Before starting Adobe Lightroom2 and in general, I would suggest using some sort of workflow that protects you from image-file loss sooo, backups are a must. While Lightroom can be used to ‘import’ files I find that it is a slower process than what I outline below. After a photo session I usually proceed with something like this:
- copy images from camera media to work area on hard drive (using Windows XP File Explorer I open both the destination drive and the source drive – my USB card reader and the destination drive – I also create a new folder to place the images in and usually, I will use a date-based descriptive name like: \my_image_folder\0801_tybee_client_camera_model\)
- proceed with basic selection/evaluation of the images on the hard disk – erase any out-takes, rename the files, add meta-data (keywords, location, photographer, client information, etc.) I use Adobe Photoshop Bridge for this (faster, lighter weight processing than using Lightroom – at least for my environment…)
- copy ‘keepers’ to secondary, backup, external hard drive (which is only powered on long enough for the copy process to complete)
- remove the files from the camera media after confirming that both hard disk sets are readable (i.e. using the camera tools I ‘format’ the camera storage card)
- proceed with image editing (development changes, generate final images or prints) – for a long photo session this can take several hours/days; this is done in Lightroom)
- copy processed images to external hard drive (remove the 1st, un-processed folders and replace with the final images)
- create CD/DVD/Some_other_media permanent (read-only) backups of final image sets or just the best images
- remove the ‘work’ images from step 1 (as long as you no longer need them and have adequate and tested backups on disk or external media)
Now things get more interesting. All of the above was done using computer A. Sometimes I want to use a second computer to access the files (on the computer and in the location where they already exist.) I use the second computer because it has additional compute resources (more CPU power and RAM) so it will simply process things more quickly (in Lightroom.) In such a case I would begin using the second computer at step #5 (image editing.)
Why use this or similar approaches?
- all files for a photo session are under the same folder tree,
- backup and replication of the file sets is simplified,
- Lightroom performance will actually be better since you are using a relatively small image database (i.e. limited to the size of the photo session as opposed to all of your images; the down side: you won’t have a master Lightroom catalog unless you create a separate catalog and import the images. Based on my experience this can work fairly well if you limit the size and types of images in your master catalog, i.e. use smallish JPEGs, no RAW files, with the same folder structure but on a separate file tree or master drive; I typically generate such smaller images during my workflow – your mileage may vary…)
- you don’t have to search for the Lightroom data – it’s all under the same folder tree.
When I started using Lightroom I had catalogs all over the place (wherever I had disk space) – now I use this scheme and life is simply better. 
The approach outlined below should work for either accessing Lightroom catalogs on external drives as well as network drives. Based on my limited testing this works with Windows XP (and it may also work with Vista.) It should however, work with any externally directly attached USB/Firewire disk drive.
The bad news - Lightroom does not support using ‘catalogs’ on ‘network drives‘. I will guess that performance and potential file conflict issues are the reasons for this – if two computers attempt to access the same set of data then problems can result if network file locking is not being used (which I am guessing is part of the problem.) The other item of concern would be network performance issues (i.e. it might ‘run’ really ’slow’…)
So, how do web get Lightroom2 to use a ‘network drive’? We trick to OS into showing that we are using a local drive by using the subst command (a DOS command.)
Some strategies for flexible image access
- use external drives
- network drives (using the ’subst’ command)
- use folder structures (an example below)
I use a naming convention similar to the sample below.
- job_id-source-folder_n+0
- job_id-source-folder_n+1
- LR-job_id_catalog
- LR-exports
Using the DOS subst command (virtual vs network drives)
Help subst – Associates a path with a drive letter.
SUBST [drive1: [drive2:]path]
SUBST drive1: /D
drive1: Specifies a virtual drive to which you want to assign a path.
[drive2:]path Specifies a physical drive and path you want to assign to a virtual drive.
/D Deletes a substituted (virtual) drive.
Type SUBST with no parameters to display a list of current virtual drives.
On Windows XP – using: Start –> Run –>
cmd (your drive letter may be different – open a command shell, change to the ‘
D‘ drive, change to the ‘
Clients‘ folder, and then use the ‘
dir‘ command to see a list of folders. In this example the Lightroom catalog is stored in the folder LS-client_name_09-07-30. Exports (from Lightroom) are stored in the LR-exports folder and the folders that begin with numbers (i.e. 0729*) contain the images from the photo session.
- Start –> Run –> cmd <enter>
- d: <enter>
- cd Clients_2009\0729_client_name <enter>
- dir <enter>
Sample output from the dir command is shown below. (Yes, you can see similar information using your file system browser and no, you don’t need to do all of these steps.)
Volume in drive D is Client_Photos
Volume Serial Number is E011-4DE4
Directory of D:\Clients_2009\0729_client_name
07/30/2009 10:06 PM 0729_client_camera-01
07/30/2009 11:09 PM 0729_client_camera-02
07/31/2009 10:11 PM 13,698 Adobe Bridge Cache.bc
07/30/2009 09:58 PM 8 Adobe Bridge Cache.bct
08/04/2009 02:55 PM LR-exports
08/04/2009 03:42 PM LS-client_name-09-07-30
3 File(s) 13,706 bytes
6 Dir(s) 39,526,641,664 bytes free
Before you can use the subst command you need to share the folder on the host computer. You need to give the share a unique name – I use simple names like ‘X’ or ‘Y’ (drive names NOT already used on the host computer.) You must also have Windows configured for local network use on both computers. Provided your Windows network is configured properly for resource sharing the steps are:
- share resource on host computer
- use subst command on second computer on the same network
- subst x: \\2nd_computer_name\X
- open the newly connected virtual drive in Windows Xp – browse the folders
- open Lightroom and access the drive as if it were a ‘local’ drive
Notes on this approach
- you can loose files/data – both systems must remain on during any period where shared files are being used
- this will be slower than using a directly attached drive or slower than using files in a local folder
- if you need speed then you should only use files in local folders – you could copy before and after edits between the two systems
- if you connect a network drive using the command: net use X: \\2nd_computer_name\X (or if you use the GUI and connect a network drive via browsing) then it is treated as a network drive; a virtual drive (created using subst) is treated as a local drive – that’s the reason Lightroom will work with it…
- you can use: Start –> Run –> subst x: \\2nd_computer_name\X OR
- you can use: Start –> Run –> cmd (and then run subst x: \\2nd_computer_name\X from the DOS shell)
- if you use the Windows file browser the connected drive will show up as a network drive (somewhat confusing perhaps, but in this case what we care about is how Lightroom ’sees’ the drive.)
