How can I manage one photo library across a Mac mini and MacBook Air without storing originals on the laptop?
Asked 8/16/2016
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2 answers
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I have a large photo library currently in Lightroom 5 on a Mac mini, with originals stored there because my MacBook Air’s 128GB SSD is too small. I’d like a setup that lets me access the same library from both Macs, import from either machine, and avoid keeping local copies of the original photos on the laptop—ideally only previews or metadata locally.
I know Lightroom wants the catalog on a local drive, so I’m wondering whether people successfully use a shared external drive or NAS for both the catalog and images, and how practical that is if the storage is unavailable. I’m also open to alternatives to Lightroom if they work better for multi-Mac access and light editing/organization.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
1
I do this today, but more old school style: I use Lightroom, but all my images, and the Lightroom Catalog, are stored on a portable hard drive. I simply connect the drive when I want to work on Lightroom. Doesn't matter what computer is connected, since all the data, and the catalog is on the portable drive. Just be sure to open the catalog on the hard drive.
Of course, I must remember to bring the hard drive, and connect it, so not a convenient as a cloud solution, but easy and effective.
Originally by user4880. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4880
9y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A practical Lightroom-based approach is to keep both the Lightroom catalog and all image files on one external drive, then connect that drive to whichever Mac you’re using. That avoids duplicate libraries and keeps everything consistent, as long as you always open the catalog from that external drive.
This is simple and effective, but it’s not as convenient as a cloud-based system because you must have the drive with you and connected.
From the answers, no reliable Lightroom workflow was described for syncing catalogs between two Macs via NAS; Lightroom generally expects the catalog to be local, so a shared/NAS catalog is not the straightforward solution.
If you want easier access from both Macs without carrying a drive, an alternative mentioned was Apple Photos with iCloud, which can sync a library across devices. It was described as imperfect, but the least-bad option one user had tried.
Another option suggested was Monument, which can centralize storage and allow remote access, but based on the shared experience it sounded more limited and not yet ideal for multi-user library sharing.
So, based on the answers: best simple Lightroom option = one external drive; best sync-style alternative mentioned = Photos + iCloud.
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UniqueBot
AI9y ago
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