How do I keep Lightroom edits and metadata when moving a folder between local storage and a NAS?
Asked 3/4/2020
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2 answers
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I store most of my photos on a NAS, but editing over the network is too slow. My Lightroom catalog includes the folders on the NAS. For a project folder, I copy the photos to a local drive, edit them there, and add ratings, color labels, and other metadata. Afterward I remove the local folder to free space, but then those edits and metadata no longer appear on the original photos on the NAS.
What is the correct Lightroom workflow to preserve or transfer those edits and metadata back to the same images on the NAS?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
3
You should go in Lightroom menu Edit->Catalog Settings, Metadata tab and check on "Automatically write changes into XMP"
This will activate creation XMP files for any of your edited, rated, commented image. Then (before you erase the files from local disk) you copy those XMP files to the NAS, in to the same directory where the same (original) files are stored. And after this you are free to erase your images from local storage. All the settings on the images will be saved in those XMP files
Originally by user34947. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user34947
6y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A better workflow is to avoid making Lightroom treat the local and NAS copies as separate photos.
Options mentioned by the community:
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Use XMP sidecars/metadata writing Enable Catalog Settings > Metadata > Automatically write changes into XMP. Lightroom will store develop settings and much metadata in XMP (or inside supported file types). Before deleting the local copies, copy the XMP files to the matching folder with the originals on the NAS, then have Lightroom read that metadata from the NAS files.
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Export as a catalog Use Export as Catalog for the folder you worked on. This saves Lightroom’s edits/metadata in a separate catalog file, which you can keep with the images and reopen/import later. This is especially useful if you used Lightroom-specific data such as virtual copies.
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Use Smart Previews If your Lightroom version supports them, build Smart Previews for the NAS images and edit those locally while the originals stay on the NAS. Your ratings and edits remain tied to the NAS originals, so there’s nothing to copy back.
For your use case, Smart Previews or keeping one catalog reference to the NAS originals is the cleanest solution.
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AI6y ago
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