Export Folder as Catalog

[Gutsy4]

I would like to created a second back-up of my calendar on an external drive.  If I export my "photos" folder from Lightroom, will it still be in Lightroom or will it have moved to the new drive.  Or is there a better way to create my second back-up?

[Gutsy4]

That should read "second back-up of my catalog".  I couldn't see how to edit my post.

[johnrellis · Accepted solution]

I think you're asking to back up to the external drive both the catalog database proper (the .lrcat file) as well as all the photos in the catalog.  (Common usage of the term "catalog" is ambiguous.)

An easy way to do that:  Do File > Export As Catalog, with the option Export Negative Files. This will create a new catalog folder containing a copy of the catalog file (.lrcat) and, inside that folder, a copy of the folder tree(s) containing all the photos referenced by the original catalog.  The exported catalog references those copied photos, not the orignals.  

Your original catalog file and the folder tree(s) and photos referenced by that catalog are left untouched.

[Gutsy4]

Thank you so much.  That's what I needed to know!

[GoldingD]

Just copy the backup, or copy the catalog to another drive.

[johnrellis]

"Just copy the backup, or copy the catalog to another drive."

That won't copy the photos to the external drive.

[GoldingD]

Ah, completly overlooked the obvious statement by the OP. My bad.

[dj_paige]

In my opinion, the only way to think about backups is that they should be regular and automated. A one-time backup using the methods discussed here can only be considered a temporary backup, which becomes out of date quickly, and thus it becomes less useful quickly.

Backups should be made on a regular schedule, and via some automated method, via third-party software that performs backups automatically. Why? Because backups that depend on people performing a task are less reliable — people forget, people get busy, people get lazy, and any of these increases the probability that your backups is out of date when you actually need a backup. Don't make backups via human activity; automate it.

Backups must (i.e. this is not optional) include the catalog file and the original images; and must (i.e. this is not optional) be stored on a different physical disk than the originals.

[Gutsy4]

Yes, that is why I wanted to have the catalog on the external drive. Now that it is there I can set up LR to make a second copy of my photos each time I close LR down. 

[dj_paige]

Yes, that is why I wanted to have the catalog on the external drive. Now that it is there I can set up LR to make a second copy of my photos each time I close LR down. 

By @Gutsy4

You have missed the point. Nothing said in this thread implies the working catalog has to be on the external drive. If the working catalog is on the external drive and your backups are on the external drive, you do not have a legitimate backup. You want your working catalog on one drive and the backups on a different drive (this is not optional). If you yourself have to make backups, then it is not automated, and thus not "best practices". Furthermore, LR does not and cannot "make a 2nd copy of your photos when you close LR down".

[Gutsy4]

And I also back up to Backblaze. I just had to restore an external drive and it wasn't fun!

[dj_paige]

And I also back up to Backblaze. I just had to restore an external drive and it wasn't fun!

By @Gutsy4

I never used Backblaze. Every other backup software I have ever used asks where you want the backups to go, then you click OK, and they all go there.

Also, please, when you describe some computer task as not "fun", we don't really know what you mean. If you perhaps need help with Backblaze, a more thorough description of what happened would be helpful and then respondents who use Backblaze might be able to inform you.

[JP Hess]

To the original poster, you are aware that the images are not in the catalog, right?

[Gutsy4]

Yes, I know that we see only previews in LR and that the originals are on a drive.