export as a catalog

[crbuckjr]

I use as SSD drive as my main location for the LR catalog, all pics, etc.  ( I have over 90k pics)  That way when I switch from location to location (different desktops---Windows) I can just plug in the SSD , point LR to the catalog, and I am in business.  It has worked fine for several years.

After a move to my summer home I am trying to create a duplicate on a portable hard drive.....using "export as a catalog"....as I have done many times.

But, the backup runs less than a half hour and I get the message below--  (about 44 GB of over one TB have been copied to the target drive)

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks,  Chuck

[dj_paige]

You talk about "backup runs less than a half hour" but you don't mention doing a backup. Please explain.

Also, please provide the basic details that we need: version NUMBER of Lightroom, and version NUMBER of your operating system. We need the version NUMBER and not words like "up-to-date" or "latest".

[crbuckjr]

LR Classic 7.4

Windows 10 version 1703

I have used "export as a catalog" to make my backups.....so, I should have said that export as a catalog ran less than a half hour

thanks

Chuck

[dj_paige]

Can't you just copy the photos and the catalog file itself using your operating system?

[crbuckjr]

I suppose I can try that but I am always concerned that I am not copying all the files I need.  How do I ensure that?

"export as a catalog" does that for me........it knows where everything is.........but, if you can teach me to make sure I have everything, I'll give it a try......

[Bob Somrak]

I have several backup drives (on site and off site) and copy ALL my photos to them when needed and can keep more than one backup on a drive.   I also backup NEW photos to a different folder temporarily on the backups between full backups.  I planned on doing this before I started so placed ALL my photo folders under a master folder that I can just drag to the backup drives.  One drag and drop and I am done.

That being said the export as catalog of all your photos should work.  A couple of things to check the next time you try this.

1) What is the memory usage on the computer during the backup.  Run the Activity Monitor (MAC) or Windows equivalent during the backup to see if the memory usage keeps going up.  There might be a memory leak during the export as catalog operation.

2)Is there an error log associated with the above error.  If so you could post it here and someone here possibly could tell you whats going on.

PS.  I just tried this on my MAC.  The photos and Catalog are on an external Thunderbolt Lacie SSD.  I chose 3000 photos and did a Export as Catalog to the internal SSD so I was transferring between two drives like you.  Lightroom starting memory usage was 1.88GB and ended up being 1.92GB and went down to 1.86GB when the operation quit.  CPU usage was low.  Doesn't seem like a memory leak from this small test as Lightroom memory goes up and down like this all the time.

[Tony_See]

I'm using a synchronising tool to backup my image library and catalogue folders, and that's working for me.

Its using an SFTP protocol in a template that looks for changes based on file modification dates, which only amounts to a couple of 100 Mb each sync ATM.

Both go to a NAS box currently, but i'm also considering moving some to a cloud solution soon.

In your case though I would use the OS to do the copy then re-link later if necessary.

[dj_paige]

The reason you want to use the built-in Lightroom method of backing up the catalog file is that there is an option to Check the Integrity of your Catalog file. You can make backups other ways like using a synchronizing tool, and you don't get the benefit of checking the integrity of your catalog file. This checking can prevent future data corruption or catalog problems.

[Tony_See]

I do that every time I close LR (check catalog integrity) , but then I using a robust syncing tool to perform a controlled backup. I feel I get the best of LR and then the OS that way.