Lightroom Import Backup

Lightroom Import Backup

I frequently field questions about the Back Up feature in the Lightroom import dialog box. In the example illustration, (fig5.1) the Lightroom Import dialog box for the inserted compact flash card has, some , File Naming, Develop Settings, Metadata and Keywords applied to the images being introduced to the current catalog. The “Backup to” feature is checked and the path to the location is users/jer/Pictures/Lightroom/ Download Backups.

Photographers get the wrong impression that the images are backed up to the chosen location and the imported back up contains all of the images and metadata from the import Information to Apply  area of the panel.  Please be aware, this is not the situation with reference to the Backup box being checked!  The Backup to feature in the dialog is only a protection guarantee for the images being downloading from the CF card.  This backup is only an accurate copy of the files on the CF card with the original camera file names.  In the example illustration where the file develop settings, metadata copyright info and keywords were applied to the images associated with import to the catalog, the backup images do not contain any of these updates on import.

So to review this important point, the backup images are place in a destination folder chosen by the user.  This could be considered an emergency archive of the downloaded images. The backup is a safety net if something should happen to the images associated with Lightroom catalog. They DO NOT contain anything but the original images downloaded directly from the Memory Card.  I would suggest the location of the backup, be an external hard drive instead of the images residing on the same computer.  Once the backup images are downloaded they remain in a destination folder called “Lightroom” with a sub folder called “Download Backups” and then another sub folder called ” Imported on Month/DD/YYYY”  (Fig5.2)