It is of reasonable performance but not very fast. The LR database is on the iMac internal harddisk while the images are all on an external WesternDigital myBook. This drive appears to be slow if I work on it with the finder directly.

However it is, I can give the recommendation to handle everything in one and only one LR database.

The main reasons for me to switch to Lightroom are:

• Close integration of development and Digital Asset Management (DAM)
• My switch to Mac

My main issues are (with respect to Digital Asset Management)

• In Lightroom I never know where I am:
  • It should clearly indicate which catalog is currently open
  • It should clearly indeate the path to the image
  • It should show the size of the image
• Lightroom should be able to handle many images (lets say 200 000) with a reasonable performance
• Lightroom should start Photoshop in the same way as Bridge deoes – passing the RAW file to PS
• Lightroom should support more than one external application
• Lightroom should support more formats for extenal applications, in particular be able to send the RAW file directly to the external application
• Lightroom should provide a full API, not only for export but also for maintainance in the database including routines to specify a User Interface
• Lightroom should provide the same metadata editor as it is in Bridge or Photoshop
• Lightroom should show in which collection a particular image is?
• Lightroom should be able to do all file based operations (like rename …) directly without pointing to the Finder
• Lightroom should support more or less any file format, even non image formats (eg. GPX, MP3) thus allowing data of entire projects being collected
• Lightroom should prvide dynamic collections / intelligent folders / predefined queries however one might call it
• Lightroom should support time machine
• Lightroom should support spotlight

… there is likely more to come