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doublezd
Participating Frequently
October 30, 2019
Answered

Occasional backup of edited photos in Lightroom Catalog to the cloud for safekeeping (Mac)

  • October 30, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 497 views

I'd like to make a weekly backup on the cloud of my edited photos/my Lightroom catalog. I don't mean the "backup every tme you exit"-- but a saved copy in case my computer dies. I save my photos to an online storage system, but want to use the cloud for the catalog. I have a Mac, Is this a good idea? How can I do it? Thank you.

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Correct answer JohanElzenga

You can already do that right now. In the dialog of the catalog backup, change the location of that backup to the Creative Cloud Files folder, in your Home folder. Then those catalog backups will be synced to the Adobe servers. Of course you can do the same thing with any other online service, such as Dropbox.

4 replies

JohanElzenga
Community Expert
JohanElzengaCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
October 30, 2019

You can already do that right now. In the dialog of the catalog backup, change the location of that backup to the Creative Cloud Files folder, in your Home folder. Then those catalog backups will be synced to the Adobe servers. Of course you can do the same thing with any other online service, such as Dropbox.

-- Johan W. Elzenga
    D
    doublezdAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    October 30, 2019

    Thank you-- I will try to backup to the icloud. Much appreciated 

    D
    doublezdAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    October 30, 2019

    Hello-- and thank you for your reply.

    I do backup my desktop iMac and assorted external hard drives to Crash Plan which works for me....

    But my idea of a from time to time back up of my edited Lightroom catalog to the cloud, is for my Macbook which I use when travelling.

    It's a different catalog than on my desktop Mac.

    Essentially, when travelling, I use the LR catalog on the Macbook to cull and edit, and then I export the best that I want to keep to an external hard drive.  

    When I return home, I bring the new photos over to my iMac desktop and my "permenant" LR catalog.

    Using the laptop is a "working" catalog and the desktop is my full and permenant catalog serves me well as I travel a lot-- but the problem remains --how to backup the laptop catalog -- but not on a paid service (CrashPlan or BackBlaze, etc.)...

    Does that make sense? 

    josephlavine
    Community Expert
    josephlavineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 30, 2019

    You are smart to know you should have a backup in case your hard drive crashed.  I've found Backblaze to work well for my needs, but there are a handful of similar options available.

    https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyaSimc3E5QIVVh-tBh3JDAYJEAAYASAAEgKhr_D_BwE#1056

      TheDigitalDog
      TheDigitalDog
      Inspiring
      October 30, 2019

      Yes, it's a good idea to have 'off site' backup's of data you can't afford to lose. I use CrashPlan for this but there are other options. ALL my photo's, my LR catalog and presets, everything but previews (that can be regenerated) are uploaded daily to the 'cloud'. You can also look into DropBox but it's a bit more cumbersome to configure. 

      Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
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