Archiving images in Lightroom

[Tigger]

I'm looking at getting a laptop pretty soon and as I'm looking at importing my LR library between both Mac & MacBook I thought I'd better look at current size of my image file ..I know its not a problem on the iMac as thats got a 3TB drive, the laptop only offers either 512gb or 1TB, I would op for the 1TB.

I looked at my current folder size on the iMac and in 2 yrs its already 300gb so whilst the 1TB would swallow that within the next few years I would have to consider either removing or archiving images but within LR somehow

What do other users of LR do? obviously due to the meta data you can't just pull files or years out of LR and I would be interested to hear what you do

[Bhuna]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom

Tigger,

I've not started archiving yet but have been thinking about this as my laptop is only a 500gb hard drive. My thoughts are that I map a network drive or portable usb drive to both computers and within lightroom so when i am connected to it then i can still access those files. When connected and in lightroom, move the older photos (so for me this would be pre 2013 folders) to the network/usb drive.

when LR loads up and is not connected, you wont have access to them but then they are old pics archived as you dont use them.


I have seen on one of tim greys videos mention of only copying across smaller versions of the photos / smart views or something of the photos in lightroom onto a laptop so he can still amend them and come back and access on main pc - but i havent looked into this properly....yet.

[Tigger]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom

Same here Andy I've not looked or even considered it, when I bought the Imac with 3TB I knew that would last me a while but as I'm wanting a MacBook I need to consider storage & archive options.

I looked at options for running LR on two machines and I do like the idea of having a mirror copy on the Macbook, this offers 2 benefits the first a full backup ( another LOL) and also you can edit across all your images, but at 300gb already I need to consider options for archiving. I don't really want a portable drive as that would be a pain when carrying it..

This is a bigger headache than I thought it would be

Yes I need to watch Tims video, I've posted the link here more than a few times LOL

[Bhuna]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom

i cant remember what video of his it was in - it only touched on it and i thought ooo what a good idea.

Ian - bear in mind you are archiving - therefore the purpose of archiving is storing items you will not necessarily use or look at again for some time - therefore if on a network drive or a usb portable drive, you can still leave it at home. Its all down to how you want your filing system. If you have 150gb of 1 star material you know you will never post process then copy all that to the nas / usb drive - but do it within lightroom so that when you are connected at home, you have access to it, to move items back into Live directories.

[Tigger]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom

I just found this video by julieanne Kosts so I'll watch that later when I get five

http://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/tag/archive-and-backup

I'm pretty sure I know which of Tims videos addresses backing up and archiving and at least you have the FF so I won't have to watch all of the 2hrs ;o)

My preference would probably to archive by yrs and I'll probably be able to store 6yrs before hitting the 1TB limit - then just start removing older yrs rather than by star rating .... plus all my photos are 5 star

[digiman]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom

Watching this one!

[Tigger]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom



what the julieanne Kosts one ?

[Bhuna]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom

Just watched that video Ian and its about backups and not really archiving of items in your catalog.

Still actually worth watching though I thought.

[Tigger]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom

right cheers Alan ... need to start hunting for suggestions on archiving. You really would have thought LR would have had a feature / plug in to remove images from LR, and store / re import them - after all with some people taking hundreds / thousands of photos at some stage your drive whether its 512gb or 3tb is going to get full - this would seem a flaw within LR

[digiman]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom

I meant the thread, sorry!

[Tigger]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom

I meant the thread, sorry!

and theres me thinking you had an answer - I may try contacting Adobe as this should be added within the program, after all with most cameras now hitting the 20meg range it doesn't take long before drives will be filled

[Bhuna]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom

OK - apologies for long post but try this:


Click on the “+ down arrow” icon to the right of folders and select Add Folder.
Go to your external hard drive and create a folder. For example: W:\Lightroom_Archive\
Now underneath folders, you have your C:\ drive and your new archive folder mapped to the LR catalogue:

Mine is shown as Photography (\\MYBOOK...) as that is my external network drive name – within that then you can see I have the folder Lightroom_Archive selected.
Now in your C:\ section of LR folders – find the directory you want moved – for me in this example it’s the 2002 folder and left click and drag this to the Lightroom_Archive folder.
Now LR with move that folder from your C:\ drive to the W:\Lightroom_Archive folder.
As you can see from the screen print below, the 2002 folder has gone from the C drive

But the photos are still all visible in the catalogue – as we have just told LR that it is now hosted in a different drive. So as long as I remain connected to my network drive, I still have the original file to access.
The photos are now in this drive on the W:\ folder:

The folder is no longer on my laptop harddrive.
Now if I disconnect from the network:

Opening LR, I got no messages.
The preview pictures are still there – as these have been generated on my laptop.
However an exclamation mark now appears in the corner of the mini image and hovering over it states: “ Photo is missing “.

You also get Question marks appear next to the Folders.
If you try to develop the picture:


You are unable to change anything on it as the options are greyed out.
And you get a banner across the top saying “The folder could not be found”.
When you reconnect to your home network, you then have access to the pictures again as you reconnect to the W:\ drive.

This means you can move the large cr2 files that you want to archive off of the laptop drive and onto a network drive – they remain in your catalogue, but the space used up by the large file is now free as the cr2 file is hosted elsewhere.
Pros:
• More space on laptop for current photos.
• Accessible still by both desktop at home and laptop (I believe if you copy the catalogue files then this will include the folder reference – however you may need to just Add the folder as in the initial stage)
Cons:
• Unable to make amends to an archived file on your laptop unless connected to your network drive.


Remember also to ensure you have a back up at all times :)

[Tigger]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom

excellent posting Andy, that seems to address it exactly. Long posting like this I can cope with

[Bhuna]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom

Must admit I prefer to spend time over writing little instructions like that and that one was rushed. If I get time, I will try to experiment further, but not to the detriment of messing my catalogue up LOL

[Tigger]

Re: Archiving images in Lightroom