Prepping for disaster - lightroom backups + ssd storage.

413x · 17 May 2016 at 23:09

Im at the point where I want a more robust backup than just copies of my cr2 files

If I'm right I need to backup my cr2 files and my catalog (the instructions lightroom applies for post processing?)

Im hoping this is easy. I suspect it is. But I do not want to find out I haven't done it right!

I want to back up to my server
And to a external hdd I will keep at work (off site backup) that I will bring every now and then
I'm guessing I shouldn't simply copy my folder structure in Windows Explorer?

So how do I backup both the cr2 and catalog properly so I can simply reload if the worst happens?

Aside..
I keep all my cr2s on ssd as I don't take a stupid amount of pics. It's there a benefit to this? I'm not sure how lightroom works at the fundamental level

One more question.
I have 1:1 previews and the other type of preview active.
I understand this takes a lot of space.
Is this necessary?

Raymond Lin · 17 May 2016 at 23:37

Convert the old files into DNG and back up those, they are self contained files with processing steps built in.

413x · 17 May 2016 at 23:39

Raymond Lin said:
Convert the old files into DNG and back up those, they are self contained files with processing steps built in.

Ah I already have them as dng (I think) so the file itself contains the instructions for lightroom?
So I can just back these up manually to anywhere I need?

Raymond Lin · 17 May 2016 at 23:43

413x said:
Ah I already have them as dng (I think) so the file itself contains the instructions for lightroom?
So I can just back these up manually to anywhere I need?

You can test it, make a copy of the DNG into another location, then import that photo into LR and see.

413x · 18 May 2016 at 00:14

Raymond Lin said:
You can test it, make a copy of the DNG into another location, then import that photo into LR and see.

Doesn't seem to be working
I got a cr2
Converted it to dng
Made a simple 1 stop exposure increase
Exited lr
Moved dng to desktop
Imported dng

No edits present

413x · 18 May 2016 at 00:26

I found the setting and turned it on to write to xmp (which with dng it writes I to the DNG)
Is it possible to apply this to all past photos? Ie every photo in my catalog.. Can I force lightroom to write everything to them?

Raymond Lin · 18 May 2016 at 00:32

Process what you want first in CR2 then convert to DNG.

It will retain the processing, not the steps though. I just checked.

413x · 18 May 2016 at 01:06

Raymond Lin said:
Process what you want first in CR2 then convert to DNG.

It will retain the processing, not the steps though. I just checked.

What u have been doing all along was converting to dng on import (ie from memory card)
Making edits (without writing to dng option)
Done

I've now turned this on

But what I found was I couldn't just exit LR and move the DNG from Explorer to somewhere else and reimport
The file didn't have have the Metadata written in!

What I had to do was 'export' from within lightroom to dng.

I also lost the "steps" which I was hoping to keep

I then clicked reset and it did go back to the unedited

Is this correct? It's not too bad, I guess I just have to "export" to my HDD when doing the backup?
Or should I not need to use the export function?