One Lightroom Catalog For Two Computers

[Twitch1977]

I have a computer and a laptop at home and I want to use one Lightroom Catalog between the two.

Right now my lightroom catalog is on my PC but when I try and access it on my laptop it gives and error saying it's on a network volume.

What are the rest of you doing to solve this problem? I could throw it on an external drive but I don't really want to have to run upstairs to get it when I feel like working on it downstairs and vice versa. If there's a way to get it working over the network that'd be preferable.

Thanks,
Kurt

[SolidxSnake]

Well you'd have to make sure all of your images are available on network as well I'd assume.

That said, make sure the images and catalog are in a shared folder with 100% permissions to guests (ie. your laptop).

[Nortelbert]

I put it on the server and share the catalog out. Each PC has a local copy of the same database because it syncs itself every xx minutes with some software.

[Twitch1977]

Originally Posted by SolidxSnake

Well you'd have to make sure all of your images are available on network as well I'd assume.

That said, make sure the images and catalog are in a shared folder with 100% permissions to guests (ie. your laptop).

This is how I have it set up, it seems like LR is designed to balk at using a catalog that's on a network share. Even if I map the drive to a drive letter instead of using a UNC path I still get the same error.

I put it on the server and share the catalog out. Each PC has a local copy of the same database because it syncs itself every xx minutes with some software.

Can you elaborate on this a bit please?


Kurt

[SolidxSnake]

Originally Posted by Twitch1977

This is how I have it set up, it seems like LR is designed to balk at using a catalog that's on a network share. Even if I map the drive to a drive letter instead of using a UNC path I still get the same error.



Can you elaborate on this a bit please?


Kurt

Hmm, then I guess nortelbert's idea is the best. He has a common fileserver that always has the latest catalog. All of the computers sync every xx minutes, so they also have the latest catalog. When they sync, they overwrite the older catalog on said computer with the updated one on the fileserver so both computers have the same catalog at all times (at least all times after a sync and before any editing )

[Nortelbert]

Originally Posted by SolidxSnake

Hmm, then I guess nortelbert's idea is the best. He has a common fileserver that always has the latest catalog. All of the computers sync every xx minutes, so they also have the latest catalog. When they sync, they overwrite the older catalog on said computer with the updated one on the fileserver so both computers have the same catalog at all times (at least all times after a sync and before any editing )

You got it ... except the catalog can't be on the server initially, so you start with one on your local machine, then sync it to the server, which can serve it out to the other PCs.

[SolidxSnake]

Originally Posted by Nortelbert

You got it ... except the catalog can't be on the server initially, so you start with one on your local machine, then sync it to the server, which can serve it out to the other PCs.

Well, you could have a combo work PC/fileserver... chances are you wouldn't want to take the performance hit of working on a computer running a fileserver, however.

[Nortelbert]

Originally Posted by Twitch1977

Can you elaborate on this a bit please?


Kurt

Set up all your files on PC "A" and share the folder. Run Lightroom on PC "B" and point it to the files on "A" to get the files. This creates a local catalog on "B". You can then copy this catalog file to PC "A" again if you do edits on PC "B" and vice versa.