Lightroom backup

SloYerRoll

Hopefully this is a simple question, but I want to make sure I'm covering all my bases here.

I have finally imported my entire collection into Lr and I now want to back up both the actual images and the Lr catalogs, xmp data (and whatever other relevant stuff)

So here's the setup. I have everything sitting on one internal drive (about 200GB worth). I have one external drive that I'd like to connect only when I'm running backups. I'm going to keep this drive in my safe unti I get what I really want (a drobo drive!).

So in the meantime.. What is the best way to backup this data from the drive it sits on now so it includes all Lr adjustments, keywords, etc.. Basically a mirror image of what I have going on now. So if this drive goes POOF! I can just load the data from the other drive and all is well w/ the universe..

I understand all the downfalls of this setup. And I feel I'm pretty well versed in regards to backup options. At this point though, this is my only option.

Any and all thoughts and suggections are appreciated.

-Jon

greenpea

I don't know if I've figured out a way that's much better (other than to do online back ups with something like Amazon S3).

dgrinjackson

SloYerRoll wrote:

Hopefully this is a simple question, but I want to make sure I'm covering all my bases here.

I have finally imported my entire collection into Lr and I now want to back up both the actual images and the Lr catalogs, xmp data (and whatever other relevant stuff)

So here's the setup. I have everything sitting on one internal drive (about 200GB worth). I have one external drive that I'd like to connect only when I'm running backups. I'm going to keep this drive in my safe unti I get what I really want (a drobo drive!).

So in the meantime.. What is the best way to backup this data from the drive it sits on now so it includes all Lr adjustments, keywords, etc.. Basically a mirror image of what I have going on now. So if this drive goes POOF! I can just load the data from the other drive and all is well w/ the universe..

I understand all the downfalls of this setup. And I feel I'm pretty well versed in regards to backup options. At this point though, this is my only option.

Any and all thoughts and suggections are appreciated.

-Jon

Hi Jon,

I'm doing essentially the same thing. The only difference is I have one USB drive that I backup all my main drive data to. That provides some redundancy, but I was concerned about theft, fire, spilled coffee.

I added an online service called Mozy www.mozy.com and have it backup any changes to my USB drive every 30 minutes or so. I think it ran me about $80/yr and it's unlimited bandwidth and storage. The only downside was that the initial upload took about 2 weeks for 150gigs. After that it is very fast. I think it's limited by your connection upload speeds.

Ken Lapp

SloYerRoll wrote:

So in the meantime.. What is the best way to backup this data from the drive it sits on now so it includes all Lr adjustments, keywords, etc.. Basically a mirror image of what I have going on now. So if this drive goes POOF! I can just load the data from the other drive and all is well w/ the universe..

Hi Jon,
If you want to backup the actual original photo's with all LR adjustments, keywords, etc, you need to use the Export Catalog from the File menu. Choose whatever drive/location you want for the backup location. To test the exported catalog after it's finished, choose Open Catalog from the file menu and browse to the backup location and the open the file that ends in '.lrcat'.

I backup my catalog to another local drive in my computer and also to a USB drive which I take off-site.

wellman

If you want a true mirror, look into Mozy. Mozy makes a complete online mirror of the files/directories you specify. The pricing is hard to beat - $4.95/mo for unlimited data. They just got acquired by EMC, and GE is a deep-pocket customer, so they're for real.

I've been a customer for 3 months now, and I have 220 GB backed up. The initial backup took 10 weeks, but it just happens while you live your life. Great stuff.

greenpea

wellman wrote:

If you want a true mirror, look into Mozy. Mozy makes a complete online mirror of the files/directories you specify. The pricing is hard to beat - $4.95/mo for unlimited data. They just got acquired by EMC, and GE is a deep-pocket customer, so they're for real.

I've been a customer for 3 months now, and I have 220 GB backed up. The initial backup took 10 weeks, but it just happens while you live your life. Great stuff.

I was I was checking them out. I really like the idea of unlimited backup space for just $4.95. However, there were only two things that bugged me about them.

1. only beta support for macs

2. On their support page they say...

For a typical system on a typical broadband line, Mozy backs up data at about 2-4 GB per day. But if left undisturbed on a fast connection, you can back up over 9 GB in a single day.

I assume it took you quite a while to back up 220 GB.

wellman

greenpea wrote:

I was I was checking them out. I really like the idea of unlimited backup space for just $4.95. However, there were only two things that bugged me about them.

1. only beta support for macs

2. On their support page they say...
I assume it took you quite a while to back up 220 GB.

Yes, the initial backup was pretty lengthy - 10 weeks, I think. My ISP was probably wondering who this goofball was with 100% upload for 1680 straight hours. But it's all automagic. Set the directories you want backed up, and let it go. My connection broke a few times, but the service would pick back up an hour or two later and keep on chugging.

Now that I'm "all in," my data generation rate is only 1-2 GB per week, so I'm all set with Mozy.

SloYerRoll

wellman wrote:

If you want a true mirror, look into Mozy. Mozy makes a complete online mirror of the files/directories you specify. The pricing is hard to beat - $4.95/mo for unlimited data. They just got acquired by EMC, and GE is a deep-pocket customer, so they're for real.

I've been a customer for 3 months now, and I have 220 GB backed up. The initial backup took 10 weeks, but it just happens while you live your life. Great stuff.

Thanks Greg (and all) for the comments. I am looking for a true mirror so if drive failure occurs. I will be able to download my entire collection onto a new drive, map the new drive exactly like the old one and lightroom wouldn't even know that anything happened.

I do understand you that this is the case w/ Mozy? I'm excited to hear this is possible!

Don't much care about u/l time. I can just take the hd to a friends job and dump it right onto his server w/ a T3 connection and call it a day.

-Jon

wellman

SloYerRoll wrote:

Thanks Greg (and all) for the comments. I am looking for a true mirror so if drive failure occurs. I will be able to download my entire collection onto a new drive, map the new drive exactly like the old one and lightroom wouldn't even know that anything happened.

I do understand you that this is the case w/ Mozy? I'm excited to hear this is possible!

Don't much care about u/l time. I can just take the hd to a friends job and dump it right onto his server w/ a T3 connection and call it a day.

-Jon

Yar. Say your drive goes kaput. Just restore from Mozy an exact copy of the files in exactly the same location on a new drive and off you go, just like it never happened.

In fairness, IMO Mozy's biggest strength (quasi-real-time mirroring) is also a weakness. Say a virus corrupts your RAW files. Well, your Mozy backup is now just as corrupt.

I've been pushing Mozy for some sort of a daily summary of new/changed/deleted, with some sort of time-capped option to undo a change or deletion. That way if one of the kiddos accidentally deletes a directory or some file gets corrupted, I'd see the change and have the ability to protect myself.

Join the crusade! We want Mozy with undo!

CatOne

Haha. Virus.

What's that?

SloYerRoll

Thanks Wellman. I'll do a bit more research. But this has helped a ton!

All the best,
-Jon

wellman

SloYerRoll wrote:

Thanks Wellman. I'll do a bit more research. But this has helped a ton!

All the best,
-Jon

No problemo. Good luck in your decision making.