bleirer

So I backup my windows 10 pc that i use just for photos. I use a 2 TB usb drive. All my photos and edits for one year are combined in one folder for the year. I use only one Lightroom catalog for all photos. So a couple of questions.

1. Is using the windows backup system, the one that works through the file history part of system tools to write to a designated backup drive on a user set schedule as good as copying the folders directly? Or is it more or less likely to lose data?

2. Since I only have the one photos folder and the one Lightroom folder, it's not that difficult to copy and paste the folders, but is there a better way to do it?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Unless the current Windows "backup system" allows retrieval of individual files, I won't use it.
I got bitten once with "DOS Backup" years ago. The restore was ALL or NOTHING; the backup was compressed and individual files were not retrievable.

My current backup system is a batch file that copies specific directories and files (photos, docs, downloads, PDFs, ...).
I can peruse the backups with Windows Explorer just like the source drive.

But what/how one performs backups is a personal preference.
JUST BACKUP SOMEHOW!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I never use the Windows backup tool.

I prefer SyncBackFree by TwoBrightSparks.

https://www.2brightsparks.com/download-syncbackfree.html

It offers complete backup/synchronization/restoring of your files. If you want to work with image backups, you have to upgrade to the paid versions. Images are good for system drive backups, the free version is sufficient for files and folders.

In automated mode, it uses a profile/calendar?scripts to run backups, and you can do a "pre" run to see what it will back up, and a compare to ensure that source and destination are correct. It also has diagnostics and will back up some open files (if I recall correctly). It's a real "set it and forget it" application. Certainly worth considering.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

In my opinion, if your files are valuable to you, it's worth engaging a cloud archive service. They are professionally maintained and distributed far further than you can reasonably do.

I have been using CrashPlan for several years now. It saves versions, so if a file gets corrupted, an older version is still available. Without this feature a corrupted file could be propagated through the archive.

One thing about CrashPlan is that it enables you to archive your files locally at the same time you archive them to the cloud. This means you have a local backup to try first if you have a problem. The cloud service is your backup backup.

And of course CrashPlan enables you to restore one file or many, depending on just what you need. Yes, it's compressed, but as long as you are using the program the compression is transparent. If you decide to unsubscribe you just copy everything to local storage (or your new cloud service) before unsubscribing.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Crashplan is good, but it is only as good as your internet connection speed and is best used as an archival system for old, seldom accessed files - not great for a primary backup system. File versioning is a feature to most backup systems, including SyncBack and other local based backup applications.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Cloud backup should be used for disaster recovery, not primary backup.
Local hard drive for primary (and secondary) backup.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Are your backing up your LRCAT Lightroom catalog? Not the Adobe 'back up' processing at exit; rather, copying the entire contents of the "Lightroom" folder where the LRCAT is stored?

bleirer

I just take the whole Lightroom photos folder which has the catalog and all the fixins such as previews, I don't think I need more than the catalog but it doesn't hurt to copy it all.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The previews are helpful, but not necessary. Backing up the 'backups' folder inside LR just makes the process longer if you don't manually prune files from this folder. Also, if not done so already, assure that you update your LR preferences to store any personal presets into the catalog folder so these get copied automatically. Changing this preference doesn't move them into this folder. Go find them and manually copy into the catalog folder if / when you change this setting.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

I use the free Microsoft Synctoy backup tool, and it's served me well. https://windowsreport.com/synctoy-windows-10/

bleirer

I will check that.

Unrelated perhaps, but I recently changed preferences to automatically write edits to the xmp after Gene suggested it in another thread, prior to that I would just do it every once in a while.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Still running Win 7 on two of three machines.
I'll visit that when the time comes.

Red6

Reading these comments on backups made me think of an interesting thing that happened to me last year.

My mother, who is now 90 years old, gave my sister and and I a huge box filled with photos that she and the family had made over the years. She and my Dad had been married over 60 years and had always had some type of small camera to capture their memories. Added to this were photos that my sister and I made during various school, camping, scouting and vacation trips.

There are several hundred photos in the box. Many of people and places that my sister and I were familiar with, but many are completely unknown. As my mother at 91 now is one of the last in her large family, there is little chance of identifying many of the photos.

So the question is; What to do with all these photos? This was Mom's backup system, a cardboard box filled with her and Dad's memories but mostly unfamiliar to my sister and I.

This made me think. In my final years or after I am gone, will I leave my my son a couple of computer hard drives with a few terabytes of photos of people and places he is unfamiliar with. Will he even look at them. Will he even care?

Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky

Excellent question! I will add will he even be able to acces them given how fast technology changes!

Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky

Will the free version run on my Windows 10 Pro x64 operating system? On syncback's web page it mentions something about 32 and 64 bit.