Synching two macs

[freshwater]

Re: Synching two macs

Have you looked at the possibilities of Lightroom Mobile?

[Tigger]

Re: Synching two macs

Perhaps I have misunderstood the question, but why not store the Lightroom catalog and images together on an external drive? It is what we do at EOS magazine for our photo library (20,000 images+). Then just plug the drive into whichever computer you are using.

We are currently using a WD My Passport Ultra drive which is powered via the USB cable - no mains supply needed.

The first drive is synched to a second external drive from time to time using software called SuperDuper.

problem with this you would have to import the raw image plus data file everytime you wanted to edit an image - the ideal solution would be to have LR on a desk top & laptop, then by plugging the laptop in just click snyc, would that really be hard to code into software, I don't think so

[Columbarius]

Re: Synching two macs

surely using a NAS drive still means your back to just exporting the catalog ? the drive is just the storage device

Yes the NAS is a storage device, but data can be stored/retrieved by any attached (WiFi or Network cable) computers when you are "home" or through the Internet when you are away from home. Essentially one would use it as Robert suggests but without the need to

just plug the drive into whichever computer you are using.

.

Using LR through the internet when you are away from home might prove to be a bit slow though.

[Robert Scott]

Re: Synching two macs

problem with this you would have to import the raw image plus data file everytime you wanted to edit an image - the ideal solution would be to have LR on a desk top & laptop, then by plugging the laptop in just click snyc, would that really be hard to code into software, I don't think so

Perhaps I did not explain clearly. You need a copy of Lightroom on each computer. I think the Lightroom licence allows installation on two computers as long as they are not used at the same time, though I am willing to be corrected on this.

The Lightroom catalogue and all the associated files are on the external drive. These files can be RAW and/or JPG. To edit a RAW file, you simply open Lightroom on your computer, find the image in the catalogue on the external drive and start working on it. There is no need to move the image or data file anywhere. The file stays on the external drive and changes are saved to this drive.

I have just done this with a .CR2 file from an EOS 5D Mark II, so I know it is possible. And no, I did not notice any reduction in speed because of the external access.

[AndyMulhearn]

Re: Synching two macs

I only use one computer but as I see it you have two approaches:

1. As Robert says, put it all on an external disk - images and catalog - and swap between computers as needed. This has the advantage that all the files are in one place and can be swapped on demand but the disadvantages that your images are all on a single disk and you'll have to arrange some form of backup to avoid losing them all should the disk fail and if you have loads of raw files, the disk will need to be quite big.
2. Or, put your images on a NAS and your catalog on a relatively small external disk. This has the disadvantage that the files are in two places and you will need to access the NAS over your network, which may be slow, but the advantages that a NAS will generally be more resilient to failure - using a RAID setup - and putting your catalog on a small external SSD will be much quicker to use.

One thing you can't do is put the images and catalog both on a NAS - Lightroom won't allow you to access a catalog that isn't on storage physically connected to the computer.

I use a hybrid solution with a catalog of recent images I keep locally along with the raw files and an archive that I keep locally with the raw files on a NAS.

[Columbarius]

Re: Synching two macs

Lightroom won't allow you to access a catalog that isn't on storage physically connected to the computer

That's something I didn't know! Thanks.

[rcarca]

Re: Synching two macs

One thing you can't do is put the images and catalog both on a NAS - Lightroom won't allow you to access a catalog that isn't on storage physically connected to the computer.

That might be the advantage of Dropbox in that you do have it physically on each computer as well as in the cloud.

In answer to Robert, yes, that is certainly one way of doing it. Having had two external drives stolen by someone I am less keen on it - if that is going to happen sod's law says it will be when you have left making the backup for longer than you should... At least by putting it all on Dropbox I would have it on two computers and in the cloud - plus I would be inclined to backup periodically (a boring task!!!) I am sure you are more robust at backing up at the Magazine given it is your living!

I am tempted towards the Dropbox solution because it is easy - I certainly find that the case for my non photographic files! And at £79pa I have a terabyte of storage...

Delighted to have kickstarted a great debate. Thanks one and all!

Richard

[AndyMulhearn]

Re: Synching two macs

Richard, there's a couple of other options that may be worth looking at and another consideration...

The consideration is that the .lrcat file will get quite big - mine for 20k or so images is over 300meg. Synching that file up to dropbox may take a while so if you go down that route you'll probably need to be a bit careful about letting synching finish before you shutdown the mac your working on.

The options are to use two disks and the setting to duplicate files on import which means you automatically back up each file when you import it. The second is to use the catalog setting "automatically write changes to XMP" which means if you lose your catalog it can be rebuilt from the images files and XMP files alone.

HTH...

[rcarca]

Re: Synching two macs

Richard, there's a couple of other options that may be worth looking at and another consideration...

The consideration is that the .lrcat file will get quite big - mine for 20k or so images is over 300meg. Synching that file up to dropbox may take a while so if you go down that route you'll probably need to be a bit careful about letting synching finish before you shutdown the mac your working on.

The options are to use two disks and the setting to duplicate files on import which means you automatically back up each file when you import it. The second is to use the catalog setting "automatically write changes to XMP" which means if you lose your catalog it can be rebuilt from the images files and XMP files alone.

HTH...

Thanks Andy. That makes me think that I should periodically start a new catalogue - say one for each year; but I am afraid you lost me with writing changes to XMP... I am hopelessly non-technical! While I can use the kit I do not really know what is going on in the machines - a bit like my ignorance of the internal combustion engine!!!

I will research!!!

Thanks

Richard

[AndyMulhearn]

Re: Synching two macs

Thanks Andy. That makes me think that I should periodically start a new catalogue - say one for each year; but I am afraid you lost me with writing changes to XMP... I am hopelessly non-technical! While I can use the kit I do not really know what is going on in the machines - a bit like my ignorance of the internal combustion engine!!!

One of the benefits of using LR is the metadata and searching so I think a new catalog each year would be a bit counterproductive - it would stop you doing a search across your whole catalog. It may not be that bad to synch the whole catalog - I just did a test of uploading my 330MB catalog and it took about 3 minutes on my broadband connection. Dropbox claim all sorts of technology around compression and integrity so you may find that after the first synch the follow ups are a bit quicker. Even so, three minutes isn't too bad.

As for XMP files All the catalog holds is a list of image files, their location on disk and the edits you applied to them. You can tell LR to put all of the edits into XMP files alongside the image files - if you ever used PhotoShop you'll see these files in the same place on disk as the image files. The setting's in Lightroom - Catalog Settings and then click on MetaData and it's the third checkbox down...

I will research!!!

A wise move

[rcarca]

Re: Synching two macs

One of the benefits of using LR is the metadata and searching so I think a new catalog each year would be a bit counterproductive - it would stop you doing a search across your whole catalog. It may not be that bad to synch the whole catalog - I just did a test of uploading my 330MB catalog and it took about 3 minutes on my broadband connection. Dropbox claim all sorts of technology around compression and integrity so you may find that after the first synch the follow ups are a bit quicker. Even so, three minutes isn't too bad.

As for XMP files All the catalog holds is a list of image files, their location on disk and the edits you applied to them. You can tell LR to put all of the edits into XMP files alongside the image files - if you ever used PhotoShop you'll see these files in the same place on disk as the image files. The setting's in Lightroom - Catalog Settings and then click on MetaData and it's the third checkbox down...


A wise move

Thanks for that Andy!

R

[Cyberman]

Re: Synching two macs

I agree with the NAS comments.
I had to get a new NAS last year and got a two bay Synology unit with Western Digital Red Drives.
Its very quiet and seems to have good performance, certainly much better than my old one.

[planetc]

Re: Synching two macs

The Nas route is what I'm working towards. I'm part way through moving everything, with the plan to make it accessible from two machines (or more for that matter) as and when needed. Currently keep a second copy of everything on a pc hard drive, which is the primary but intend to switch the primary to the Nas and add a second Nas, manually duplicated, updated at each import.

[rcarca]

Re: Synching two macs

Pro tem everything is now on Dropbox (and it took a blooming age given the awful broadband available in the centre of St Albans - I think it hasn't been updated since the Romans first built Watling Street through here!) pending saving up enough pennies to go down the NAS route (we maxed out on the iMac!). I would however like to extend this a bit more by asking just WHAT particular items you have bought for your NAS set ups, if that is the route you have followed. There seems to be a consensus on WD Reds, but the boxes for them? And what sort of size Reds are you guys (since it is exclusively the guys who have responded) buying? I see Andy uses Sinology, but which unit - very subtle differences in letters after the unit numbers seem to represent fundamentally different capabilities!!!

Thanks

Richard

[rcarca]

Re: Synching two macs

Have you looked at the possibilities of Lightroom Mobile?

Chris - I should have answered this earlier! I have got LR mobile up and running, but I think it only works on smartphones and tablets. It is great for showing my photographs in all their glory to friends and relations and indeed for sharing albums, but not really as a working device for synching between two macs.

Richard