan but would prefer to avoid if there is a work around. I am currently using Lightroom Classic as part of the CC Photography package and not Lightroom CC. I am also in a bit of a quandary, should I forget Lightroom Classic and move over to Lightroom CC?  But perhaps this is another question for another part of the forum!


Yes it did work, and I will use it again on my next big trip later this summer.
There was some “faff” involved though. You might need to temporarily clear out your synced collections to maximise the amount of the 20Gb which is available.  After each partial sync I moved the images to another, unsynced collection and let some more sync across. 
For some reason I found the sync frequently stopped, and I had to use the option to Rebuild Sync Data (press Alt key when sync dialog is up) to make it start again. 
I think it’s a good workaround if it’s only an occasional thing, I wouldn’t want to do it say once a month. Also I had about 1700 images in total to sync, if I had ten times that number I would have been a pain.
Good luck!


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## Tim Pindar (Jul 11, 2019)

Also, I’d be careful about abandoning Classic for CC. Yes it’s a different subject but for me there are far too many missing features still in CC.


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## Brimar (Jul 12, 2019)

Many thanks to you both for your help, I will experiment over the weekend.


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## CharlieInVt (Jul 12, 2019)

I just did something similar, so far with mixed results.  See my post (Import - Trying to import from SD card ONLY the pix I didn't sync from LR/Mobile - NOT WORKING).  What worked was 1) I was able to work on pix while traveling and do several posts to Facebook, a  great pleasure for me, and 2) I *almost* kept within my 20GB cloud limit.  When I busted it I turned off sync till I was home.

That led to several problems: 1) When I got home I had to upgrade to the 1TB plan in order to sync.  (I could probably have deleted what I was able to sync, and gotten within the limit.  But I wasn't that clever this time  Anyway I will try to downgrade within the grace period.  2) Then, it took 3 days to sync my iPad to the cloud, as there were a lot of photos backed up.  3) I still have not figured out how to load the lower-starred pix I still have on the camera card, as my post explains.   

This seems like a real issue for Adobe, with widespread interest.  I feel they have not understood the use cases for the cloud, which are quite distinct between shooting/editing and sharing.


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## RobOK (Jul 14, 2019)

I am trying to sort out an iPad workflow too and ran into the same problems as above. I was using a Temp laptop from work in this case and hit the 20 GB Limit. I mistakenly unsynced a lot of Classic collections thinking it would free up cloud space, that space doesn't count against quota. (just posting that in case not all know that).

Second thing i found, is Adobe as an intro pricing for existing customers to go to 1 TB plan for 14.99 vs. 9.99 of the Photography plan. So 1 TB for 5 a month. I did that to get past my impasse, but not sure i will keep it. In my case, i uploaded the camera card fully back home and deleted the cloud versions (it was more for a backup).

I do think an iPad workflow is possible and I will still pursue that.

Thanks
Rob.


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