Catalogs Catalog backups management

[BobT]

Lightroom Version Number

14.2

Operating System

1. Windows 11

LrC V14.2 is out. It has a new catalog backup management system. A great idea. It lists the backup you have. Unfortunately, they all have the same name. There is a note that says, "The backups listed above are sorted by creation date". Great, but sorted which way Oh well, got to have something for V14.2.1.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

The backups should all have the creation dates in their folder name, or at least, that's how Lightroom creates them. They're reverse sorted, so the newest are generally at the top of the list.

 

[clee01l]

The backups should all have the creation dates in their folder name, or at least, that's how Lightroom creates them. They're reverse sorted, so the newest are generally at the top of the list.

The backups listed are all of the backups for all of the catalogs in the Destination folder, not necessarily just those with the current catalog. It is however a good step toward backup housekeeping which needed to be performed in Finder/Explorer manually before being included inside the LrC toolset.

What I do not understand is why there is a {Delete} and a {Remove} button. The purpose of the {Remove} button seems to be to hide the file from the Lightroom management.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

The backups listed are all of the backups for all of the catalogs in the Destination folder, not necessarily just those with the current catalog. It is however a good step toward backup housekeeping which needed to be performed in Finder/Explorer manually before being included inside the LrC toolset.

Ah yes, on the first launch, it reads all the zips in the backup folder. Any backups added from that time are just for the selected catalog.

What I do not understand is why there is a {Delete} and a {Remove} button. The purpose of the {Remove} button seems to be to hide the file from the Lightroom management.

At one stage, the list didn't update automatically if you deleted a backup using Explorer/Finder, so Remove lets you remove ones from the list that you'd deleted externally. That doesn't appear to be an issue in the release version, but there may be scenarios that you still might want to remove something from the list I guess.

 

[iwaddo]

What a pity they only did half a job and did not provide any auto-deletion based on age or count?

I have a folder action which deletes backups over 90 days old. Realistically this could be much less but I'm looking at a new folder action which only keeps a count of x.

 

[clee01l]

What a pity they only did half a job and did not provide any auto-deletion based on age or count?

I have a folder action which deletes backups over 90 days old. Realistically this could be much less but I'm looking at a new folder action which only keeps a count of x.

What are you going to do if you need to go back more than 90 days to recover from some stupid user mistake? I once went back 6 months to recover keywords that I managed to remove from over 2000 images.

I prefer a method (still manual) to keep all backups for 30 days, one backup a month for a year and one backup per year forever. However being basically a sloth, My preferred method is to set aside a large drive that I no longer trust for mission critical data and let it fill up before doing any housekeeping.

 

[iwaddo]

What are you going to do if you need to go back more than 90 days to recover from some stupid user mistake? I once went back 6 months to recover keywords that I managed to remove from over 2000 images.

I prefer a method (still manual) to keep all backups for 30 days, one backup a month for a year and one backup per year forever. However being basically a sloth, My preferred method is to set aside a large drive that I no longer trust for mission critical data and let it fill up before doing any housekeeping.

I have

1. a Time Machine
   1. This is a new 10Tb disc, the older disc has been retired and is stored in a fire proof safe, it goes back to July 2022
2. a second Time Machine I plug in monthly
   1. It has backups of my old iMac back to July 2020 and of my Studio back to January 2024
3. BackBlaze with a 1-year archive
4. a daily, 01:00, Carbon Copy Cloner backup to 'Daily Backup' disc.
   1. This disc is quite full but I'm happy to let Carbon Copy Cloner delete files as needed, currently goes back to June 2024
5. a weekly Carbon Copy Cloner backup to an external disc stored in a fire proof safe
   1. This is a relatively new disc, has snapshots back to Sept 2022, the older disc is stored in a fire proof safe, it goes back to November 2019

I should be ok

 

[Philippe Coudé du Foresto]

What a pity they only did half a job and did not provide any auto-deletion based on age or count?

I have a folder action which deletes backups over 90 days old. Realistically this could be much less but I'm looking at a new folder action which only keeps a count of x.

For my own usage, I've created a powershell script that do exactly that. I sart it every day via Task Manager. However, it isn't the answer to the way Cletus neess to manage his backups.

Here is the script (you must change some variable values to adapt to your configuration and wish)

#%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
#                   Script Suppression LR Backup
# Written by P.Coud�
#
# Version 2.0  18/11/2024
# ===========
# Add deletion of files LOG.old* in the folders lrcat-Data
# The folder containing the catalog is defined in $CatalogFolderPath
#
# Version 1.0  30/01/2019
# Purpose
# =======
# This script will remove all but the n most recent LR catalog backup
# files, providing they are old enough.
# If a backup file has been created less than 30 days ago it won't be
# deleted anyway.
# The folder containing the backup is defined in $BackupPath
# The number of files to keep is defined in $FilesToKeep
# The oldest aging to keep is defined in $lastmod
#%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

# Declaring variables

$BackupPath = "S:\Sauvegarde\Catalogue_Phil\Backups" # location of catalog backups
$CatalogFolderPath = "L:\Lightroom\Catalogues" # location of folders containing the LrC catalogs
$FilesToKeep = 5 # Minimume number of files to keep
$jour = Get-Date
$lastmod = $jour.AddDays(-30) # Minimum aging days for the file to be removed


# Suppress all but the "$FilesToKeep" most recent files,
# providing the files are old enough.
$Count = 0
Get-Childitem $BackupPath -file -recurse | Sort-object LastWriteTime -Descending | Foreach {
    $Count = $Count +1
    IF ($Count -gt $FilesToKeep) {
        IF ($_.LastWriteTime -le "$lastmod") {
#            write-host "Deleting File" + $_.fullname -foregroundcolor "Red";
            Remove-Item $_.fullname | out-null
        }
    }
}
# Suppress the empty folders
$ListFolder = Get-Childitem $BackupPath -Directory -recurse | where { @(gci $_.Fullname).count -eq 0}
Foreach ($Folder in $ListFolder) {
        Remove-Item $Folder.Fullname -Recurse | out-null
}

#Delete files LOG.old in folders lrcat-data
$ListFolder = Get-ChildItem $CatalogFolderPath -Directory -Recurse -Filter "*lrcat-data"
Foreach ($Folder in $ListFolder) {
        $Count = 0
        Get-Childitem $Folder.Fullname -file -Filter "*LOG.old*" -Recurse |
        Foreach {
                $Count = $Count +1
                Remove-Item $_.fullname | out-null
                }
        }

# End of script

 

[BobT]

I think manual deleting of backups is the way to go. Then you have only yourself to blame.

 

[Gnits]

There is no perfect answer... and everyone's situation differs, as does the tools and skills needed for various options.

... but I do not trust myself or scripts., My catalogs are backed up automatically every morning and the backup software is configured to retain a given number of full cycles. This allows me to go back to a specific day in the last month, with separate monthly and annual cycles. Special backups done before app or catalog upgrades.

I am pleased to see the backup tab now inside preferences for several reasons... but think, in due course some fine tuning would be useful.
It shows the Drive which is the target for the backups and a gentle reminder to all to ensure your backups are on a different drive to your catalog.

I am disappointed ...
1. It does not show the date and time of backup.
2. The form used is fixed and cannot be widened... so in my case the full path of the target backup is difficult to read.

But glad to see the panel there.

It would be welcome if the panel presented a message if the target and source drives were the same.

 

[iwaddo]

There is no perfect answer... and everyone's situation differs, as does the tools and skills needed for various options.

... but I do not trust myself or scripts., My catalogs are backed up automatically every morning and the backup software is configured to retain a given number of full cycles. This allows me to go back to a specific day in the last month, with separate monthly and annual cycles. Special backups done before app or catalog upgrades.

I am pleased to see the backup tab now inside preferences for several reasons... but think, in due course some fine tuning would be useful.
It shows the Drive which is the target for the backups and a gentle reminder to all to ensure your backups are on a different drive to your catalog.

I am disappointed ...
1. It does not show the date and time of backup.
2. The form used is fixed and cannot be widened... so in my case the full path of the target backup is difficult to read.

But glad to see the panel there.

It would be welcome if the panel presented a message if the target and source drives were the same.

I can see the date and time in the folder name. It looks like the path shown is truncated deliberately to show the folder name and if I hover I can see the full path.

 

[Gnits]

This is what I see,

There are only 2 columns. The path column spreads into and overlays the Size column.

There should be a separate date / time column..

The size column should be at least centre or right justified .. so it is not bang up against the text of the path.

I can play with the width of the Path and Size column but constrained to the size of the modal screen.. which cannot be made wider.

This is really basic GUI design... but an example of Adobe 80/20 (ie 80% good with 20% not finished or missing the important finer details).

This is so obvious... I hope it is fixed.

I am still glad this new feature exists and to have the opportunity to manually spring clean individual older backups.

With the new option to rename catalogs, I may include the date it was converted from a previous format ... but I do not see the date of backup tagged to the end of the filename.

Here I have set the file path to max width possible. I see the file ext... but no date of backup.

 

[Gnits]

I just spotted that the subfolder containing the backup contains the backup date.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

I just spotted that the subfolder containing the backup contains the backup date.

That has always been the case…

 

[Gnits]

Yes.. agree… was expecting date and time as a column, not as part of the path…

 

[iwaddo]

This is what I see without the need to resize. In fact I cannot resize the columns.

 

[Gnits]

You may have the path at max width.... check if you can make the path narrower....

Bottom line .... that is what Adobe delivered... Its a good idea, the key info can be found and the ability to prune out old backups is useful. Hopefully it will get a few tweaks in future...

 

[iwaddo]

You may have the path at max width.... check if you can make the path narrower....

Bottom line .... that is what Adobe delivered... Its a good idea, the key info can be found and the ability to prune out old backups is useful. Hopefully it will get a few tweaks in future...

It is odd. I cannot change the column widths, I can move the size to before Path but then it takes a third of the width.

Also, I decided to move my backups and now the list is only showing backups since the move, it is not reading the list from the backup folder.

As you say it is a step in the right direction.

 

[camner]

I think manual deleting of backups is the way to go. Then you have only yourself to blame.

Including only have yourself to blame for not getting around to manually delete backups
[of course, neglecting to prune old manual backups is not nearly as serious as neglecting to make Manuel back ups if that’s your strategy]

 

[clee01l]

Also, I decided to move my backups and now the list is only showing backups since the move, it is not reading the list from the backup folder.

Did you move the old backups into the new location? I think the new back up management process only looks at the backups in the current backup path. I would be surprised if their path go stored in the catalog or other Adobe file.

 

[BobT]

Including only have yourself to blame for not getting around to manually delete backups
[of course, neglecting to prune old manual backups is not nearly as serious as neglecting to make Manuel back ups if that’s your strategy]

Yes, you could include that. My point was (slightly tongue in cheek), that if you lost a vital backup due to an auto delete, you may be furious with Adobe for having provided the feature. The convenience of automatic space saving may be outweighed by the risk of lost data.

 

[PhilBurton]

The convenience of automatic space saving may be outweighed by the risk of lost data.

^^ This.
I use Lightroom Classic intensively for a while, then not all all for weeks or longer, so a date-based deletion scheme would not work for me.

My "solution" was to get a larger HDD for my photos and catalog backups drive. Dedicated to this purpose. At least in the USA, 3.5" HDDs, especially 5400 rpm models, are silly cheap. If you get getting an internal drive (for either your desktop or an external drive case), then get a Western Digital Blue or Green drive.

For example, 4 TB https://www.amazon.com/WD-Blue-4TB-Hard-Drive/dp/B013HNYV8I/ref=sr_1_13?crid=3D7O4LPT0RY1M&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.PW4rEAHOMfwsgPjzIDoWC78AEnGkmRc7tmWjyk3fXDGrgY3cdXbVVHd_5oHawxiTQ1NSryCajuKQKbZZwLGd6SPkCijD3BMjPJ73OndA2NA35NMeq0vky_4XbDs7D0jmTvJ5TKCoVDLetak-ZvpyGgFiTYagqDA32t3X5gVRg8NSroVAvQfarWu7grVmzHlsz3AAXo9pBndYDn5lk4cPTf5qpzkBM4NIQ7pXyk4lcIM.PBN7HwldL3INfkvrC3WzZqypQMpVmQXFylyjyk2RjFA&dib_tag=se&keywords=western+digital+internal+hard+drive&qid=1740433422&refinements=p_n_feature_forty-six_browse-bin:5446816011,p_123:202186,p_n_condition-type:2224371011,p_n_feature_five_browse-bin:676131011,p_n_feature_keywords_six_browse-bin:6158683011&rnid=6145843011&sprefix=,aps,120&sr=8-13

 

[BobT]

My "solution" was to get a larger HDD for my photos and catalog backups drive. Dedicated to this purpose. At least in the USA, 3.5" HDDs, especially 5400 rpm models, are silly cheap. If you get getting an internal drive (for either your desktop or an external drive case), then get a Western Digital Blue or Green drive.

Just on longevity of WD HDDs, in a build I did 13 years ago, I put in four 1TB WD Black HDDs for their longevity. I guess they are cheaper now too but maybe not as much. Anyway, they were running 24/7. So far, I've lost only one. Two are still running 24/7 in my newer build but for backups only. The other is a spare.

 

[PhilBurton]

Just on longevity of WD HDDs, in a build I did 13 years ago, I put in four 1TB WD Black HDDs for their longevity. I guess they are cheaper now

Not necessarily. I really like how WD has used colors to indicate the different product lines in terms of performance and reliability.

Many, many, many years ago i worked for four years for a long-gone OEM disk drive manufacturer. Prices and physical sizes have come down drastically since then and capacities are unbelievably improved.