A question about file handling when backing up to an external drive
Oct 7, 2015 22:44:22 #
I have been sorting my backup drives to get everything the same on all of them and get all the photos and on 2 of the externals by themselves and came upon a file handling question.
On one of my external drives that is photos only the file loading order is .xmp,.xml .mpg, .mov, .jpg, .nef. Then at the very end is backup.tly, catalog.buc, then the list of folders. Is this the way Lightroom does things?
On one of my external drives that is photos only the file loading order is .xmp,.xml .mpg, .mov, .jpg, .nef. Then at the very end is backup.tly, catalog.buc, then the list of folders. Is this the way Lightroom does things?
Oct 7, 2015 22:59:07 #
What do you mean by "the file loading order"? I do not understand the term.
Usually files are loaded on the drive in the order that they were saved. When you view a directory the file list can be listed various ways, for example alphabetical by name, by date, by type, by size, by extension... And so on.
And more importantly, I think you may have a different question, than what was asked.
What is it that you are worried about?
Usually files are loaded on the drive in the order that they were saved. When you view a directory the file list can be listed various ways, for example alphabetical by name, by date, by type, by size, by extension... And so on.
And more importantly, I think you may have a different question, than what was asked.
What is it that you are worried about?
Oct 7, 2015 23:13:57 #
JD750 wrote:
What do you mean by "the file loading order"? I do not understand the term.
Usually files are loaded on the drive in the order that they were saved. When you view a directory the file list can be listed various ways, for example alphabetical by name, by date, by type, by size, by extension... And so on.
And more importantly, I think you may have a different question, than what was asked.
What is it that you are worried about?
Usually files are loaded on the drive in the order that they were saved. When you view a directory the file list can be listed various ways, for example alphabetical by name, by date, by type, by size, by extension... And so on.
And more importantly, I think you may have a different question, than what was asked.
What is it that you are worried about?
By file loading order the files start out B0000001.xmp and go to B10199.xmp. Then they start B10200.xml and go to 17718.xml. from there they go 17719 to17730 and are a mix of.mov, .mpg, .mp4, .avi. From 17731 to 22937 as .jpg. From 22937 to 59788 they are .nef files. In the rest of my drives they are listed by folder name. I started out using the other 2 drives to do backups and they had photo folders and document folders, this is the only one that had straight photo & video files on it. I was just wondering why the discrepancy in file & folder order.
Oct 7, 2015 23:32:06 #
jethro779 wrote:
By file loading order the files start out B0000001... (show quote)
Interesting file names.
I suspect, the software you were using has something to do with it. So long as the files are still visible using that software it shouldn't matter what order they are in. Was this the backup drive for a backup program you were using?
Oct 7, 2015 23:34:20 #
JD750 wrote:
Interesting file names.
I suspect, the software you were using has something to do with it. So long as the files are still visible using that software it shouldn't matter what order they are in. Was this the backup drive for a backup program you were using?
I suspect, the software you were using has something to do with it. So long as the files are still visible using that software it shouldn't matter what order they are in. Was this the backup drive for a backup program you were using?
It was the only photo specific drive. It has Nikon View NX2, Photoshop Elements, & Lightroom all 3 on it.
Oct 7, 2015 23:39:34 #
Honestly Jethro I don't know why. But so long as it works then that is the important thing.
Oct 7, 2015 23:43:02 #
JD750 wrote:
Honestly Jethro I don't know why. But so long as it works then that is the important thing.
It seems to work ok, I was just surprised that it did things in that way when every other drive had the files by folder name.I also didn't think I had 57,000+ pics either.
Oct 8, 2015 00:23:05 #
jethro779 wrote:
It seems to work ok, I was just surprised that it did things in that way when every other drive had the files by folder name.I also didn't think I had 57,000+ pics either.
57k is a lot of Pics!
Well the best of it is when the software does it's thing, works right, and we don't notice. Then one day we look and think "why the heck are they doing this?" but it's working. So ... In my experience with software, if it's working ok, DON'T mess with it!
Just saying...
Oct 8, 2015 07:22:56 #
You probably haven't got 57000 pictures; if you have 20000 raw images and 20000 xmp files, that will record as 40000 objects, plus each folder and sub-folder are objects etc. Grand total is the sum of every object.
Oct 8, 2015 08:26:29 #
zigipha
Loc: north nj
does the "file order only" drive, does it have any folders or is it a single folder with all the files?
order of backing up is dependent on how the sw is designed. most bu programs scan the files, make a list of what has to be backed up and then proceed. its sounds logical to do it alphabetically, but eh....who know.
order of backing up is dependent on how the sw is designed. most bu programs scan the files, make a list of what has to be backed up and then proceed. its sounds logical to do it alphabetically, but eh....who know.
Oct 8, 2015 09:27:00 #
PRodacy
Loc: New Mexico
You can specify how the file order is displayed for each drive on your system. You can set these options in your operating system. If you don't set them, you get the default order for that drive, which is what appears to have happened to this drive. The way the files list is displayed makes no difference from a storage point. The sorting and display only helps you find what you're looking for. The files are actually written to the disk so that access time is minimized. The actual files themselves may be fragmented to achieve this. You can change the way the list is sorted if you'd like.
Oct 8, 2015 10:33:21 #
jethro779 wrote:
I have been sorting my backup drives to get everything the same on all of them and get all the photos and on 2 of the externals by themselves and came upon a file handling question.
On one of my external drives that is photos only the file loading order is .xmp,.xml .mpg, .mov, .jpg, .nef. Then at the very end is backup.tly, catalog.buc, then the list of folders. Is this the way Lightroom does things?
On one of my external drives that is photos only the file loading order is .xmp,.xml .mpg, .mov, .jpg, .nef. Then at the very end is backup.tly, catalog.buc, then the list of folders. Is this the way Lightroom does things?
It would help to know whether or not you are using a PC or Mac
as they each have different methods of file handling and the external drives need to be formatted properly for each type of system.
Oct 8, 2015 13:55:05 #
Big Bill
Loc: Phoenix, AZ
zigipha wrote:
does the "file order only" drive, does it have any folders or is it a single folder with all the files?
order of backing up is dependent on how the sw is designed. most bu programs scan the files, make a list of what has to be backed up and then proceed. its sounds logical to do it alphabetically, but eh....who know.
order of backing up is dependent on how the sw is designed. most bu programs scan the files, make a list of what has to be backed up and then proceed. its sounds logical to do it alphabetically, but eh....who know.
As I was reading through this topic, I began to wonder the same thing.
Personally, I keep my pics in folders that have descriptive names, and sub-folders also have descriptive names.
By this, I mean a folder may be named something like, "Summer 2005 trip to New Mexico", with sub-folders named "Churches", "Railroad", and sub-folders under these with date, location, and time.
The pics themselves are then named in IrfanView (It does batch renaming very well). These pics are all straight out of the camera.
In these sub-folders, there is another sub-folder labeled "Fixed" that has those pics I have PPd.
So there are several 'copies" of pics, but few are really identical.
For copying between original and backup drives, I use SyncToy from microsoft for periodic backups, and Acronis TrueImage for the heavy lifting.
But that's just me.
Oct 8, 2015 19:09:25 #
zigipha wrote:
does the "file order only" drive, does it have any folders or is it a single folder with all the files?
order of backing up is dependent on how the sw is designed. most bu programs scan the files, make a list of what has to be backed up and then proceed. its sounds logical to do it alphabetically, but eh....who know.
order of backing up is dependent on how the sw is designed. most bu programs scan the files, make a list of what has to be backed up and then proceed. its sounds logical to do it alphabetically, but eh....who know.
It has individual files listed first. Then a file called backup.tly that is listed as a document containing 2.5mb. Then a a photo folder called Casa Grande Ruins. listed as a folder. I know this folder is a Nikon folder containing 66 .nef & .jpg files. Then there is a folder called catalog.buc listed as a document containing 43.3mb. Then a folder called Fort Bowie 1 which is a folder of edited files. Then Lightroom Catalog backup. Then 3 other folders. All the folders contain the original named files. I haven't gone thru the files with the Prefix to them to see if they are the same photos as are in the folders.
Oct 8, 2015 19:12:42 #
flyguy wrote:
It would help to know whether or not you are using a PC or Mac
as they each have different methods of file handling and the external drives need to be formatted properly for each type of system.
as they each have different methods of file handling and the external drives need to be formatted properly for each type of system.
I am using a mac & older pc as there are files on both computers being transferred to the drives. I am also using exfat formatting on all drives to be able to use both mac & pc till I get all the files consolidated.
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