# Lightroom Classic CC image & Catalog Backup Strategy



## Zanthe (Jul 14, 2018)

I'm sure there have  been many discussions on strategies for backing up Lightroom Catalogs and Images. I have searched the forums for quite a while and just didn't find a solution or discussion I was looking for. If there is such a thread maybe somebody can direct me there.

In the meantime here is the situation:

I am currently using Lightroom Classic CC on my iMac and have the entire machine backing up to an external hard drive using Time Machine. That's fine but it's not enough --- especially for my images. i really need an additional external HD where my Lightroom catalog AND all the images are routinely backed up. Backing up the Catalog is easy as I can just have Lightroom do that when I quit the program at whatever interval I choose (every time I exit LR; or once  a week upon quitting; or once a month etc) and designate the external HD and folder I want the backup of the catalog to be sent. Prolly only have to keep five or so backups of the catalog and then I can delete prior ones when appropriate.

The images I believe are different story. All the images are currently on my iMac's  internal HD and reside in folders like 2015, 2016 etc. with the appropriate events inside each year's folder. 

So How do I actually backup the images themselves to an external HD? While Time Machine does the entire internal HD I still want an additional backup of the _*images*_ on another external drive. I'm guessing I need some sort of software to do that where I can designate when and where the images should be back up. Suggestions? Or am I missing something?

If anybody can be so kind as to address this issue it would be most appreciated. i have been procrastinating doing this far too long and need to get this under control. 

Thanks!


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## Nevermore (Jul 14, 2018)

I do the same thing you do: back up LR catalogue using the option to do so every time I exit. I back up to a Dropbox so that operates as an external drive.  I also use Time Machine which does my entire hard drive and my external drives (I keep my images on an external drive). But I also have a second external drive just for image backup. I use SuperDuper! to do that which is third party software. I also have automatic cloud backup going on (I use iDrive and am happy enough with it). Way back in 2017 I lost 6 months of work through a thoughtless operation and decided after that I could not have enough back up in place. At that time I was only using Time Machine and an external backup drive. It was easier than I thought to mess them both up at the same time. So now I am "overinsured" but since it all happens automatically once it is set up and scheduled, I don't care.  I can recommend SuperDuper! for ease of use, quickness and a very responsive developer who actually answers questions. I have had it for close to ten years I believe so it is not a fly by night piece of software.


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## Zanthe (Jul 14, 2018)

OK, so @Nevermore what I'm hearing you say is that you use this "SuperDuper" to backup your images to a second HD? Correct? Then you tell LR to backup your LR Catalop to the same external drive. Is that right? Plus then you have more backup solutions for peace of mind.

Anybody else? What's your solution?

And is SuperDuper the 3rd party back-up software of choice for is there something somebody else uses that they swear by? 

Thanks.


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## Nevermore (Jul 14, 2018)

Amost (grin). I backup LR to Dropbox which is a free cloud service. I don't have anything on the same drive--just too paranoid. I don't know anything about any other backup software but would be interested to hear other recommendations.


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## BarrySchwartz (Jul 14, 2018)

I have an external hard drive in case with three other drives, each with separate kinds of data, non-RAID.  I use ChronoSync to backup the drives, which also does a verification that makes sure it's done its job right.  In addition to Time Machine, I also use SuperDuper, but only for bootable backups.  For my catalogue, my main catalogue is on my primary hard drive, and the backup is sent to one of external hard drives.   I have three copies of each drive, including my main hard drive.  The software is cheap and easy to use, well-regarded in the industry.  And the prices for hard drives, both spinning and SSDs, continue to get cheaper all the time, so it's easy to keep up.  Plus, it's never a matter of "if" a drive (even an SSD) will fail, but when, so backups are essential.


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## Jim Wilde (Jul 14, 2018)

I use a combination: Time Machine for system drive backup, Chronosync for local hard drive backups (multiple copies, cycled), and Crashplan for cloud backup. Also occasional use of Super Duper for cloning the system drive.


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## Roelof Moorlag (Jul 14, 2018)

My backup strategy includes two external hard drives. One of them is connected for a week and then i switch it for the other one. The not-connected drive is kept off-site. The software i use for this on my mac is Chronosync.


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## LouieSherwin (Jul 15, 2018)

Zanthe said:


> So How do I actually backup the images themselves to an external HD? While Time Machine does the entire internal HD I still want an additional backup of the _*images*_ on another external drive. I'm guessing I need some sort of software to do that where I can designate when and where the images should be back up. Suggestions? Or am I missing something?



Time Machine (TM)  is the simplest and easiest way to do all your local backups. You have not fully explained your disk configuration but I am guessing that you have only one external hard drive that has both you image files and your TM backup. Is that correct.

If so then the easiest solution is to get an additional hard drive that is dedicated to TM and then tell TM to backup both your internal  and external hard drives. This is what I do.

For additional protection against fire/flood etc. them you also need some kind of offsite backup. The do this with additional hard drives and other software as described above and then rotate these to a safe offsite location.  But that depends on actually doing all these steps including moving the physical drive. The simplest and most reliable is to use one of the cloud backup services. I use CrashPlan Small business. There is also Carbonite and BackBlaze.  These are all real incremental backup systems not simply clones and they  all of these charge a monthly fee to backup and maintain your archive.   I only backup the personal information and files that cannot replaced. Bassically my Documents and Pictures. 

My preference for CrashPlan is that it was the only one to offer fully encrypted service to and from the cloud storage. I am more confident that my personal information is protected. I have not looked at the other offerings in the last year so they may have  upgraded their offerings. 

One final item is that you should consider making and keeping a bootable clone of your system hard drive besides all the other backups. While it is true that you can do a complete recovery from your TM backup it is quite slow to rebuild the complete system. With a bootable system backup even if it is a couple weeks old you can boot that drive then restore from TM only the changes since the last clone. I had to do this a while ago when my system SSD went belly up. It took only about 30-40 minutes to restore the changes  from TM and be back online. Carbon Copy Cloner is a great tool to create bootable clones and do other tasks.

-louie


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## Zanthe (Jul 15, 2018)

Thank you for the reply @LouieSherwin 



LouieSherwin said:


> Time Machine (TM) is the simplest and easiest way to do all your local backups. You have not fully explained your disk configuration but I am guessing that you have only one external hard drive that has both you image files and your TM backup. *Is that correct.*


Yes that is my setup. Not a very good idea.



LouieSherwin said:


> If so then the easiest solution is to get an additional hard drive that is dedicated to TM and then tell TM to backup both your internal and external hard drives. This is what I do.


So you're saying to let TM rotate backups between two backup drives? 



LouieSherwin said:


> TM and be back online. Carbon Copy Cloner is a great tool to create bootable clones and do other tasks.


I was thinking of getting the additional backup drive and using Carbon Copy Cloner to simply clone the main iMac HD onto the second drive. Is that a reasonable solution?


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## LouieSherwin (Jul 15, 2018)

What I'm suggesting is to get an additional big hard drive that is dedicated to TM. Configure your TM to backup both your system and image drive (external). That will handle all your local backup needs. You will need something big enough to hold the data from both drives. 1.5 to 2 times the total. TM will automatically trim old backups so the bigger the TM drive the more versions are kept. 

You could get two and rotate one offsite but your off site will be quickly out of date, more and more as the time between rotations increases. Plus you have to have to keep manually keep it up. While I dislike yet another monthly subscription cost I have decided that it is well worth it for my data security. But that is something that you have to decide for yourself.

Yes by all means get another drive just for a CCC bootable clone. This what I have although I am using one of those that was retired from earlier use as it got too small for the original purpose. I set up CCC to do a weekly clone and remind me.  It is just a matter of tuning it on and CCC updates the clone. 

Does your iMac have a Thunderbolt connection? If so you may want to do all this with a Thunderbolt box that holds 3 or more hard drives. If you configure these as JBOD then each drive looks like a separate external drive. These often ofter hot swappable capability so that you can easily upgrade them. 

-louie


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## Zanthe (Jul 15, 2018)

Thanks for the information @LouieSherwin. 

I'll get working on this. Better late than never (I hope).


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## LouieSherwin (Jul 16, 2018)

The good news is that disk crashes don't happen all that frequently. However, when they do they are usually instantaneous and catastrophic. So it's good you are in action. 

-louie


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## x Aperture (Jul 16, 2018)

Disk drives exist in one of two states:
About to die
or
Dead

and Data does not exist if there is not two or more copies.  

I use Time Machine copies as a backup for "finger" errors - ie bad delete or up[date.

I use a 100% backup of all systems and data to  drive space  in the machine, every day I take a copy of all the systems and data to an external drive every day. After a major update to the system and data I take a 100% copy of system and data to a third drive that is kept in the shed at the end of the garden.

I start the back up process at about 7pm each night and usually by 9pm all is done, all scheduled and run by Superduper.


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## clee01l (Jul 16, 2018)

I have an 8TB END that TimeMachine uses.   Time Machine Back-up my Primary Disk Drive an several other EHDs too this 8TB EHD.  It also alternates the backup to a 5TB EHD attached to the networked Time Capsule.  That is all I need.   As Insurance though I also run Acronis True Image to duplicate the back up to an assitional 6TB EHD for redundancy


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