Lightroom / Multiple Computers .... Help

bbg404

bbg404

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Name
Ben
Edit My Images
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Evening all........ after a lot of thought i decided to stick with Windows over MacBook so my laptop arrives tomorrow.

Basically I'm looking for the best option to be able to do the following.........

I've got my main editing PC in the office but having an office job i don't want to finish work (in an office) and go home and sit in another office every night so ive bought a good spec laptop and i want to be able to edit photos on the laptop then go to the pc and finish and vice versa.

Am i better getting a rugged External drive and using that to hold my images and catalogue or paying for cloud and storing on there??

I'm guessing the downside to cloud is if i don't have wifi or phone signal i cant upload or edit if I'm doing work while away.

What do you suggest???
 
I thought as much!! i suppose if the RAW files are backed up ..... then the rugged is used to work from your probably not going to see any difference really are you its just a simple case plugging the Rugged in to which ever computer you are working from
 
I’ve not tried it, but yes that’s how it sounds. The only problem I foresee is if the catalogue can’t find the images. As long as you keep them all together it should be fine. Or just move your catalogue from disk to disk each time.
 
Depends the level of editing you want to do on the laptop... you could use Lightroom Classic CC on your desktop, sync to the cloud for editing on Lightroom CC on the laptop. You don’t need to pay for additional cloud storage as you’re not storing RAW (or other originals) with Adobe, only smart previews.

You can still use Lightroom CC on the laptop when away from home to upload (which will however take up cloud storage albeit temporarily) and it will sync back to Lightroom Classic CC at home when you have network connection.
 
The official Adobe method for multiple machines is to import and export catalogues between the two.

Lr catalogues are not intended to be used at the same time so options are a bit limited.

Rugged hard drives I wouldn't really bother, it's added cost for hardly any extra protection. Just get some drives and some icybox caddys. Avoid wd passport usb3 imo.
 
neil_g said:
Rugged hard drives I wouldn't really bother, it's added cost for hardly any extra protection. Just get some drives and some icybox caddys. Avoid wd passport usb3 imo.
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+1 on this... most (at least many) portable USB drives now have the USB interface I built to the drive hardware. It’s fine when it’s working but makes the drive hard to recover in case of errors.

Even better (though much more expensive) use a USB SSD.

If you store the catalogue on the external drive and plug it in to whichever machine you are using... just make sure you shut down before unplugging and keep a backup on the “at home” machine.
 
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I’ve not tried it but could you not use drop box. If you install the app the files are stores both locally and synced to the cloud at least I think that’s how it works and iCloud works like that for a Mac.

Being local it shouldn’t affect speed and any changes should sync to the cloud ready for use on the next PC.
 
ecoleman said:
I’ve not tried it but could you not use drop box. If you install the app the files are stores both locally and synced to the cloud at least I think that’s how it works and iCloud works like that for a Mac.

Being local it shouldn’t affect speed and any changes should sync to the cloud ready for use on the next PC.
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You'd have to disable Dropbox while using lr. Any attempt at the app syncing the data while in use could corrupt the cat. Adobe never designed for multiple access so there is no record locking in the database etc.
 
bbg404 said:
Why would you avoid WD??
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Not sure if this is the reason Neil suggested avoiding WD ... but with WD 2.5" external drives (not just WD but from both drive manufacturers) the USB interface is quite often integrated to the HDD. This is fine for day to day use, but can be a pain in the **** if there is ever a fault and you need to recover from it.
 
If working on two computers it is fine to have your raw files and catalogue on the same external HD, this saves any importing etc of catalogues. It does however make the backing up of your files, especially the catalogue, even more important including the keeping of more than one backup.

As stated don't bother with rugged HD's, they just cost you more with no real added benefit.
 
bbg404 said:
Why would you avoid WD??
Click to expand...

exactly this:

Eloise said:
Not sure if this is the reason Neil suggested avoiding WD ... but with WD 2.5" external drives (not just WD but from both drive manufacturers) the USB interface is quite often integrated to the HDD. This is fine for day to day use, but can be a pain in the **** if there is ever a fault and you need to recover from it.
Click to expand...

normally with an external drive when they fail its often the enclosure and you can just crack the case open and put the drive into another caddy. yet the WD mypassport drives have the USB socket soldered on, making them pretty much useless.

plus the mypassports have been crazy unreliable in my experience. always the drive that gets bought to IT asking for recovery.

if you use them, make sure they're backed up.
 
Eloise said:
Depends the level of editing you want to do on the laptop... you could use Lightroom Classic CC on your desktop, sync to the cloud for editing on Lightroom CC on the laptop. You don’t need to pay for additional cloud storage as you’re not storing RAW (or other originals) with Adobe, only smart previews.

You can still use Lightroom CC on the laptop when away from home to upload (which will however take up cloud storage albeit temporarily) and it will sync back to Lightroom Classic CC at home when you have network connection.
Click to expand...

This is what I do, except I use LR mobile on an iPad Pro for the sofa editing.
 
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