The BIGGEST Lightroom MISTAKE YOU CAN MAKE!

In this tutorial, I demo how to properly backup Lightroom Classic and along the way, I explain the problems many photographers make when backing up.
Please help support my channel - consider purchasing my Lightroom Presets:
www.anthonymorganti.com/
and my Lightroom Profiles:
onlinephotographytraining.sho...
** I am an affiliate for all of the other companies mentioned below EXCEPT Affinity Photo and Capture One.
Please read my Code of Ethics Statement:
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My Current Gear
I’m always trading in cameras and lenses trying out new products. As of the recording of this video, here is the gear I currently own and use. All gear is purchased by me at normal retail pricing - I’m not sponsored by anyone nor am I an ambassador for any camera/lens manufacturer. The links below are my Amazon affiliate links.
**As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Cameras:
Nikon Z9: bit.ly/32Pa9Kg (Adorama Affiliate Link)
Nikon Z7ii: amzn.to/351PPmL
Nikon Z6ii: amzn.to/3399eS7
Nikon Z6: amzn.to/2TIBGnR
Nikon Zfc with Nikon 16-50mm f3.5-6.3 Lens: amzn.to/3ykA07w
Nikon D500: amzn.to/2WyO8Lt
Sony A7Riv: amzn.to/3amo9JJ
Lenses:
Nikon Z-Mount:
Nikon Z 24-70mm F4.0 Lens: amzn.to/2Z0hW55
Nikon Z 24-70mm F/2.8 S: amzn.to/2JWo5IX
Nikon Z 24-200mm F4-6.3 Lens: amzn.to/3j4xVrA
NIKKOR Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S: amzn.to/3Cw4CVU
TTArtisan 11mm F2.8: amzn.to/354Vnji
Sony E-Mount:
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN Art Lens: amzn.to/3iKdbBQ
Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art Lens: amzn.to/36fD8F1
Nikon F-Mount:
Nikon 200-500mm F5.6 Lens: amzn.to/2WpggM2
Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 Lens: amzn.to/2VQMKi9
Nikon 28-300mm F3.5-5.6 Lens: amzn.to/2QuWmyb
Nikon 14-24mm F2.8 Lens: amzn.to/2ZXR55C
Nikon 70-200mm F2.8 VRii Lens: amzn.to/2WG1p5f
Nikon 1.4x Teleconverter: amzn.to/2WlkZ1z
Nikon 18-200mm F3.5-5.6 DX Lens: amzn.to/2MiEKUk
Tokina 100mm Macro Lens: amzn.to/2ZRgxfK
Sigma 105mm 1.4 Art Lens: amzn.to/32PmFDZ
Other Gear:
Battery Grip:
VG-C4EM for Sony A7Riv: amzn.to/3g3Wvnm
Tripods & Ballheads
Vanguard Tripod: amzn.to/2WqWB2u
Siriu Ballhead: amzn.to/2W1MyS0
MeFOTO Travel Tripod: amzn.to/31GVvys
The Carbon Fiber Version: amzn.to/2LjVt9m
Joby GorillaPod: amzn.to/2zMNAEc
Camera Straps & Backpack
Peak Design Camera Strap: amzn.to/2Sqi4Eg
Peak Design Slide Camera Strap: amzn.to/2DoLxLl
Peak Design Everyday 30L Backpack: amzn.to/2MJPFcb
Spider Pro Hand Strap: amzn.to/30k170u
Spider Pro Hand Strap ver 2: amzn.to/3aC3p1Z
Memory Cards
Sony 120GB XQD Card: amzn.to/2HlfR8Y
Sony TOUGH-G series SDXC UHS-II Card 64GB: amzn.to/2PUJHoD
Sony TOUGH-G series SDXC UHS-II Card 128GB: amzn.to/3oP6EZX
Sony XQD/SD Card Reader: amzn.to/2NBuSHB
Sony 128GB CFExpress Card: amzn.to/353hWC4
Delkin Devices 256GB CFExpress Card: amzn.to/3pULMDR
CFExpress Card Reader: amzn.to/2X2xMbQ
Anthony Morganti’s MUST HAVE applications:
At least one Non-Destructive RAW Editor
Lightroom - bit.ly/2zwQ0nW
Capture One - www.captureone.com
Luminar - bit.ly/2JUJxKw (Save with the Promo Code AM16)
On1 Photo RAW - on1.sjv.io/EaGR2K (Save 20% with Promo Code: AM20)
Exposure X7 - bit.ly/2U8UxrK (Save 10% with Promo Code: AnthonyMorganti)
PhotoLab 5: tidd.ly/2HhiN9X
At least one FULL Editing App:
Photoshop - bit.ly/2zwQ0nW
Affinity Photo - affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/
My MUST-HAVE Plugins:
Topaz Gigapixel AI - bit.ly/3cDqa5J
Topaz Sharpen AI - bit.ly/3cDqa5J
Topaz Denoise AI - bit.ly/3cDqa5J
*Save 15% on all Topaz Labs apps - use the Promo Code: AMDISC15
or instead of Topaz Denoise AI:
On1 NoNoise AI - on1.sjv.io/EaGR2K (Save 20% with Promo Code: AM20 - May not work on sale product)
Nik Silver Efex Pro 3 - tidd.ly/3dc4gYm
The Best Sky Images I've Seen Available -- Ocudrone - bit.ly/3vtDpjR
*Save 10% with Discount Code: Morganti10
** Note that all of the promo codes listed above may not work on sale products.
*** I am an affiliate for all of the companies listed EXCEPT Affinity Photo and Capture One. Please read my Code of Ethics Statement:
onlinephotographytraining.com...
Please follow me on Instagram: / anthonymorganti
Thank you!

[@AnthonyMorganti]

In this tutorial, I demo how to properly backup Lightroom Classic and along the way, I explain the problems many photographers make when backing up. Please help support my channel - consider purchasing my Lightroom Presets: www.anthonymorganti.com/ and my Lightroom Profiles: onlinephotographytraining.shop/lightroom-profiles/ ** I am an affiliate for all of the other companies mentioned below EXCEPT Affinity Photo and Capture One. Please read my Code of Ethics Statement: onlinephotographytraining.com/code-of-ethics/ My Current Gear I’m always trading in cameras and lenses trying out new products. As of the recording of this video, here is the gear I currently own and use. All gear is purchased by me at normal retail pricing - I’m not sponsored by anyone nor am I an ambassador for any camera/lens manufacturer. The links below are my Amazon affiliate links. **As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases Cameras: Nikon Z9: bit.ly/32Pa9Kg (Adorama Affiliate Link) Nikon Z7ii: amzn.to/351PPmL Nikon Z6ii: amzn.to/3399eS7 Nikon Z6: amzn.to/2TIBGnR Nikon Zfc with Nikon 16-50mm f3.5-6.3 Lens: amzn.to/3ykA07w Nikon D500: amzn.to/2WyO8Lt Sony A7Riv: amzn.to/3amo9JJ Lenses: Nikon Z-Mount: Nikon Z 24-70mm F4.0 Lens: amzn.to/2Z0hW55 Nikon Z 24-70mm F/2.8 S: amzn.to/2JWo5IX Nikon Z 24-200mm F4-6.3 Lens: amzn.to/3j4xVrA NIKKOR Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S: amzn.to/3Cw4CVU TTArtisan 11mm F2.8: amzn.to/354Vnji Sony E-Mount: Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN Art Lens: amzn.to/3iKdbBQ Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art Lens: amzn.to/36fD8F1 Nikon F-Mount: Nikon 200-500mm F5.6 Lens: amzn.to/2WpggM2 Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 Lens: amzn.to/2VQMKi9 Nikon 28-300mm F3.5-5.6 Lens: amzn.to/2QuWmyb Nikon 14-24mm F2.8 Lens: amzn.to/2ZXR55C Nikon 70-200mm F2.8 VRii Lens: amzn.to/2WG1p5f Nikon 1.4x Teleconverter: amzn.to/2WlkZ1z Nikon 18-200mm F3.5-5.6 DX Lens: amzn.to/2MiEKUk Tokina 100mm Macro Lens: amzn.to/2ZRgxfK Sigma 105mm 1.4 Art Lens: amzn.to/32PmFDZ Other Gear: Battery Grip: VG-C4EM for Sony A7Riv: amzn.to/3g3Wvnm Tripods & Ballheads Vanguard Tripod: amzn.to/2WqWB2u Siriu Ballhead: amzn.to/2W1MyS0 MeFOTO Travel Tripod: amzn.to/31GVvys The Carbon Fiber Version: amzn.to/2LjVt9m Joby GorillaPod: amzn.to/2zMNAEc Camera Straps & Backpack Peak Design Camera Strap: amzn.to/2Sqi4Eg Peak Design Slide Camera Strap: amzn.to/2DoLxLl Peak Design Everyday 30L Backpack: amzn.to/2MJPFcb Spider Pro Hand Strap: amzn.to/30k170u Spider Pro Hand Strap ver 2: amzn.to/3aC3p1Z Memory Cards Sony 120GB XQD Card: amzn.to/2HlfR8Y Sony TOUGH-G series SDXC UHS-II Card 64GB: amzn.to/2PUJHoD Sony TOUGH-G series SDXC UHS-II Card 128GB: amzn.to/3oP6EZX Sony XQD/SD Card Reader: amzn.to/2NBuSHB Sony 128GB CFExpress Card: amzn.to/353hWC4 Delkin Devices 256GB CFExpress Card: amzn.to/3pULMDR CFExpress Card Reader: amzn.to/2X2xMbQ Anthony Morganti’s MUST HAVE applications: At least one Non-Destructive RAW Editor Lightroom - bit.ly/2zwQ0nW Capture One - www.captureone.com Luminar - bit.ly/2JUJxKw (Save with the Promo Code AM16) On1 Photo RAW - on1.sjv.io/EaGR2K (Save 20% with Promo Code: AM20) Exposure X7 - bit.ly/2U8UxrK (Save 10% with Promo Code: AnthonyMorganti) PhotoLab 5: tidd.ly/2HhiN9X At least one FULL Editing App: Photoshop - bit.ly/2zwQ0nW Affinity Photo - affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/ My MUST-HAVE Plugins: Topaz Gigapixel AI - bit.ly/3cDqa5J Topaz Sharpen AI - bit.ly/3cDqa5J Topaz Denoise AI - bit.ly/3cDqa5J *Save 15% on all Topaz Labs apps - use the Promo Code: AMDISC15 or instead of Topaz Denoise AI: On1 NoNoise AI - on1.sjv.io/EaGR2K (Save 20% with Promo Code: AM20 - May not work on sale product) Nik Silver Efex Pro 3 - tidd.ly/3dc4gYm The Best Sky Images I've Seen Available -- Ocudrone - bit.ly/3vtDpjR *Save 10% with Discount Code: Morganti10 ** Note that all of the promo codes listed above may not work on sale products. *** I am an affiliate for all of the companies listed EXCEPT Affinity Photo and Capture One. Please read my Code of Ethics Statement: onlinephotographytraining.com/code-of-ethics/ Please follow me on Instagram: instagram.com/anthonymorganti/ Thank you!

[@miroslavturiak4578]

Thank you Anthony! Always a very useful information in your videos!

[@BudBetz]

Anthony. you outline everything I do. Awesome!

[@DennisMathias]

Your stuff is really good. My wife thinks your voice is comforting (?). Anyway, after using lightroom for a while I recollected getting really confused about the catalog and where the photos are stored and what you can do to screw the system back when I was starting out. See if I have this right (I think I do): Try to keep your folders and photos and catalog on a separate drive dedicated to Lightroom. Drives are cheap. Don't move the catalog's location even within the drive. Leave it where it is. Pay attention to what you name the drive. Just by convention I named mine Macintosh HD 2. If I had it to do over again I'd probably name it photos or something like that. Make it unique though..not what I did. Call it Smokey and the Bandit or something. Something no one else would have. So now all your LR files (except the app) are on a single drive. Never add a folder to this drive and never delete it at the file level. Only make changes through Light Room. If you want to add a folder to this drive via LR, that's fine. If you want to delete a photo file via LR that's fine. Add a photo to the drive, fine. You will have to import that but at least you know where it is. Now besides backing up the Catalog (let LR handle that) you can back up the whole drive. Keep the name of the drive like it's a deed to your house. If you want to keep one on the shelf (physical drive) that's okay but it has to be renamed for it to work if you swap it out. There might be some way to do this that is easier. But this is nice if you are growing your drive space. Just copy over the files. Don't forget to use TimeMachine if you have a Mac. That's my first layer of coverage. And I also use an offline storage (I can't tell you what it is but the initials are BB). I'd suggest you buy something open ended for storage (i.e., no limit). Also, set it to continuous backup. Mine backs up every change I make. It also has versioning and it's really cheap. So now you have 4 layers of data. Original, physical on the shelf (this ages pretty quickly so needs to be refreshed every six months or so), Time Machine, and the Cloud. Just remember that backing up the catalog won't do you any good if the originals are gone. That's why I keep them all together. If there is a fire I'll grab the physical drive off the self. What do you think, Tony?

[@BobG-eh5fc]

Great Reminder, thanks!

[@billferreira7263]

While I go overboard on backups with my whole Lightroom system including images, catalog and backups on a cloud (iCloud) and 2 external hard drives that rotate with one on my desk and the other in a fire safe; I do one additional step. All updates are stored in XMP files for raw images and internally with the image for other formats (JPG...). This allows an almost complete rebuild of the catalog from just the images and XMP files. Almost because some of the features like Albums are only stored in the Lightroom catalog. Easy way around those issues are to use keywords instead. Just create a high level keyword called albums and store your albums there. Same for the various kinds of flags. As keywords are much more powerful than flags, I've never understood why anybody uses flags.

[@stephensinger4686]

In addition to backing up my catalog and images, I have lightroom create an xmp file. This way, if my catalog gets corrupted I can reload and I must use a backed up catalog from a previous date I can import the files I worked on between the useable and corrupt catalog and all of my edits will show in the photo.

[@richardsmith5021]

Great info, thanks

[@ulrichnordhoff6748]

When you optimize your catalog during the backup, it also deletes any high-res 1:1 preview that you haven’t opened in a while so that greatly slims down your catalog

[@fredericsoumier8096]

Thanks for your video pointing out how important it is to back up the catalog. Can you do another one explaining how and why it's also important to generate xmp side car files ?

[@DickHoskins]

I back up the catalog at least once/day. Also the zipped form of the catalog almost every day. I have a large number of photos but the checking catalog integrity and backup is hardly a big deal. I do not want to loose a day of work. Also there are lots of programs available to backup photos which can be run with scripts. I backup with two external drives and the cloud and once a week an external drive I keep at a friend’s house.

[@deluxe67x12]

I also put my presets and plugins on my cloud backup, so they are automatically saved remotely as well.

[@deboraveronneau9600]

So what is the best way to set up the Lr catalog? I have several of them and save them on external drives. I am getting a new computer set up, what would you recommend? I have heard having one catalog is the best. If you have a video about this already it would be fantastic. Thank you for all your help, I have learned so much from you over the years.

[@HR-wd6cw]

8:10 Regarding backups (and how many you should keep) I usually keep a reasonable amount of backups. My catalogs aren't huge, (maybe a few MB each) but I tend to keep at least a month's worth. If you do a daily backup, a 500MB catalog backup might be 15GB but here's the reason I recommend you keep more backups. If you only kept three backups, what if all three backups are corrupted then you have to go back further. You could really also move old backups to an external drive for archiving and then after a longer period of time (say 3 or 6 months of daily backups) then delete all the oldest ones. I really wish that Adobe made a verification tool that would go deeply through the catalog to verify its contents. I'm not sure that the Optimize Catalog actually does this (it probably just removes old unused data only, but doesn't actually perform an thorough integrity check, and I don't think that when you backup it does this either). Either way, I would like to see a separate utility that it can run that verifies EVERYTHING in the catalog (maybe you let it run overnight or something). One thing I also do is turn on XMP files. I know it slows down LR Classic, BUT if LR crashes, then the most I may have lost (from that particular session) might be the last 1-2 edits I did, as LR will write each edit to the XMP file as you do them, so it's sort of like a secondary backup. Additionally, if your catalog did get corrupt and you couldn't repair it and had to start over, LR will read the XMP files (or you can tell it to) when you rebuild your catalog, thus saving you some time (possibly a considerable amount of time, especially if you do things like keyword or advanced or a lot of edits to a particular photo). I treat the XMP files the same as my catalog file -- with utmost care and back them up regularly. Last option, and one that I do sometimes, is that I tell LR to backup every time it exists, but skip backups, especially if I haven't actually edited things. Maybe I just imported a few photos or created some collections but nothing I couldn't redo in a few minutes or an hour... then I'll just tell LR to skip the backup. But at least this way it lets me decide each time I close LR. And this is helpful if you're doing a lot of edits in a particular session... this way you just don't have to think about backing up. It prompts you and you can decide if you want to backup or not.

[@alanmoore5426]

I backup my catalog to my hdd but I use backblaze to backup my computer (includes images), plus my images get backed up to 2 separate external hdd to do this I use Free File sync. I do not delete my images from the sd card untill they are backed up

[@anton2026048]

Thanks

[@AnthonyMorganti]

Thank you Anton!

[@p77vfc]

I have a Mac and I don't have that option to test integrity before back up and optimize catalog? My back ups go to my external hard drive, could that be the reason please.

[@jasonlacey5979]

Excellent thank you..... so how do I backup my photographs?

[@MartyBecker]

GoodSync is a good option.

[@rghurst]

I have noticed that backing up the catalog takes longer with the latest LR versions. The "Copying Masks" phase of the backup seems very long. Any idea what's going on there?

[@jlopez7596]

This is good information but i certainly make sure thar lightroom actually backups the file. Lr has been stating it was backing up and they were not there.

[@micwarmington1]

hi anthony - i already have my backups on dropbox and have been considering moving my whole catalog there - currently it is in the pictures folder - so my question is, is dropbox just as safe ?

[@TorstenVillnow]

I would not do this. First, with moving the catalog to Dropbox you would still work with the local version of the catalog files of Dropbox. Second, files get synchronized with the cloud (Dropbox, OneDrive or any other cloud service) as soon as they get changed locally; the catalog gets permanently changed while working with the photos, which would generate a lot of network traffic. And third, all the preview files would be synchronized automatically as well, which can be a huge amount of data.

[@avnerbenzvi8757]

in place of Drobox using one-drive, what about malware and Viruses Protection on MAC Machine ??

[@svetlanagrobman3476]

Hi, Anthony! Important reminder about backing up. Thank u four that. I however, have one question. What is the best way of backing up one's actual images, so Lightroom will recognise them if something happenes to the original images? Thanks.

[@fredericsoumier8096]

Go to " Catalog Parameters" ( or something near, i'm french and don't know how it's exactly translated ) and in the Metadata tab check the line with XMP (same as before, french version). After that all the edits you do to an image will be written in a side car file named the same as your image with xmp as extension

[@svetlanagrobman3476]

@@fredericsoumier8096 Thank u for the tip! I did that (and it apparently takes forever to write in all that data). So, you are saying that if I have to use the copies of my photos, Lightroom will "remember"all my editing?

[@fredericsoumier8096]

@@svetlanagrobman3476 Yes !!! And if you archive both files (the image file along with the .xmp file) you'll just have to import them back in LR to go on with your editing. Basicly I edit photos with what the software offers at the time then I archive them in an external hard drive (most likely 2) and I review them when a significant upgrade happens to the software or when I become better in using it. It saves my editings, a lot of space on my working hard drive and a lot of time when backing up my software's catalog.

[@svetlanagrobman3476]

@@fredericsoumier8096 Thank u so much!

[@fredericsoumier8096]

@@svetlanagrobman3476 Glad if I helped you.

[@paulehjertaas2319]

one question. OK you optimize the cat. you are backing up, does it also optimize your current catalog? i.e. should one reopen the same cat. or start again from a backed up cat.?

[@TorstenVillnow]

The current catalog gets optimized.

[@paulehjertaas2319]

@@TorstenVillnow I hoped so because if not one would have to reopen a backed up cataalog all the time.

[@harrykitch9239]

Good reminder, thanks. I'm on a Mac and use TimeMachine to keep it backed up. Won't that backup the plug-ins, etc that are in the Adobe Support file(s) in the Library?

[@philipculbertson55]

I did have a question. Why have I got multiple versions of my LR Catalog such as Lr Catalog.lrcat, LR Catalog-2.lrcat, Lr Catalog-2-2.lrcat, LR catalog-2-2-Version-10.lrcat and so on? I have about ten versions of the catalog and I didn't create them. Is this something LR does as new software updates happen? Do I need them all or only the latest one? So confusing...

[@TorstenVillnow]

A new catalog file is generated, when with a new Lightroom version the structure of the catalog file gets changes. With the latest Lightroom updates you usually get a prompt where you can define the name of the updated catalog file. You only need the most up-to-date version of the catalog. You might keep also the previous version of the catalog for the case that you need to return to the previous Lightroom version.

[@tectorama]

I don't catalogues , and rarely save RAW images, so I never backup.

[@heritageimaging7768]

I thought it was changing a folder name.

[@roykropp155]

Lightroom does have a way to (sort of) backup your original photos. Just check the "make a second copy to:" box when importing the photos and tell Lightroom where to put the copies. I always do this and have Lightroom put the copies on an external drive that isn't used for anything else.

[@TorstenVillnow]

As you said, this is only a "sort of" backup, which would be of very low help in case of a "disaster". The reason is, that the simple structure of the second copy is completely different to the folder structure you have established for your photos. I also store a second copy, but delete it after I have made a first "real" backup of my (new) photos.