Catalogs Using M1 MacBook Air as an external SSD drive for a Lightroom Catalog with the new Mac Studio

[heikkipekka]

Lightroom Version

Lightroom Classic 11.2

Operating System

1. macOS 12 Monterey

Hello,

Could this work?

1. Lightroom Catalog on M1 MacBook Air.
2. M1 MacBook Air connected to Mac Studio via Thunderbolt 4.
3. Using Lightroom Catalog on M1 MacBook Air with Lightroom Classic on Mac Studio.

Reason I might want to do this is being able to work with my Lightroom Catalog on-the-go (and at home) without any external drives attached, and still being able to work on the Lightroom Catalog with Mac Studio at the office (when Mac Studio becomes available).

I used to work on this kind of multiple Macs setup: Lightroom Catalog on an external SSD (Samsung T7 Touch) attached to iMac at office or MacBook Pro on-the-go. It did work, even if there was some syncing problems every now and then, and of course slower to work with the Catalog via external SSD compered to internal SSD (and photo files on external drives as well).

I since sold those iMac and MacBook Pro and moved to use one-computer setup with M1 MacBook Air, and even if I'm happy with the performance I get working in Lightroom, that M1 MacBook Air struggles while I multitask my various different work responsibilities and multiple apps open together (Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Slack, Mail, Messages, Calendar, Things, Zoom, Teams, and multiple instances of Safari and Edge browser windows and tabs, and dozen of Menubar apps and background tasks). So, I'm planning on having a Mac Studio with 32 GB memory at office (instead of 16 GB in M1 MacBook Air) and hoping it would help with everyday slowdowns when running all those apps open in a 32" 4K primary display and 24" non-4K secondary display (I use DisplayLink Adapter to get two external displays with M1 MacBook Air).

I don't want change to 14" MacBook Pro (that would get me 32 GB memory as a Mac Studio would) as I'm in love with the weight, size and shape of Air.

Could Lightroom Catalog file be kept on an M1 MacBook Air internal SSD drive, and use Lightroom Classic on a Mac Studio, connecting the two via Thunderbolt 4 cable?

I suppose that should work, as long as putting that M1 MacBook Air to be available as an external drive. I'm mostly wondering how much should it slow down Lightroom Classic. I guess I can't really compare to the experience I a year ago with that iMac 2013—MacBook Pro 15" 2015—Samsung T7 Touch -setup I was having, as that Samsung T7 Touch SSD drive and USB 3 connection must be slower than M1 MacBook Air's internal SSD and connection via Thunderbolt 4, right?

I try to think any other downsides this setup would bring, and I guess it will be an annoyance to have to restart M1 MacBook Air in Sharing Mode and restart back to macOS depending do I want to work on Lightroom Catalog using Mac Studio or not.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

I wonder if that is possible. The document about connecting the M1 Mac talks about ‘sharing’ the M1 disk. It looks like the disk is seen by the other Mac as a network disk. If that is true, then Lightroom will refuse to open a catalog on such disk.

 

[heikkipekka]

Bummer! You might be right, as the mode is not the old Target Disk Mode but something different, and might very well be that kind of network drive thing. I went ahead and preordered one already, but my local shop has a 60 day return window so I am able to try it out myself. Just would not want to use any drives hanging for the Air when on the go (and there‘s no SD card reader either so that needs to be attached and if any power outlets is needed that‘s already three ports while Air only has two, so a lot of dongles, adapter and cables.