Lightroom backup issue (Catalog size is more than 4 gb) Help!

[Timmer420]

I was finally going to do a backup tonight of my LR, its 2015 though, its been a very long time, i had to upgrade my phone and computer 1st. I have been dealing with illness for a long time. Over the last several months to maybe a year or two, i have been dumping photos in LR here and there where my computer was located which wasn't where i was living becuz i lost wifi just so they could back up to an online system, which i no longer have either. Pics were getting downloaded from my phone & camera. I got a box tonight that said: (Catalog size is more than 4 gb) Your catalog size is bigger than 4 GB, please use a 3rd party utility such as 7-zip or StuffItExpander to extract your catalog backup. Ahhhhh! I dont know what to do now! I dont understand this stuff and need to be using the new LR. I was told to make a back up of the old one first and then start using the new one but i cant! Can anyone help? Thanks!

[Akash Sharma · Accepted solution]

Hi Timmer420,

Sorry that you're getting an error message "catalog size is more than 4 GB) while trying to backup Lightroom

This issue is an erroneous error for catalog back-ups smaller than 4GB. You can ignore this dialog, or use the workaround below if you don't want to see this error.

Thanks,

Akash

[Timmer420]

I was on chat with Adobe for something else a few nights ago, they ended up helping me and adding more issues at the same time which I havent got resolved yet.

Also another time i was chatting with them it was a nightmare as well and i ended up stopping the chat as i got frustrated as they were of no help, my computer was freezing up, they were changing shifts and i had to start all over again with what i had already done and explained.

The other night they were adamant about me backing up my LR asap, which i told them i would as soon as i got my other computer issues worked out/thru with apple.

I'm a bit confused with your response because they didn't mention any of this. They kept mentioning the 4 gb thing but i didn't know i was going to get that box with that message in it when i went to do the backup.

SO ARE YOU SAYING I CAN STILL DO A BACK UP REGARDLESS OF THAT MESSAGE or is it too risky? They said if something went wrong, I would lose everything and there would be nothing they could do.

Im not tech savvy and wouldn't even understand how to do the work around. I have over 60k raw files in LR.

I honestly dont even understand what the backup does or is becuz i have been told its not the pic its backing up but without it you wouldn't have the pics to work with.

Last time i did a full back up, i feel like it took months. I dont know if it was becuz of how much i had on here, the fact i have a slow internet speed or its my computer as its not new (iMac 21.5 inch mid 2011).

I can no longer do any more updates from here on out so i am stuck with sierra on my mac til technology won't allow me to work sierra and the current LR together. I cant afford anything new due to health issues an bills so this is all i have. These pics are my memories and very special to me.

I always said if i lost everything in a natural disaster event, that the only thing that would matter to me would be the pics/audios/vidoes i have, not only photography wise but family wise as well, those are special moments caught in time no one can get back.

Please let me know what to do, i havent had good lucky with adobe chat, if i speak to someone i need them to be knowledgable and i need to be able to understand them, im american and it can be very hard to work with someone who has a very thick accent i cant understand.

Thanks...

[ManiacJoe]

Data backups are a must, for both your catalog(s) and your master image files. The purpose of the backups is to allow you do restore the good data when the data on your hard drive is corrupted or the hard drive fails.

Lightroom will automatically backup your catalog on whatever schedule you pick. (I have mine set to "on every exit".) Your images files are not backed up by Lightroom; you need to do that your self using the OS tools, scripting, or third-party utilities.

One important step that Lightroom is not configured correctly for: your catalog and the catalog backups need to be on different drives. Otherwise a single drive failure will take both copies with it.

The 4 gig warning is related to the native ZIP file handling on Macs not being able to handle files bigger than 4 GB. If your backups are bigger than that, you will need a third-party ZIP utility to unzip the file. In the case of this erroneous warning, there was a version of Lightroom where a bug would cause the UI would display the warning when it was not necessary. You can ignore the warning or update to a newer version of LR if your OS supports it.

[Timmer420]

How do i know if my next back up is bigger than 4gb? Where does it show that and i dont understand anything about zip files. I dont understand what you mean by "One important step that Lightroom is not configured correctly for: your catalog and the catalog backups need to be on different drives. Otherwise a single drive failure will take both copies with it." Does this mean my cr2 files that are on my memory card that get imported into LR are one thing and the box that says backup when i exit LR is another? I dont understand. I had a friend set this all up for me years ago, then i started dealing with chronic illness. i dont understand anything about this mac or the logistics behind LR. He basically set it all up, the mac, the LR, the time machine, the external hard drive, showed me how to import raw files into LR, i taught myself how to edit and export them for the internet and thats about all i know. I lost wifi in 2016, had to move my computer to my dads, havent know what to do since but import photos from time to time. I still deal with chronic illness so my brain is fried and i cant sit here for long due to chronic pain and symptoms, who would be the best person to help me out with this, i need someone who understands macs and lr both, i have reached out to adobe chat and they havent been all that helpful. Thanks. Also sorry for the late reply, i didn't know you replied, i didn't get a notification.

[ManiacJoe]

How do i know if my next back up is bigger than 4gb? Where does it show that and i dont understand anything about zip files.

You can use Mac Finder to view the properties of the ZIP file. The size will be one of the properties.

I dont understand what you mean by "One important step that Lightroom is not configured correctly for: your catalog and the catalog backups need to be on different drives. Otherwise a single drive failure will take both copies with it." Does this mean my cr2 files that are on my memory card that get imported into LR are one thing and the box that says backup when i exit LR is another? I dont understand.

Your CR2 files are separate from your LR catalog. The CR2 files need to be backed up to a separate drive using TimeMachine or some other backup process.

As the LR window shows you, LR will create a backup of your catalog on whatever schedule you have set. By default, the location of the backups is a subfolder of the folder that the catalog is in. This is a bad location. You should use a folder located on a separate hard drive.

[Timmer420]

I dont understand how to use mac finder to view properties of a zip file or where they would be.

Also, the old friend i dont talk to anymore set my mac up in a way where all my cr2 files, i think, are being pulled into the external drive by time machine, i dont have the space on my computer for over 60k cr2 files, the only way i even know how to get raw files into my computer is to go into lr, go to import, insert my memory card, select the photos and click import.