Your Lightroom Catalog can be stored anywhere on your computer or even on an external drive. If you store it on an external drive, that drive will need to be plugged in when you want to use Lightroom.
Where are lightroom catalogs saved?
By default, Lightroom Classic saves backed up catalogs to the following locations: Windows: Users[user name]Pictures. Lightroom[catalog name]Backups Mac OS: /Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom/[catalog name]/Backups Inside the Backups folder, Lightroom Classic creates a folder with the date and time of the backup: YYYY-MM-DD HRMN.
How do I move a Lightroom catalog to another computer?
In the Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac OS), copy or move the catalog., and lrcat, catalog., and lrcat-data, previews. Lrdata, and (if present) Smart Previews. Lrdata files to the new location. Double-click the .lrcat file in the new location to open it in Lightroom Classic.
How do I Find my Lightroom catalog?
Here’s how to find your catalog: Launch Lightroom. Go to Lightroom (PC: Edit)> Catalog Settings and click on the General tab. Once the Catalog Settings dialog opens, you’ll see the location of the open catalog displayed at the top, as well as its file name, date created, date of last backup, date of last optimization, and its file size on disk.
What is the Lightroom catalog?
The Lightroom Catalog is the place that Lightroom will store links to your photos, previews of your photos, and all the developing info you do to your photos along the way. Your photos ARE NOT actually stored in the catalog, they are stored on your hard drive. At any time you can go and find the photos on your hard drive.
Should I store my Lightroom catalogs locally or on an external drive?
There are pros and cons to both options. Storing a catalog locally means you can always open the catalog without having to connect an external drive. Storing a catalog on an external drive gives you the flexibility to open that catalog from any computer (running Lightroom) on which that drive is mounted.
For the best performance, store your Lightroom catalog on your local hard drive. A Solid State Hard Drive (SSD) is even better. If you need to be portable, store your Lightroom catalog and photos on a fast external hard drive. Why store photos on a separate drive?
Where can I Find my Lightroom photos?
At any time you can go and find the photos on your hard drive. And don’t worry, you won’t be moving your photos anywhere by opening and using Lightroom. Your Lightroom Catalog can be stored anywhere on your computer or even on an external drive.
Where are my Lightroom backup files?
Windows : \Users\ [ user name ]\Pictures\Lightroom\ [ catalog name ]\Backups\ Mac OS: /Users/ [ user name ]/Pictures/Lightroom/ [ catalog name ]/Backups\.