The Lightroom Catalog Backup

Access the Catalog Settings on the Mac, go to the menu Lightroom>Catalog Settings

Or within the Preferences dialog panel > General Tab > Go to Catalog Settings (fig 4.1)

Within the Lightroom Catalog Settings, is a Back up Catalog selection feature. (Fig 4.2)

This item setting is crystal clear and states “Back up Catalog”. Do not think for one minute that the selection function is backing up the associated images with the catalog. Please understand that this feature is only backing up the .lrcat data file.

Here the choice of your pain threshold is determined in relation to the catalog back up feature.  We have all complained that the catalog should be backed up when exiting the program, but this is currently not the case with the choices available. I have picked “once a week when Lightroom starts”.   The Lightroom  .lrcat file will now be backed up to a location I choose when Lightroom alerts me when to Back up.  Now this is all great when you consider the alternative of not backing up. If your .lrcat file should become corrupt and you skipped the back up feature too many times, all your work is now gone into the digital abyss. So think about why and when there is a good time to implement the back up function.

Certainly the last thing you want is to wait for the back up to complete when your ready to sit down and work within Lightroom. My catalogs have grown rather large so this does take some time for this process to complete. Yes, believe me when I say this,  I have clicked on the Skip button in the Backup dialog box one too many times and regretted the outcome. (fig 4.3)

I have a suggestion for you as a workaround rather then skipping the back up feature.

When you have finish working for the day with Lightroom, return to the Catalog Settings dialog and employ the  “next time Lightroom starts only” selection. (Fig4.4)

Quit Lightroom, re launch the program and go to bed. This will implement the back up catalog feature. Now where in the computer are my  back up catalogs?

I choose to store my Back Up Catalogs within the Pictures folder on my Mac. (fig4.5)

Every time you implement the back up feature, a new back up .lrcat file is produced in this folder.  It is best to only save the currently dated folder.  Too many of these back up files can stuff up your computer over time. Rather large catalogs of say 25,000 images can produce large .lrcat files in the range of say 300mb each.

Note: in today’s tip we have only addressed backing up the catalog file, not the associated images.

Bye for now Jerry Courvoisier www.jerrycourvoisier.com