LRC backup

[crbuckjr]

Lightroom Version Number

15.2

Operating System

1. Windows 11

I use LRC and mobile rotating between two desktops, Windows 11. I have an 8TB SSD external that I can use for LRC photos and catalogs and other. I have about 3 TB of photos. I have several other 4 TB SSDs that are available.

I need help designing a backup plan for this situation. Obviously, I want ongoing back up while at one of the desktops and then I need the ability to move and set up on the other desktop.

I am not sure exactly how many, and which, files I need to keep track of in devising a plan. Are there basic plans out there somewhere that I can use as references. Or has one of you previously answered this question.

any help would be appreciated

thanks

Chuck

 

[clee01l]

Backups are irrelevant to Lightroom except for the copy of the catalog file that Lightroom recommends on exit.

You need to consider all of your critical user data including documents, spreadsheets etc as well as a backup of your Lightroom Clatlog filesLightroom Settings and most important your original image files. You want a backup app that runs in the background on a schedule so that backups are automatic. TimeMachine comes free with MacOS and there are similar apps that run on Windows You want a backup app that will do versioning so that you can recover files that were correct before you accidentally over wrote them as well as files that were wrongly deleted six months or even a year ago. In addition to timeMachine on my Mac I have in the past also run Acronis which has similar capabilities and also comes in a Windows version, There are wWindows users tha can recommend similar Windows backup apps with the same capabilities. Don't fall into the trap of an app that just copies your files from one disk to another since thaycan copy bad files over good ones and wipe out files that were deleted accidentally. Also you want an app that can be scheduled to run nightly while your computer may be idle.

As for

LRC and mobile rotating between two desktops,

I would consider these separately providing the same solution for both. If you are sharing images and catalogs on the same external disc then you need to include that disc on only one of your system backups.

I think it is important to have two local backups. So I have timeMachine alternate between a backup to my NAS and to a locally attached external disk.
The other critical part of your backup plan is offsite. For this I recommend one of the cloud based systems. I use BackBlaze. there is also Carbonite and CrashPlan. I have used these in the past. If you happen to have a catastrophic event at home (Fire Flood, Civil disturbance) you can lose both your primary system and your backup for recovery. This is why it is important to have that off site backup plan in place.

The most likely disaster is a disk failure. You need to prepare for this eventuality . Another thing I consider necessary is to practice a partial recovery so that you are not in panic mode when you do your first restore

 

[Mike Taylor ARPS]

I have all my LrC files and previews on my 1tb internal drive. All my pictures and catalog backups live on an 8tb external SSD. All of this gets backed up to Backblaze. It's never let me down despite having to completely replace my 2018 iMac that collapsed under the weight of AI and i had to download everything from BB. I may get an 8tb spinning desktop HDD to add belt and braces.

 

[clee01l]

I may get an 8tb spinning desktop HDD to add belt and braces.

If you are not using timeMachine, you should. My TimeMachine out grew an 8TB HDD I now have a 20 TB HDD for timeMachine. You need a target disk that is large enough to hold versioned backups from the total capacity of ALL the volumes being backed up.

 

[crbuckjr]

I have Windows desktops.

As I look at this...strictly from a LR perspective is it correct to day that the files that I need to back up are
.....my Catalog along with all of the photos
.....the folder where I store my LRC backups that are created when I close LRC

Is that it....seem so

thanks

 

[Califdan]

I have Windows desktops.

As I look at this...strictly from a LR perspective is it correct to day that the files that I need to back up are
.....my Catalog along with all of the photos
.....the folder where I store my LRC backups that are created when I close LRC

Is that it....seem so

thanks

Yes that is correct. However some may say the "on exit" backups themselves don't need to be backed up as long as they are not on the same dirve as the actual live catalog, but I reccomend including them as well.

 

[clee01l]

Yes that is correct. However some may say the "on exit" backups themselves don't need to be backed up as long as they are not on the same dirve as the actual live catalog, but I reccomend including them as well.

Preference files, as well as Presets and other peripheral files should also be included. You as a Windows user should also be backing up the Registry

 

[crbuckjr]

thanks

Given situation...use one 8 TB SSD to store phots and Cat.....and go back an forth...and connect with LR both places==I have a semi complicated backup situation. In short, I want the 8TB to be seamlessly backed up, to have one backup copy and be able to retrieve versions of the file from, say, 6 months ago.
IDrive has been recommended for this purpose. (It allows multiple computers, keeps past versions for retrieval, and, supposedly, will keep just one, coordinated backup for the 8TB drive) Does anyone have experience with IDrive to share with me? Any other software packages I should look at?

 

[clee01l]

thanks

Given situation...use one 8 TB SSD to store phots and Cat.....and go back an forth...and connect with LR both places==I have a semi complicated backup situation. In short, I want the 8TB to be seamlessly backed up, to have one backup copy and be able to retrieve versions of the file from, say, 6 months ago.
IDrive has been recommended for this purpose. (It allows multiple computers, keeps past versions for retrieval, and, supposedly, will keep just one, coordinated backup for the 8TB drive) Does anyone have experience with IDrive to share with me? Any other software packages I should look at?

I think you are over complicating things. If you have an 8TB SSD that you share Lightroom on two different computers then, create the system backup on the primary computer to include the SSD. On the other computer create a system backup that includes everything except the SSD.

Only if you are using the second computer for long periods (like summer at the beach) would you possibly need to backup the SSD on both computers.


FWIW, My solution has been to have a Master catalog on my desktop with its attendant backups and run Lightroom Desktop on the other computer. Everything syncs to the Adobe Cloud and down to my master catalog on the Desktop (running 7X24). Lightroom Desktop has access to everything in the cloud and all new image files are imported to the Adobe cloud and down to my master catalog (full size). The sync process keeps my master catalog in sync with any changes made to images in the Adobe Cloud.

 

[crbuckjr]

4 months (summer) at one place......9 months (winter) at other.....do a lot of work on photos at each.....

 

[clee01l]

4 months (summer) at one place......9 months (winter) at other.....do a lot of work on photos at each.....

Then I'd get two backup drives. One for each computer and when you backup at the summer location or the winter location, you will backup the catalog and image files on the SSD. Returning to the winter location, your first backup after returning will pick up all of the images added from the summer as a part of its first backup. Unless you have a backup volume large enough for complete versions backups of two, I would not try to put both backups on the same backup volume.

Something else I would be concerned with is the risk of loss or damage transporting the SSD and the Backup volumes between locations. If the SSD and the Backup disk were lost or damaged in transit, then all of your Lightroom efforts would be gone. If you have Backup disks in each location, you would be able to recover should the SSD get lost or destroyed in Transit.

 

[jrobnz]

Any other software packages I should look at?

Have a look at ARQ (https://arqbackup.com). Multiple computers, flexible version retention and scheduling, full control and retention for external drives, cross platform, proper security/privacy, and you can access/restore backups from one computer by another computer. You can manage the storage yourself either locally on a external drive and/or in the cloud via a long list of providers if you want. If you use it for cloud backups the easiest thing is to just get their "Premium" service which includes the storage. I've been using it for about 2 years for both local backups and cloud and it's been flawless.

 

[Gnits]

I use Macrium Reflect on Windows. One backup job scheduled for approx 4 am backs up my complete C drive (dedicated for o/s and apps and designed to have a modest footprint). I do a full backup monthly and incremental backups daily. I keep a cycle of 3 full backups, so can go back to any version in the last 90 days. I have decided that I do not need any longer than that. This backup allows you to restore a working installation of your o/s and apps.

I have a different backup job, automated also for approx 4 am.. which backs up all my images, catalog and office files from multiple drives to an internal spinning disk. This is synchronised (background task ) to a remote NAS as another layer of backup.

As yet, I have not embraced cloud backup, will probably review the next time I have a major hardware change.

I do like the look of ARQ.. and especially like that there are Mac and Win versions.

There used to be a pro level backup suite… for Windows Servers.. which I think might have been called Arc. Not sure if there is a connection.

I have been using Macrium for as long as I can remember, only twice needed to recover. I have had support queries from time to time and always got fast and appropriate response.

All my backup jobs send me an email with completion status, so I know before I start my day that all my backups are in order. I have had 4 or 5 failed email messages , all for good reasons, mostly shortage of target disk space.

The main vip feature for me is that it is fully automated

Due to ongoing issues with Win / Lightroom stability… you will notice I now take a backup copy of both the Lightroom Preferences and Parameters. Naturally, since I started this.. I have not needed them, but keeping them for the scenario where I may need to reset preferences and want to trace what has happened to my preferences or parameter files,

Also, I now do a full shutdown of my Windows machine.. so the backups start automatically when I turn on the machine in the morning.