If your catalog becomes corrupted (relatively rare) or you make a mistake that you don’t spot immediately (incredibly common!), your normal backup system will overwrite your last “good” backup with the corrupted/incorrect catalog. Many backup systems overwrite the previous backup with the latest one. #5 – You still need Lightroom’s catalog backup even if you run your own backupsĮven if you have your own backup system, you may still need to run Lightroom’s own catalog backups too. For the more technically minded user, programs such as Vice Versa (Windows) and Chronosync (Mac) allow even more control over your local backups. Windows comes with its own Backup and Restore tool, and Mac OSX comes with Time Machine, both of which can back up your computer files to an external drive. The easiest way to back up your photos is to include them in your main system backups. And if you’ve ever tried restoring from backups created using the Make a Second Copy option in the Import dialog, you’ll have the grey hairs to prove it. Copying and pasting files onto another drive when you happen to remember does not constitute a reliable backup system. You need a solid backup system, and ideally something that’s automated. In doing so, you’d have missed a very important warning: Lightroom’s catalog backup only backs up the catalog. When you quit Lightroom, it’s probably asked you to back up, and you may have hit ok without reading the rest of the dialog. #4 – Lightroom’s Catalog Backup does not back up your photos The original photos are still stored on your computer, and you still need to back them up. #3 – Your photos are not “in the cloud” eitherĮven if you have a Creative Cloud subscription, and you’ve set all of your photos to sync, Lightroom Classic only syncs low resolution previews to the cloud. If you move, rename or delete photos outside of Lightroom, you’ll create a mess. This means you’re not locked into just using Lightroom, but it also means YOU are responsible for looking after the photos. You choose where they’re stored when you import them. They’re just normal image files stored in folders on your hard drive. The photos are not stored in some magical location, hidden away from your view. #2 – Your photos are not hidden away by Lightroom We look more at the catalog concept here, but for now, remember one thing: don’t delete your original photos thinking that they’re safely stored in Lightroom. The Lightroom catalog works in the same way. The library catalog tells you a little about the book and which shelf it’s stored on, and maybe even gives you a preview of the cover, but it doesn’t contain the book itself. Imagine an index of the books in a library. Small JPEG previews are also stored next to the catalog, so you can view the photos when the original files are offline. The metadata describing the photos is added to a database (called the catalog) as text records, along with a link to that file on the hard drive. When you import photos into Lightroom Classic, they’re not really “in” Lightroom. These are some of the most common catalog-related misunderstandings. Although its organizational tools are powerful, they’re also the most misunderstood. Lightroom Classic has two primary functions – organizing your photos and editing them.
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