Backing up image directories without losing data?

w/o reading all the new posts, why not just put the images on the external drive to begin with? I never put images on my internal drive, they go directly to two external drives during export. I then only work from the images on the drive. Maybe it takes an extra second to load, I don't know. Nothing that would bother me. I'll probably never fill up the drive in my new mac mini, but I only keep software on there, nothing else. USB3 or firewire is plenty fast. The LR catalog file is on the internal HD, which is backed up via CrashPlan (as well as the external drives) automatically to their servers.

phantelope wrote in post #16886967
w/o reading all the new posts, why not just put the images on the external drive to begin with? I never put images on my internal drive, they go directly to two external drives during export. I then only work from the images on the drive. Maybe it takes an extra second to load, I don't know. Nothing that would bother me. I'll probably never fill up the drive in my new mac mini, but I only keep software on there, nothing else. USB3 or firewire is plenty fast. The LR catalog file is on the internal HD, which is backed up via CrashPlan (as well as the external drives) automatically to their servers.

I you have new high-speed external drives (and ports), then from what I've heard they are pretty good, although two things to bear in mind:

1) External drives have a greater tendency to quit on you. I think one key reason for this is that they have their own built-in power supplies and their own built-in USB ports. If either of these go "out" then the drive becomes non-functional -- in fact, a lot of folks have pulled the actual physical drive out of an external "package" and either plugged it into an external drive "bay" or plugged it into the computer as an internal drive, and the drive has worked...In fact, I've had maybe three external drives that have "died" over the years, but the workstation still lives, although once my power supply went out and I replaced it and it lives!

2) Unless you have the newest/fastest technology for your external drive, there will be a "hit" to your performance.

I don't have the newest, I'm still running USB 2.0, and as a result I do have "stuff" on an internal "data" drive (not my "system" drive), one which has a higher/speedier performance than an external drive. Specifically, I have my Lightroom catalog folder (with the .lrcat file and the preview files) in that drive, and the "Camera Raw Cache" folder on the internal drive, and then I load/Import shoots onto the internal drive in a "parent" folder, with each shoot going into its own "named" sub-folder. Then, after short-term processing and organizational tasks, I do move the shoot(s) onto an external "library" drive. Backups are done to a separate drive which remains unplugged when not in use.

Yes, there are newer technologies out there, USB 3.0 and Firewire 800, as well as eSATA, for external drives and then SSD drives which could take on the high-speed internal needs, but I haven't been in a position to spend the money lately!

Is there still a question about backup that hasn't been addressed? Andrew said that after downloading the images to his computer, he creates a back up on an external drive. Then, if I am following him correctly, he edits the images on the computer and then moves everything over to the external drive. I have the impression that what he is wanting is a duplicate of the edited images in case of a failure of an internal HD. If I understand Andrew's workflow correctly, then there is no back up following moving the edited files to the external drive --just the single copy on the external drive. As Tony pointed out, an external drive is probably more likely to go south than an internal drive.

Regarding WD back up software, I quit using category back up after discovering that XMP files are one of the file types not backed up. I didn't get anywhere discussing this with WD tech support so my current scheme is to mirror my data drive using a RAID1 configuration. I also have external drives that I have switched to directory back up. It's more trouble to do it that way, but it copies what I need.

Bill Boehme wrote in post #16887932
Regarding WD back up software, I quit using category back up after discovering that XMP files are one of the file types not backed up. I didn't get anywhere discussing this with WD tech support so my current scheme is to mirror my data drive using a RAID1 configuration. I also have external drives that I have switched to directory back up. It's more trouble to do it that way, but it copies what I need.

Just checked mine and it's backing up the xmp files right along with the cr2. The LR catalog backups are all right where they are supposed to be on the WD external too.

Preeb wrote in post #16888027
Just checked mine and it's backing up the xmp files right along with the cr2. The LR catalog backups are all right where they are supposed to be on the WD external too.

That is good to know. My experience with category backup dates back to roughly two years ago, so maybe WD finally saw the big "picture".

Bill Boehme wrote in post #16888054
That is good to know. My experience with category backup dates back to roughly two years ago, so maybe WD finally saw the big "picture".

Among other things, it backs up my entire Pictures, Documents and Downloads directories.

Yep, when I'm done, I just put everything on an external hard drive for permanent storage to keep my hard drive free. Ideally, ya I'd like to have multiple drives on my PC to work with like that, but I'd rather spend the money on camera gear