Advice needed on most practical way to edit in LRC on a laptop
I posed my original question to the free version of Chat GPT. It suggested that I put my files on a fast SSD of 6tb or 8tb, put the LRC catalog also on the SSD, and save smart previews of all the photo files to the 2TB SSD on My Macbook Pro which it said would allow me to edit even when the external SSD was not connected. It also suggested that I could then plug the large external SSD into the Mac Mini and also edit from there. The external SSD could be backed up to a large HDD.
To those who are a bit more conversant than I with LRC and with computers, does this make sense? Is it true that I could edit smart previews with the files and even the catalog not present? (I may have confounded that part of its advice, so if it is not true then I am probably misquoting Chat GPT on that point--it gave me quite a long answer with various branches.)
EDIT: I've been able to find the answers to my questions: ChaGPT is wrong when it says you can edit the smart reviews in the absence of the catalog. That never made sense to me. Smart previews can be edited in the absence of the original files,, BUT THEY REQUIRE THE PRESENCE OF THE LIGHTROOM CATALOG. So the catalog would have to be kept on the laptop, not on the SSD. This would complicate the move to editing on the desktop, since the desktop would have to also have access to the catalog.
Advice needed on most practical way to edit in LRC on a laptop
I posed my original question to the free version of Chat GPT. It suggested that I put my files on a fast SSD of 6tb or 8tb, put the LRC catalog also on the SSD, and save smart previews of all the photo files to the 2TB SSD on My Macbook Pro which it said would allow me to edit even when the external SSD was not connected. It also suggested that I could then plug the large external SSD into the Mac Mini and also edit from there. The external SSD could be backed up to a large HDD.
To those who are a bit more conversant than I with LRC and with computers, does this make sense? Is it true that I could edit smart previews with the files and even the catalog not present? (I may have confounded that part of its advice, so if it is not true then I am probably misquoting Chat GPT on that point--it gave me quite a long answer with various branches.)
EDIT: I've been able to find the answers to my questions: ChaGPT is wrong when it says you can edit the smart reviews in the absence of the catalog. That never made sense to me. Smart previews can be edited in the absence of the original files,, BUT THEY REQUIRE THE PRESENCE OF THE LIGHTROOM CATALOG. So the catalog would have to be kept on the laptop, not on the SSD. This would complicate the move to editing on the desktop, since the desktop would have to also have access to the catalog
Advice needed on most practical way to edit in LRC on a laptop
I posed my original question to the free version of Chat GPT. It suggested that I put my files on a fast SSD of 6tb or 8tb, put the LRC catalog also on the SSD, and save smart previews of all the photo files to the 2TB SSD on My Macbook Pro which it said would allow me to edit even when the external SSD was not connected. It also suggested that I could then plug the large external SSD into the Mac Mini and also edit from there. The external SSD could be backed up to a large HDD.
To those who are a bit more conversant than I with LRC and with computers, does this make sense? Is it true that I could edit smart previews with the files and even the catalog not present? (I may have confounded that part of its advice, so if it is not true then I am probably misquoting Chat GPT on that point--it gave me quite a long answer with various branches.)
EDIT: I've been able to find the answers to my questions: ChaGPT is wrong when it says you can edit the smart reviews in the absence of the catalog. That never made sense to me. Smart previews can be edited in the absence of the original files,, BUT THEY REQUIRE THE PRESENCE OF THE LIGHTROOM CATALOG. So the catalog would have to be kept on the laptop, not on the SSD. This complicates the move to editing on the desktop, since the desktop would have to also have access to the catalog.
Advice needed on most practical way to edit in LRC on a laptop
I posed my original question to the free version of Chat GPT. It suggested that I put my files on a fast SSD of 6tb or 8tb, put the LRC catalog also on the SSD, and save smart previews of all the photo files to the 2TB SSD on My Macbook Pro which it said would allow me to edit even when the external SSD was not connected. It also suggested that I could then plug the large external SSD into the Mac Mini and also edit from there. The external SSD could be backed up to a large HDD.
To those who are a bit more conversant than I with LRC and with computers, does this make sense? Is it true that I could edit smart previews with the files and even the catalog not present? (I may have confounded that part of its advice, so if it is not true then I am probably misquoting Chat GPT on that point--it gave me quite a long answer with various branches.)
EDIT: I've been able to find the answers to my questions: ChaGPT is wrong when it says you can edit the smart reviews in the absence of the catalog. That never made sense to me. Smart previews can be edited in the absence of the original files,, BUT THEY REQUIRE THE PRESENCE OF THE LIGHTROOM CATALOG. So the catalog would have to be kept on the laptop, not on the SSD. This complicates the move to editing on the desktop, since the desktop would have to also have access to the catalog.
Advice needed on most practical way to edit in LRC on a laptop
I posed my original question to the free version of Chat GPT. It suggested that I put my files on a fast SSD of 6tb or 8tb, put the LRC catalog also on the SSD, and save smart previews of all the photo files to the 2TB SSD on My Macbook Pro which it said would allow me to edit even when the external SSD was not connected. It also suggested that I could then plug the large external SSD into the Mac Mini and also edit from there. The external SSD could be backed up to a large HDD.
To those who are a bit more conversant than I with LRC and with computers, does this make sense? Is it true that I could edit smart previews with the files and even the catalog not present? (I may have confounded that part of its advice, so if it is not true then I am probably misquoting Chat GPT on that point--it gave me quite a long answer with various branches.)
EDIT: I've been able to find the answers to my questions: Yes, smart previews can be edited in the absence of both the original files and the Ligtroom catalog. When the catalog and original files are reconnected, updates occur automatically for both the catalog and for the smart previews..
Advice needed on most practical way to edit in LRC on a laptop
I posed my original question to the free version of Chat GPT. It suggested that I put my files on a fast SSD of 6tb or 8tb, put the LRC catalog also on the SSD, and save smart previews of all the photo files to the 2TB SSD on My Macbook Pro which it said would allow me to edit even when the external SSD was not connected. It also suggested that I could then plug the large external SSD into the Mac Mini and also edit from there. The external SSD could be backed up to a large HDD.
To those who are a bit more conversant than I with LRC and with computers, does this make sense? Is it true that I could edit smart previews with the files and even the catalog not present? (I may have confounded that part of its advice, so if it is not true then I am probably misquoting Chat GPT on that point--it gave me quite a long answer with various branches.)
EDIT: I've been able to find the answers to my questions: Yes, smart previews can be edited in the absence of both the original files and the Ligtroom catalog. When the catalog and original files are reconnected, updates occur automatically for both the catalog and for the smart previews.
Re: Advice needed on most practical way to edit in LRC on a laptop
I posed my original question to the free version of Chat GPT. It suggested that I put my files on a fast SSD of 6tb or 8tb, put the LRC catalog also on the SSD, and save smart previews of all the photo files to the 2TB SSD on My Macbook Pro which it said would allow me to edit even when the external SSD was not connected. It also suggested that I could then plug the large external SSD into the Mac Mini and also edit from there. The external SSD could be backed up to a large HDD.
To those who are a bit more conversant than I with LRC and with computers, does this make sense? Is it true that I could edit smart previews with the files and even the catalog not present? (I may have confounded that part of its advice, so if it is not true then I am probably misquoting Chat GPT on that point--it gave me quite a long answer with various branches.)
Mar 26, 2026 at 07:51 PM
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