Your case is covered in the book in this [section](https://jean-romain.github.io/lidRbook/engine.html#engine-independent-files). The idea here is that your files are no longer a wall-to-wall coverage of an territory. The `LAScatalog` engine is designed to process las files that encompass a territory where each files is spatially related to its neighbourhood.

In your case the files are independent. You basically want to loop through each file. In this case you can put this information in catalog

```r
opt_independent_files(ctg) <- TRUE
```

Each file will be processed independently, without buffer. This is equivalent to a regular loop (but with parallel capabilities and real time monitoring).