Lightroom Backup folder, why so many backup subfolder?

Wail

Wail

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Wail
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Hi all,

I have been running Lightroom for a while now. Recently while I was doing a “clean-up” of my computer I came across this (Backup) folder, within my Lightroom folder, which has 20 subfolders in it. All of these subfolders contain the same file within (Lightroom Catalog.Ircat), which range in size from 170MB (or thereabouts) for the oldest backup, to just under 400MB for the more recent backup.

Can someone please tell me what these folders & files are for?

Also, is it safe to delete the older folder & files?

Thanks for any help and feedback.
 
Do you get the prompt to back up your library every week or so?

These will be the back ups created by this. I've got mine set to go to an external drive (I don't see the point of a back up being on the same drive) and every so often I delete all but the 2 most recent backups to free some space.
 
Again, thank you for the feedback.

Yes, I have the backup set to be done on a weely basis. I figure that's good enough. I am not too bothered to have it on my laptop's drive as I tend to keep this as empty as possible. All my data are on my server and / or an external drive. I am more comfortable this way, with only settings and applications on my laptop.

That said, these backups are now close to 5GB in size, and I cas see them growing exponentially as I start to load the pictures from the server into Lightroom.

So, since it's safe to delete the "oldies" .. I figure this is what I will do.

Is there a way to have Lightroom delete older backups (say ones prior to a month old)?
 
I was thinking the same thing yesterday, I took the plunge and deleted a load too.

What information is stored in these backups anyway?
 
From what i inderstand...and pls correct me if im wrong,

the metadata (the data which 'remembers'what adjuctments have been made, is a fairly small file kept in the same drive/folder as the actual programm.

The backup is literally a pure copy of the raw file effectivley duplicating what you already have.

This happens because you have your import set to

'import and copy files to'. The easiest way i feel is to

Transfer you pictures from camera to external hard drive. I have an overall folder called 'Raw negatives' and then subfolders by subject/date /whatever you want really
Import into lightroom from current location ie external hard drive
Do your adjustments
Export to same external hard drive
Export 1 copy as jpeg - easy for emailing etc (set up a jpeg folder)
Export 1 copy as a tiff file. (set upa tiff folder) Can be handy for other adjuctments in other programmes as you dont lose quality


This way you have the original RAW file
A Tiff copy for adjustments in other programmes
And a joed for easy emailing

All on an externalk harddrive. This way it doesnt clog up your actual machine.

Then, once a month backup the entire external hard drive to either a second drive or to an online provider that you pay a small fee to hold you backup data. As a third option you zipp all the files and burn to a DVD file.

Hiwever, pls let me know if im making a meal of it and there is a swifter option. I must admit that baking up 30gb of photos from 1 drive to another is a mammoth task!
 
gpc1,

Thank you for the input.

As it so happens, I have all of my pictures on external drives and on the home server. Nothing is stored locally on my laptop which is where Lightroom, and these backups are located.

I import the pictures from these remote drives into Lightroom and do no export what so ever. Except the VERY rare times when I want to send the odd picture to my daughter (but I am talking of very rare times here ... no more than 100 pictures).

The method of doing a backup of the external drive wouldn't work for me, primarily as I have in excess of 2TB (yes, that's 2,000 GB) of pictures that I have acquired over the years. I use another means for backing up, something that makes most backups seem like a picnic, to be honest. I am too stiff about this and too scared of losing my pictures' database (spent a whole life acquiring these memories).


Anyways, as R8JimBob88 asks, what's in these backups that Lightroom is creating? Sure would be nice to know that :shrug:; I know it is not a copy of my library, since the smallest of my libraries is over 100 GB in size. No way would a backup of that be as small as 150MB. Also, when looking at the size of these backup files, the earlier ones are always smaller than the more recent one created, which makes me think this may just be a backup of the metadata only (hence the increase in size as more pictures are added).
 
The backups are each a full copy of both your library and your previews for that library. The larger the library, the more previews the larger the backup.

They are marked by date, so you only really need to keep the last one.
 
Crikey...youd be there for weeks trying to back up that lot...


Im trying to find another way myself as i dont think its the most effective method really, especially as the numbers increase, it seemd to work well with a small amount of pictures.

So im watching this thread carefully

lol
 
It isn't a back up of your pictures, it is a back up of your library file, ie the database that contains the links to where your pictures are stored and the changes made to them etc.

I might have a play around later and use automator/applescript to get rid of these back ups automatically...
 
wow .. how can Lightroom do a full backup of my library (smallest library 100GB, smallest backup just about 150MB) that condensed?

Are you sure it's the library, or just the metadata? Not that it really matters what they stuff in there, but just good to know.

Thanks.
 
gpc1 said:
Crikey...youd be there for weeks trying to back up that lot...


Im trying to find another way myself as i dont think its the most effective method really, especially as the numbers increase, it seemd to work well with a small amount of pictures.

So im watching this thread carefully

lol
Click to expand...


Yeah, my backup methods are very drakonians to say the least. I am trying to sort out a better (RAID) system, but that's a bit on the pricy side; but I may have to bite the bullet and get something like that.
 
Craikeybaby said:
It isn't a back up of your pictures, it is a back up of your library file, ie the database that contains the links to where your pictures are stored and the changes made to them etc.

I might have a play around later and use automator/apllescript to get rid of these back ups automatically...
Click to expand...


OK, now that makes sense .. and is very comforting to know that Lightroom keeps track of things like that :)

Thanks for the input and clearing this out.
 
You need to seperate in your mind your library, and your pictrues. The library is just the database that contains your metadata edits to your images. The images themselves are never edited by lightroom, and cannot be backed up using the backup function.

The library also stores small previews (thumbnails) of the images in your library. This is what grows in size and makes your backup 5gb.
 
Again, thank you for the feedback and clarification. Greatly appreciated.
 
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