Deleting backup copies of photos in lightroom classic

[andrewp18394691]

When I import my photos in LIghtroom Classic, I check the box so that  it also makes a copy to a second external disk.  However, when I want to delete the photo from my disk in Lightroom, it only deletes the file in the primary location and leaves the copies undeleted on my backup disk.  This is leaving a lot of photos on my backup location that I don't want.  Is there a way to enable Lightroom to delete both copies of the photo without having to use a file explorer to manually delete the second copy each time?

[DdeGannes]

I am not aware of any such option. I doubt that the location of those backups is recorded in the Catalog file.

[Per Berntsen]

Lightroom cannot do this, but if you create the backups with a backup/file synchronization program, like for instance ViceVersa , backed up files in the Target folder that don't exist in the Source folder can be automatically deleted when you synchronize.

[richardplondon]

In my opinion, the very purpose of this feature, is so that photos will remain unaffected in the backup location regardless what happens to their copy in the primary location, and for whatever reason.

This necessarily must include "protecting" us from our own intentional actions - because there's no reliable way to distiguish those events from unintended deletions (however caused).  Or, even from fully intended deletions... that we subsequently regret doing!

There is already a decision prompt when removing images from the Catalog, as to whether the file on disk is to be deleted also. This prompt may be circumvented though, plus malware may cause any action whatever to silently happen to your data - in which case an independently persisting and untouched backup copy of some kind, will be your only remaining backstop. The last thing we'd want on discovering some unwanted event had happened to our data, would be to discover that the exact same event had been carefully repeated onto our backup copy of the same data. 

Towards that, a best-practice, multiply redundant and discrete file backup routine "wins" over relying on this second copy made at import, of just the camera files. Because derived files such as Photoshop documents, HDR merges, and whatnot then receive the same protection too. As can your Catalog, support files such as profiles, presets of various kinds, etc. I suppose this extra import copy (being immediate), might cover the iniital time window before the imported files have got backed up in another way. If used for that purpose, these copies would be of short-term usefulness only, and could be periodically cleaned out on an "age" basis.

[thedigitaldog]

What Richard said. 

The basic idea behind this 'feature' is for those of us converting to DNG to allow the proprietary raws to be backed up too. Sure, you can do this otherwise as a backup, but those other images are not affected or treated by LR thereafter. This means as you edit your LR images, you want to back those up as you work using a sound backup schema. So no, what you are asking for isn't an option. Backup on import does this once and it's done.