# Local Storage Duplication of Originals



## Les T (May 20, 2018)

Hi,
I've been experimenting with LrCC. I was looking at the storage used. 

I have *not* checked the "Store a copy of originals at specified location".   However a copy of the originals are stored in the location. Not only that but there is duplication.  See attached.

I'm assuming this is a bug or is it possible that I've set up LrCC incorrectly.

Regards,
   Les


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## RikkFlohr (May 20, 2018)

Lightroom CC will purge files according to 'age'.  It keeps newly imported/migrated files around for a while in case you need them. Once a file reaches 30 days since you've last viewed it, it is eligible for removal and then will be stored in the cloud until needed.  Just looking at it in the Loupe view will reset its timer.


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## Les T (May 20, 2018)

Hi  Rikk,
Thanks for your reply.
I can now understand why a large number of images are on my local disk. I've been doing mass changes on keywords.
However if you look at the two file list extracts. The same original DNG files for 2017-01-07 are shown in different directories. So there are duplicates which is eating into disk space. It this normal?
Regards,
    Les


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## RikkFlohr (May 21, 2018)

Those look like two independent Lightroom CC Catalog files that both contain the same images.  Without seeing the parent folders of the next level or two above it is hard to say.  Is it possible you've created two different Catalogs with two distinct Adobe IDs?


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## Les T (May 21, 2018)

Hi Rikk,
I pretty sure I did not have 2 Adobe ID's.
I have been changing the album structure. I had 4 albums per year and I moved to having a single album per year for the 4 years I loaded. Also doing some mass changes/add/deletes of keywords.

I hope you can make sense of the attached File Info and directory structure. For the example I've chosen there are 3 copies of the DNG.

Regards,
   Les


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## Les T (May 24, 2018)

Rikk,
I've been looking into the duplicate images and it only relates to one year 2017 and your comment about more than one Adobe ID.

I've just remembered that I deleted my first load of 2017  and reloaded it.  If the deletion process did not tidy up the local storage it would produce the duplicates.

Which then begs the question can a manually delete the duplicate copies?

In fact could I delete all the original images but keep the directory structure? Would LR CC then down load the DNG files back onto my Mac when it needed them?

Regards,
   Les


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## RikkFlohr (May 24, 2018)

Looking at your second screen shot, (and the associated dates and file sizes) I am guessing your active Catalog is the one that begins e833.... The other 3 haven't been touched for a while and are suspect. 

Back up that data so it can be restored, or quarantine it in a different location for a period of time before deciding to more permanently remove the additional catalogs. If things go awry, restore the three additional folders and post back here again.


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## Les T (May 24, 2018)

Hi Rikk,
I've had a good time experimenting with two images which are  the only contents of the sub-directory 2017-01-11.  I deleted ALL occurrences of this directory. [Backed them up first!]

As soon as did a small edit (Exposure)   on one of the images the 2017-01-11 directory and the DNG original was re-instated from the cloud. 
The second image I just  added a keyword and this was NOT re-installed.
Viewing both images did not instigate a cloud download. 
Interesting in that this second image has a sync status of _Local:  Original File_. But this is no local file.  Again only when I did an edit of the image forced the  file to be brought down from the cloud.
Another observation I had was that the down loaded images did NOT contain the new keyword list? The cloud contents must contain the new keyword list but the original DNG file is not updated with this list.

My conclusion is that I believe I could delete all sub-directories under "e833....." Saving 51GB of space. The source files would remain in the cloud until I edited an image. Just going into the edit screen would not cause the download only if a changed a setting. Which is good!

Regards,
  Les


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## Jim Wilde (May 25, 2018)

Les T said:


> Another observation I had was that the down loaded images did NOT contain the new keyword list? The cloud contents must contain the new keyword list but the original DNG file is not updated with this list.



That is correct. In fact the originals will not contain any of the changes you have made within LRCC, like Classic the new LRCC is also a non-destructive editor, but unlike LR Classic there is no comparable function to "Write Changes to XMP". Thus the images held in the cloud, and any downloaded copies, will remain as they were at the time of import. All the data about those images (i.e. the catalog) is held in the cloud, the local library is but a lesser version of that cloud catalog.

Note, however, that you can export copies of the originals which will contain the keywords etc., just like LR Classic.


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## Christopher (Jul 27, 2019)

I know I'm very late to this thread, but I just wanted to say thank you. I've been trying to figure this out for the longest time. Now that I know they're temporary, I understand why there's still local storage when I've chosen to not store copies. The light bulb came on.  Thank you.


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