When I travel, especially to parts of the world where I know I am creating photographs I don’t want to lose, I try to store my photos in two or three different locations. The more places they are stored, the less chance of anything happening to the images. I am usually traveling because of photography, either to teach (or attend) workshops, or just trips to build my portfolio and create images to use in my eBooks and tutorials. Losing my photographs while on the road is just not something I can afford.
So to keep my assets protected, I make sure that I keep a full copy of the images to the following places:
- Laptop
- Secondary travel hard-drive (such as a WD My Passport or Lexar SSD)
- SD or CF cards (if I have enough of them to last the full trip)
Another thing I do is when I pack things up to either go to another destination, or for the long flight home, I put each of these copies in separate locations. For example, I would place the external hard-drive in my check-in luggage and the other items in my carry-on(s).
The best way to get the images to both the laptop and a second hard-drive at the same time is to use Lightroom’s File Handling panel in the Import window. Here, you can select your external hard-drive and Lightroom will automatically import the photos to both places. The import process will take a little bit longer, but it’s worth the wait for the extra layer of protection.
Here’s how to import photos AND back them up at the same time using Lightroom:
- First, plug in your external hard-drive and insert your SD or CF card into the computer or card-reader.
- Next, open up Lightroom’s Library module and click on the Import button.
- Inside of the Import window, set things up as you normally would (destination, file name, etc.).
- Then, using the File Handling panel on the top-right, place a check in the “Make a Second Copy To” box and navigate to your external hard-drive.
- Now, import your photos and the images will automatically import to two places!
Pro Tip: Create an import preset to make the import process fast and easy to get started. It’s also a great way to ensure you never forget to back them up!
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I have been manually making a second copy of my raws for a while now, now I guess I’ll let Lightroom do it for me!
Great tip for using the second copy facility witching Lightroom, it never occurred to me to do that, been doing it manually…doh!
Great insight on the dual import process via Lightroom. Will definitely try this out the next time I travel. Can you recommend an external device with an SD slot and doesn’t require a laptop to connect? I remember a photographer using, but this was a few years ago.
Unfortunately I don’t really have any experience using any of those devices, but if I ever do it would make a great article. :) I used to have a VERY old Nikon device, but did not use it very often (and don’t even recall what it was called). I tend to always travel with a small laptop and find that is the most efficient method.
Nicole – If I use the “make second copy” function and while I hope it never happens if my main home of photos crashes, will my LR catalog “recognize all the editing I did against the backed up photos since they would have the same names or am I just backing them in the raw version as a safeguard and would have to start all over with the edits? If the edits are not recognized do you back-up your edits a different way? Hope this makes sense.
Kelly – Checking the “make a second copy” will create a raw copy of your photos when you click Import. Should you lose your primary copy, you can “relink” the images inside of your Lightroom catalog to the backup location and all of your work will be saved.
Backing up photos is one of the single fundamental elements of being a digital photographer. It;s your creative work, it’s your livelihood. Before digital photography you only had a single source for the image. Photographers went to extraordinary lengths to safe guard and protect their film. As a matter of regular practice I always have a primary and a backup copy of all my photographs. This practice saved me a few years ago after a trip to Europe. During the trip I regularly downloaded my CF cards onto two portable drives – a heir and a spare. One of the… Read more »
In addition to the great suggestions already mentioned I have one other. When I am in the field I upload my photos both JPEG and Raw (Nikon D800) onto my iPad and the photos automatically photo stream to my home computer once I am in a wifi zone. I then have a reserve back up at home even though I am travelling. Also works if you upload to an apple laptop and import into iPhoto. They will then stream home. Exporting out of iPhoto when back home if needed is straightforward. Usually if all has gone well I just upload… Read more »
Great insight on the dual import process via Lightroom. Will definitely try this out the next time I travel. Can you recommend an external device with an SD slot and doesn’t require a laptop to connect? I remember a photographer using, but this was a few years ago.
Unfortunately I don’t really have any experience using any of those devices, but if I ever do it would make a great article. :) I used to have a VERY old Nikon device, but did not use it very often (and don’t even recall what it was called). I tend to always travel with a small laptop and find that is the most efficient method.
I have been manually making a second copy of my raws for a while now, now I guess I’ll let Lightroom do it for me!
Nicole – If I use the “make second copy” function and while I hope it never happens if my main home of photos crashes, will my LR catalog “recognize all the editing I did against the backed up photos since they would have the same names or am I just backing them in the raw version as a safeguard and would have to start all over with the edits? If the edits are not recognized do you back-up your edits a different way? Hope this makes sense.
Kelly – Checking the “make a second copy” will create a raw copy of your photos when you click Import. Should you lose your primary copy, you can “relink” the images inside of your Lightroom catalog to the backup location and all of your work will be saved.
Great tip for using the second copy facility witching Lightroom, it never occurred to me to do that, been doing it manually…doh!
In addition to the great suggestions already mentioned I have one other. When I am in the field I upload my photos both JPEG and Raw (Nikon D800) onto my iPad and the photos automatically photo stream to my home computer once I am in a wifi zone. I then have a reserve back up at home even though I am travelling. Also works if you upload to an apple laptop and import into iPhoto. They will then stream home. Exporting out of iPhoto when back home if needed is straightforward. Usually if all has gone well I just upload… Read more »
Backing up photos is one of the single fundamental elements of being a digital photographer. It;s your creative work, it’s your livelihood. Before digital photography you only had a single source for the image. Photographers went to extraordinary lengths to safe guard and protect their film. As a matter of regular practice I always have a primary and a backup copy of all my photographs. This practice saved me a few years ago after a trip to Europe. During the trip I regularly downloaded my CF cards onto two portable drives – a heir and a spare. One of the… Read more »