A Photographer s Guide to Backup and Archiving Using CRU RTX RAID Storage Devices

Transcription

1 A Photographer s Guide to Backup and Archiving Using CRU RTX RAID Storage Devices This guide provides a front-to-back workflow guide for two- and four-bay CRU RTX RAID storage users, with the four-bay unit used as a working volume and the two-bay unit used for archiving images. This guide describes how to use a combination of Adobe Lightroom 5 and Chronosync software (Chronosync is available from to protect against hard drive failure and create an organized, easily accessible archive. COMPACT FLASH 8 GB DATA ARCHIVE 1 LIGHTROOM 4-BAY RTX RAID WORKING CHRONOSYNC 2-BAY RTX RAID ARCHIVE

2 2 A Photographer s Guide to Backup and Archiving Using RAID Storage Devices Before you begin, there are a few overall settings to configure within Lightroom that will help you back up your files. Start by clicking Lightroom>Catalog Settings>Metadata (Figure 1) and make sure the box next to Automatically write changes into XMP is checked. This means that any adjustments made in Lightroom will be reflected in the raw file on your drives. E.g., if you change your exposure on a raw file in Lightroom and open that same raw file in Photoshop your changes will be reflected. If you are using DNG files, all of the changes that you make will be saved INSIDE of the DNG; you will not get a.xmp sidecar file like you will with other raw files. Figure 1. Catalog Settings Next go to Lightroom>Catalog Settings>General. Set Backup/Back up catalog to Every time Lightroom exits. You do not have to back up your catalog every time, but selecting this option lets you pick when you would like to. For more on catalog backup see this article from Adobe The next time you quit Lightroom, you will be able to set your Backup Destination. Point this to a folder on your Archive drive (the CRU RTX two-bay unit). As you expand the number of drives in your archive, create a new folder on each new hard drive set. This will give you a chronological backup of your catalog over time. Once you have made the above changes to your Lightroom settings, proceed with the workflow below for all future file/image ingest and file management operations.

3 A Photographer s Guide to Backup and Archiving Using RAID Storage Devices 3 1. Ingest your images into Lightroom with the 4-bay RTX RAID unit as your file destination. In our example we are using a RAID named Data with a WORKING folder. Within WORKING, each job or shoot will get a different folder. We are going to import to Data>WORKING> Job 1. Make sure Build Smart Previews is checked (Figure 2). This option will allow you to still edit images that are offline while only taking up 5% of the space the original file would need. For more information on Smart Previews, visit Figure 2. Build Smart Previews 2. After selecting your import destination and entering any desired metadata, click Import. Repeat this process for any additional memory cards or assets for that job or shoot. NOTE: By default, Lightroom will show you only the folder that has your images. If you would like to see more of your folder hierarchy (e.g. Working as well as Job 1 ) hold ctrl+click on your folder and select Show Parent Folder (Figure 3). To reverse this you can ctrl+click on a folder and select Hide this parent. NOTE: If you are starting a new folder hierarchy, making the folders through Lightroom will automatically add them to your catalog. Figure 3. Show Parent Folder

4 4 A Photographer s Guide to Backup and Archiving Using RAID Storage Devices 3. Once you have finished ingesting images, quit Lightroom and open up Chronosync. Create a new Synchronizer and designate Job 1 in your Working folder as your Left Target. Create a new folder in your Archive folder with the same name as your initial folder on your Working drive. Figure 4. Create a new folder

5 A Photographer s Guide to Backup and Archiving Using RAID Storage Devices 5 Figure 5. Set right target Figure 6. Basic w/verification Set Job 1 (Figure 5) in your Archive as your Right Target. Set Chronosync to either Backup Left-to-Right or Blind Backup Left-to-Right. Select Options from the left hand side and under Special File/Folder Handling select Basic w/ Verification (Figure 6) from the dropdown menu.

6 6 A Photographer s Guide to Backup and Archiving Using RAID Storage Devices 4. Once you have set up the Synchronizer, save the file to Job 1 on your CRU RTX Data drive. Use the Chronosync scheduler to determine how often you would like the sync to run (Figure 7). IMPORTANT: DO NOT SYNCHRONIZE DELETIONS Figure 7. Basic w/verification 5. After you are finished with a job and are ready to move it out of your Working space, it is time to delete it. Before deleting a folder from your Working space verify that Chronosync has been working properly. This can be done by opening the Synchronizer file and running a Sync that results in 0 skipped and 0 Errors. You should get a message similar to the screenshot (Figure 8). Figure 8. Synchronization 6. Delete the file from your Working space. When you open Lightroom again, your images from that folder will appear with a? in the top right corner. Click the question mark and select Locate from the popup (Figure 9). Figure 9. Locate the file

7 A Photographer s Guide to Backup and Archiving Using RAID Storage Devices 7 Navigate to your Archive drive and select the image that corresponds to the image with the? that you clicked on. Make sure Find Nearby Missing Photos is checked (Figure 10). Click OK and Lightroom will recognize your files on the Archive drive. Once you have archived a RAID set from the RTX two-bay unit, you (ideally) will split the two drives up and put them in separate locations, e.g., one at home and one at your studio/workspace/deposit box to protect against disasters. As you continue to work with your archive, you may occasionally pull an archived drive and do some work on a file. When you do this, you will need to update your offsite backup of the archived drive. Update your offsite drives as often as you feel is necessary. In addition to regularly updating your offsite backups of your archive, you should connect any drives you haven t updated recently to make sure they are still working. Drives should be spun up at least twice a year to verify that they are in working condition. A single bay hard drive enclosure can help expedite this process, as well as make your archive easier to access. Figure 10. Find missing photos

8 The information in this guide was provided by Foto Care, West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010, , For more information, visit the CRU web site by CRU Acquisition Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved. CRU and RTX are registered trademarks of CRU Acquisition Group.