Ref: Procedure for moving the catalog to the external drive with photos

[ridart]

I wish to move a catalogue and image files, complete with all the customisations of the past year, from an Internal HD to an external NAS drive. I have read the post:

Procedure for moving the catalog to the external drive with photos - '2-'5-2''9, 11:43 PM on the Tips & Tricks Thread

but it appears to refer to USB or Firewire. Does the same proceedure apply?
Having moved my catalogue and images, is it then possible to have access from other computers on my LAN allowing them to see any updates.

All computers are Macs running OSX 1'.4.11. The Network Attached Storage drive allows for one master 'read/write' machine and all others to be 'read only' and relies upon drivers on each machine rather than setting a network address (ie it is only visible to my LAN.

Any suggestions or observations gratefully received

Thankyou

 

[Gene McCullagh]

Hi ridart! Welcome to the forums! When you have a moment please go to the User CP link above and fill out your signature.

While your images can live on a NAS your catalog cannot. LR is currently not designed to be networkable. The Catalog file must reside on a local drive.

You can copy your catalog to other computers on the network but I would advise against this unless you have a disciplined approach so you don't overwrite an older copy with a newer copy.

Many people have asked for network capabilities in LR and at some point Adobe may build these capabilities into LR. In the meantime, let your voice be heard by submitting a feature request using the link at the top of this page.

 

[ridart]

Thankyou Gene
My question though, is - How do I transfer my images to a NAS and be sure that I don't lose my catalogue work, in fact, where is that stored?
In the .cat file or in the .xmp?
Can I use the process previously refered to?

 

[Denis Pagé]

Welcome to the forums RidArt!

I wrote that tip... As Gene said, the Catalog shouldn't be on a network drive. But it can be on an external drive as once you plug it to your computer, it appear as being local.

Your Catalog containing all the important photo editing info about your photos is TheNameYou GaveToTheCatalog.lrcat. So look for an .lrcat file to find it.

To move you photos to the NAS, 1st make the NAS visible to Lightroom and move your top level folder to the NAS FROM WITHIN Lightroom.

If the NAS is not visible, you can put a dummy image in the top level image's folder on the NAS, import that image and delete it.