LightRoom, SyncToy & Back Up

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ray209

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Hi everyone,

In the past several years since I got back into photography I've managed to "break the code" on a number of difficult issues. I've learned to use my camera, know a little about Photoshop, and am generally making slow, but noticeable, progress.

One area that I continue to struggle with, however, is back up. What I do right now is keep my catalog on my computer's hard drive, and all my photo folders on an external hard drive. I have two more external hard drives that I use for back up, and I do that with a little utility from Microsoft called SyncToy. I back up my photos twice (primary photos on the external HD A, and backed up to B & C), and I back up my catalog three times (catalog on the computer's HD, and then backed up to external HD A, B & C).

Here's the rub. I tried this little experiment: I did a complete back up so that all my photos were identical on all external HDs. Then I opened LightRoom, made an adjustment to one photo, closed LightRoom, and repeated the back up with SyncToy. Unfortunately, SyncToy was unable to tell that the .dng file that I had altered was different. From its point-of-view, no changes had been made to the file.

Now, I know that this isn't the SyncToy forum. I'm not really looking for an answer to why it won't work as I hoped. What I would like to know is this: how do other folks handle this?

I don't want to use CDs/DVDs, the cloud (except for my really, really good shots...both of them), or something horrendously expensive (e.g., a RAID or DROBO). I don't mind copying from one external HD to another several times a week, but there has to be an easy way to do the updates without copying the entire disk time after time!

Thanks in advance for any comment.
 
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Did you save the changes to the file using either cmd-s or with auto-write to xmp turned on in the catalog settings?
 
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Interesting question. I know I did NOT actively save them (CTRL-S), and when I re-opened the photo in LightRoom the alteration to the photo (a crop) was still there, so I guess that would indicate that it must have been saved somehow, probably because of autowriting to the .dng?
 
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The problem I have with SyncToy is that it overwrites everything changed or not. I have not figured out the settings to get it to only add new files.
 
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Ray, if I understand you correctly, you need to understand that Lightroom stores its edits in the catalog. The file will be unchanged unless you export to a new file or write out the edits to the metadata for either embedded or xmp sidecars. In your case it would write out the edits to the dng files or add the exported one.
 
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Ken is correct, sorry for being a little unclear.LR will store all changes in the catalog until/unless you save through one method or the other.
 
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"The file will be unchanged unless you export to a new file or write out the edits to the metadata..."

I think I misunderstood how LightRoom works. I thought that a .dng file included the original RAW and the instruction set that described what editing had been done to the photo (crops, white balance, etc.). If I understand correctly, all those edits are actually in the catalog?

If that is true, I guess I don't have a problem after all -- my back up technique is working. That also means that losing the catalog would be catastrophic!!!
 
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Ray, you're almost correct. You're missing that you can *optionally* elect to also save your parametric editing data in/with the files.

The data is *always* stored in the catalog, and *optionally*, (either automatically, by setting XMP auto-write on in Edit > Catalog Settings; or manually, by pressing ctrl/cmd-S, or selecting Metadata > Save Metadata to files) in the image files. DNG, TIF, JPG, and PSD files have provisions for storing the XMP data internally. Raw types are treated as read-only, and the XMP data is saved in a parallel .XMP 'sidecar' file of the same name as the image.

Many folks do just that, to help avert the potential catastrophe you posited. On lesser hardware, the XMP auto-write can be a performance drag, so some elect to leave that off, and manually save the XMP, before they exit Lr.
 
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Thanks to all who commented! I really appreciate the great information.

On the topic of "lesser hardware", Lenovo is having a pretty good sale on the W7'' "photographers laptop" right now (look for the 48 hour sale link). I ordered one this morning with all the bells and whistles (well, except for the dual screen option...that seemed a bit much). If you're a PC person, and are looking to upgrade, it might be worth considering.

BTW, I do not work for Lenovo...just passing on some info that may be helpful.

Thanks again, everyone!
 
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