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A Travellers Setup For LR 5.3 - advice sought

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stevedo

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Firstly a bit of background information to give some context to my question. My wife and I are embarking on a multi year Round the World trip by motorcycle starting this June. We only have 1 motorcycle so space is limited (understatement). We will use LightRoom 5.3 running on Windows 8.1 as our starting configuration. We have purchased a Lenovo Yoga 11.6 (remember space is limited :grin:) running a 4th Gen i5 processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. Machine has a USB 2 and USB 3 port as well as an in-built SD card reader. I currently have a 1TB external USB 2 Lacie HDD.

My plan is to keep the internal SSD for OS and applications only. Data will reside on a yet to be purchased external USB 3 SSD and backed up to the Lacie drive. Rationale here is that I want to physically separate our precious photos, videos and documents from the laptop so that we can always be in direct possession of all copies i.e. we don't want to always be carrying the laptop if we're out and about exploring the sites.

My plan is to place the LR catalog (I'm sticking to 1 catalog) on the external SSD. On import from the SD card, files will be copied to the SSD and a backup copy made to the Lacie drive. Periodically (weekly ?) I will backup the LR catalog to the Lacie drive. Once import is complete and I have all new photos in 2 physical places then I can format the SD card in the camera/s (we will take 2 cameras).

I've ruled out using an online solution for backup/storage due to the fact that many parts of the world that we visit just don't have the kind of connectivity required for such online services. We've been in situations where you simply can't get a connection or it's so poor that even Skype voice calls fail.

So to my question, at last I hear you say :grin: Given the constraints we'll be under, does my approach make sense? I think my biggest long term concern is one of performance with the LR catalog on the external SSD.I've spent the last couple of months on and off trying to fully get my head around LR (beginner here) and given what I've managed to learn this is what I've come up with.

Thanks in advance
Steve
 
Welcome to the forum. I think you will survive on the 11" Yoga. I would make sure it is packing a 512SSD, the i7 processor and max RAM (8GB) You only have one USB3 port and you need to make certain that the primary ext. SSD is also USB3 and is accessed through that port. For performance reasons, I would be tempted to run LR on the C:\ drive including storing master images with complete backup on an EHD for redundancy. Security reasons suggest that the laptop is most likely to be stolen. So it matters little if the LR catalog and image inventory is on another HD If I were going to be gone for a year, I would periodically ship home a copy of the Catalog and image inventory because both laptop and EHDs can get lost, stolen or destroyed. I think you are especially vulnerable with both the laptop and the backup EHD on one bike.

And my final recommendation: Sometime before June, pack everything on the bike and head off to a weekend getaway near home to see how well all of the pieces work together.
 
A friend of mine did a similar trip. In addition to an external HDD he also bought a bunch of SD cards (about 1.5 gig worth). He never re-used a card, but after a couple were full, he'd post them to someone back home for safe keeping. His thought being that if he ended up in hospital in a foreign land, he'd loose physical possession of ALL of his gear, even if only for an hour during an examination, and anything could get 'misplaced' during that time.
 
Steve, as someone who undertakes regular travel to unusual parts of the world I don't think that there is a completely foolproof solution.
Your explanation of your setup is an excellent start though.
Henry's suggestion may have merit but I must confess to not trusting postal services in many parts of the world.
I would keep the two back-up EHDD's separate, perhaps one in your care and one in the care of your wife.

You probably know and understand this already but it is worth commenting explicitly - situational awareness at all times to avoid potential trouble before it occurs is actually about 75% of the solution.
I grew up in South Africa but am now resident in Australia and I am always startled at how the average Australian (especially when out of Australia) seems completely oblivious to the most obvious danger (that is apparent to me).
While some of what I am saying does pertain to personal safety I am also referring to issues where important items might get lost or stolen.
Given the extent of your travels potential problems will be different in different parts of the world so local insight will become invaluable.

Good luck and have an absolute blast.
BTW we would love to see some of the results of your photographic endeavours later.

Tony Jay
 
Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated ;)

Budget constraints have determined that I go with the Yoga i5, 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM.

Current thinking is that I'll run the catalog on the internal SSD and store the RAW files on an external SSD. I'll backup RAW files to a 2nd external drive. I'll back the catalog up to the external SSD as well as the 2nd external drive.

Periodically I'll send a copy of the catalog and RAW files back home (storage medium tbd).

Does that all make sense?

I will certainly share images. I've registered a domain name and will get a website up and running in due course.

We've already done a shakedown test on the bike. Spent 5 weeks travelling to Morocco and back about 18 months ago.

Regards
Steve

PS I think the hardest thing in all of this will be maintain the necessary level of discipline to keep everything ship shape.
 
Steve,

How big is your external SSD? And how much do you plan on shooting? If not a lot, then consider buying enough cards that you do not need to re-use them. If a lot, then make sure that your external SSD is big enough. WD 2TB portable drives, for example, are pretty small and reasonably priced these days. And if you have not already considered it, you may want to encrypt your drive if it has sensitive information. Losing a computer while travelling is bad, losing your on-line identity as well would be worse.

Good luck,

--Ken
 
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