Today’s Question: You indicated that it is possible to have Lightroom Classic activated on two computers. But wouldn’t it be difficult or problematic to try to use Lightroom Classic on two different computers due to the catalog?
Tim’s Quick Answer: While it can indeed be difficult or problematic to try to use the same Lightroom Classic catalog on two different computers, it can also be relatively straightforward, such as by storing the catalog on an external hard drive that you move between more than one computer.
More Detail: By default, Lightroom Classic will store the catalog on the internal hard drive on your computer. This is perfectly fine in terms of convenience and performance, but it can become problematic if you want to use Lightroom Classic on more than one computer.
In theory you could copy the most recent version of your catalog from one computer to another, and then copy that catalog back to the first computer when you wanted to switch again. But as you can probably imagine, this can quickly create confusion about, for example, which copy of the catalog is really the most recent.
Therefore, if you want to use Lightroom Classic on more than one computer, I recommend storing your catalog (and the photos) on an external hard drive. The catalog can be opened from the external hard drive with Lightroom Classic on whichever computer is most convenient to use at the time, such as when using a desktop computer when at home and a laptop computer when traveling.
Having the catalog and the photos on an external hard drive is no problem at all, and performance can be on par with having the catalog on an internal hard drive, as long as the external hard drive is of reasonably good performance.
Of course, it is worth pointing out that this issue of managing the catalog in Lightroom Classic is one of the reasons some photographers have avoided Lightroom Classic. I talked about the differences (and similarities) between Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and Bridge, in a webinar presentation about six months ago. A recording of the full presentation can be found on my “Tim Grey TV” channel on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/BwpneG4y0nQ
