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Catalogs Using LRc / Photoshop on BOTH a MAC and Windows

rebop

rebop

Active Member
Premium Classic Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2008
Messages
460
Location
Northborough, MA
Lightroom Experience
Advanced
Lightroom Version
6.x
Lightroom Version Number
13.5
Operating System
  1. Windows 10
  2. macOS 15 Sequoia
Using LRc / Photoshop on BOTH a MAC and Windows

Not at the same moment, of course :) And this is a non-rush question. Trying to be prepared.

As some my have read, I am considering a MAC for the first time in MANY years. Just started to think about where things go and how I would use catalog, etc.

The executables are easy. Here is what I have now in Windows. Where would these go in the MAC so that all things match?:

Lightroom Catalog: C:\Users\bob\Pictures\Lightroom\Bob's Lightroom Classic
Watermarks, end caps, etc: C:\Users\bob\Pictures\Lightroom\Lightroom Stuff
Caches and preferences: C:\Users\bob\AppData\Local\Adobe
Presets and TONS of custom stuff: C:\Users\bob\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom

For example:

LR Stuff.png


I have a ton of custom stuff there.
And I think NIK collection is in there as well. I wonder where for Lightroom? Will look. Its older paid for before FREE NIK. May not have a MAC installer.

AHHHH, NIK Stuff:

C:\Users\bob\AppData\Local\Google

And then, where do I put the catalog? Or do I keep two copies and sync them before each computer use?

All Images will be on my NAS.

Photoshop easier, I think.

C:\Users\bob\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2024
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2024\Plug-ins

I **think** that is all I customized in PS but must be preferences as well.

What do you think? If I were just transferring, would be easier. But at least for a time want to be able to use my images on either computer.
 
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rebop said:
Now that is an interesting new wrinkle.

So, since I do not have a MAC to play with yet, isn't it windows assigning a drive letter that is not affecting the folders and files? The SD changes drive letter depending on where it is plugged in. So where would MAC be seeing this drive letter than causes the issue? And once again, isn;t this identical to using an external USB for the catalogs for BOTH Win and MAC? I thought Victoria suggested that as a solution.

Unconfuse me, please.
Click to expand...
I think we have discussed this much earlier during your Mac search.

The Only way Victoria's suggestion works is because the EHD formatted has FAT32/exFAT contains both the catalog file and the images. This puts the images on a volume that resolves the "relativePath" field consistently. Either the 'relativePath' field or the 'absolutePath' field must have a valid path for the catalog to work on different computers. Because Windows complicates everything unnecessarily with Drive Letters, the only time the 'relativePath' is valid is when the image files are located on the same volume as the catalog file. Other times in Windows the 'relativePath' field is unresolvable because the path crosses drive letters. The 'absolutePath' field MUST contain a drive letter in Windows and can NEVER contain a drive letter in MacOS. This limits the 'absolutePath' field to being useful in Windows on different Windows machines only whe the Drive Letters match on both machines. Since MacOS mounts different volumes by name in the /vol folder, the 'absolutePath' files will always work on different MacOS computers. I also think the 'relativePath' field is resolvable when the image files are on a different volume from the catalog file on different MacOS computers.
 
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Interesting, but what I am missing is that when a drive is ejected from Windows, it no longer HAS a drive letter. Where does MAC think that is coming from?
 
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rebop said:
Interesting, but what I am missing is that when a drive is ejected from Windows, it no longer HAS a drive letter. Where does MAC think that is coming from?
Click to expand...
That is irrelevant. MacOS will name the disk 'Untitled' if it has not seen it before, or has not given it another name yet.
The only thing that is relevant is what the path in the catalog is. Where in Windows the catalog has a path to the images like this:
D:/Folder/Subfolder/Image
on a Macintosh that same image should have a path that looks like this:
Disk Name/Folder/Subfolder/Image
That means that when you switch a catalog from Windows to Mac, Lightroom Classic will tell you the images are missing, because it sees a path that is not correct. Unless you use the trick with the relative paths.
 
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rebop said:
Interesting, but what I am missing is that when a drive is ejected from Windows, it no longer HAS a drive letter. Where does MAC think that is coming from?
Click to expand...
The Lightroom Catalog stores the path information in the two fields I mentioned previously. This path field is where LrC looks to find the image when you run Lightroom. If the path 'relativePath' field is is not correct or undefined, then LrC resorts to the 'absolutePath' field value. If ic contains a drive letter and you are running Windows, then the drive letter in the catalog field must match the location for the images in that computer or you will get the "image Missing" notice. If you are running MacOS, the 'absolutePath' field needs to follow the normal POSIX file system path nomenclature and will not contain a drive letter.
 
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Have not yet bought the Macbook. Waiting to see Black Friday. But still unsure how I will set things up. How would this be? :

Images are on my NAS as they are today. I have no issue or problems. Might be a little slow, but just works.
I realize now I cannot have the catalog on the NAS because of how file fragments are read and written.
I want to have the same catalog available to both the Windows PC and Macbook.
There is a large USB external drive plugged into the NAS. It is mapped as its own network drive. It is formatted NTFS.

IF I had the catalog on that drive, would it be accessible to both PC and Mac? Then they would both be using the same image files and catalog.

IF NOT, is there anywhere I can use the same catolog for both?

AND if not, what might be the recommended setup for my desired outcome? One day I may use just the MacBook for LRc, but not just yet. Just like it took me time to abandon LR 6 :)

Thanks.
 
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rebop said:
Have not yet bought the Macbook. Waiting to see Black Friday. But still unsure how I will set things up. How would this be? :

Images are on my NAS as they are today. I have no issue or problems. Might be a little slow, but just works.
I realize now I cannot have the catalog on the NAS because of how file fragments are read and written.
I want to have the same catalog available to both the Windows PC and Macbook.
There is a large USB external drive plugged into the NAS. It is mapped as its own network drive. It is formatted NTFS.

IF I had the catalog on that drive, would it be accessible to both PC and Mac? Then they would both be using the same image files and catalog.

IF NOT, is there anywhere I can use the same catolog for both?

AND if not, what might be the recommended setup for my desired outcome? One day I may use just the MacBook for LRc, but not just yet. Just like it took me time to abandon LR 6 :)

Thanks.
Click to expand...
You will not access the original image except rarely after you have imported them.
The USB external Drive attached to the NAS is still seen by WindowsOS and MacOS as a network volume The Catalog database SQLlite will not allow access to a network volume since there no user access control in this single user database.

If you want the catalog file and Previews available to both Windows OS and MacOS, you can put them on an external disk that is formatted exFAT which is a file system that both WindowsOS and MacOS can read and write to.

You will have a problem with Windows using Drive Letters in the Path that gets stored in the absolutePath field of the catalog database if the images are stored anywhere other than in a sub folder of the folder that holds the catalog file. When the images are stored in a path that is relative to the catalog, then the relative Path field will always contain a valid value.

If I were going to run LrC on both WindowsOS and MacOS, I would purchase a ThunderBolt4/ USB 4 external Disk drive large enough to hold the Catalog, Previews and the original image files. I would then format that HDD as exFAT and store the image files in a sub folder of the catalog folder. This would insure that LrC would run smoothly in Both Operating systems.
 
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clee01l said:
The 'absolutePath' field must contain a drive letter when LrC in Windows opens the catalog file or the image will show up as missing in LrC.

MacOS when reading the same catalog file does not recognize drive letters, so any time you have a 'absolutePath' with Drive letters in the catalog, it also will show as missing. Every time you open the catalog on a different operating system you will be confronted with missing images and need to resolve this before going forward.

The only way I have found to make this problem go away is to use the 'relativePath' field in the catalog in such a way that the 'relativePath; is always defined and resolvable. This can only be done when the images are in subfolders of the same volume containing the catalog file. (i.e. relative to the path of the catalog file ) You have already indicated that you don't want to move your image off of the NAS.
Click to expand...
Just reading back through all this. In another thread mentioned after what appeared to bea suggestions and solutions, I bought a fast, small USB C thumbdrive. I swear some say just plug in either computer, Mac or Windows and they will work. This says they will not. For catalog and previews only on the Thumbdrive.

So now more confused. Again. I cannot be the only one with a need to use the same catalog on both OS's. There has to be a "sticky" solution that requires no fiddling once configured.
 
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And reading further, I do not want my images anywhere but on the NAS. Not a portable drive, thumbdrive, etc.
 
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OK. We are saying the same thing over an over. That the catalog cannot be used with both Mac and Windows unless the images are on the same device as the catalog. Won't work. For me.

Will reach out elsewhere. Thanks.
 
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If the Thumb Drive is formatted as Exfat ... then you should be able to put a catalog on that drive and use in both machines, lets say with a few test images on the Thumb drive to prove Lightroom and the basic catalog is working on both machines.

If your Mac and Win machines can see the same Nas Drive (can they ???)... then your Catalog should be able to see the Nas and its files from each machine.

What I am not certain or familiar with is how to connect the Win and Mac devise to the Nas so the internal addressing within the catalog (to files and folders on the NAS) are the same.... I have no experience of connecting Mac devices to a NAS.

Maybe you may need to relink the nas drive when you change from one machine to another (as if you changed the letter on a Win Drive and needed to reconnect to a new drive letter.
 
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Gnits, everything can see everything. All local netwrok. NAS and drives all mounted and can be seen by any device. But, what folks are saying is that for PC uses drive letter and Mac drive name, so the location of images needs to be updated when thumbdrive moved.

Found an article that made everything more clear. For example, two macs or two pcs, no worries. One of each, no matter what will have to tell the catalog where the images are each time I open the one other than the one I last used.

If that is bottom line, not much more to talk about. At least for this topic :)
 
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rebop said:
Gnits, everything can see everything. All local netwrok. NAS and drives all mounted and can be seen by any device. But, what folks are saying is that for PC uses drive letter and Mac drive name, so the location of images needs to be updated when thumbdrive moved.
Click to expand...
I believe that Windows can be configured to use the volume name. And Once the path in the catalog file uses the volume name then the path stays constant
 
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It can. it does and that is how it is now in Windows. No issues.

But are you saying that there is a way to do the same in Mac and use just one catalog for both? THAT is the goal which seems to be a unicorn.
 
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rebop said:
It can. it does and that is how it is now in Windows. No issues.

But are you saying that there is a way to do the same in Mac and use just one catalog for both? THAT is the goal which seems to be a unicorn.
Click to expand...
LrC on the Mac always uses the volume name. If you replace Drive Letter on the Windows instance in the image path field of your catalog with the (same) volume name, then both instances of LrC will see the same absolutePath when the catalog is opened. e.g. If your images are stored on a NAS available to both MacOS and WindowsOS, AND WindowsOS is configured to use the NAS Volume name, you should be able to open the catalog from either computer and have it be able to find the images from the absolutePath field stored in the catalog.

I have not had a Windows machine in 16 years. So I never set the NAS volume to use anything other than Drive letters
 
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AHHHH. Interesting idea. Thanks. Will have to try that. Wondering how to format the name? When I map the network drive it uses backslashes, etc. Will have to see how th ecatolog displays the path and try. Great suggestion!

So, anticipating this working, bout a small fast USB C thumbdrive. Wish it were flush fit, but it is not. But seems speed should be good:

1733523778561.png
 
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OK, cannot find a way to enter a path for images in catolog settings. Nor anything editable in a text editor showing th epath in the catalog. Where were you suggesting to edit that path Cletus?
 
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rebop said:
OK, cannot find a way to enter a path for images in catolog settings. Nor anything editable in a text editor showing th epath in the catalog. Where were you suggesting to edit that path Cletus?
Click to expand...

When Windows displays the volume with a volume name instead of a drive letter, LrC catalog will show the folders and images as missing. Using the find missing folder (update folder location ), you reconnect to the correct folder location.

If you don’t fix WindowsOS to refer the volume by name instead of drive letter, you will need to update the folder location every time you switch operating systems.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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rebop said:
How to display, enter, edit - ANYTHING in windows LRc with volume name??? WHERE???
Click to expand...

clee01l said:
I believe that Windows can be configured to use the volume name. And Once the path in the catalog file uses the volume name then the path stays constant
Click to expand...

I am no longer a Windows expert. You need to get that information from someone who is familiar with this.


https://superuser.com/questions/465...olume-id-instead-of-a-drive-letter-in-windows

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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I do not think it can be done. I thought you had a trick up your sleeve. Guess not.
 
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