Lightroom Classic Catalog Backup

[Reini]

Hi!

There was a setting in Lightroom Classic that the catalog automatically creates a backup on a second storage location. I don't think so anymore - where is this attitude?

Thank you for your help!

Reini

[Rob_Cullen · Accepted solution]

"Automatically" when you close/exit Lightroom-

Go to  MENU: Edit > Catalog Settings...   [CTRL+ ALT + , ]

Set the Option from the Drop-down menu-

Now, when you Exit Lr-Classic you can change the backup storage location by [Choose]

[Reini]

Hi!
Thank you so much! That was it - I have to change the 2nd path here!

Another additional question:
Does each backup contain the complete catalog so that the old folders that LR created during the backup could be deleted?
Thank you for your help!

best regards
Reini

[ManiacJoe · Accepted solution]

Yes, each backup is the complete catalog.

You can delete the old backups, maybe keep the last five just in case.

Note: the catalog backups do NOT contain the image files. You need to backup those outside of Lightroom.

[Reini]

Hi!
Thank you for your help. I have one more question - I looked at the Lightroom catalog folder. It's pretty confusing. What can I delete? Thank you! See the screenshot!
best regards
Reini

[ManiacJoe]

As a general rule, you normally want to delete nothing from the catalog folder.

In this case you seem to have some old catalogs (*.LrCat) from old versions of Lightroom (due to the "-2" names). Given the old dates, you could probably delete those after confirming the contents.

You don't show any backups, normally in the "backup" folder. Ideally the backups should be on a separate drive anyway.