LR4: Exporting underlying RAW files?

Bennp2000

Bennp2000

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Name
Paul
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Hi
As part of my backup system I like to keep my 'Portfolio' in as many places as possible but I've recently realised that I'm only storing the output, processed JPEGs and often (as technology improves) I go back and re-tweak the odd thing.

It'd be good if I could export the underlying RAW file for each image as well as the processed output. Can anyone tell me how to do this in LR4 without having to dig through my file structure and match file names?

Thanks in advance,
Paul
 
I'm aware of that but I wish to end up with the processed Jpegs and underlying RAW files for my portfolio in a seperate, self contained folder.

My backup system isn't perfect and it's unlikely it will be but if I have the above I can at least ensure that my most important stuff is backed up fully/correctly (redundancy and off-site).
 
you cant export RAW from LR. next best thing would be DNG but you'll get all of the changes applied in LR and not the original i believe.

there is an "original" option on some versions, not sure whether this just lets you save the original file with/without changes?
 
I've got a NAS drive (1 Tb mirrored), two externals (mirrored) and an archive drive (not mirrored but unimportnat). I just don't have the ability to store it all off-site as well, an extra HDD doesn't change this.

I can however happily store my portfolio / 5 starred images off-site, which is what I intend to do. I'd just like the underlying RAW files so if the worst comes to the worst I've still got something to re-work an image from.

Thanks for your help.
 
neil_g said:
export as original - http://forums.adobe.com/message/4315750

however for the sake of £50-70 id go out and buy an external drive and copy all of your RAW to it along with a backup of the catalog. and do this regularly.
Click to expand...

N.B. the stuff about saving a copy of the XMP sidecar file with the RAW if you want to retain/recreate the edits you've made in Lightroom if/when you re-import them.

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/lightroom/using/WS638E3AC9-A04C-4445-A0D3-F7D8BA5CDE37.html
 
Not quite sure what you mean by underlying RAW?

Your original RAWs are wherever you uploaded them on your hard drives.

If you want your worked on RAWs, then just backup your catalog.
 
Mikesphotaes said:
Your original RAWs are wherever you uploaded them on your hard drives.
Click to expand...

Yes, I get this, but to find them for each photo I'm interested in will take a bit of searching and it'd be easy to mess things up with everything named IMG0000001.CR2 etc. I thought exporting a RAW file wouldn't be too much hassle (thus far DNG seems like a workable solution)

What I mean by the underlying or original RAW file is the RAW which was first imported, before it was passed to an external editor (for example, PS or ASE etc.) that is stacked with the JPEG(s) that is/are passed back to LR as a final image.

Doing this at import isn't possible as they're already imported and it wouldn't be selective.
Thanks for the infor re: XMP files. If I did manage to extract the RAWs these would be helpful.

I'll also clarify, the whole of my desktop PC (which includes my LR catalog) is backed up to the NAS, but not off-site. Currently I can't backup everything off-site so this is a solution that backs up my most important images in the best way currently possible to me.
 
neil_g said:
backing up the catalog (using the built in LR option) does not take a copy of the RAW files, only the database etc.
Click to expand...

It can do, it depends on the options that you specify.

You can export your entire library including RAW's, changes and catalogue onto another disk from the 'export' option.
 
Bennp2000 said:
...........

What I mean by the underlying or original RAW file is the RAW which was first imported, before it was passed to an external editor (for example, PS or ASE etc.) that is stacked with the JPEG(s) that is/are passed back to LR as a final image.
............quote]

quote]
Click to expand...

Well the problem is that Lightroom never imports the RAW in the first place (only information about that RAW ie. metadata, develop settings etc.), so there is no way you can export the RAW itself, only the info. about it.

That is why I suggested catalog backup so you can always continue working on that RAW.

I appreciate it will need work to find the originals though.

Perhaps you could setup a collection or a different catalog with just your portfolio ones in it, or maybe a portfolio folder, with copies of your original RAWs, on your PC and export the modded photos from LR to a subfolder?
 
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Mikesphotaes said:
Perhaps you could setup a collection or a different catalog with just your portfolio ones in it, or maybe a portfolio folder, with copies of your original RAWs, on your PC and export the modded photos from LR to a subfolder?
Click to expand...

Bennp2000 said:
I can however happily store my portfolio / 5 starred images off-site, which is what I intend to do. I'd just like the underlying RAW files so if the worst comes to the worst I've still got something to re-work an image from.
Click to expand...

Create a Smart Collection for photos with five stars (if that is your criterion for your portfolio images).

View attachment 4786

When you need to back up, choose Export this Collection as a Catalog

View attachment 4790

Check Export Negative Files in the Save dialog, which will save your RAW files and all of the edits and metadata (keywords, etc) as a snapshot at that point in time

Screen Shot 2014-01-28 at 09.19.52.png

Should you need to recover just re-import the Catalog from your backup

View attachment 4789

Job done :)

Edit: It's not going to be as efficient of disk space as a proper incremental backup, since you may be keeping multiple copies of the same RAW file, but it will do what you need it to.
 
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Bennp2000 said:
It doesn't do what I need, the photos are all already imported, it's a select few that I need to extract the RAWs + Outputs for.
Click to expand...


OK, I get it......

Or do I? Surely the RAW files are stored separately from Lightroom? Can't you just find them in your RAW file folder using Windows Explorer (or whatever), and copy them to wherever you need them??
 
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Windows Explorer doesn't know which files he likes best though. Lightroom does.
 
That way you'd have to find each file individually and copy it to the backup drive, then move on to find the next one. OK if you've only got a very few files, but tedious for more. Moreover, you lose all your and edits (unless you separately save them to an XML Sidecar file) and the metadata (keywords, title, caption, copyright, etc.) will still be missing from your backup.

The method I proposed does them all in one hit.
 
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Ok, well thanks very much to the above posters. That fixes my initial query and means my most-treasured photos are now at least properly backed up, including off-site.

However, this has got me thinking.
The offside backups are handeled in this way:

Google drive:
Desktop Computer Folder
Laptop Computer Folder

On the desktop PC I export my Portfolio smart collection (inc. negatives) to the desktop folder (not the actual desktop) and then I export the laptop portfolio smart collection to the laptop folder. These then sync off into the cloud and back down onto each other. Nice.

Is there a way I can point Lightroom for instance on the desktop to import the catalog from the laptop google drive folder without it actually importing the files into my pictures (under the year file structure)? This'd mean I could see my entire portfolio on either (which would be nice, but not essential).

Thanks again for all the help...
 
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