Backup Questions

[bcemail]

I'm confused about the backup process, and not sure if I'm missing something...

When I use the auto backup feature to backup to an external HDD (once a week, for example) this copies all my photos as well as the LR lcat files with the metadata, correct? Let's say during a week, I add 1'' photos, and then backup at the end of the week. Will only the 1'' new photos be copied? From what I read, it sounded like the entire catalog would be copied, but that didn't make any sense, as you would keep getting multiple copies of your photos, so I'm guessing I'm mistaken...

Hope this is clear. Also, I read that I should be telling LR to do something about writing to xml so that the metadata and picture files are tied together. Can someone explain how to do that (or why I shouldn't)?

Thanks for all the help!
Brian

 

[Mark Sirota]

Welcome to Lightroom Forums!

I'm confused about the backup process, and not sure if I'm missing something...

When I use the auto backup feature to backup to an external HDD (once a week, for example) this copies all my photos as well as the LR lcat files with the metadata, correct?

No. The auto backup only backs up the catalog.

I think what you're missing is that the catalog does not contain the image files -- it just contains information about the image files.

Edit: I forgot to answer your second question:

Also, I read that I should be telling LR to do something about writing to xml so that the metadata and picture files are tied together. Can someone explain how to do that (or why I shouldn't)?

You don't need to do that. I don't do that. But for some workflows it's very helpful, and some people like to do that as sort of a belt-and-suspenders approach to backups.

To do that, go to the Catalog Settings, Metadata tab, and check "Automatically write changes into XMP." You'll then want to back up those .xmp files that show up alongside your raw files. (If you're not shooting raw, you'd want to back up your originals (JPEG, DNG, etc.) whenever you make changes.)

 

[Denis Pagé]

Brian, backing up what Mark appropriately said, it is very important to understand that by Importing your photos in Lightroom, you are in fact importing nothing (1)! What it does is that Lightroom creates pointers to where the photos are. So, from that point, your should not move photos with Windows Explorer or Mac OS Finder! If you have to, do it from within Lightroom.

Note (1): You import something only when images' files where saved with XMP info. Don't worry for the moment...

 

[Brad Snyder]

And here's a recent thread with more info in the same vein.

 

[bcemail]

Thanks for all the advice! (One of the tricks to LR I'm discovering is that you're not actually doing anything to your files, which is obviously a great strength.)

So...how do people generally approach backing up the actually raw files? I know my folder hierarchy isn't the best, since I have always grouped photos by subject, vacation, etc., instead of just by date taken. If I had known LR and keywording were coming along, I would've avoided all this. So now, I try and keep track of what folders I've added to so that I can copy them to my external HDD every week or two. Of course, this causes the problem of having to work through multiple levels of folders to get the right images copied into the correct folder on my second drive. I'm sure I'm overlooking an easier way...

 

[Denis Pagé]

Thanks for all the advice! (One of the tricks to LR I'm discovering is that you're not actually doing anything to your files, which is obviously a great strength.)

This is true only as long as you never press Ctrl-Cmd+S on selected images and that the "Autowrite changes to XMP" is not enabled in the preferences. Otherwise, files of type PSD, TIFF and JPEG will be written to with the changes you want to apply to them but that said, original images these files contain will never be overwritten. Think of files as containers for the images. Only raw file types can't be overwritten. For those, a separate OriginalPhotoName.XMP sidecar file can be created.

So, if you eventually do write changes to XMP, you may want to add those changed/added files to your backup procedure.

Most use syncing programs to backup only new and changed ones rather than tracking them manually.

 

[marypencheff]

So what is the backup proceedure exactly. Should you back up the Library files with the real raw files at the same time and in the same place and if so how?

 

[Mark Sirota]

My backup approach is:

Raw files are backed up just after Import, using a little self-written tool that copies them to two other locations. They are never backed up again.

The catalog is backed up weekly by Lightroom itself, but because I am not always connected to my external disks (where my backups are stored), I also copy them nightly (or when I connect) using another little self-written tool.

If you write out XMP data, you need another step to back up the XMP files regularly (or if you convert to DNG, you need to back up the DNG files regularly). I don't write out XMP data, so I don't need to do that.

I don't back up my preferences, presets, plug-ins, or stuff like that automatically. They change infrequently for me, so I back them up manually when I change them.

I also don't back up my Previews at all. They can be regenerated if needed.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

So your catalog (the *.lrcat file) contains everything you do within Lightroom, so you want to back that up regularly. As a database, there is always a risk of corruption, however small, so don't overwrite your backup each time, just in case you overwrite a good catalog with a corrupted one. Use LR's backup facility as well as your usual hard drive backup.

Lightroom's backup does not back up your images. You need to do that yourself. Normal backup software or file synchronization software is ideal for that task.