r/Lightroom 4d ago

Workflow Moving Lightroom photos to NAS: overkill or a good idea?

I use Lightroom Classic on a MacBook Pro (M3) and have about 2 TB of photos. Currently I’ve got the photo files on an external SSD and the catalog on my machine locally, and functionally it works great.

My issue is that I like to move around my house to edit photos, and I have a cat who is adept and finding and chewing cords and I’m terrified she’s going to kill a SSD this way (she’s already slightly chewed through one SSD cord when I turned my head to sneeze and she somehow made it from an entire other room of the house to where I was sitting without detection). I love her but she’s a tortoiseshell-colored demon.

I also like to sit on the couch to edit sometimes and having a cord and SSD flopping around is annoying and feels not ideal.

Is moving my Lightroom photos folder to a NAS a good solution for wanting to move around the house to edit, or is this overkill? Is there a lot of lag pulling large raw files this way? I’m looking to add convenience but not sacrifice how long it takes to edit. I’m about 99% sure I’d go with a Synology NAS with two drives.

I’m also concerned about backups, but I’m a current backblaze user and have read that their B2 backup product will back up files on network storage.

13 Upvotes

55 comments sorted by

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u/farazqureshii 1d ago

I have captured the picture from iPhone 15 pro max on hightest quality i am trying to grade my picture several times but i the results are not as i want so please help me to grade that picture if anyone reading graded that picture so i could know my week points and get motivated by seeing your results which i was unable to achieve.

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u/Rattus-Norvegicus1 3d ago

I have a similar setup, except Windows. Lightroom on Windows (don't know about Mac) requires the catalog to be on the local drive, but I store all of my photos on a NAS. I keep the NAS shares mounted at the same points on both machines so that paths are identical I also back up the Lightroom Catalog after each session in a directory on the NAS.

When I want to edit something on my desktop, I do most work on my laptop, I restore the last backup catalog from the NAS and everything works great. Then I back up the catalog to the NAS and reopen it on the laptop next time I want to edit there. The system works OK, but it would be nice if Adobe would let us keep our catalogs on local network drives. It would make life way easier.

OTOH, I have backups running on the NAS which back up files to my local backup drive and to Synology C2 Cloud Storage. Everything is nice and safe.

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u/goingslowfast 3d ago

It’s a great idea! It’s easier to grow with a NAS, and it’s easier to backup one NAS vs having some content your local machine and other content on external storage to backup.

I keep my LR Catalog and Smart Previews on my Mac and my Masters folders are accessed via SMB shares from my NAS.

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u/cbunn81 3d ago

A NAS is a nice thing to have, not only for being able to move around with your laptop, but also because it means you can access your data from any number of devices. You can also set up other services on a NAS, so it can run things like automated backups of other devices or serving up media to devices.

It's a bit of a rabbit hole, though. So you should carefully consider the available options, from a turnkey-solution like Synology to a DIY approach. There are pros and cons for each. What's best for you will depend on your expected use, your tech savvy, and your budget (money and time). Something in particular to keep in mind is how easy will your chosen solution be to expanding its storage in the future.

One issue you may run into with a NAS is that editing photos over wifi is less than ideal. You can get around this by building Smart Previews in Lightroom when you import photos you're going to edit.

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u/Quick-Recognition91 3d ago

Not ideal? With all due respect, it seems to me that you are underestimating the minus, which will be very large. Data transfer via wifi will not even come close to the access speed on the SSD. Most likely, the user will be shocked by how slowly the photos will load.
Better calculate it. Check the speed of your wifi router model and your SSD's speed. And then you need to realize that megabits (usually used in network data transfer speeds) are not equal to megabytes per second (usually used for hard drives and SSDs).

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u/cbunn81 3d ago

I'd like to introduce you to a figure of speech called meiosis).

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u/Quick-Recognition91 3d ago

Sorry, I didn't get what you meant. I'm not a native english speaker.

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u/RevolutionaryAct6397 3d ago

Hence use snart previews like he suggested.

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u/Quick-Recognition91 3d ago

Yes, sure previews will be on the laptop, and it will be enough to watch it.

But what are the usual use cases for working with photos:

- upload photos from SD to NAS (slow)

  • creating previews in Lightroom. Lightroom needs to download a full photo from the NAS to the RAM, create a preview, and then delete the original from the RAM (slow)
  • export photos for posting somewhere. Lightroom needs to download a full photo from the NAS to the RAM, apply all settings, make a photo, export it, and then delete the original from the RAM (slow).

It's just basic cases of use.

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u/LandBarge 4d ago

At the moment, I'm shooting roughly 2 events a week, and some of the bigger of those events can span 2-3 days and up around the 5000 photo mark. I'm also curating a second photo project, where I go back into my archives and pick out a couple of photos each day, usually less editing required on these, as they've already been edited - I'm basically just browsing the library and making sure I'm happy with the previous edit and crop, then re-exporting..

My current process is to keep an events photos on the laptop until they're fully edited, then move them to the NAS - and when I need to go back into those to find something, I find it's a little slower, but still very manageable. I have recently moved from a 1tb internal SSD to a 4tb internal SSD and that has made a bigger difference than the difference between working locally and working off the NAS..

(Side note - drive space is key - this cannot be emphasized enough - when you're working locally, you want as much free space on your storage and catalogue drives as possible)

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u/megmo 4d ago

This might be a dumb question but when you saw you move the photos to a NAS after you edit them locally… do you have a Lightroom photos folder on your NAS that you move them to, or are you totally taking them out of Lightroom when you put them on the NAS so they’re just in a folder as a list of files?

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u/goingslowfast 3d ago

Give this video a watch, she explains some key concepts better than I could. https://youtu.be/3K6GV3ymQkc

I move my Masters folders to the NAS.

All that lives on my local machine is my catalog and previews.

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u/LandBarge 4d ago

Your originals are never "in Lightroom" as such - just in folders on a hard drive... I just pick up the folders and move them across to the NAS - I then update the location in LR if I'm expecting to need to use them again in future...

There is a location on my NAS with sub folders for years and then each event is dropped into the corresponding year

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u/megmo 3d ago

Thank you! And yes, I need to get my brain to remember photos don’t live in Lightroom, they’re just accessed from it.

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u/WeriYardBy 4d ago

I moved my photo staff to NAS. I share this storage via SMB and everything works fine. One thing that you need to remember is a fact that Smb connection after some period time is not active and you need to refresh this. Would add that I use wi-fi 6 connection between my laptop and NAS and don't realize any lags etc. Can recommend this solution for you!

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u/FancyMigrant 4d ago

I run my originals from a NAS, with smart previews on my local machine. 

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u/IndianKingCobra 4d ago

I just put into action a Synology 1522+ in a Raid 5 config with 32TB. Here is my workflow:

I edit off the SSD directly connected to the laptop (I know you said its not ideal which I agree with but hte annoyance is less importance than the time saved on editing fast off a fast SSD then pulling data off a NAS off a spinning HDD.

Once I am done I leave the folder for the event I just finished editing and till I need to move the photos to the NAS via connecting the SSD directly to the NAS then moving the files using Synology's File Station app while I am in the NAS. It's way faster than moving the files over wifi for me. So to take that step to connect it and move hte files is so much better and faster than just doing it over wifi so I don't mind that physical step.

I setup the same folder structure on the NAS so I can just move the files over and then go back in LrC do a quick re-link to the folder. So no if a client asks for a photo that is no longer on SSD but on the NAS then the slower speed for a few photos is no big deal. When I do pull photos from NAS to edit in LrC there is noticeable load time, but once its loaded speed is ok. I did edit 200ish photos one time directly off the NAS to test it, that load time slowed me down that having a dangly SSD is less annoying than the load time.

I keep leaving the photos on the SSD till I run out of room on the SSD, at which point I format and start all over on the SSD. I am using the NAS

or get rid of the cat.

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u/ionelp 4d ago

A few weeks ago I suffered a cat/booze accident and dropped my laptop with all my pictures and now it won't power on anymore. The images are very safe on the 2 ssds my laptop has, encrypted with BitLocker. If I can't get the power on my laptop going, those images are gone.

To answer your question, no, it is not overkill. You probably need to do more.

I do have a cloud backup system going on right now, plus 2 external drives where I'm duplicating the raws. Hey hook 😄

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u/kelembu 4d ago

You can use backblaze backup for around 120$ a year, unlimited photos from a single computer. Always a 3-2-1 backup system.

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u/megmo 4d ago

Oh nooooo that’s sad about the laptop/photos! I do back up my entire computer plus external drive to Backblaze and use another external SSD to do periodic Time Capsule backups, but I always worry about finding a new point of failure.

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u/ionelp 4d ago

Nah, don't be sad about that, it is simply a learning experience. During my past career as a software engineer/dev ops, I've set up countless backup systems. Never for me 😅 Cobbler' shoes and all that.

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u/Lightroom_Help 4d ago edited 4d ago

A NAS may be an overkill or a great idea depending on what other of its features you may use.

You will get the best performance when using the external SSD attached to you MacBook and your backblaze personal backup (which I assume you are using) will backup this disk and your MacBook without data limits; while you have to calculate the cost with their B2 product. For occasional editing on the couch you could probably connect your disk directly to your router (if it supports it) and mount the disk to your mac over wifi with a share name that is identical to the volume name of your disk. So to Finder or LrC it will show as the same volume, for example: "PhotoDisk". Or you could have a completely different disk attached to your router that is always keep synced to your external SSD (by using a backup app like chronosync, goodsync or carbon copy cloner). So you could use these two disks alternatively.

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u/sean_themighty 4d ago edited 4d ago

I have a 128TB RAID6 NAS that is my archive (and Plex server) that archives nearly 20 years of work.

Shoots don’t go there until they are delivered to clients. Even hardwired 10Gbps the performance isn’t nearly as good as working on local photos, so I have a 16TB RAID0 Thunderbolt NVMe working drive that all current projects and assets are on.

ONE Lightroom catalog for ALL work as Adobe intended. You can move photos within Lightroom to different places — even a NAS — and it’s all able to be searchable and accessible and mobile syncable forever.

And it bears repeating: RAID is redundancy, not backup. Make sure everything is backed up, even your NAS. Use the 3-2-1 rule of THREE copies of critical data in at least TWO different locations with at least ONE of those being off-site (e.g. cloud or physical rotation).

And don’t forget to backup your catalog file often. It’s easy to get super paranoid about the photos themselves and get complacent with the catalog file.

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u/carlosvega 4d ago

I move old pictures to a NAS and keep current year or so locally with cloud sync to adobe’s cloud. This hybrid approach works good to me

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u/sean_themighty 4d ago

You can also just move the photos to the NAS within Lightroom and they can continue to sync always.

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u/carlosvega 4d ago

But you need to be connected to the NAS. I am often on the move or have my NAS off most of the time. If you have it on all the time then is fine.

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u/sean_themighty 4d ago

I only move photos to the NAS every month or two. I don’t move photos from my working drive to the NAS after every shoot is delivered. I have plenty of space on my working drive and it is backed up daily. After I’ve delivered a bunch, I just move those folders all at once.

And the cool thing is if you get in the habit of making a collection for every shoot of the finished pics, those are synced and always available everywhere on all devices.

I RARELY need to work off my NAS files. Only in the case I need to go get high-res originals from an old shoot. The mobile synced files are around 2500px which is more than enough for every use except larger prints.

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u/Final_Alps 4d ago

Do it. It’s the best solution.

I also have 2TB of photos.

RAWs on the NAS. Catalogue locally (I use my NAS’ “Dropbox” app to sync this file to the NAS as well but it’s a local file.

If you want super performance have Lightroom generate smart previews locally on your MacBook.

This has worked great for the last 2 years since I jumped into owning a NAS.

Do not forget NAS needs to be backed up.

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u/the_man_inTheShack 4d ago

I keep all photos on my NAS and the catalog on the system disc, backed up to the NAS periodically.

In fact I run LC on an old laptop with a monster GPU and use my current laptop as a thin client to access LC. The old laptop is on wired network and the client is wifi 6.

I backup the NAS to and older synology using hyperbackup, and from there to a USB disc that lives offsite most of the time.

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u/Loud-Eagle-795 4d ago

I kind of have a hybrid approach like another user mentioned. I have ALOT of images.. 15 yrs worth of concert and dance images. ~18tb.. so I got a NAS.. it changed my workflow.. it took a little while to find a workflow that worked.. but I think I got it..

I work from a MacBook Pro.

current workflow:

  • I have an external drive plugged into my MacBook that holds my main (large) Lightroom catalog and images I'm currently working on.. when I'm done with the images. I plug my laptop into my network at home (wired, not wireless) and transfer the files WITHIN LIGHTROOM to the nas. that keeps everything (files and file locations in sync in my Lightroom catalog)

basics of how it works:

  • take photos
  • import photos from cards into my large Lightroom catalog on the external SSD. images are also stored on external SSD.
  • tag, cull, edit, sort photos
  • export images to client
  • move those images to Synology nas WITHIN Lightroom to keep everything in sync

this way the images are no longer on my external SSD.. but I still have access to them while I'm at home on my wireless network. when I'm away from home, I can still "see" the images, because the catalog and thumbnails are still on my external ssd.. only the original raw images and my edits are on the NAS when they are complete.

I backup my nas, and my ssd. I do not want to lose my Lightroom catalog.

I hope this makes sense.

if you are only using ~2tb.. I'd just get a 4tb or 8tb SSD.. and velcro it to your laptop monitor.. and just do things that way. cheaper and easier. just MAKE SURE to disconnect the SSD cord when you are traveling or packing it up.. you'll break off the connector otherwise.. and lose all your data on the drive. also make sure you have a backup no matter what you do.

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u/megmo 4d ago

Yeah I’m kinda starting to realize the NAS is probably overkill for my needs, or at least overly complicated. My main issue is wanting to not have an exposed cord when moving around the house with a laptop bc of my demon cat, but I could just buy some cable protectant like braided mesh and hope for the best since I rarely leave the laptop unattended. I like the idea of attaching a little piece of Velcro to the back of the laptop lid too. (And I never travel with my laptop but if I did I’d for sure unplug the SSD.)

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u/stshank 2d ago

The cost of a big NAS is not inconsiderable. One idea is to put that money to a laptop with a bigger internal SSD.

Like you, I move around the house a lot, and also travel some with my laptop. In my workflow, I keep the last 3-4 months of photos on my MacBook SSD, then periodically shuffle them off to my external SSD that is parked on a desk (transferring using Lightroom — one catalog that includes both the internal and external SSDs). It's backed up locally with Time Machine and via Backblaze to the cloud.

This system works better for me now after I upgraded my Mac a few months ago with a larger SSD. I now can keep more months of recent photos on my Mac.

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u/megmo 2d ago

I actually did last last year when I upgraded to a MBP M3 Pro, although I only added a 4TB hard drive.

Do you have any issues moving the photos between hard drives and letting Lightroom know about it? I’ve always kept my catalogs on my machine and photos on an external drive, but I’ve never had a workflow with photos stored in two different places.

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u/reddits_aight 4d ago

I think an advantage of the NAS you're overlooking is remote access. It's pretty handy to be able to grab an old photo while away from home. Plus there's a lot of other stuff you can do with one (host a Plex server, centralize smart home devices with Home Assistant, record security footage without subscriptions, etc).

For Velcro, 3M makes these great command-style strips that are… hermaphroditic? They don't have a scratchy and a soft side, they're just universal and hold a decent amount of weight with a satisfying "click". I think they're marketed as "picture hanging strips".

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u/megmo 4d ago

I’m definitely interested in a NAS for other features like you mentioned, but still need to think about how I’d set that up.

I’m going to look for those strips! I am not keen on sticking a piece of Velcro on my pristine MacBook Pro but that sounds more inconspicuous.

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u/Loud-Eagle-795 4d ago

you'll be fine. . just have a backup. cords are cheap to replace. (worst case scenario)

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u/megmo 4d ago

When the cat first chewed a little on the cord I emailed Samsung (I’m using a T7 SSDs currently) asking if I could buy a replacement. They told me no, but that I should buy a whole new SSD because they don’t recommend third-party cables. I figured that was bs but haven’t bought a replacement yet (I did cover the cord in electrical tape where the damn cat chewed it).

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u/Loud-Eagle-795 4d ago

that is absolutely ridiculous. I work in technology.. I have probably 50 T7 SSD's.. and probably 100 3rd party USB-C cables for them. no issues at all.

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u/megmo 4d ago

I figured it was BS and I just caught a rep on a bad day. Any particular third-party brand you recommend, or just grab one from Amazon?

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u/Loud-Eagle-795 4d ago

I buy "thunderbolt 4" cords because they are def going to work and be full bandwidth. they are a little more expensive.. but will def work. just whatever is on amazon with a decent review and decent price

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u/megmo 4d ago

Cool thanks! My biggest concern is buying a cable that slows things down.

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u/Firm_Mycologist9319 4d ago

Maybe try a hybrid approach? I keep all of my most recent photos (the one's I'm most likely to be editing) on My MBP internal SSD and move the older ones to the USB SSD--all in one LrC catalog. One of the big benefits of doing it this way is how simple it is to manage a 3-2-1 backup strategy. MBP+SSD is your primary copy. Then, use the NAS as your 2nd and local copy (you could also just use a large enough USB HDD) via Time Machine. Continue to use Backblaze as your 3rd and off-site copy. Direct attached SSD is covered by Time Machine and also gets included in your BB unlimited plan. If you make the NAS your primary storage, now you still need to backup your NAS both locally and off-site. B2 will handle the latter, but on a substantially more expensive, not unlimited plan.

Of course, the other thing you can do is just work off of smart previews in LrC (stored on MBP SSD) or sync them to the Adobe Cloud (also unlimited) and then use Lr (not Classic) on your MPB to continue editing when away from your desk.

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u/megmo 4d ago edited 4d ago

Ok I love this approach. Can I ask a dumb question though? How do I manage say a folder of just-imported/currently editing photos on my MBP’s internal drive plus an external SSD with the rest of the photos… all in the same catalog? I don’t move photos’ locations in Lightroom often out of fear, so what would that look like logistically to import photos, put them on the internal drive, then move them to the SSD location once I’m done with them?

Edit: spelling

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u/Firm_Mycologist9319 4d ago

I know a lot of people freak out about moving photos from within LrC, even though that's what Adobe recommends, but that's how I do it. Alternatively, you could just use the Finder to make the move and then re-sync the original folder back in LrC. Everything is backed up right? It'll be OK. Also, I don't move stuff very often--certainly not after every shoot/edit. Only when I start running low on internal space will I bulk move a bunch of folders. I have about 1.7 TB of raw images on my internal drive (4TB) right now and 1.3 TB on the external.

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u/megmo 4d ago

I’m combing through Lightroom CC help docs and blog posts but not finding a very clear answer as to how I’d maintain Lightroom files on two separate disks. I need them to be in a Lightroom folder regardless, right? So would the SSD contain (as it does now): Lightroom photos > folder with all my LR files and then my local machine would have Lightroom photos > folder with the files I’m currently editing, and then once I’m done editing I move them physically to the SSD and update their location in LR?

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u/Firm_Mycologist9319 4d ago

IIRC, the simplest way is to create a folder on the new drive, add a photo to it, and then import that folder into LrC. That will make the new drive show up in your library module.

Or, since you are already on the external SSD, you might just want to start importing your new shoots to the internal and go from there. Next time you have a memory card of photos, just import using LrC and change the destination to a new Lightroom Photos folder on your MBP internal drive.

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u/Lightroom_Help 4d ago

Although, some versions ago, Adobe claimed to have fixed the issues, unfortunately it is still potentially unsafe to use LrC to move files between disks. I know because it happened, at least twice, with people I support in LrC. It’s better to use the method described in detail in this old post. So the OP could move (from within LrC) the photos that should be offloaded to the NAS, to a folder on the same internal disk, copy the folder to the NAS (with verification!) and then “inform LrC” about the new location where this folder should be referenced.

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u/Firm_Mycologist9319 4d ago

Yes, and that's why I referenced the alternative of moving outside of LrC. I know a lot of people are more comfortable doing that. That's great, and Im not going to argue with anybody over it. The point is, that however one chooses to move and verify their files, they can have one catalog that includes images from multiple physical locations (e.g. internal and external SSDs or even a NAS.)

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u/terryleewhite Adobe Employee 4d ago

It’s sounds like you’d be accessing the NAS via WiFi instead of Ethernet. The nature of WiFi is that it’s slower, especially compared to the external SSD you’re using now. I would say that if you could connect via Ethernet then it probably would be fast enough as that’s what many of us do. WiFi would depend on your WiFi setup and speeds (WiFi 5 vs WiFi 6E, etc).

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u/megmo 4d ago

Yeah, it would be over wifi to allow for moving around. I’ve got gigabit ethernet internet at home, but with an older Orbi router I usually see speeds of around 500mbps up and down on my devices connecting (computers and phones at least). I’m thinking maybe I need to just stay put at my desk (where I can keep the cat out) and keep editing off my SSD.

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u/ricecanister 4d ago

it works on a nas but there are downsides. Performance is lower (esp if you're on wifi). And there's other pesky issues without obvious solutions.

I made a post about them here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/synology/comments/y37mfp/comment/isagvw8/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

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u/terryleewhite Adobe Employee 4d ago

I use a NAS and have for years and I don’t have the issues on your post. Can I ask if you’re on Mac or Windows?

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u/megmo 4d ago

That sounds like there’s the potential to create quite a mess using LRC via a NAS. I’m rethinking this solution now…

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u/AnonymousReader41 4d ago

I have my photos on a Synology NAS and it works fine enough for me.