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Export Library to memory card

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pipnat51

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Joined
Nov 3, 2010
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25
Location
Warwickshire, England
Operating System:OS Sierra 10.12.6

Lightroom Version: Classic CC
(Please go to Help menu > System Info to double check the exact version number)

Question or Description of Problem:Can I export, or copy, my entire library which is jpeg only, to a memory card on a Mac desktop? Or if that's not possible then maybe onto a memory stick?
 
You talk about 'library' but what do you mean by that? All your images? If you want to export all your images to a memory card, then the only question would be whether that memory card is big enough to hold all the images.
 
Your entire library is going to consist of a LR catalog file, a Previews folder, Possibly a Smart Previews folder and folders that contain your original JPEG file copies. There are also LR assets (presets) that are stored either locally with the catalog file or globally so that they are available to all catalogs.
In the catalog file there is a field that contains the path to each image file. If you break the filesystem path relationship the catalog file on the destination drive may lose the pointer to the image files that were imported.
You can copy all of these things to any volume that is big enough to hold everything.
You can also use the Export as Catalog function to create a package of LR catalog file, a Previews folder, Possibly a Smart Previews folder and folders that contain your original JPEG file copies in side a parent folder. This will get you a working catalog at the destination that will have correct paths to the original JPEG file copies at the destination. You will still need the assets copied manually.

Why do you want or need to do this? There might be alternate solutions or there might be valid reasons why this might not be a good idea.
 
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