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Lightroom backup from within Ligthroom

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PhilBurton

Lightroom enthusiast (and still learning)
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Classic
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Lightroom Classic 9.3
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  1. Windows 10
In order to backup the catalog in a way that it can be used, the database must be closed first. Closing the database is pretty much the same as quitting Lightroom. I'm pretty sure this has been requested before, and you also requested it in the wrong forum. The community forums are user-to-user forums. Requests should be made here: https://feedback.photoshop.com, but search for the existing request and add your vote.
 
If you're afraid of losing a days work, you could consider checking the 'Automatically Write Changes into XMP' option. Your edits will then be written to XMP sidercar immediately. If you corrupt your catalog and need to replace it by a backup copy from yesterday, then importing the images you worked on today (or using 'Synchronize Folder' if these images were already imported yesterday) will bring back todays work. The only exception will be virtual copies you may have created, and catalog-related things like collection memberships and stacks.
 
I don't mean to show a lack of support, but this looks like an awfully big job (they would need to quiesce all the background threads updating sqlite then do the backup, then start them all again). With the alternative of close/open or write-xmp, I really wonder if this is where we would want the extremely limited time they spend on classic spent? And backing up while active is just not safe; it may work 99% of the time, and the kind of thing a user could decide to do, but Adobe could not in good conscience do that.
 
When Lightroom Backs up the catalog, it does not really close the app, just goes through the process of closing the catalog file, checking the catalog file for integrity and optimizing the databases that is in the catalog file. When all of this is complete, only then does Lightroom exit.
Because I feed my LrC catalog from the field using Lightroom on mobile devices, I pretty much leave Lightroom running 7X24. I have to manually shutdown and restart to get a current backup. If not, my backups could be weeks apart.
If instead of exiting, all Lightroom Classic would need to do is re open the catalog. There could be a switch set in Preferences to backup the catalog file (especially if the app is running unattended) on a cycle (4 hours, 12 hours 1 Day?) and immediately if "Lightroom Quit" were invoked.
 
OK, I get it. Are there scripts you can run in LR to shut down at a specific time, then use a scheduler to restart it, at some off hour?
 
When Lightroom Backs up the catalog, it does not really close the app, just goes through the process of closing the catalog file, checking the catalog file for integrity and optimizing the databases that is in the catalog file. When all of this is complete, only then does Lightroom exit.
Because I feed my LrC catalog from the field using Lightroom on mobile devices, I pretty much leave Lightroom running 7X24. I have to manually shutdown and restart to get a current backup. If not, my backups could be weeks apart.
If instead of exiting, all Lightroom Classic would need to do is re open the catalog. There could be a switch set in Preferences to backup the catalog file (especially if the app is running unattended) on a cycle (4 hours, 12 hours 1 Day?) and immediately if "Lightroom Quit" were invoked.
Anything is possible. The only question is how much coding this would require, and for how many people this would really be an issue. The time you'd save is minimal, it's just that indeed it means you could let Lightroom do it unattended. Apparently Adobe did not feel it was worth it. And indeed this should be scriptable.
 
Anything is possible. The only question is how much coding this would require, and for how many people this would really be an issue. The time you'd save is minimal, it's just that indeed it means you could let Lightroom do it unattended. Apparently Adobe did not feel it was worth it. And indeed this should be scriptable.

Adobe designed LrC before there was a thought about a cloud based version interface. I think this would be a worthwhile feature to keep LrC in sync’d with developments in Lr. It is not about the time saved, but about the automation of the backup process to protect the integrity of your LrC Catalog. A scheduling interface is trivial to write. And a one line code to check where to exit Lightroom or reopen the catalog is also a trivial task.

Lightroom (cloudy) is functionally diffecient in a recoverable backup to allow version control. This is another area that Adobe needs to think about or rethink.


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Per Johan's post, I should have posted this request in a different part of the Adobe forum. Then I discovered that this request already has a thread.
 
Per Johan's post, I should have posted this request in a different part of the Adobe forum. Then I discovered that this request already has a thread.

Can you post a link? Was it a post of mine or one that I commented on previously?


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Adobe designed LrC before there was a thought about a cloud based version interface...

To further advance the prospect that implementing a bank up within LrC would be trivial, Earlier versions required the backup interface at start up of the Lightroom app. This was later moved to its present position on exit. Except for where it is called in the App, the backup interface remains essentially unchanged from the earliest versions of Lightroom.


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Can you post a link? Was it a post of mine or one that I commented on previously?


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Cletus,

If you search on "custom metadata" on that Adobe forum, you get a lot of hits, including a lot of familiar names.

One of a long list of features that Adobe has not addressed ...
 
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