I used to put my MacBook into target disk mode then I could import my editing images from one Lightroom catalog to another. LR doesn't allow to run a catalog from a network drive and my understanding is that is now the new share disk works. Is there nothing like TDM where I can mount the MBA drive directly? The temporary solution is to move the catalog file and images onto a SSD external and then plug that into my iMac. A little bummed that TDM is not like it used to.
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With Target Disk Mode gone is there another solution?
- Thread starter JoeFkling
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AirDrop for large file is somewhat unreliable based on my experience. Ethernet port support is not very common for somewhat modern MacBooks ever since 2016, and I am not sure it worths the trouble to order two adapters for this purpose.
If both computers have thunderbolt, maybe run a Thunderbolt cord between them, and use TCP/IP that way? Haven’t done that in a while, so I’m not 100% sure it still works
It worked the last time I tried it. At least it was some version of Big Sur. And it was Thunderbolt 3 on my M1 MBA to Thunderbolt 2 (via adapter) on my 2013 Mac Pro.
I understand that Target Disk Mode is no longer an option on M1 Macs but there is an equivalent as described here.
Recovery > Utilities > Share Disk
Is that what you did?
No I used the Thunderbolt to TCP/IP bridge to get a very fast network disk drive. With TB2 limited to 20 Mbps but still faster than any other method of moving data between computers that I own.
The issue is that Lightroom won't let you run a library over a network drive. the photo files can be there but the library file itself has to be local.
The ultimate solution that I am gonna do now is I am ditching the 27" iMac and just going all MacBook Air. Just solves a lot of problems for me.
Leave it to Adobe to create a nonsensical restriction that they probably had to add extra code to implement.
It isn‘t just Adobe . It is grounded in SQLite . user Johnrellis Response on this thread .
“. …
Twelve years later, and the landscape has changed considerably -- Windows SMB implementations are much more mature and Samba has become the standard non-Microsoft implementation of the SMB protocol. LR has switched to using the write-ahead-logging mode (WAL) of SQLite, which has different issues with network files. I'm not aware of anyone who has done recent tests with network-stored LR catalogs or written authoritatively about SQLite and newer file-server implementations.
Adobe has shown no inclination to re-examine the issue. Last year they changed LR to use the higher-performance write-ahead logging mode of SQLite and broke the longstanding ability to import from catalogs stored on network servers.
…”
Operating Lightroom CC Classic via network drive?
Is there any reason why I can't work on a Lightroom catalog from a network (NAS) drive? My partner and I have a desktop PC and a laptop, both of which share the same Creative Cloud licence, but any Lightroom storage is restricted to either one local drive or the other. We also have a network...
The catch-22 is that there are at least as many folks grumbling about slow catalogs as newtwork located ones . SQLite doesn’t have a high priority for network ( versus direct attached or SAN attached ) files.
There are plenty of other apps with SQLite stores embedded open that will probably act quirky or get corrupted on network stores . LR is a more ‘juicey’ target because the catalogs pragmatically get relatively large and more folks want to use without moving the file .
