New to Lightroom

[Clyded]

I am new to LR and have just downloaded the beta 3 version. I use two external drives for backup -- the same photos, backdup on two drives. Each of the drives has 35'GB of files.
I have three questions:
1. If I use LR for say, backup drive #1, can I sync this to backup drive #2, so all information is the same? Or should I run LR on backup drive #1, clean off backup drive #2, then copy all information to #2, and sync in the future?
2. If I import to my computer from a memory card after a shoot, can I backup simultaneously to both backup drives?
3. Is there a better way to backup my work to the external drives that to sync? I have seen tutorials where it is recommended to copy work from the computer onto the external drive(s).

 

[clee01l]

Welcome. Glad you found us.
I would not use LR to back up image files. I have a master copy of images on a Network attached drive and a Backup of that on another network drive. The intelligence built into the backup networked drive (LINUX) keeps the backup of the master in sync. Lightroom only works on the master files The Lightroom catalog is stored locally and my scheduled backups of my local drive take care of creating a backup of the catalog just like they do for my Outlook.pst and all the other files. I run other backups for redumndancies but that is outside the scope of your issue.

I actually only store archived images on the External drive. I keep a working set of the last 2-3 month on my local drive and this is where I import my camera card. This is all that is necessary for the basics of LR.

Part of my redundancy is to check the "Backup to:" checkbox on the Import dialog to create a (for me temporary) copy of the card contents. You could use this to make a copy to any external drive you choose It is not cataloged. I do this as a temporary basis since I do not need these image once my nightly backups have done their job. This way I always have at least two copies of the RAW image masters.

 

[Clyded]

Thanks for your quick reply. To go a little further with this topic:
I currently download new files from a shoot to my computer. Then from my computer I back them up to an external drive(s). I process my photos on my computer and, once in a while, back them up to the external drives. When I do a shoot, I create a folder for that shoot. I am wondering, now, if there is any advantage for me to use LR. It seems that the backup process for me to get my files backed up to two external hard drives would be a manual process, and I do that now.

 

[clee01l]

Lightroom's forte is cataloging image files so you can find them and organise them quickly. It will also do about 8'% of the post processing that is usually done with such programs as Photoshop and similar applications. The backup function aside from the camera card backup that I described earlier and the backup on exit (v3) of the catalog database file is really not what LR is about. Backups for disaster recovery are properly addressed as a system approach. They need not ever be a manual process. You may want to evaluate your workflow to see if there might be more efficient ways to accomplish what you are presently doing. For example folders of each shoot would easily be handled using a keyword and Lightroom Collections. Lightroon can easily produce a collectioin across several folders and slice or dice your images into any usable groupiing that you find meaningful. I adopted and adapted to LR beginning in June of this year. I can't imaging using anything else to manage my image processing. I no longer make or need to make derivative images and try to track these and keep up with my master images. For the most part, I have my original RAW master image files and the LR catalog which is the repository for all the edits. I make temporary JPEGs only to send to the Web or burn a Slideshow onto a CD
It is not my intention to convert you to LR, but I'm convinced that If you want to process RAW images quickly and organise your inventory in a useful fashion, there are few programs that can provide that. I just ask that you keep an open mind and explore the possibilities with LR.

 

[perottol]

I have all of my photos arranged under a top folder called "photots", and I always keep a backup of this folder on an external drive.

I use Sync Toy (fro windows) and the schedule program in win xp to synchronize these two top folders. Sync Toy is set up to only copy files one way (in case I delete something by accident), and this is scheduled every night. In addition I backup the lightroom catalogue-file as well.

I've never had a hd crash, but I'm sure I will be able to restore my whole set-up with these files.