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Question about XMP files

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jean.mouette

jean.mouette

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Apr 9, 2020
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Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom CC
Operating System
  1. macOS 10.15 Catalina
Hi, I hope you are all doing fine!
I have a question which bothers me.
I am using 2 separate external discs, one for working (A) and another one which is a backup (B).
A and B are strictly identical, they have the same name, the same folders and files. Whenever I plug A or B, my LR catalog does not see the difference between the two and recognize them instantly.
However, when I say that A and B and strictly identical it's not entirely true.
The xmp files of A and B are different, while the ones of A are up-to-date, the ones of B are only the ones from the latest backup.
My question is the following: if I plug B to LR, will my catalog automatically update the xmp files to the ones it has in "memory" hence the ones of A, or will it keep it to the one of B ?
I hope I was clear enough...
Thanks for your help !
 
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No, it will not automatically update, though you can force an update from the metadata, write menu option.

However, a bit of unsolicited advice: I think it is worth noting that keeping an identical copy of your disk as a backup misses the issue that a backup needs to be able to recover older versions of files. Hypothetically a program might run amok and delete or corrupt some files and you might not immediately notice. So 6 weeks later you notice 2018 is missing from your drive and.... you've sync'd your backup and it's missing from it also.

Backups really need to have point in time recovery.
 
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Since you are running MacOS the simplest way to implement an incremental backup is to allocate a large external drive to TimeMachine. This will backup your entire system including the Lightroom and all your images. It will keep track of any changed files and allow you to recover from any accidental deletions. This drive should ideally have a capacity of two times of your current total data.

-louie
 
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LouieSherwin said:
Since you are running MacOS the simplest way to implement an incremental backup is to allocate a large external drive to TimeMachine. This will backup your entire system including the Lightroom and all your images. It will keep track of any changed files and allow you to recover from any accidental deletions. This drive should ideally have a capacity of two times of your current total data.

-louiees
Click to expand...

Thanks Louie. Unfortunately I have over 8 To of pictures (2016-2020), that's why I only keep my catalog and the previews on my HD. My pictures are stored in several external hard drives, hence my initial question. I was thinking of a NAS system but it seems to be quiet expensive. So far I use 6 hard-drives (3 original one and 3 as a backup).
 
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Ferguson said:
No, it will not automatically update, though you can force an update from the metadata, write menu option.

However, a bit of unsolicited advice: I think it is worth noting that keeping an identical copy of your disk as a backup misses the issue that a backup needs to be able to recover older versions of files. Hypothetically a program might run amok and delete or corrupt some files and you might not immediately notice. So 6 weeks later you notice 2018 is missing from your drive and.... you've sync'd your backup and it's missing from it also.

Backups really need to have point in time recovery.
Click to expand...

Thanks Ferguson. I understand but I'm a bit stuck. Unless I use a NAS system (which appears to be quiet expensive) I do not see any proper solution. I have several teras of pictures (around 8To so far since 2016). The way I use seemed to be the less evil solution, with the possibility to lose the latest datas...
 
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jean.mouette said:
Thanks Louie. Unfortunately I have over 8 To of pictures (2016-2020), that's why I only keep my catalog and the previews on my HD. My pictures are stored in several external hard drives, hence my initial question. I was thinking of a NAS system but it seems to be quiet expensive. So far I use 6 hard-drives (3 original one and 3 as a backup).
Click to expand...
I have a 12TB EHD that I use for TimeMachine. It backs up my Primary disk with Catalog (but not previews and all of the 3 volumes that contain my master images files. I also use a 8TB Volume attached to my Time Capsule but I can see where this might get filled if you really have 8TB of image files.
 
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jean.mouette said:
Thanks Louie. Unfortunately I have over 8 To of pictures (2016-2020), that's why I only keep my catalog and the previews on my HD. My pictures are stored in several external hard drives, hence my initial question. I was thinking of a NAS system but it seems to be quiet expensive. So far I use 6 hard-drives (3 original one and 3 as a backup).
Click to expand...
It has been years since I had a Mac. But you can get a hub, and link all three backup drives as a single volume set in Mac. And use this as a destination for Time machine.
It used to require a little effort to make time machine handle the external data drives normally. Not sure now.

Tim

Sent from my HD1907 using Tapatalk
 
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tspear said:
And use this as a destination for Time machine.
Click to expand...
I don't think MacOS allows JBOD to be used as a TimeMachine Volume.

You can select any disk that Time Machine can see easily now

1587731211309.png
 
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clee01l said:
I don't think MacOS allows JBOD to be used as a TimeMachine Volume.

You can select any disk that Time Machine can see easily now

View attachment 14404
Click to expand...
I did it back in 2013. But I am a techie.
A quick search shows Apple has now added jbod into the disk utilities on later releases.
From there it should just require adding the special meta data to Time Machine if it does not see the drive.
Note, lots of info that jbod does not work for root drive.
Note 2. Drives fail. I would always have a second later of defense and not just depend on a jbod.

Tim

Sent from my HD1907 using Tapatalk
 
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tspear said:
I did it back in 2013. But I am a techie.
A quick search shows Apple has now added jbod into the disk utilities on later releases.
From there it should just require adding the special meta data to Time Machine if it does not see the drive.
Note, lots of info that jbod does not work for root drive.
Note 2. Drives fail. I would always have a second later of defense and not just depend on a jbod.

Tim

Sent from my HD1907 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Both of us may be working from old information. I needed a large enough volume to include data from three or more volumes. The JBOD solution that I sought was rejected byTimeMachine. So I bought a bigger EHD. This was on a version of MacOS before Apple took the RAID feature out to the Utility disk app (it is now back in).


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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