JeffinMass Loc: MA

After I post process and about to close Lightroom a box comes up asking if I want to backup what I have just done. How many people out there actually back up those images and why?

Just Fred Loc: Darwin's Waiting Room

You aren't backing up your images, you are backing up the Lightroom catalog. A well-advised safety measure, if you ask me. I do it every time I'm asked.

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

franksfun Loc: Bucks County PA

Agree!

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

It's asking if you want to back up your catalog file, which, as others have said, is not a bad thing to do. However, realize this does not back up your images. You have to have another backup regimen to accommodate that. And, since you're doing that, why not have it back up the catalog?

I never use the catalog backup function because the catalog gets backed up during my normal backups.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

You can adjust your settings for the frequency of the "back up" (more on that in a second). From the Library module, select Edit from the top menu and then Catalog Settings. On the General Tab, you can change between Weekly and Monthly as well as other options. If you work in LR daily, the weekly option is a good choice, otherwise Monthly might be better.

Now what happens during this "Back up"?

Here Adobe picked a really misleading word. As mentioned already, nothing about your image files is being performed during this back-up. Some maintenance tasks are performed on the catalog file that is the database LR is using to store the history of your edits and all the catalog information (virtual folders, collections, keywords, etc) you've added to your images. The actual result of "backup" is a copy of the LR catalog is made inside the same high-level folder structure as the active catalog.

What's the utility of this "back-up"?

Well, in some situations you can recover from a large quantity of mistakes such as deleting images from the catalog, that is deleting the database entries and recovering these entries. This recovery is completely separate from recovering the actual image files. Also important: what you can possibly recover is entirely dependent on whether what is "needed" even exists in the back-up file. This processing is complex and takes some thought about how to perform the recover action without making matters worse.

I've moved my LR installation between physically separate Windows systems (new computers). This adventure alerted me to several aspects of LR where critical portions of my customizations are not even being maintained inside the LR folder structure!! You have to make additional updates to the LR default settings to do so. If you create your own presents (such as Import, Develop or Export "customizations"), these are stored someplace else until you Edit your preferences and specify "Store Presets with this catalog" on the Presets tab. If the presets already exist, you then have to find them and copy them manually inside the catalog.

But once I have my critical LR files all stored inside my highlevel LR folder structure, I have something I can periodically manually copy over to an external harddrive for a back-up strategy. (I could use automated software too that monitors all files on my computer and can back-up my ongoing file updates as they occur...)

A final comment on the LR catalog back-up: it creates copies of the catalog, but never purges any of the back-up catalog files. There's no retention option to their "backup" process. As I write, I see my active LRCAT file is 1.15GB. Each back-up is the same size as the active LRCAT, whether copies are taken daily, weekly, or monthly. The files just keep accumulating with no parameter or menu drive option to purge the out-of-date files.... The files have to be manually deleted external to LR. Without a Thesaurus I struggle for a word more accurate than "backup" for the limited capability Adobe has developed and masquerades under the misnamed term "backup"...

sandiegosteve Loc: San Diego, CA

I recently helped a friend with migrating their lightroom to a new computer and they realized they had been using a backed up version of the catalogue. I think the catalogue, its name, its location and the backups can be a confusing topic.

Some tips I've heard and like:
- Name your catalogue something you'll remember.
- put your catalogue on a fast drive (it is a database and they like fast disks)
- Backup to another location (when you get the backup dialogue, you will see a location option)
- Include your presets with your catalogue (this is for future real backups, everything will be in the same place)
- Start lightroom by double clicking your catalogue (so you don't open the wrong one). Have lightroom remember the last catalogue you used.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

I back up the catalog every single week. Be a fool not to. I have hundreds, maybe thousands of hours of editing work wrapped up in that catalog.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Dan - I do too, let LR create a back up file, that is. See my comments above to confirm you're aware of all the issues around LR and the purpose and usefulness of that LR back-up feature. It should be only a portion of your comprehensive back-up strategy to all of your work.

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Correct. That said I do not do it every time as I often go to LR to say export a file or simply look something up. In those cases i do not save it, as you have made any changes. You also remember that you get a new copy of the catalog saved each time. It's the users responsibility to clean out old copies.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I always do that, but I also go in there occasionally and delete the old backups. They can accumulate.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

I agree I do it whenever I import the new images or make a lot of change to the older image. I keep the latest 5 B/U catalogs and delete the rest. I also have my image backed up

Papa j Loc: Cary NC

Back ups are highly recommended to recover your catalogue settings go to catalogue preferences on your LR drop down menu and set the frequency you want to back up I use once a week on exit good luck

J

johnsnap1947 Loc: New Fairfield, CT

Thinking of buying a new PC. On my old one, if i'm satisfied with all of my edits on all of my pics, can I just export (not copy) all of the pics to a back up external drive and not worry about catalogs? Wouldn't they then all contain any editing i've done? Then start fresh on the new PC?
John