Hi ! i am a hobbyist photographer, nothing serious. I want to organize my workflow and need advice, a lot of it has to do with lightroom and how i use my hard disk space/file structure.
1.Right now i have a 2Tb internal hard disk(7200 rpm) and i have dedicated it for photography files only. I want to keep a copy of all my RAW files, exported files and other pictures on this internal hard disk and i want a duplicate of this data kept on an external hard disk- This hard disk is a 4TB WD my passport wireless pro.
I am unable to find a program which will mirror/keep my folders synced in real time on both these locations- (a) internal HDD and (b) external HDD. I found a program from seagate called toolkit which creates mirror folders and are synced in real time. But it does not work on WD drive. Any suggestions how i can do this without writing any code/small script myself.
2.i intend to follow this method-
A. transfer raw files to the internal hard disk by using lightroom import at home
B. outdoors- transfer files to Wd wireless pro and on returning home, transfer to internal HDD using lightroom import. WD wireless pro has a built-in SD card slot.
Earlier i used to just import the RAW files in big folder, arranaged by date. And i would export the files under a seperate folder named Exports...arranged by subfolders having date or event name.
I have watched few workflow videos, some of them suggest - export all Raws in one place...name the folders by event name or date..then under the exported folder- create sub folders having- 1.Raw, 2. Editable photos 3. Final exports. Do you think this is a good way to organize photos ? i used to keep all my RAWs in one folder with sub folders so if i needed i could move/copy them anywhere i want.
3. While exporting from lightroom, i am facing a problem. I used to use this option- "mark a duplicate copy to" for exporting to primary and secondary location( different hard disks). However, the files are being imported using a different folder structure at my 2nd location then what i import at my primary location. How can i change this ?
4. Auto-import settings- Do you all use auto-import function in lightroom ? under watched folders can i assign a folder on my external hard disk ?
5. In lightroom, on extreme left, the photos can be navigated by catalog or below it tab to navigate folder wise and below it are collections. I can not scroll down the folders. The master folder shows up and i am unable to scroll down the sub folders at all. can not even go down via down keys on keyboard.
i am attaching screenshots of all issues i am facing. My lightroom is Lightroom 6.1.1 1st image is about mark a second copy issue. 2nd image is result of file import at secondary location using mark duplicate option in lightroom. 3rd image is auto-import setting. 4th image shows the area where i can not navigate using mouse or keyboard at all.
Kindly advise !