# Can I tell LR on iPad to use a catalog on an attached SSD



## rosie (Feb 18, 2021)

Hi, I wasn't sure whether to post this in the LR Classic forum or here as the question is regarding both, so apologies if it's not appropriate here.  

I have LR Classic on my iMac and MacBook and am intending to keep my photos and the catalog on a 2Tb Sandisk SSD so I can work on both devices.  However I also want to be able to work on and add to the same catalog when travelling with my iPad - assuming this makes sense, or maybe not!

So, is it possible to tell LR on the iPad to look at the catalog on the SSD which I can attach directly to it.

I'm getting myself very confused as to how to use all these devices but have the same photos and edits available, and still be able to use LR Classic on my non IOS devices.

I have a tech background (42 years in the industry  ) but confused as to the best way to use LR.  

Help would be very much appreciated.  Rosie


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## Paul McFarlane (Feb 18, 2021)

Hi Rosie and welcome to the forums!

Short answer is no. The version of Lightroom on iPad is the cloud version, not one that works with catalogs.


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## rosie (Feb 18, 2021)

ah, ok thought that might  be the case.  Thanks


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## clee01l (Feb 18, 2021)

rosie said:


> ah, ok thought that might  be the case.  Thanks


You can sync Lightroom Classic images in Collections to the Lightroom Cloud and use the Lightroom app on the iPad to view and edit them.   You just have to turn on syncing on for Lightroom Classic and set  individual collections to Sync.   In Lightroom (cloudy) these become Albums and you can access them with the iPad where ever you have an internet connection.


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## rosie (Feb 18, 2021)

Thanks Cletus, that's a useful tip.   I was also hoping to do it 'the opposite way'  - ie when travelling, copy my SD card onto the SSD and import view/sort the images from the SSD to  LR (cloudy) on the iPad.  I guess that won't work because it's not cloud source.


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## clee01l (Feb 18, 2021)

rosie said:


> Thanks Cletus, that's a useful tip.   I was also hoping to do it 'the opposite way'  - ie when travelling, copy my SD card onto the SSD and import view/sort the images from the SSD to  LR (cloudy) on the iPad.  I guess that won't work because it's not cloud source.


The SSD and the SD are just seen as externals files.  Since iPadOS 13.x, you can access external files with Lightroom (cloudy)    I use an SSD when I travel to make a backup copy of my image files.   I can import these into Lightroom (cloudy) and on to the cloud or I can  take the SSD home and import these images directly into Lightroom Classic.   Usually at the end of the day I am able to settle in to a hotel with a good internets connection.


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## rosie (Feb 18, 2021)

Perfect!!  Just what I was after - for enabling viewing.  BUT If I do the following:

1. Backup my SD card to my SSD (already do that)
2. Import the images from the SSD  into LR  (cloudy) to view and cull etc  (but I don't have the ability you have in Classic to remove from disk (SSD) as well as from the library as far as I can see as I just did a test)

So then when I do actually import the images into LR Classic to do more work on,  I guess there isn't a simple  way I can not import the 'culled in LR (cloudy)'  other than making a note of the file name(s) ?  Do you have a workflow to get around this?  I'm probably missing something obvious.

If all that makes sense


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## clee01l (Feb 18, 2021)

rosie said:


> So then when I do actually import the images into LR Classic to do more work on,  I guess there isn't a simple  way I can not import the 'culled in LR (cloudy)'  other than making a note of the file name(s) ?  Do you have a workflow to get around this?  I'm probably missing something obvious.


 Edits and other work that you do in Lightroom (cloudy)  are managed in the cloud.  The simplest solution would be to make sure your works is all done in cloudy and the files on the SSD are for backup.  If you sync cloudy to the cloud and then from the cloud down to Classic at home. All of your work done in Lightroom (cloudy) will be present in Lightroom Classic.


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## rosie (Feb 18, 2021)

And that is what I needed to know .  Thanks so much!


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## Conrad Chavez (Feb 19, 2021)

Here's a little more detail if it helps.

Lightroom on an iPad/iPhone (iOS 13 or later)  has no problem importing from external storage, and has no problem exporting to external storage. And, iOS 13+ makes it possible to copy images from camera to external storage without touching iPad internal storage. All of that makes the iPad more computer-like than before. But if you want to Lightroom to edit images from a external storage on an iPad, the problem is…

Once you import images into Lightroom, even just to cull and rate, those are always copied to Lightroom private storage on the iPad. And after those originals are copied to the iPad, Lightroom will try to upload those copies to its cloud storage as soon as it can. Lightroom does not reference, will not alter, and will never even look at the originals on external storage again; it will only look at the copies it imported to the iPad. Because of those reasons, there is no way external iPad storage can be used  to make Lightroom avoid using iPad internal storage. You will always need enough free space on the iPad to store images imported into Lightroom, because Lightroom on iPad has no way to use external storage for that.


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## rosie (Feb 19, 2021)

thanks Conrad, that explains it really clearly.


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