Organising Lightroom catalogs between Laptop and PC

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-Rob-

Say Cheese!...Oh, and call me Susan
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I have previously done all my editing via Photoshop and Bridge but I am hoping to make a move towards using Lightroom 4 because I have heard such great things about it. The problem is, I am struggling to work out how I will keep my catalog up to date as I do my editing on a laptop and a PC with the photos hosted on a networked drive.

What I want to be able to do is import new photos in to LR via either my PC or Laptop then apply some editing in LR and maybe some in PS as well but then have the results available on either the PC or Laptop depending on which one I use next.

So, for example, I do a shoot, import to LR on the PC and do some editing. Next time I go on the laptop I want to have those edit photos available in LR.

For now we’ll assume the PC and Laptop are always connected to the same network drive all the time. Obviously there are further issues to solve for when the laptop is out and about and not on the network.

Anyone have any experience of a setup like this and how it can work?
 
I'm interested to see what people suggest as I'd like to do this too!

I'd thought of using an external drive for images I want to work with on both machines with the LR Catalogue.
I think it might work, but I don't feel comfortable with the implications for performance or data loss.
 
I had this same challenge and in the end moved to a portable HDD that I keep the photos and the catalog(ue) on.

When I want to switch machines I plug the HDD into that one - not elegant but it does work

(I still back up to my NAS and another drive too)


edit:
Duncan: TBH I don't find the data transfer a problem - it may not be as quick as an internal drive but my drive is USB3 so with a USB3 machine is v.fast.
 
Last edited:
LR catalogs don't (won't) work on networked drives. You can store your images there but not the catalogs
 
Adrian has I think the only practical answer. You need to have only one database in use and also have access to the same image files. An external drive seems to be the most practical way to acieve this if you are using two machines to edit the same images.

Depending on the size of you image collection a 1 or 2 Tb drive may be the answer. If you have that facility go for a USB 3 drive simply for speed sake
 
Buck said:
I had this same challenge and in the end moved to a portable HDD that I keep the photos and the catalog(ue) on.

When I want to switch machines I plug the HDD into that one - not elegant but it does work

(I still back up to my NAS and another drive too)


edit:
Duncan: TBH I don't find the data transfer a problem - it may not be as quick as an internal drive but my drive is USB3 so with a USB3 machine is v.fast.
Click to expand...

Interesting!
My laptop is getting fairly old and doesn't come USB 3 or eSATA equipped.
But as long as the external drive gives me decent performance on the desktop and is usable on the laptop then I can probably put up with a performance hit on the laptop.

I currently backup my desktop by intelligent copy onto a NAS using Allway Sync, so backup of an external drive should not be an issue either!

USB 3 seems the logical choice as it is backwards compatible with USB 2.
Min of 0.5Tb would needed for my non-archived images.
Preferably in a housing that isn't too bulky and ideally would not need external power (no idea if this is realistic).
Got any recommendations?
 
Does anyone know if there is a performance hit going for the convenience of a WD Passport drive?
Size looks great. Loads of travel cases available. No external power needed.
What's the catch?

I know it's probably only 5200 spin speed, but the reviews seems OK about performance.
I feel I must be missing something.
 
I have one of these and I chose this after a bit of research - a small form factor and no need fo external power were two key points.
Mine is the 1TB version and i was lucky - it was on a deal at Comet so paid £75-80 :thumbs:

There is a slightly older version here at just over £77 delivered

In use it is absolutely fine - I cannot fault it to the point I might buy another to keep as an off site back up.
 
Oh it must be then. I've definitely got the older/more expensive one.
 
Edit: just bought another as an off site back up. Was going to go for a different colour but daftly they were more expensive (to a Yorkshire man a few £££ means a lot!)
 
All, can't recommend L4 enough. It is sooo much better than L3.

I rated L3 so much and combined with CS 5 and photomatix they were a great set of tools.

But now with L4. The quality of my shots have taken a significant step up.
 
Thanks Andy

I'm tempted to upgrade - less than £60 so not mega bucks
 
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