Using a MacBook Pro and Snow Leopard. Almost all my work is on the internal HDD of my MBP, and I need to change that. I think I have all the tools I need; I just need to change my workflow and habits.
I have several USB hard drives, for my ongoing backup I expect to use my 500GB WD Passport, which is not usually connected but I can start keeping it on most of the time. I also recently got a Voyager Q drive dock, so I can easily swap out drives and keep them somewhere safe (probably my desk in my cubicle in my 9-to-5 job). The Voyager Q is usually on my wife's video-editing computer, but I can commandeer it whenever I need to.
My workflow is something as follows:
0. Take a bunch of pictures onto one or more SD cards, raw+small jpeg
1. Using Finder's Quickview, quickly sort through and mark down which ones are keepers*
2. Import keepers into LR3, convert to DNG. I know there's a check-box to simultaneously copy to a second location; I suppose this will be copying onto the Passport USB drive.
3. Do work in LR3 and/or Photoshop. Photoshop saves files into LR3's catalog folders, where they automagically are added to the library.
4. Export and/or publish. (I usually don't keep the exported jpegs permanently)
* Sometimes (rarely) I import everything and then delete the non-keepers from within Lightroom, but since my MBP is old and slow, I'll often just scribble down notes beforehand, and import only the keepers. The non-keepers never even leave the memory card.
I suppose my first step will be to make a copy of the existing library and catalog to the Passport, and make sure Lightroom recognizes it as the destination for the simultaneous import.
What's next?
a. LR3 has an automatic weekly backup; can I configure it to save the .lrcat file to the external Passport as well as the internal drive?
b. How do I deal with the files I create in Photoshop? Since these never go through LR's Import dialog box, how can I automatically save them to both locations?
c. I'm not currently using Time Machine but I think I need to start. Can I use the same drive (the Passport) for Time Machine as well as my backup library and catalog? Is that even necessary, or will Time Machine be making a THIRD copy, thereby making by double-import unnecessary?
d. One day, ages from now, my library will be too big for my internal drive, and I'll need to just dump old stuff onto the external-dock drives. Any tips on doing this? I think I have the basics down, after watching the Lynda training - just move the folders from within Lightroom, and it'll remember where they went (as long as I can keep the physical drives sorted out). Or, should I just have multiple .lrcat files for older stuff?
e. Anything else I'm missing?
for business stuff
