Please???
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Let me try a bit for you. First, I'm running on XP and not a Mac but I suspect that the principles are the same.
LR is a database program and when you make changes 'to a picture' you are really not doing that. Instead you are writing a series of commands to a database file that alters the way the original image appears on your screen or subsequently prints.
When you back up your LR database you are only backing up those commands. I hope this is understandable as it is a crucial point.
So any backup of your photography 'system' requires a couple of steps
1. Back up LR and the database - this is your catalog system and all the changes you've made to the images
2. Back up your original image files - without these the database is useless as you've found out.
3. Back up any other output files that you might wish to keep that are in separate directors - eg files for Qimage or other printing program
Here's how I do my system.
I keep my LR database on a local drive (e:), I keep all my RAW images on a network device (X:) and I have another standalone backup device (Z:)
1. Each week LR backs up its database to X:
2. Whenever I add new pictures to X: with Downloader Pro it invokes a script at the end of the run that does the following
a) copies all image files from X: to Z:
copies all the LR database backups from X: to z:
c) copies all other important files from x: to z:
Since Z: is a removable drive I replace this from time to time and keep one copy off site that has all of my 30,000 images, the catalog etc on it. It is a simple system and really completely automated.
