backing up light rooms photos to an external hard drive

You don't need to do this from within lightroom. Lightroom only has a "Catalogue" file that lists your RAW files etc.

Just find the folder that contains your RAW files, and copy it to another hard drive in Windows, or Mac OS or whatever you use. Lightroom doesn't really need to play a role in this.

If you want to back up everything, your catalogue, RAWs and settings, then use Export as Catalogue if it's available in LR3... I can't remember.

Select every single image in your collection, then go to file/export as catalogue

oWmRe.jpg


then select all three options before saving.

GLm8Q.jpg


Your external hard drive should be listed in the available devices. Select the destination, then everything that was selected, will be exported to the new location, along with all settings and a new catalogue.

This will export everything as a new catalogue, settings, and copies of the RAW files all in one folder.
 
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neil_g said:
There are loads of tools such as synctoy, robocopy, allway sync etc that can make scheduled or realtime copies of your files.
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Hi Neil, The problem i have is my images are stored on external drives and i need to back them up as i had a drive fail last month and for the time being i cannot access them. So with the new one i have been saving to ever since, i want to make sure it dosn't happen again.

Those that you mention and the route david has mentioned will this allow me to save them with the adjusted copies too?


I have just tried to export to another external drive but it does not give show an external drives at all. The only options it gives is to save to my desktop or other folders on c drive!


regards john
 
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I backup my (raw) pictures using MS synctoy which just copies them to somewhere i choose. Advantage over simple copy and paste is that is has more options and can continue when interrupted and do future updates.

In lightroom (as explained above) you make edits and lightroom saves a list of those edits not actual files. So to backup those edits you backup the lightroom catalogue.

The edited versions can be exported as jpegs etc for easy viewing and backing those up is optional if you have the raws and catalogue backed up. You can direct those exports at any drive your system can see. You need to scroll down the list of available places to 'computer' and expand that to find external drives in the export dialog.
 
RobertP said:
I backup my (raw) pictures using MS synctoy which just copies them to somewhere i choose. Advantage over simple copy and paste is that is has more options and can continue when interrupted and do future updates.

In lightroom (as explained above) you make edits and lightroom saves a list of those edits not actual files. So to backup those edits you backup the lightroom catalogue.

The edited versions can be exported as jpegs etc for easy viewing and backing those up is optional if you have the raws and catalogue backed up. You can direct those exports at any drive your system can see. You need to scroll down the list of available places to 'computer' and expand that to find external drives in the export dialog.
Click to expand...

This to me seems simplest, plus LR4 offers to back up the catalogue every so often. I think default is for it to go in My Documents (on Windows), so if your backup software puts that to your external drive you're sorted
 
Pookeyhead said:
You don't need to do this from within lightroom. Lightroom only has a "Catalogue" file that lists your RAW files etc.

Just find the folder that contains your RAW files, and copy it to another hard drive in Windows, or Mac OS or whatever you use. Lightroom doesn't really need to play a role in this.

If you want to back up everything, your catalogue, RAWs and settings, then use Export as Catalogue if it's available in LR3... I can't remember.

Select every single image in your collection, then go to file/export as catalogue

oWmRe.jpg


then select all three options before saving.


GLm8Q.jpg


Your external hard drive should be listed in the available devices. Select the destination, then everything that was selected, will be exported to the new location, along with all settings and a new catalogue.

This will export everything as a new catalogue, settings, and copies of the RAW files all in one folder.
Click to expand...


I just did as you said but i selected the whole of 2012 folder. Not only has it copied the raw files and the edited versions i also have a seperate folder below these called "back upsPreviews.lrdata". Now i can understand that the lr must stand for light room but what exactly are these files and what do they do?

Thanks

john
 
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OK, similar question. When I import pictures from say, for example, a wedding, they are imported to one ext hard drive that is the 'working' drive, I also ask LR [4.2] to make a second copy to a 2nd external drive [this one eventually ends up off site], all into individual folders within the wedding catalogue - then an online back up is also done separately.

Now then, thanks to an errant cat, the 2nd drive is broken - not in itself an issue, everything is on the working drives and the online back up, BUT, is there a way of using lightroom to recreate that 'make 2nd copy to' feature using the original file system - so in other words, making an exact replica of the broken drive via my lightroom catalogues?

If I am reading correctly, the method pookeyhead describes above just exports every photograph in an entire catalogue, into a single folder as a new catalogue? Yes?
 
Yv said:
OK, similar question. When I import pictures from say, for example, a wedding, they are imported to one ext hard drive that is the 'working' drive, I also ask LR [4.2] to make a second copy to a 2nd external drive [this one eventually ends up off site], all into individual folders within the wedding catalogue - then an online back up is also done separately.

Now then, thanks to an errant cat, the 2nd drive is broken - not in itself an issue, everything is on the working drives and the online back up, BUT, is there a way of using lightroom to recreate that 'make 2nd copy to' feature using the original file system - so in other words, making an exact replica of the broken drive via my lightroom catalogues?

If I am reading correctly, the method pookeyhead describes above just exports every photograph in an entire catalogue, into a single folder as a new catalogue? Yes?
Click to expand...

Think you are stuffed there,Yv, the only way I can see would be to backup your catalog by changing your preferences.

ie. change save to "next time LR exits" then browse for a drive to save it to.
 
RobertP said:
I backup my (raw) pictures using MS synctoy which just copies them to somewhere i choose. Advantage over simple copy and paste is that is has more options and can continue when interrupted and do future updates.

In lightroom (as explained above) you make edits and lightroom saves a list of those edits not actual files. So to backup those edits you backup the lightroom catalogue.

The edited versions can be exported as jpegs etc for easy viewing and backing those up is optional if you have the raws and catalogue backed up. You can direct those exports at any drive your system can see. You need to scroll down the list of available places to 'computer' and expand that to find external drives in the export dialog.
Click to expand...

Yep, almost exactly what I do, only mines are mainly (jpeg);) and I save a copy of my modded jpegs too.
 
Mikesphotaes said:
Think you are stuffed there,Yv, the only way I can see would be to backup your catalog by changing your preferences.

ie. change save to "next time LR exits" then browse for a drive to save it to.
Click to expand...

that was my feeling :( I am not sure backin gthe catalogue up to a new location would make any difference as the size of the back up files indicate that all that is being recorded is the actual indexing, file & folder names, etc, not the actual pictures themselves.

Oh well, I guess it will have to be manual, at least it shouldn't be too painful, external drives are far more organised than they used to be so can 'batch' everything over and just leave it doing the transfer in the background.
 
Yv said:
that was my feeling :( I am not sure backin gthe catalogue up to a new location would make any difference as the size of the back up files indicate that all that is being recorded is the actual indexing, file & folder names, etc, not the actual pictures themselves.

Oh well, I guess it will have to be manual, at least it shouldn't be too painful, external drives are far more organised than they used to be so can 'batch' everything over and just leave it doing the transfer in the background.
Click to expand...

No, it certainly won't backup the photos themselves, just the Lightroom stuff.

Just use Synctoy (or similar) to backup the actual photos.
 
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