How can i save my files/edits in two different locations to have two backups

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
August 15, 2019
3 replies
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Basically the same as written in the topic. I would like to know how i can have my files/edits saved in two different locations. What i mean by that is currently i have all my photos synced to Lightroom Classic on a portable hard drive but what i would like to do is have them also on something like dropbox or another hard drive incase the first hard drive gets stolen or fails on me. Is it possible for Lightroom to do this in the settings? or do i have save my files in both locations, do my edits as per normal and if it fails or gets stolen i redirect the location to my other drive with the files saved? The only thing is will this keep all my edits? And if si what is the safest way to do it.

Thanks in advance for any help in regards to this!

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Just Shoot Me

Legend

beno8747930 wrote
Basically the same as written in the topic. I would like to know how i can have my files/edits saved in two different locations. What i mean by that is currently i have all my photos synced to Lightroom Classic on a portable hard drive but what i would like to do is have them also on something like dropbox or another hard drive incase the first hard drive gets stolen or fails on me. Is it possible for Lightroom to do this in the settings? or do i have save my files in both locations, do my edits as per normal and if it fails or gets stolen i redirect the location to my other drive with the files saved? The only thing is will this keep all my edits? And if si what is the safest way to do it.
Thanks in advance for any help in regards to this!

No it is not.

LR only backs up its catalog file. There are no images in the catalog file. It only contains a reference to where the images are stored and the edits made to each image. Sure backing up the catalog, which is done by default once a week but can be changed to do it everyday or every time you exit LR, saves the edits BUT (and THIS IS A BIG BUT) again by default the backups are stored in a subfolder, called backups, in the same folder the catalog is stored in. This is a VERY BAD idea. You should move the backup location off the same drive the catalog is store on. As it stands now, with the backups in a subfolder of the catalog file on the same drive, if that drive fails you lose all the backup along with the working catalog file.

As for backing up your images you need to do that manually or use a backup program of some type and Copy the images to some other, second, drive. Along with that turn on the option to Auto Write Changes to XMP, it is in the Catalog Settings, so a sidecar file will be created in the folder the images are in that has the edits done to the images. When backing up your images copy the XMP files over to that second drive.

D

dj_paige

Legend

All of the advice above is good, but I would strongly recommend some software that can automatically make backups of your photos on a regular interval (weekly, daily, whatever works for you). Manually making backups works, but suffers from the drawback that the human being who has to perform the manual backups isn't perfect, and can forget, or be too busy, to make backups. So I would strongly recommend having an automated program do this, and I strong recommend that you AVOID manual backups.

beno8747930Author

Participating Frequently

Ok, thanks for all the answers, so if i change the settings to Auto Write Changes to XMP will it change exisiting files?

If i do this, i should copy the original file and XMP File over to the second backup after finishing editing? But i still need to save the catalog file to the second backup too? Also i need to change where the original backup is sent to a different location out of the catalog folder. Just clarifying also that the catalog file is where all the edit information is kept? Lastly what happens when you have to use the second backup? how do you reload your photos into Lightroom so all the edits are kept?

I'm nearly there, thanks for all the patience and advice so far.

beno8747930Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks for the quick response mate. Probably asking an amateur question here but i take it the catalog is where all the edits are stored? So recap for me is -

Save original photos on HDD as per normal

Copy original photos to Dropbox

Create folder for Lightroom catalog in Dropbox

When finished editing backup catalog to Dropbox

When exiting Lightroom, backup catalog to HDD as per normal

So if either one HDD or Dropbox/HDD2 gets lost or stolen how do i reload the catalog/edits and photos to Lightroom? Is it a simple redirect on Lightroom?

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

beno8747930 wrote
Thanks for the quick response mate. Probably asking an amateur question here but i take it the catalog is where all the edits are stored? So recap for me is -
Save original photos on HDD as per normal
Copy original photos to Dropbox
Create folder for Lightroom catalog in Dropbox
When finished editing backup catalog to Dropbox
When exiting Lightroom, backup catalog to HDD as per normal
So if either one HDD or Dropbox/HDD2 gets lost or stolen how do i reload the catalog/edits and photos to Lightroom? Is it a simple redirect on Lightroom?

I would not place your original catalog folder in Dropbox unless you want to sync it between two computers. The reason is that the Lightroom catalog folder does not only contain the catalog file, but also the previews. The previews package can get quite large, and previews can be rebuilt by Lightroom if needed, so there is little reason to back them up in Dropbox. So I repeat my earlier advice: keep your catalog folder where it is now, and let Lightroom save the catalog backup in a folder in Dropbox.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

JP Hess

Inspiring

Ok, cool but what i do right now is save everything on a portable HDD. What i'm saying is, if that gets stolen. How do i copy my backup from either a different portable HDD or from cloud storage option into a location that no longer exists because it is stolen? This is the last thing i need a clear answer on, then i'm all good, cheers

You would obviously have to replace the stolen HDD. You would copy the backup onto the new HDD, and if that drive has the same name as the old one everything should function as it did before. If that new drive as a new name then you will have to go through the process of finding missing folders or updating the folder locations. In that case it's simply a process of showing Lightroom where the images are now located.

Alternatively, the backup HDD could become the new working drive, and you could get a new one to use as your backup.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

There is nothing Lightroom needs to do. What you need to do to backup the originals is store them in your Dropbox folder. And if you want to store a Lightroom catalog backup in Dropbox, then in the catalog backup dialog click 'Choose' and select a folder in your Dropbox folder.