Need advice RE: Lightroom import & export

quick background: I recently purchased a new PC and also just subscribed to Adobe CC. I've just finished transferring and backing up over 17,000 images and would like to create a better organizational system within LR.

What I'm curious to know is, will importing 17,000 images slow LR down in any way beyond just the first import?

Additionally, I've just added an external hard drive as well to back up all of my images and I'd like to know if, when exporting images, is there a way to send the image(s) to the second hard drive on my PC and also to the external drive at the same time? If not, what solution would you recommend?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Jonathan Brady said:

quick background: I recently purchased a new PC and also just subscribed to Adobe CC. I've just finished transferring and backing up over 17,000 images and would like to create a better organizational system within LR.

What I'm curious to know is, will importing 17,000 images slow LR down in any way beyond just the first import?

Click to expand...

No, that's the whole point of Lightroom, to allow you to organize and make use of your images. It doesn't slow down just because you import photos (except of course as the photos are being imported).

Jonathan Brady said:

Additionally, I've just added an external hard drive as well to back up all of my images and I'd like to know if, when exporting images, is there a way to send the image(s) to the second hard drive on my PC and also to the external drive at the same time? If not, what solution would you recommend?

Click to expand...

I'm trying to imagine a scenario where you need two copies of an export, on different drives, and I can't think of one. Perhaps you are misunderstanding the purpose of exporting photos. You export photos from Lightroom because you need a copy of the edited photo for non-Lightroom purposes, such as upload or e-mail or printing. You do not export to save your edits; you do not export to create backups. Your work is automatically saved in the Lightroom catalog file. To make backups, you need to make backups of the original photos and your catalog file, said backup copies must be on a different physical disk and the photos ought to be in the exact same folder hierarchy as the originals.

--
Paige Miller

dj_paige said:

Jonathan Brady said:

quick background: I recently purchased a new PC and also just subscribed to Adobe CC. I've just finished transferring and backing up over 17,000 images and would like to create a better organizational system within LR.

What I'm curious to know is, will importing 17,000 images slow LR down in any way beyond just the first import?

Click to expand...

No, that's the whole point of Lightroom, to allow you to organize and make use of your images. It doesn't slow down just because you import photos (except of course as the photos are being imported).

Click to expand...

Thank you!

dj_paige said:

dj_paige said:

Additionally, I've just added an external hard drive as well to back up all of my images and I'd like to know if, when exporting images, is there a way to send the image(s) to the second hard drive on my PC and also to the external drive at the same time? If not, what solution would you recommend?

Click to expand...

I'm trying to imagine a scenario where you need two copies of an export, on different drives, and I can't think of one.

Click to expand...

Honestly, I was just thinking that once processed, it's fairly unlikely that I'll go back and re-process an image so a backup jpg in the case of a hard drive failure is likely sufficient. However...

dj_paige said:

Perhaps you are misunderstanding the purpose of exporting photos. You export photos from Lightroom because you need a copy of the edited photo for non-Lightroom purposes, such as upload or e-mail or printing. You do not export to save your edits; you do not export to save your work or to create backups. Your work is automatically saved in the Lightroom catalog file. To make backups, you need to make backups of the original photos and your catalog file, said backup copies must be on a different physical disk and the photos ought to be in the exact same folder hierarchy as the originals.

Click to expand...

As cheap as memory is (and it's only going to get cheaper), I suppose it's no big deal for me to simply back up the raw files and the catalog file. Heck, the external drive I just bought is a USB3 3TB drive and only cost $80!

Might you be able to recommend a process (especially if automated) to do this (copy the original files and catalog file to the external drive)? I already have LR configured to backup the catalog each time I close LR, but that's being backed up to my 2TB drive in the PC only.

thanks again!

Jonathan Brady said:

dj_paige said:

Jonathan Brady said:

quick background: I recently purchased a new PC and also just subscribed to Adobe CC. I've just finished transferring and backing up over 17,000 images and would like to create a better organizational system within LR.

What I'm curious to know is, will importing 17,000 images slow LR down in any way beyond just the first import?

Click to expand...

No, that's the whole point of Lightroom, to allow you to organize and make use of your images. It doesn't slow down just because you import photos (except of course as the photos are being imported).

Click to expand...

Thank you!

Jonathan Brady said:

Jonathan Brady said:

Additionally, I've just added an external hard drive as well to back up all of my images and I'd like to know if, when exporting images, is there a way to send the image(s) to the second hard drive on my PC and also to the external drive at the same time? If not, what solution would you recommend?

Click to expand...

I'm trying to imagine a scenario where you need two copies of an export, on different drives, and I can't think of one.

Click to expand...

Honestly, I was just thinking that once processed, it's fairly unlikely that I'll go back and re-process an image so a backup jpg in the case of a hard drive failure is likely sufficient. However...

Click to expand...

In my opinion, I find this idea to be weak. Maybe now you think you will never go back and re-process an image; but I have, over the many years I have used digital photography, wound up going back and re-processing the photos. I find a photo of one of my kids from 8 years ago, and I think to myself, I can do a lot better editing than I see in this photo, and so I go back and re-process the photo. And I'm glad I did, I now have a superior version of the photo.

Jonathan Brady said:

Jonathan Brady said:

Perhaps you are misunderstanding the purpose of exporting photos. You export photos from Lightroom because you need a copy of the edited photo for non-Lightroom purposes, such as upload or e-mail or printing. You do not export to save your edits; you do not export to save your work or to create backups. Your work is automatically saved in the Lightroom catalog file. To make backups, you need to make backups of the original photos and your catalog file, said backup copies must be on a different physical disk and the photos ought to be in the exact same folder hierarchy as the originals.

Click to expand...

As cheap as memory

Click to expand...

disk space, not memory

Jonathan Brady said:

is (and it's only going to get cheaper), I suppose it's no big deal for me to simply back up the raw files and the catalog file. Heck, the external drive I just bought is a USB3 3TB drive and only cost $80!

Might you be able to recommend a process (especially if automated) to do this (copy the original files and catalog file to the external drive)? I already have LR configured to backup the catalog each time I close LR, but that's being backed up to my 2TB drive in the PC only.

Click to expand...

All backups MUST be on a different physical disk! MUST! Not optional! Why? If your "backup" is on the same disk as the original and that disk goes bad, now you ZERO copies of your work, and I'm guessing that you won't be happy with that.

There are many software that you can buy (some are freeware) that will make automated backups of your files (not just your photo files). I use WinZip Pro, but I'd bet there are dozens of other ones.

Jonathan Brady said:

Jonathan Brady said:

Might you be able to recommend a process (especially if automated) to do this (copy the original files and catalog file to the external drive)? I already have LR configured to backup the catalog each time I close LR, but that's being backed up to my 2TB drive in the PC only.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

If I were you I would buy a second external hard drive to back up your back up and store this third drive offsite (at a relative's house, in a safety deposit box, etc. so if your house burns down, you still have a back up). Assuming you do this, here is the strategy I use and suggest you consider:

When I download an image from my camera, I use Lightroom to copy the files to my main Lightroom drive (internal to my desktop) and make a second copy to an external drive. (Granted Lightroom's automatic image file backups are clumsy -- being cataloged only by the date -- but it is quick and dirty.) I make my edits, etc. in Lightroom/Photoshop and simply leave them on the drive they are on (the internal drive).

I use automatic back up software (Time Machine) to regularly back up all my computer's files to a dedicated Time Machine back up drive (well, actually I have two Time Machine backups running simultaneously -- really paranoid, I guess).

Every week when I close Lightroom I have the catalog backed up and saved on my first external (non-Time Machine) drive. (There is no sense in having the catalog backed up on the same drive as Lightroom since if that drive crashes, your Lightroom catalog files are lost along with the catalog back up. And remember, the Lightroom catalog back ups are only of the edits and changes to images plus some Lightroom files such as presets you make within Lightroom -- NONE of the original image files are backed up.)

Then every month or so, I get my offsite drive from storage and update it.

I lost many of my original digital images because I stored them on "50 year" CDs and DVDs. They were totally unreadable after 2-3 years.

Now I keep copies of all my images on an internal hard drive that is my image processing drive.

I have LR write all edits to XMP files so that losing the Master Catalog would not mean losing the edits.

When exiting LR I have LR make a backup of the catalog to a different internal hard drive.

I keep backup copies of all my images and the LR Master Catalog (as well as LR/ACR and Photoshop presets, actions, filters, extensions, etc.) on two external hard drives.

When I import new images I have LR automatically make a copy to one of my external backup hard drives. When I finish editing I make a copy to the second backup drive then update the first backup drive.

A better practice would be to keep one of my external hard drives in a secure fireproof location such as a bank safety deposit box and exchange the two external drives on a regular basis.

With the prices of SSDs and large Flash Drives falling rapidly there are new possible ways to backup images. SSDs and flash drives are limited more by write cycles than anything else and with proper storage should be able to sit on a shelf for 10 years without failing. Of course my experience with CDs and DVDs means that I wouldn't trust that.

When it comes to backing up your image you can do it manually or use backup software. Overwriting all images is not a good idea (which is why I don't use DNG) so you want to only add new images or overwrite changed files. Goodsync is one example of backup software that can do this.

Goodsync

Hi dude, I don't know the specific software for LR backup, but with some tricks, it's possible with a backup software. You can set two event-tirggered backup (LR folder backup, find your image folder, and choose backup this folder), one to PC, one to external hard drive. Then it shall work.