Backing up my Lightroom Library

I back up my entire hard drive to a Time Capsule using Time Machine

When I start Lightroom I am prompted to create a back-up of my Library. Is there anything different/unique about the back-ups created within Lightroom or is this an uneccessary duplication?

Thanks

the 'library' is actually a database (sqlite to be exact).

It's not uncommon for databases to be in an unstable state when backups are started. Well, at least 'real' databases (sqlite is a pretty simple file based type of db), you have to snapshot or flush them to put them in a stable state so you can do a backup.

So, it becomes a question as to how Adobe does things and if the db is stable at any given moment. Obviously, they think that a backup at LR launch is optimal (before anything happens) from a data integrity point of view.

I do both backups and delete older versions of the LR backup. Really, you can't have too many backups (on separate disks).

I back up my Lightroom catalog whenever LR starts up but given issues with Lightroom and time machine. I refrain from using that to backup my images.

Instead I use Carbon Copy Cloner to backup my entire drive onto two external drives.

The first one is just a normal external drive, but the second one is a mobile hard drive that I take offsite, so if anythign happens to my computer/equipment at home, my images and data are safe.

Thanks. 'Issues with Lightroom and Time Machine'. Sounds worrying. So far I've only ever used Time Machine to restore deleted files rather than to recover my Library (to try to keep things manageable I am quite hard about whether a photo is good enough to keep, and occassionally people ask me for ones that I've deleted). Are you suggesting that if my Library becomes corrupted I might not be able to rely on the Time Machine back-up and that this is sufficiently frequently reported for it to be 'an issue'?

Thanks

stowei said:

Are you suggesting that if my Library becomes corrupted I might not be able to rely on the Time Machine back-up and that this is sufficiently frequently reported for it to be 'an issue'?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Hi there-

That is correct. I am anal about preserving photographs, but then part of my livelihood depends on it. It's not just a matter of corruption, it's about HD failure.

I use Time Machine as well, but I have Lightroom's default backing up to an external HD so that if the computer ever failed, or the Time Machine drive (also separate but in the computer) failed, I would still have the photos. To be further sure, I also copy the entire Lightroom library onto a third external HD every once in a while (defined as - when the work that would be lost would get me excited if I lost it...) and keep that portable HD off site. A very good friend lost his house in a fire last year, and all his photos went with it - family memories lost and destroyed, but that taught me a lesson, as it would have been a large chunk of my business as well.
Hope that helps,
Bill

--
http://www.billcurry.ca

in LR, there is the 'library' and the 'catalog'. the library is nothing more than directory structure where you decided to stash all your images. there is nothing particularly special about it from an operating system point of view and you can back that up as you wish w/o concern.

the catalog in LR is the center of the action and if you lose that, you lose your edits, keywords etc etc. So, losing the catalog is a BIG PITA but probably not fatal, just a lot

of work to get back. If you lose the library, you're toast since those are the images.

the LR 'backup' command only backs up the catalog and the image preview database (not sure about that last one nor is it a big deal)

Which points up the neccessity to also back up your "Catalog" which contains all you adjustments, metadata, etc. Why Adobe can't figure out a way to do all this automatically and let you put it on a timed automatic update is the question. Maybe in LR 3.
--
Only my opinion. It's worth what you paid for it. Your mileage may vary! ;-}

http://www.dougwigton.com/

Alpha Doug said:

Which points up the neccessity to also back up your "Catalog" which contains all you adjustments, metadata, etc. Why Adobe can't figure out a way to do all this automatically and let you put it on a timed automatic update is the question.

Click to expand...

What LR does currently is a timed automatic backup (you just have to hit enter once or to mouse your mouse to prevent the automatic backup).

What you want is a backup that runs in the background. Sure, this would be preferable but the current solution just slows down the startup down a bit (once a week or whatever interval is used).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing Lightroom. But all software needs to be improved as we go along. People opine constantly that Aperture should support outside 3rd party raw convertors (Lightroom doesn't, but nobody comments), they opine that the RAW adjustment controls in Aperture are not as complete as the ones in Lightroom. But it seems like nobody wants to admit that Aperture just beats the pants off Lightroom for real asset management and backup strategies. Just hoping for improvement in one area that LR is weak in.
--
Only my opinion. It's worth what you paid for it. Your mileage may vary! ;-}

http://www.dougwigton.com/

Thanks. Presently I am backing up my entire hard drive to an external drive using Time Machine, so I am backing up both the Library (ie the actual photo files and directory structure) and the Catalogue (the LR edits and annotations) if I have got the nomenclature round the right way.

I could improve on that by keeping more copies in different locations of course.

But in your earlier post you suggested that there are issues specifically with Lightroom and Time Machine (which I use to create the back-ups on the external drive). I've done a quick integrity test and I can go back OK at the moment. But are there specific issues, and are these resolved by running a back-up from within Lightroom rather than through Time Machine?

Thanks