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Is Lr Catalog Backup necessary if .....

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Dragon27

New Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2015
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Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom Classic version: 7.3 [ 1164630 ]
Operating System
  1. macOS 10.13 High Sierra
Is a separate Lr Catalog backup necessary if I already backup the Catalog and the Photos using Time Machine on my iMac (which will also backup the backup) ?
 
The Lightroom backup also does some integrity checking and optimisation of your Catalogue, so yes it is worth doing - it's not just creating a copy.
In recent versions it also compresses it, which should be of some benefit.

Dave
 
The main principle with backups is that you should have several of them all in different locations. Unfortunately the default location for the LR catalog is in a sub folder below your working catalog. So if that drive fails you lose your catalog and the backup.

The odds of your drive failing and there being a problem with Time Machine are slim but it can't hurt to have a second backup of your images and catalog.

You should also consider backing up your Presets if you have any number of user created presets. These are not part of the catalog and are not stored with it, so you should take steps to ensure they are included in your backup process.
 
If the TM backup occurs while LR has the catalogue open, the backup may not be in a consistent state. It's better to back up through Lightroom and let TM back up the LR-created backup.
 
Do both, do not depend on either alone. LR's does integrity checking; TM does a "raw" backup, in the sense it is not processed. LR's does a zip itself, and there are reports of it not always working correctly.

Do both, belt and suspenders. And still keep a hand nearby if your pants start falling. ;)
 
Another recommendation for doing both. The backup also does an optimize on the catalogue.
 
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