Lighroom 3 on two Macs utilising one external drive

Hello
This my first post
I use Lightroom 3 on a MacBook Pro. My photographs(library) is held on external disk
I have recently purchased a MacBook Air for use in the field, I have installed LR3 and have
what I thought would be a simple issue.
How can i access the photographs from both Macs??
grateful for any input

Welcome to the forum!
  There are a couple of "solutions" to your problem.  The easiest, and possibly the best for you (although it is a bit slower) is to copy your catalog onto the external drive as well.
Then when you plug in the drive, you will always have your latest catalog for access.
The other way is to keep a local copy of your catalog, and copy it onto the local drive as a way to transfer it from one computer to the other.
This has the problem of possibly not being in sync, that is, you forgot to copy it over once and did some editing.  Then you would end up with essentually two different catalogs, instead of one in two places.
  You can copy the catalog either with your OS, or you can "export as catalog" and specify the external drive as the destination.  Then, on your other computer, "import from catalog" and only take the meta-data settings (it's on the import dialog box).
Personally, when I'm traveling, I have my catalog on my external drive as well.  It just makes life easier, and I don't have to worry about it being out of sync, or losing it (and not the images).
So, I would go with the first method, at least to start.  To get your catalog over there, you can either export as catalog or copy it, either one will work.
You can find the location of your catalog file (if you don't know where it is) in the catalog settings menu prompt.  Both the location and the name will be displayed.
Cheers!

Similar Messages

  • Booting two Macs from one external drive: 10.8 and App Store?

    I boot two Macs from one external harddrive. Does this mean that when 10.8 is sold exclusively via the App Store and thereby linked to a unique hardware identifier, I am going to have issues with activation/authentification each time I switch machines? I have avoided the App Store since I discovered that an app I bought there, and which I really needed to open automatically on log-in, had to be manually re-activated with my Apple ID after every switch (so that I eventually deleted it and reverted to an earlier, non-App Store version).

    Welcome to the forum!
      There are a couple of "solutions" to your problem.  The easiest, and possibly the best for you (although it is a bit slower) is to copy your catalog onto the external drive as well.
    Then when you plug in the drive, you will always have your latest catalog for access.
    The other way is to keep a local copy of your catalog, and copy it onto the local drive as a way to transfer it from one computer to the other.
    This has the problem of possibly not being in sync, that is, you forgot to copy it over once and did some editing.  Then you would end up with essentually two different catalogs, instead of one in two places.
      You can copy the catalog either with your OS, or you can "export as catalog" and specify the external drive as the destination.  Then, on your other computer, "import from catalog" and only take the meta-data settings (it's on the import dialog box).
    Personally, when I'm traveling, I have my catalog on my external drive as well.  It just makes life easier, and I don't have to worry about it being out of sync, or losing it (and not the images).
    So, I would go with the first method, at least to start.  To get your catalog over there, you can either export as catalog or copy it, either one will work.
    You can find the location of your catalog file (if you don't know where it is) in the catalog settings menu prompt.  Both the location and the name will be displayed.
    Cheers!

  • Can I backup two macs onto one external time machine?

    Can I backup two macs onto one external time machine drive? I am trying to do this over Wi-Fi.

    Yes, the external drive has to be formatted correctly to HFS+ and shared to the network.
    It doesn't matter how the second machine logs into the network but wireless back will be extremely slow as it will involve double hop wireless, I presume to a wifi router somewhere. For incremental backups this is no biggie but do the initial backup with the drive plugged into that particular computer or over ethernet.. gigabit for preference.
    Pondini has some instructions as he has for most things.
    http://pondini.org/TM/4.html
    Also look at Q33 where he lists using a shared drive on another Mac.
    If you are planning using something other than wifi router give clear information about the network layout you have and hope to use.

  • Two Macs and one USB drive?

    Can two Macs share one USB drive at the same time? Is there some kind of networking gizzie that would allow this?

    If you have a router like the AirPort Extreme - you attach the USB drive to the router and it shares the disk for you.
    I know there are other Wireless Access Points and Routers that provide similar functionality, but not all routers do this.
    It seems like you are looking for a NAS solution. Typically these are boxes with USB and ethernet ports that you simply install on the network. Right now - Leopard does not always play nicely with them.
    Mine is a CoolMax 550 - and it is accessible via command line (terminal) and FTP but unreliably through Finder. Many people hope 10.5.2 resolves this type of issue but no one knows for sure.
    Honestly with the price of storage so low - most people just add another drive. Each of my Macs has it's own backup drive on top of the one shared from my Airport Extreme. Storage is down near $0.30/GB or less.
    The first time I bought a TB of disk, I spent over a million dollars (thankfully not my money). Today I have over 5TB at home.
    Message was edited by: lethal

  • Sharing music on two computers with one external drive

    I'm a Mac. My wife is a PC. If we both link to an external drive and put all of our music on there, can we both access it from our own separate iTunes accounts via file sharing? Will she be able to put music I've downloaded on her iPod? Will I be able to do the same? So far she hasn't downloaded any of her own music onto her computer so if she were to remove her current iTunes from her computer and reload it using my account name, would we both be able to have full access to music both imported and downloaded from both computers? Sorry for the questions on top of questions, but while there are a lot of other posts and articles similar to this one, I haven't found what I'm looking for. Thanks!

    Yes, sorry for piling on. 1st question: Would having her remove iTunes on her PC and reload it under my account name to be able to access my iTunes library on an external drive work?

  • Problems with Time Machine backup for two machines to one external drive

    I have a brand new WD 500GB USB My Book external drive plugged into my Intel Mac Mini running 10.5.1 to use as a TM backup drive (TM reformatted it to HFS+ journaled). The Mini's connected by ethernet to the Airport Extreme. It works great. I setup my wife's MacBook Pro 17" Dual Core 2 w. 10.5.1 for TM using the Mac Mini's TM backup drive and it works fine (a little slower at 811.n wi-fi speeds, but OK). I have the Mac Mini setup in Energy Saver to shut down at night and restart in the morning. The morning after I setup my wife's MacBook Pro for TM I found a big black & white message (in half a dozen languages) on the Mac Mini saying start up failed and I need to reboot using the power button. I did and everything was cool. Now comes the problem, it's done it three days in a row so it looks like there is a problem with the TM setup. It didn't do this before I setup my wife's computer for TM.
    Any thoughts on what is causing this? We've had minimal problems with Leopard setup (short of a brief hunt for an Airport Extreme Drive and a couple of network printers during initial setup).

    1 mistake @ a time wrote:
    I works fine over a network if the TM drive is attached to another Mac running Leopard. It won't work with an Airport drive (Apple deep sixed that feature in the final release).
    We have an Airport Extreme base station, and we plan to add an Airport Express to boost the power to reach the second floor. We are ordering 4 iMacs, 20", plus I have the Macbook 13" that I have had for a few months.
    We thought we could connect one large external drive via firewire cable to one of the iMacs and use it to back up all five computers via Time Machine.
    Is that possible, or does everybody need their own external drive?
    Thanks!
    susan

  • HT201250 Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?

    Can I use Time Machine on two different Macs to back up to one external drive?
    I have one 1T Western Digital backup drive that works well with Time Machine and my MacBook Pro.  I now want to back up my wife's MacBook Air using Time Machine on her Mac and want to know if I can use the same WD external drive or if I need to get a 2nd back up drive?  If I can use one external drive for the two Macs do I need to do something special on the drive or will Time Machine do it automatically?

    Yes. You will need to configure Time Machine preferences on each computer to backup to the same drive. Note that you cannot connect the backup drive to both machines at the same time.

  • Can i back up 2 macs on one external hard drive?

    can i back up 2 macs on one external hard drive?

    If the external drive is large enough, yes.
    Recent versions of Time Machine will do this across a properly set up and Shared network connection or to a drive on a Server. But you may be unhappy with the amount of Wireless traffic generated to perform the backups, especially the initial full backup.
    Utilities like Carbon Copy Cloner will do this ONLY when performing a file-by-file backup. A "Disk Image" backup reproduces the Source disk, including blank space, and fills the entire Destination drive with the Source Disk image.

  • How to transfer from one external drive to another?

    I am trying to move files from one external drive to another.  I can write to both drive from my Mac.  When I do a large transfer using Finder, I only get a few files and an error code 50.
    I'm using two Seagate drives, one formatted for Mac only and where I'm writing to, and one formatted for PC and Mac.  I have written and read successfully to both drives.

    I moved some movies and some seldom listened music (coped the files) into a folder on the Lacie drive. Then I reimported them to the main itunes library while holding down "option". This created a link to those files to the external. the files show up in my itunes but cannot be played unless i have the Lacie connected to them.
    See this link.
    http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_split_your_itunes_library_across_multi ple_locations

  • How do I move an iTunes library from one external drive to another?

    I need to move my iTunes library from one external disk to another, because the original disk is about to fail. So, I went into iTunes Perferences --> Advanced, and set the library to a new, empty folder on the new drive.
    Nothing changed. I expected all my music to vanish from iTunes, so that I would have to re-import it. However, all the music remained, still on the old disk. At this point, if I were to recreate the library on the new disk, I would have all of my music twice.
    Is it possible to move an iTunes library from one external drive to another, or am I stuck with my original choice until I buy a new machine? If I can move it, can one of you clever folks explain how it could be done?

    Paul Seymour1 wrote:
    However, those are all dealing with old versions of iTunes that still contained the Advanced --> Consolidate Library command which is no longer part of the app. (I'm on iTunes 10.6.1.)
    Consolidate is still part of iTunes.
    It is in iTunes menu File > Library > Manage library > Consolidate.
    The article you linked to is old and it is (and was) a hacky way of doing it.
    Just copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder to new location, hold Option (Mac) or Shift (Windows) when launching iTunes.

  • How do I save 2 iphoto libraries onto one external drive?

    Hi
    I have an iphoto library on my MacBook Pro and I have an older library of different photos on my graphite iBook.
    I'd like to store all my photos onto one external drive.
    How can I do this without losing either library in the process?
    I actually have the same question regarding music on iTunes.
    Thanks
    AS

    Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
    Do you want to merge these libraries into one? If so, then you'll need the paid version ($20) of  iPhoto Library Manager
    It's the only way to merge Libraries while preserving all metadata, versions and so on.
    Otherwise, simply rename one of the Libraries (so they don't overwite each other) and Copy the iPhoto Library from the Pictures Folder to the External Disk. in each case.
    To choose which library to open: holf down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location.
    Regards
    TD

  • Can I transfer data from one external drive to another using my MacAir as a platform?

    I am trying to transfer about 94 Gigs of data from one external drive (Touro) to another (Seagate) using my Mac Air which only has about 14 Gigs of available space.  How best can I accomplish this operation?

    Niel - I know that I must be a real dunce on this.  I tried opening the additional window on finder and then dragging and dropping from the Touro drive to the other open finder window for the Seagate drive.  Again, it bounced back.  What is NTFS? And how do I find if either or both of the drives are formatted in that manner?
    Again, thanks for you help on this.
    JC
    PS  I just got the info on the Seagate that it is Windows NTFS formatted.  What do I do now?  Is Paragon something I can download off the Internet?  Why, since I formatted the Seagate to run on my Mac Air would there still be a problem?  The packaging on the Seagate says it is compatible with Mac OS systems. jc

  • Copying video files from one external drive to another

    Hello! I am very new to Apple and FCP, so please forgive my ignorance. I have looked through the other topics and have not found one that addresses my question, so please forgive me if this has been addressed in the past.
    I am working on a project and have all of my video clips saved to a G-Tech G-Raid 320 GB extenal hard drive. I captured much of my footage using "capture now" instead of logging individual clips for various reasons (i.e.: some tape sources did not have timecode), so if I ever have a problem, simply recapturing the footage does not appear to me to be a valid option.
    With this weighing heavily on my mind, I thought it would be best to copy the poject to a second G-RAID external hard drive.
    However, the G-RAID uses an 800 firewire and my G5 computer only has one such port.
    What would be the best way to copy from the one external drive to the other? Will I have to copy the files to my internal hard drive first? And if so, how do I do that? Thanks!!

    Crystal,
    Please reply to a specific post, not to your orignial one. This keeps the threaded discussion in order.
    To see the format for a drive. Open Disk Utility. It is located in your /Applications/Utilities folder.
    You should see all your connected drives on the left side of the window. Click on the icon of the drive you want information on. Select the Volume icon, not the Drive icon ( the volume icon is the one under and slightly indented to the right of the drive icon)
    Look at the bottom of the window. You'll see an item FORMAT: it should say Mac OS Extended. If it says MS-DOS, you'll need to ERASE the disk. When you do that, you'll have the option of changing the format.
    Do not right click and COPY. Simply drag the icon of the folder containing your media files from one disk to the other. It will copy by default.
    good luck.
    x

  • HT2518 how do i or can i drag and drop files from one external drive to another ???HOW

    how do i drag and drop files from one external drive to another, i cannt get both drives to open up. only one at a time.. i have alot to learn i know but that is where i am at the time...

    You posted here so would assume you are also talking about running Windows.
    Are the drives NTFS and use on Windows?
    Are they Mac HFS formatted?
    You likely will need NTFS for OS X in one case. to mount PC and use under Mac OS Lion
    MacDrive to mount and WRITE to HFS drives under Windows

  • How to move Startup Disk clone from one external drive to another?

    I thought this would be a question easily answered on the WWW and easily found via search engines, but so far no luck, hence this question.
    Prior to upgrading from Lion to Mountain Lion I followed some very good instructions from Tom Nelson on ask.com (http://macs.about.com/od/backupsarchives/ss/diskbackup.htm) related to using Disk Utility to clone my internal Macintosh HD drive to an external hard drive, making it a bootable drive.  I cloned to a very nice LaCie external FW drive that had far more room than that needed for the clone.  This drive booted just fine as a startup disk, so mission accomplished:   I have now a bootable clone of my Lion system prior to upgrading to Mountain Lion. 
    The upgrade to Mountain Lion went well, and now, before I put any additional apps or much additional data on the original internal  Macintosh HD drive, I want to use Disk Utility again to clone the drive so I'll have a snapshot of the system right after the upgrade to Mountain Lion.
    Questions: 
    Is there any way to use the same LaCie drive that now holds the Lion startup disk clone to hold the yet-to-be-done Mountain Lion startup disk clone?  
    If not, how can I move the Lion startup disk clone from the oversized LaCie external drive to a drive more the size of the Lion clone (approx 140G)?   The LaCie drive is far too roomy and nice to have sitting gathering dust for only 140G to be used in an emergency restore. 
    Thanks in advance for your advice.

    Good info Csound1, and thanks. 
    So my final question (I think):  How does one move/copy a startup disk clone from one external drive to another, and still have it bootable on the new external drive?   I'm still considering freeing this LaCie drive up for more dynamic storage and getting another drive for the bootable startup disk clones IF I can move this Lion startup disk clone to a new external drive. 
    I guess the summary question is:   how does one clone a startup disk clone?  As I think about this, and recall the Disk Utility screens, couldn't I simply select the Lion clone on the LaCie FW external drive and do the same operation I did with the original internal Lion drive?  Basically the same steps as before but this time the source is the LaCie FW external and the destination is a new external drive? 
    Thanks again; wonderful forum here with very smart people.  

Maybe you are looking for

  • (Solved) Issue with 2012 & 2012 r2...Creating New Virtual Desktop Collections Fails

    Hi all, thought I would share a fix I found out after hours of pulling my hair out. If you get the following error when creating a new RD Collect: "The virtual desktop must be in a stopped state: Could not identify the state of the virtual desktop. E

  • How do you create a photo stream for a "group" in your contacts?

    Each time I create a photostream, I have to type the beginning of each person's name to get them on the list of shared viewers. It's usually the same group. Is there any way for photostream icloud to see my contacts so I can just type the name of a g

  • SQL Query for max values!!

    Hi to all, I have four tables Tbl_one Tbl_two Tbl_three Tbl_four the relation between these tables is Tbl_one.SEQ = Tbl_two.SEQ) and tbl_two.case_SEQ = Tbl_four.SEQ AND Tbl_two.ORDER_SEQ = tbl_three.SEQ)) I want a query like this Select tbl_one.com_n

  • Alternate routings in 11i

    If an item has multiple routings will MRP take in account all of them for planning purposes and pick the optimal one for that point in time? If yes...what if a job has been released and somewhere through the process the plan is regenerated will MRP p

  • USB cable not working

    Everytime i connect my USB it is not detected by PC....... I have tried with other PC'S but in vain....... Wht might be the problem??????????????????????????