{"id":53568,"date":"2022-05-31T18:46:31","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T18:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/faq\/how-to-backup-lightroom-catalog-to-external-hard-drive-2\/"},"modified":"2022-05-31T18:46:31","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T18:46:31","slug":"how-to-backup-lightroom-catalog-to-external-hard-drive-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/faq\/how-to-backup-lightroom-catalog-to-external-hard-drive-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How to backup lightroom catalog to external hard drive?"},"content":{"rendered":"<ol>\n<li>Step 1: Backup Your Lightroom Catalogue and Images.  <\/li>\n<li>Locate your <strong>catalog<\/strong> and images.  <\/li>\n<li>Step 3: Plug in your external <strong>drive<\/strong>.  <\/li>\n<li>Step 4: Copy\/Move Your Catalog and Images.  <\/li>\n<li>Step 5: Copy your images (Optional)  <\/li>\n<li>Step 6: Open the new catalog in Lightroom.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/p>\n<p>Considering this, can I store Lightroom <strong>catalog<\/strong> on external hard drive? From the Folders panel, click on a folder that you want to put on the <strong>external<\/strong> drive and drag it from your internal drive to the new folder you just created. Click the Move button and Lightroom transfers everything over to the <strong>external<\/strong> <strong>drive<\/strong>, with no extra effort required on your part.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, can I backup my Lightroom onto a <strong>hard<\/strong> drive? <iframe style=\"margin-top:25px;width:100%;height:420px;\" width=\"auto\" height=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qLSzncSkvB4\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>As many you asked, how do I <strong>backup<\/strong> my <strong>Lightroom<\/strong> catalog? Step 1: Within <strong>Lightroom<\/strong>, locate your Catalog Settings menu. Step 2: From this menu, find the <strong>Backup<\/strong>&#8211;<strong>Catalog<\/strong> option in the General Catalog Settings menu. Step 3: Choose \u201cWhen Lightroom Next Exits\u201d as the frequency. Step 4: Exit Lightroom and wait for the Backup pop up.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, should Lightroom <strong>catalog<\/strong> be on SSD or HDD? Photo files should go on regular spinning hard disks and not on SSD. Catalog should go on SSD.<strong>Lightroom<\/strong> Guru Running <strong>Lightroom<\/strong> with its catalog on an external SSD is fine, and 500 GB should give you enough room for now. But 1 TB means you&#8217;ll never have to worry about the size of the catalog folder. A bus powered SSD should be fine.<\/p>\n<h2>How do I change my Lightroom storage location?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Choose Edit > Preferences (Win) or Lightroom > Preferences (macOS). In the preferences dialog, choose Local Storage from the menu at the left. In Local Storage preferences, click Browse next to the Storage Location For Originals preference and then choose your network drive&#8217;s path.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Does Time Machine backup Lightroom catalog?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>The first step is to restore the Lightroom catalog (. lrlibrary) file, from Time Machine (on a Mac) or another backup. By default it&#8217;s located in the Pictures folder in your home folder. As a precaution, copy the current (goofed) file to an external drive or elsewhere, just in case, and then restore the backup.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Can I move my Lightroom catalog?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>With access to your Lightroom Catalog file (. LRCAT), it&#8217;s time to move or copy it to a new location. To move the catalog, click and drag all related files to a new location, such as an external hard drive. To copy the catalog, highlight all related files, right-click, and press &#8216;copy&#8217;.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Where should I save my Lightroom catalog?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>For the best performance, store your Lightroom catalog on your local hard drive. A Solid State Hard Drive (SSD) is even better.<\/li>\n<li>If you need to be portable, store your Lightroom catalog and photos on a fast external hard drive.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Where are Lightroom catalog backups stored?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>By default, Lightroom Classic saves backed up catalogs to the following locations: Windows: Users[user name]PicturesLightroom[catalog name]Backups Mac OS: \/Users\/[user name]\/Pictures\/Lightroom\/[catalog name]\/Backups<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>How many Lightroom backups should I keep?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>However, you only need a few catalog backups to have peace of mind, and if you haven&#8217;t configured Lightroom settings effectively, you might end up with a hundred of them. So, to answer the question, you don&#8217;t need to keep all your Lightroom Catalog backups; only the most recent 2-3 should be good enough.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Does Lightroom benefit from SSD?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Using Solid State Drive (SSD) Not only does Lightroom run better, every single process runs much faster.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>How do I move my Lightroom catalog to SSD?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Find where your catalog is located (Lightroom can show you)<\/li>\n<li>Make sure Lightroom is closed.<\/li>\n<li>Copy the folder where your catalog is located to the SSD drive.<\/li>\n<li>Validate the copied catalog opens.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure the new location will be used going forward.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Should I use an SSD for Lightroom?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>2 NVMe SSDs connect directly via PCIe. This will increase dramatically the speed of your photo\/video editing process. The newer NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) SSD drives give you better loading and export times in Adobe Lightroom, Capture One, or any other photo editing software.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>How do I move Lightroom to another computer?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Step 1 \u2013 Install Lightroom.<\/li>\n<li>Step 2 \u2013 Transfer Photo Library to a new computer.<\/li>\n<li>Step 3 \u2013 Move Lightroom Catalog from old computer.<\/li>\n<li>Step 4 \u2013 Port Configuration and Settings.<\/li>\n<li>Stap 5 \u2013 Re-link the missing folders.<\/li>\n<li>Step 6 \u2013 Bring Preview Files (optional)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/p>\n<h2>How do I use SSD in Lightroom?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Access to this file would ideally be as quick as possible. Setting this up is as simple as copying your current lightroom catalog file to the SSD that you want it on, and opening Lightroom by double-clicking it. This should speed up access to it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Where are Lightroom photos stored?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Your Device. Lightroom offers the option of storing your edited photos on your device (i.e., your digital or DSLR camera).  <\/li>\n<li>Your USB. You can also choose to save your files to a USB drive instead of your device.  <\/li>\n<li>Your Hard Drive.  <\/li>\n<li>Your Cloud Drive.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/p>\n<h2>How do I change my hard drive in Lightroom?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Connect your external drive to your computer.  <\/li>\n<li>In the Folders panel, click and drag the folders from the existing location to the new external drive location (the new folder you created above).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/p>\n<h2>How do I backup my Lightroom settings?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Go to Edit>Preferences which will open the Preferences dialog box. Click on the Presets tab. In the Location section, click on the Show Lightroom Presets folder button. This will open the folder where Lightroom, by default, saves its presets : C:Users[user name]AppDataRoamingAdobeLightroom.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>What is a backup Catalog?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Backup Catalog is a representation of the results of performing a backup of servers on a network. Backup software such as the Microsoft Windows NT administrative tool Windows NT Backup and Backup in Windows 2000 create catalogs so that backed up files are documented and can be found when performing a restore.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>How do I recover a corrupted Lightroom Catalog?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Press and hold the Alt (Win) \/ option (macOS) key while launching Lightroom Classic. In the Select Catalog dialog box, click Create a New Catalog and then try to import the corrupt catalog.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>How much space does a Lightroom catalog take up?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>On my Mac Lightroom 6 is a 1.6GB file, so that&#8217;s a lot of hard drive space to give to a program that you may no longer use. If you&#8217;ve installed Lightroom Classic and you&#8217;re happy with it then I see no reason to keep Lightroom 6 on you computer. Uninstall it to free up space. To do so, go to the Creative Cloud app.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>How many Lightroom catalogs should I have?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>I highly advise you to keep just one catalog too, and utilize Lightroom Collections to keep your personal and professional images separated. A common error that many new Lightroom users make is to create multiple Lightroom catalogs, often times a new one every time they import.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>How do I send a Lightroom catalog?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Select the folder that contains your Lightroom Catalog + Smart Previews, right-click the folder, and select &#8220;Compress Items&#8221; if you&#8217;re on a Mac\/Apple. If you&#8217;re using Windows you&#8217;d right-click the folder and select &#8216;Send to&#8217; and then select &#8216;Compressed (zipped) folder&#8217;.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Should I delete old Lightroom catalog backups?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>Yes. Simply delete them (the . LRCAT file) in the OS File Browser by dragging to &#8216;Trash&#8217; or &#8216;Recycle Bin&#8217;, as you would any other type of file (like a document, or spreadsheet, etc). You should also delete the &#8216;Parent&#8217; folder of the un-wanted Catalog which will trash the Previews .<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Step 1: Backup Your Lightroom Catalogue and Images. Locate your catalog and images. Step 3: Plug in your external drive. Step 4: Copy\/Move Your Catalog and Images. Step 5: Copy your images (Optional) Step 6: Open the new catalog in Lightroom. Considering this, can I store Lightroom catalog on external hard drive? From the Folders &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}