Lightroom can really be speeded up when you use an SSD - solid state drive. Of course, if you are like me, your photo library is huge and it would cost a fortune to purchase an SSD big enough or multiple SSDs to store all the files.
The easy solution? Get an SSD that can store your Lightroom catalog and the previews, with some spare room for growth. Check the size of the existing folder containing both these files.
Then copy the Lightroom catalog folder onto that new SSD.
***Why copy and not move the folders? Safety step! You want to make sure everything is working before you move something permanently!
Next open the Lightroom catalog that is on the SSD drive. Click the question mark on one of the photo previews and direct Lightroom to your image library, that is, the folder where your photo files are stored. And update all so Lightroom will know where the photo files are stored.
Once you are sure everything is working, you can delete the original Lightroom catalog and previews from the original location - probably that old hard drive. Or if you are paranoid, rename that original catalog folder so you will know that is the old one and keep it for a while!
So where is the Lightroom folder with the Lightroom catalog and previews? Depends where you put it when you first started to use Lightroom. The default location is the Pictures / My Pictures folder. Many people put it in a separate location or even on a separate hard drive. Either way, it is one folder probably called Lightroom catalog and inside are at least two files: ~ catalog previews.lrdata and ~ catalog.lrcat.
If in Lightroom's preferences, (Lightroom>preferences>Presets tab>Location on Mac or Edit>Preferences>Presets tab>Location on PC), you chose to store the Lightroom presets with the catalog, then the Lightroom Settings folder is also inside the Catalog Folder. Either way, you want to move the whole Catalog folder to your new SSD drive.
And if you are looking for an easy to install internal SSD - check with the people at MacSales.com also known as Other World Computing. They have a Chat function with an incredibly knowledgeable staff! Tell them what type of computer you have and they will suggest the easiest way to add an SSD drive! www.macsales.com
