Lightroom Catalog sync (two computers)

[destrekor]

I'm trying to figure out the best way to sync photos between my workhorse desktop and my Surface Pro. Work on the surface pro would be both light-duty work when away from the main computer, and also heavy-duty work since I can treat it like a Cintiq tablet, have it mirrored to one of my monitors as well, and utilize the pen for the finer touches instead of using my desktop and kb&m (and believe me, I tried a standard no-display wacom - I can't get past the disconnect of not seeing exactly where my pen is going on the image at first).

I'll also be utilizing Photoshop CC on both devices.

Lightroom 5 has Smart Previews, which sound like the ticket since my ever-growing library will not be able to be stored on my Surface Pro, but smart previews are tiny DNG files.

What is the easiest way to sync ONLY the smart preview DNGs (not including the full RAW files) ? I mean easiest for day to day operation, not setting it up in the first place. I'll put the time in now if that means it's cake later.
I don't really want to have to deal with import/export or manually copying the folders every single time. Part of the reason for this: I will be utilizing a dual-workstation setup, where I have everything working on my desktop, but I also have the surface pro sitting flat on my desk and one of my monitors connected to it, displaying that screen. I plan to work with pen for some touches here and there, and I want edits to quickly sync so that I can shift over to working on the desktop, same file, with my recent edits already carried over (or shortly after).

Suggestions?

 

[jaedaliu]

Open a network share folder on your desktop.

It's the easiest way. Opening a 12-24 meg file over wireless should be pretty fast. If it ends up taking too long to open for your taste, I have no suggestions on the easiest way. Setup for an automatic mirroring system is something I've never done before.

 

[destrekor]

Open a network share folder on your desktop.

It's the easiest way. Opening a 12-24 meg file over wireless should be pretty fast. If it ends up taking too long to open for your taste, I have no suggestions on the easiest way. Setup for an automatic mirroring system is something I've never done before.

If I go this network share route, is there a way I could, say, set it up so that the device reaching onto the network for the catalog (which would be the tablet) grabs only the smart previews for LR work, and then, if I want to edit in PS, it grabs the RAW?

If I open the catalog from remotely (the full catalog), there is some way I can tell LR to create/copy smart previews locally, right? That way I can do quick edits and get them synced whenever, but if I want to actually work in photoshop, I'll need to have a network connection to the full catalog and RAW directory (it seems Adobe grays out the "edit in photoshop" and similar if working only an smart preview file).

 

[Gooberlx2]

Adobe says you can't use a network location for the catalog files...I've never tried.

FAQ link

However, you could use something like dropbox, skydrive, etc to keep the catalogs synced (if you have the space available) and simply have both machines pointing to the same network paths for the images. That way whatever history/edits/snapshots per image as well as smart previews are synced across each machine.

Smart previews can be created automatically during import, they'll be placed in the smart previews catalog. If you're connected to the network, I would assume the surface would grab the RAW for external editing. Obviously, that won't work if you're not connected to the home network without some VPN solution, like Hamachi.

 

[destrekor]

Adobe says you can't use a network location for the catalog files...I've never tried.

FAQ link

However, you could use something like dropbox, skydrive, etc to keep the catalogs synced and simply have both machines pointing to the same network paths for the images. That way whatever history/edits/snapshots per image as well as smart previews are synced across each machine.

Smart previews can be created automatically during import. If you're connected to the network, I would assume the surface would grab the RAW for external editing. Obviously, that won't work if you're not connected to the home network without some VPN solution, like Hamachi.

Except these files are large, and using the internet to sync = very slow. I have pitiful upload (3mbps?).

Dropbox has LAN sync, but still uploads to the cloud. I've been looking into those solutions for something that allows LAN sync without any cloud storage.

 

[Syborg1211]

When you modify existing files in Dropbox, I don't think Dropbox re-uploads the entire file all over again. It's been exceptionally fast when I've uploaded high res images and then made minor lightroom tweaks and re-export over existing files. It must do a diff and only upload changes, but I can't say for sure maybe my upload is just really fast.

Why does upload speed matter? Are you expecting to make a change on your tablet and IMMEDIATELY run over to your PC and expect it to be up to date? It will upload in the background and not slow down your process in the meantime. When you modify a file in your dropbox folder it's a physical copy on your computer or tablet that gets modified. The dropbox program works in the background to sync it up.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Syborg1211 is correct, dropbox only transfers the deltas.