saving photos

[stones]

My mac doesn't have a lot of memory. So I recently moved my entire photo library to an external hard drive. Then I got LR. What is the best way to go about importing photos into LR? I didn't have a storage system in place, just synced with my iPhone/ipad/laptop. So it was just a ton of photos. As of now, I have no photos on my laptop. I don't want to gunk up my system. Can you have ur photos in LR but not have the original on ur laptop?
Hope this makes sense.
Thanks for all the help.
~S

 

[clee01l]

You can keep the photo inventory in the EHD and copy new photos from the camera card or iPhone/iPad to that destination as you catalog them in LR. When Importing existing photos just choose ADD. With a camera card, you need to use the Copy option on import but make sure the destination is the EHD.

The LR catalog file and the previews folder need to reside in the same place. If there is room, then the Primary disk drive is best for performance. Alternately, you can store the catalog file and previews on the EHD. Although doing this may invoke a small performance penalty.

 

[stones]

does the EHD need to be connected to my laptop when click "copy" and then put the destination as EHD?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

does the EHD need to be connected to my laptop when click "copy" and then put the destination as EHD?

Of course. How can you copy something to a disk that isn't there?...

 

[LouieSherwin]

I suggest that you get the free Free Lightroom Quick Start eBooks to help you learn Lightroom. It will answer alot of your basic questions and help you avoid all the common mistakes that new Lightroom users often make.

-louie

 

[Ian.B]

let's say lightroom can be a strange friend to get to know Stones . The free ebook will get you started however I would suggest getting Victoria's lightroom book also if you want to get the best out of your LR friend.
About the ton of photos: just start with small imports would be best so you can sort and keyword [tag] them. This is also a great time to delete the rubbish and the unwanted photos. It's amazing the photo we keep that never see the screen again; you may have a 1/4 of a ton or even 1/2 a ton of those

 

[stones]

Thanks ya'll. I have the ebook. I even printed it out and had it bound so I can write notes as I learn. I'll just move over a little at a time. I appreciate the help.