Lightroom Desktop: Syncing Issues when Originals are stored on a NAS

How did you add your files to Lightroom Cloudy? I've had similar issue after migrating library from Lightroom Classic and I have resolved it by resetting the cloud library to zero and reimporting Classic library in batches. Since then no more issues with sync and all originals are stored on my local NAS.

I had the Apple Photos library stored locally on my MacBook and then I did the migration. The Lightroom Cloud folder to store the files locally is on the Synology NAS.

The problem is that Lightroom Classic is not able to migrate/import the Apple Photos Library. This Library is different from iPhotos and for sure also different from the Aperture Library. So if you want to migrate the Apple Photos Library there is - from my point of view - the only chance to use Lightroom Classic.

Maybe we can try to deactivate the option to store all files locally during migration. But at least after activating again during normal process, the syncing won't be really work.

I am sorry, but this situation with Lightroom is not acceptable. The bills should be refunded...

OK, so I understand you've just added all the files in local folder with photos. I don't see other option to migrate from Apple Photos library. I would still clean up the entire library on https://lightroom.adobe.com/ and add photos again but in smaller batches - move to the next batch only after it is fully synchronized.

I didn’t pull out the photos out of the Apple photos Library. I saved the apple photos Library locally on my MacBook. And from there I did the migration. Double check my replies below. From my point of view the issue is the connection to the NAS.

After 8 hours syncing 5.5k photos are done. The NAS is still offline. This workflow is ready for 5 other libraries of the same size.

Thanks for the continued updates, Moe. I have this thread linked to our bug investigation on our internal system. The engineers will be able to review your comments. 

All done a little bite more than 14 hours.

Although I sympathise with you on the migration process (I had to restart migration of over 55k images from Lightroom Classic catalogue after the first attempt failed) I am interested how did you manage to spend hundreds of dollars on it?

This is the conclusion I came to, too. 

I had the same problem with a DS218j and got around it as follows.  I believe the primary problem is that LR wants to use the local network originals as the primary data source (when it should use the cloud).

First step is to create a iSCSI drive on the Synoloogy (google helped here).  You then need a program to connect to the new drive (I used globalSAN - free trial then small fee to buy).  This creates a virtual local drive on your MAC which points to the NAS partition.  LR sees a local drive and seems to work fine.

I do not have the drive automatically mount as if you are not on the LAN and try to connect the MAC has spaz (apparently).

Hope this helps.

@David Thanks, for the idea of iSCSI. I’ll check it the next days. This can be a good workaround until Adobe manages to fix this issue with network shared drives over SMB.

https://www.synology.com/de-de/knowle...

https://www.synology.com/en-global/kn...

I would not be too optimistic with iSCSI. It is performing much worse (at least on windows client) compared to SMB protocol (not sure if MAC is using SMB in this case).
https://docs.microsoft.com/pl-pl/archive/blogs/larryexchange/iscsi-or-smb-direct-which-one-is-better

@David...I just spent the last hour looking into iSCSI thinking this might be my last resort.  Returned to this thread to see your post and am glad to hear you've successfully implemented this approach.  I was exploring iSCSI Initiator X from Kernsafe as a free tool, but may end up downloading the globalSAN trial given your positive review.

Thanks for the tip on not automatically mounting the drive.  I've seen mention of issues as well.  

Will report back if I have success.

Good luck - advise if you hit a wall and I will try to remember what I did :)

Good luck and let us know

Update....iSCSI works!  Here are some step-by-step instructions for others who may want to attempt the same solution:

1) Configure Synology drive as an iSCSI Target, using Synology's out-of-the-box iSCSI Manager utility.  Instructions here.

2) Download and install iSCSI client software for Mac.  I attempted and was unsuccessful in installing a trial package from globalSAN.  Ended up going with iSCSI Initiator X v3.0 from Kernsafe, which has the added benefit of being free for non-commercial use.  Note that Mac security settings will block you multiple times during the install process for non-App Store software.  You will need to go into Security & Privacy under System Preferences to allow the software to install and run.

3) Configure iSCSI/Synology as target drive.  Instructions here.

4) Format drive.  Although the walk-through resources linked above for set up of iSCSI Initiator X indicate that after you configure your target drive, it will automatically prompt you to format that drive I found this not to be the case.  After connecting to the target drive on the Synology, you can manually launch Disk Utility on your Mac then format/configure the drive for use.  Instructions here.

5) Migrate photos.  Since I already had a copy of all Lightroom originals on an external USB drive, I copied the Lightroom CC folder and all of its subfolders onto the iSCSI drive on the Synology.  To do this, I attached the USB drive to my Mac, connected to the iSCSI/Synology, and copied the sub-folders which are organized into years in several batches (e.g. 2000 - 2005, 2006 - 2010).  I ran into some issues with a handful of individual files stopping the process when attempting to copy everything in a single batch, so broke things up and was able to address a handful of duplicate file errors as they occurred.  In the end, I made sure that the folder/ sub-folder structure on the Synology matched my original files on the USB drive.

6) Pointed Lightroom at the new storage location.  Under Mac Preferences, changed the storage location for backups to the iSCSI/Synology.  Closed and restarted Lightroom. The process of locating over 40,000 files took several hours, but ultimately everything was re-indexed successfully.

7) As noted above by @David, it's best to unmount the iSCSI drive when Lightroom is not in use.  Prior to launching Lightroom, go into iSCSI Initiator and "Logon" to the drive.  After closing Lightroom, return to the program and "Logoff".  I receive an error message from Mac OS that the drive was not ejected properly, but I've attempted to eject in a few different ways and always receive the message.  Doesn't seem to be an issue.

Good luck to all, and hopefully Adobe ultimately resolves this NAS issue so we can avoid the extra steps.

Update....iSCSI works!  Here are some step-by-step instructions for others who may want to attempt the same solution:

1) Configure Synology drive as an iSCSI Target, using Synology's out-of-the-box iSCSI Manager utility.  Instructions here.

2) Download and install iSCSI client software for Mac.  I attempted and was unsuccessful in installing a trial package from globalSAN.  Ended up going with iSCSI Initiator X v3.0 from Kernsafe, which has the added benefit of being free for non-commercial use.  Note that Mac security settings will block you multiple times during the install process for non-App Store software.  You will need to go into Security & Privacy under System Preferences to allow the software to install and run.

3) Configure iSCSI/Synology as target drive.  Instructions here.

4) Format drive.  Although the walk-through resources linked above for set up of iSCSI Initiator X indicate that after you configure your target drive, it will automatically prompt you to format that drive I found this not to be the case.  After connecting to the target drive on the Synology, you can manually launch Disk Utility on your Mac then format/configure the drive for use.  Instructions here.

5) Migrate photos.  Since I already had a copy of all Lightroom originals on an external USB drive, I copied the Lightroom CC folder and all of its subfolders onto the iSCSI drive on the Synology.  To do this, I attached the USB drive to my Mac, connected to the iSCSI/Synology, and copied the sub-folders which are organized into years in several batches (e.g. 2000 - 2005, 2006 - 2010).  I ran into some issues with a handful of individual files stopping the process when attempting to copy everything in a single batch, so broke things up and was able to address a handful of duplicate file errors as they occurred.  In the end, I made sure that the folder/ sub-folder structure on the Synology matched my original files on the USB drive.

6) Pointed Lightroom at the new storage location.  Under Mac Preferences, changed the storage location for backups to the iSCSI/Synology.  Closed and restarted Lightroom. The process of locating over 40,000 files took several hours, but ultimately everything was re-indexed successfully.

7) As noted above by @David, it's best to unmount the iSCSI drive when Lightroom is not in use.  Prior to launching Lightroom, go into iSCSI Initiator and "Logon" to the drive.  After closing Lightroom, return to the program and "Logoff".  I receive an error message from Mac OS that the drive was not ejected properly, but I've attempted to eject in a few different ways and always receive the message.  Doesn't seem to be an issue.

Good luck to all, and hopefully Adobe ultimately resolves this NAS issue so we can avoid the extra steps.

Any observation about performance of this setup? And one more: can you access that folder from Synology or now it is accessible only via iSCSI?

@Adam: After 24 hours of use, I’ve noticed it takes about 20 seconds for Lightroom to fully launch (wheel spins for a bit). Previously with my USB drive setup it was almost instantaneous. After launch, I haven’t noticed significant performance delays. Note that I haven’t done much heavy editing yet, and a majority of my images are JPG as opposed to RAW.

And regarding file access on the Synology it is only visible when the iSCSI Target is mounted (not within the normal Synology interface).

Thanks for you report. Currently I use the Synology NAS with Shared Services over SMB. There is already a shared service drive with all images copied manually. If I create an iSCSI "drive", do I have to format/delete parts of the NAS? After creating an iSCSI "drive" I could manually copy all images from the SMB drive. Or I let Lightroom do the work from zero. 

That information is not correct. 

I have my Lightroom originals on a NAS and do not have any issues.  Not everyone experiences the issues mentioned in this thread which why we are investigating it as a bug. That said, we still are unable to reproduce this issue. 

If you have a case number from your chat, I would love to review it. 

Same here, after some initial problems, probably not related to the NAS, all is working fine since over a year now. The only issue is the speed of Lightroom CC Desktop, which is much slower than the Lightroom Classic on the same PC, the same network (1GB/s) and the same NAS.

Rikk, thanks for your quick reply.  I didn't save the chat, however, I received this e-mail shortly after my chat ended so hopefully this is it.

• Case Number: ADB-12225254-X7K2 
• Issue:  Performance 

Given that this does seem to be a known issue experienced by multiple users I have decided to switch to an external hard drive for the time being.  However, the better solution for me would be to use my NAS for its intended purpose.  My LR library is in the process of being rebuilt and I am importing with the new external hard drive location.

Thank you.