Backing up files in Lightroom 2

[markta]

Have finally got round to backing up my keepers gallery onto external hard drive...

Have noticed that the files have been severely compressed (to about a seventh of original size), which I suppose is a good thing. Thing is though that the files are RAW, so in the event of laptop HD failure, if I load them off the EXT HD, will I get the original RAW files back?

Thanks

 

[Chappers]

A seventh of the full res size does seem a bit odd. Normally RAW files from a camera are around 1/3 the size of a full res file. Converting to DNG will compress them even more, as the DNG compression algorithm does a better job than the camera ( As it has more time and more computing power).But dropping them to a seventh of the original file sound very unusual. What format are you saving them in?

 

[markta]

Mmmmm...I thought the same.

Thanks for the reply - I'll look into it further and then report back

 

[Craikeybaby]

This will be easier as you are saving them as DNG (no need to copy XMP files too), if you want to make sure you have the full DNG the best way is to right click on the image in the Library window, then select show in finder/explorer and copy the file from there.

AFAIK the only back up options in Lightroom are to copy all the images on import and to back up the library, not to back up individual RAW/DNG files...

 

[markta]

Cheers for all your help.

Ok, I've checked and checked again, under the export settings and it appears I saved them as JPEG. Have now changed file type setting to "original", so the RAW plus XMP have now been saved on my external hard drive.

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions and craikey, I backed up each individual photo.

Cheers