Backing up Pictures

hnjngo

I cannot find a good backup process for my work flow. currently i am putting my pictures into a folder on my C:/ drive and sorted out by event and date. from here i copy them to my external and edit my pictures.

My problem is how i should manage my edited pictures and my backed up pictures. should i just put my finished pictures in a folder in the backed upped ones?

Please share your own work flow, and suggestions. if there is someway to use Lightroom and CS3 that would be useful aswell.

I am currently moving from:
CF card > C:/ + External > Light Room > Photoshop CS3

Thanks

hnjngo

oops sorry, can someone please move this into finishing school.
my apologies this thread doesn't belong here.

Richard

hnjngo wrote:

oops sorry, can someone please move this into finishing school.
my apologies this thread doesn't belong here.

Moved it for you.

The key to a robust backup strategy is to always have two copies of everything you value on separate media. I'll outline my workflow below, but it is important to keep in mind that I have an automatic nightly backup from my machine to an external drive, so I have a lot of flexibility about the timing in its steps.

Workflow:

Copy from CF cards to my computer.
Make a copy from my computer to an external drive. This is temporary storage and can be deleted after the nightly backup.
Rename and cull using Bridge
Use ACR for RAW conversions
Use CS3 for final processing
Import final Jpg and RAW files into home-brew photo database. The DB supports pics on both internal and external drives, and the bulk of them are external.
When the database archives on the machine are large enough to fill a DVD, burn a DVD then move them to the external drive archive.

So far, this scheme has survived the complete loss of an external drive. Tomorrow, I get to see how well it fares with the complete loss of the internal drive. Lucky me.

If I lost both the internal and external drives at once, I would still have DVDs of all but the most recent 4GB, maximum. In addition, I have high quality Jpgs of my best stuff on SmugMug. Since photography is my hobby, not my profession, this scheme is good enough for me. If I were a pro photographer, I would want something more robust.

pathfinder

When I import my RAW files into Lightroom2 from my compact flash card, Lightroom2 is set up to automatically copy the files to two separate folders on two separate hard drives.

One of these folders is on my main hard drive, which I then back up when I back up my main Mac hard drive to an third external drive.

After editing my images, the jpgs are also stored on smugmug, as well as an external hard drive. This is not necessary as the jpgs can be recreated from LR and the RAW files, but it might mean some screen time, so I just save them as well.

Maybe redundant, but I sleep well at night.

1 Terabyte drives are now widely available for $99. Buy several.....

The ability of LR to automatically copy the files to to separate folders on two different hard drives, simultaneously, when importing your files is great!! It means backing up is built in, automatic, always done no matter how hung over you are, how in a hurry you are, etc, etc, etc

hnjngo

ok thank you,

im going to begin synchronizing my C:/ drive and my external, and when i export from lightroom ill keep the finished products on my internal, external and DVD's.

Currently im using Ri-DATA DVD's has anyone had any problems with them?
what is a good program to use to syncorize my pictures from my C:/ drive and my External?

hnjngo

Another Question ive always had about Lightroom is do you make new catologs for different events such as birthdays, parties, weddings ect. or do you just make one big one for each year or just one period?

Thanks

cmason

Don't forget that if you use Lightroom you need to either backup the LR database or export with .xmp sidecar files to keep your edits with your images.

For the PC, I use Microsoft's free utility SyncToy, which keeps my photos disk and backup disk in sync. The beauty of this is I can simply swap my backup disk for the photo disk upon a failure, rather than using some backup software that stores in a proprietary format.

You may want to consider more than one backup, since fire or flood in the house will ruin both. Consider a second harddrive stored at a friends house, or a backup service like Jungle Disk or Mozy.

cmason

hnjngo wrote:

Another Question ive always had about Lightroom is do you make new catologs for different events such as birthdays, parties, weddings ect. or do you just make one big one for each year or just one period?

Thanks

I only have the one catalog, never found a reason to have more than one

pathfinder

I use one catalog for an entire year, but lots of pros use a separate catalog for each event, such as Smith's wedding, Jone's graduation portraits, etc.

Richard

hnjngo wrote:

ok thank you,

im going to begin synchronizing my C:/ drive and my external, and when i export from lightroom ill keep the finished products on my internal, external and DVD's.

Currently im using Ri-DATA DVD's has anyone had any problems with them?
what is a good program to use to syncorize my pictures from my C:/ drive and my External?

From the reference to the C: drive, I assume you are using Windows. I have been using SynchBackSE for backups. It is quite sophisticated, but also has sensible defaults that don't require a whole lot of fussing. It seemed to work fine, but I will be able to speak with more authority in a day or two when I attempt a complete data recovery.

hnjngo

ok thanks,

This has really helped me get on my feet and start to finally get a clue to what to do.

Im just trying Sync Toy right now, it seems like its what im looking for.

And a final question, what does ACR stand for? Richard mentioned it in the beginning. and how do you move from Lightroom 2 and Photoshop SC3 and while keeping the original RAW easily and sensibly put it back into Lightroom.

Thanks

pathfinder

ACR or ARC usually means Adobe Camera Raw converter

cmason

hnjngo wrote:

And a final question, what does ACR stand for? Richard mentioned it in the beginning. and how do you move from Lightroom 2 and Photoshop SC3 and while keeping the original RAW easily and sensibly put it back into Lightroom.

Thanks

Right click on any image in LR and choose "Edit in Photoshop". Photoshop will start, create a PSD from the image. When you exit, the PSD will then show in LR. You can edit this PSD like any other image, and export as a JPG as well.

hnjngo

cmason wrote:

Right click on any image in LR and choose "Edit in Photoshop". Photoshop will start, create a PSD from the image. When you exit, the PSD will then show in LR. You can edit this PSD like any other image, and export as a JPG as well.

Thanks but somehow my LR does not allow me to go to CS3 Extend from there, I see the option but it is grayed out. I dont know how to change this, is it in the menu?

Thanks sorry for the trouble

cmason

hnjngo wrote:

Thanks but somehow my LR does not allow me to go to CS3 Extend from there, I see the option but it is grayed out. I dont know how to change this, is it in the menu?

Thanks sorry for the trouble

Assume you are on a PC:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/401/kb401629.html

hnjngo

Brilliant! Fixing the registries did it.

Thank you everyone for your help

MaryBoo

NEVER use the C: drive to store your photos. If anything corrupts your operating systems you could be seriously messed up. Having lost 3 hard drives in the last 18 months we now put our primary, secondary and offsite storage all on external hard drives. We use Lightroom to manage the photos. We use Memeo Backup to makeContinuous backups of the photos and the Lightroom catalog to the secondary drive. Every two months we swap the secondary drive with the offsite storage drive in the safe deposit box at the bank.

hnjngo

MaryBoo wrote:

NEVER use the C: drive to store your photos. If anything corrupts your operating systems you could be seriously messed up. Having lost 3 hard drives in the last 18 months we now put our primary, secondary and offsite storage all on external hard drives. We use Lightroom to manage the photos. We use Memeo Backup to makeContinuous backups of the photos and the Lightroom catalog to the secondary drive. Every two months we swap the secondary drive with the offsite storage drive in the safe deposit box at the bank.

Thanks i actualy use my instead of my C:, i just thought it would be easier to understand if I said C: