I'm trying to figure out if I can process photos in the next 10 days while using a loaner computer because my computer has crashed and recovery is 50-50. We ( @jyokota and our spouses) just returned from a photo trip to Iceland, so there are a lot of new photos involved in the problem I have. My computer and LR catalogue were backed up the night before I left. The issue is with the 10 days of the trip and the next 2 weeks of photo work.
I think I have two choices: (a) don't do anything until I know both recovery results and the computer is fixed (about 10 days to 2 weeks) or (b) restore my files onto the loaner computer and continue using Lightroom to process photos until my computer comes back.
If I have to choose (a), I'm very sad (understatement) as I have thousands of photos and want to keep working on them. If I choose (b) and my data is recoverable, then I'd have two catalogues where I would have worked on the same files.
Can 2 files be merged seamlessly? Or could I import the files that I had processed with our guide/instructor's help while on the trip if I have an updated LR catalogue from the time my computer was in repair and I was using a different one?
If the data is recoverable, I don't want to lose the files by continuing to process on a different computer, as the photos I processed with the advice of our guide, Pall -- @palljokull -- are among the best I have to date and I would hate to lose those versions. So if the only way to avoid that risk is to wait, I will do that.
I hope this makes sense...if you think you have a solution, but need more information, please reply. The thought of up to 2 weeks without being able to work with my photos is making me slightly crazy! Thanks in advance.
PS -- Junko and I convinced Pall to join 365 as we loved his work (and learned from studying his photos while on the trip). He's posted a few -- I think you'll enjoy them.
i don't know the answer and i'd be afraid to do anything without getting an expert opinion, but i wonder if you could import the images onto a loaner and rename the file so that it is kept separate from what's on your laptop... you would have duplicates - but you could keep working and i think not worry about over-writing anything already done... but like i said, i'd probably want an expert opinion before trying this...
so frustrating for you to be having these computer woes.. but gotta say i am so green with envy over your trip and i can't wait to see the results!
Yes, I think you could make it work. You should be able to restore your catalog to the loaner and continue work. If the catalog from the PC is recovered, you can then do a "Import From Another Catalog..." to bring in edits from the loaner catalog into the recovered catalog. When you import from another catalog, you can specify whether to overwrite edits from the catalog your importing from into the catalog your importing to, or, you can save the original edit in the catalog your importing to as a virtual copy. (At least with LR CC).
What I recommend is on the loaner do a test scenario first. make two copies of your restored catalog having different names, make some changes in one of the catalogs and then try importing from the newer (most recently edited) catalog into the older and see how it works. If it fits your scenario like I think it will, then you might feel more confident to continue editing.
@northy@dbj_365 Thanks for your input. It's a bit overwhelming at the moment, but DBJ's comment especially brings me hope! I also am thinking it might work to process in LR and export as a TIFF file into a single folder. Then, if I'm able to get my data back, I could import the TIFF files into my original LR folder as long as they have a different name. It wouldn't be as good as the original .NEF RAW file, but it would be better than just having a .jpg. Would that make sense as a work around?
Yes, you could also take that route with TIFF...but instead I would recommend enabling the "Automatically write changes into XMP" option on the Metadata tab of the Catalog Settings dialog. Enabling this will cause LR to put all your edits made to your .NEF into a sidecar XMP file that will be located in the same folder as the .NEF, and having the same name as the .NEF except with an .XMP extension. That sidecar file is your golden ticket - your catalog can turn to burnt toast and your fine. You simply reimport the .NEF and as long as the XMP is there alongside it on import (and the option is turned on in the Import to include existing edits) you have the best of both worlds...the original NEF *AND* your Lightroom edits to it will be brought back in to LR. (Edits by external apps such as Nik or PS, etc wouldn't be in the XMP though, just LR edits). It's an option I enable in all my catalogs. I haven't to date had an issue, but I could lose all my catalogs and it doesn't matter as long as I backup the original NEF (once upon import) and the XMP files frequently (at least daily). Edits made by external apps (Nik, PS, etc), yes - you'd still need to save off those as layered TIFF or PSD. But if your primary concern is the LR edits, the tiny XMP files it makes for those are much more convenient.
Not sure if it's relevant but I use a laptop when we go on holiday with its own Lightroom catalogue. When we come back, I use the "Import Photos from another catalogue" to import them into my home catalogue (but leaving the actual files on the laptop), then I manually move the photo folders over to where I want them on my PC and right-click on the folder in Lightroom and use 'update folder location' to point it to the new location.
I once had a total nightmare trying to get to import and move at the same time, so now I do it separately.
@humphreyhippo This is useful to know. I do backup my photos each day at home and when traveling, on an external drive. I just went into the drive using @jyokota's computer so I could see what was there. I realize that while I may have lost the LR catalogue details, by saving to the external drive, I do have TIFF images of the ones I've processed. I may skip the 5 - 10 day data recovery as that will take more time than the 24 hours (I'm guessing) of processing I've lost -- since I have the TIFF ones to reimport if the catalogue is wiped out. I'm trying to figure out at this point what I'll lose, what I have that can be reconstructed, and balance that against the cost in time and $ for trying for recovery that apparently isn't likely to succeed. I am now thinking that backing up daily (which I do to a drive) AND a second backup to the cloud will protect all the raw data and processed images. The other thing I am going to add is a backup of my computer to the travel drive every few days and then do the normal backup to my main drive when I'm back home. What a lesson to have learned!
@taffy Good luck! For future reference, have a look at PureSync if you've never used it. You can set it to do things like run a back up when a program closes (I use it to backup the LR catalogue every time LR closes).
@humphreyhippo Mine backs up each time I close it. But I'd been doing it only to the computer. Is there a way for me to tell it to run 2 backups each time, one to the computer and one to my external drive? Or to Dropbox or something on the cloud?
BTW, the university computer guys are incredible...they were able to recover my current catalogue so I've lost none of my work!! But what a lesson about the importance of backing up the catalogue in two places!
@taffy I have it running various backups and syncs in different scenarios. You just set-up whatever rules you want. For example, I have it backing up my LR catalogue and copying any exported JPGs in certain folders to our network drive whenever Lightroom closes. I also have a set of rules for when it detects my external drive (like copying over my 365 folder).
@taffy I alternate where I save my LR backups - one to the laptop (the default location from LR) & the next time, I point the file location to my RAID storage over wifi (which takes longer to run)
@taffy I've used various forms of all the comments above over the last 6 years I've used Lightroom. At times on travel I use my notebook and use a catalogue for that, and then import as mentioned when I return. I also back-up on my main desktop and then weekly do a RAID storage back-up of the primary along with mid-week backups on the local system. Lightroom handles the imports well, just be meticulous, proceed carefully and everything should work fine! @humphreyhippo@ltodd@dbj_365
@mikegifford@frankhymus Thanks to both of you for your additional insights into how to avoid a disaster in the future. Mike, I didn't realize that it would be straightforward to create a 'traveling' catalogue and bring it back in. That's a huge thing to have learned.
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so frustrating for you to be having these computer woes.. but gotta say i am so green with envy over your trip and i can't wait to see the results!
What I recommend is on the loaner do a test scenario first. make two copies of your restored catalog having different names, make some changes in one of the catalogs and then try importing from the newer (most recently edited) catalog into the older and see how it works. If it fits your scenario like I think it will, then you might feel more confident to continue editing.
I once had a total nightmare trying to get to import and move at the same time, so now I do it separately.
BTW, the university computer guys are incredible...they were able to recover my current catalogue so I've lost none of my work!! But what a lesson about the importance of backing up the catalogue in two places!
Great news on your catalogue! :)
@humphreyhippo @ltodd @dbj_365