File Management lol

[mwcfarms]

Ok so one of my new years resolutions is too be better at managing my files and HD space. I have two external hard drives plus my main hd and I back up online. I would like to be able to get rid of all the images on my hd now and move them to an external hard drive that I can then use when I need to. My file management is horrible. I am currently using LR3 and never utilized it for the file managment system it is.

So my question is what is the best way to copy said image files from 2011 to the external and get rid of the stuff in LR? Can I just simply copy and delete the folder once its done?

 

[JClishe]

Do you want to keep the images in the LR catalog and simply move them to the external disk? If yes, then add the external disk to LR and you can move them from within LR. If no, and you want the images out of the LR catalog completely, I'd just move them wherever you wanted using Windows Explorer or Finder then do a synchronize folder from within LR. LR will detect that the images are gone and will remove them from the catalog.

It sounds like you want to remove them from LR completely (although I could be mis-interpreting your comments). If that's the case, I'd recommend against that. You can add the external disk to LR and move the photos to it from within LR, and take the disk offline but the images will still remain in the LR catalog even though they're not accessible. Well, the actual images won't be in LR, but the previews and metadata will still be in the catalog. You can still use most of the Library module, with the exception of the Quick Develop panel, on the images even though you can't access them (keywording, labeling, searching, etc). Then when you want to manipulate the images in the Develop module, just plug in your external disk and boom, Bob's your uncle.

 

[Big Mike]

LR can be used to sort/move/categorize your photos, but you should still have an underlying file structure/plan in place.

For example, you might have your personal photos in one folder. Within that folder, you might have sub folders for the year, within those, you might have folders for the date the photos were taken (or uploaded).
You may have your professional photos in another main folder. Maybe you separate the types (weddings/portraits) etc.
Again, within those folders, you may have sub folders by date and/or by name/job etc.

You don't technically need a system like that for Lightroom...but it's a really good idea anyway.

Once you import into Lightroom, LR remembers where the photo is. It basically creates a data base that links preview images (stored in the catalog) to the original files (wherever they may be). So as Jason mentioned, once you import the photos, it's important that if you want to move them, you do it within Lightroom, so that the link is not broken. Actually, it's not hard to reestablish that link, once the images are moved.

So if you want to move your 2011 images to a different drive, you can do with within LR, and it will maintain the link between the preview (what you see in LR) and the actual files. Or you can move them in explorer etc (like you would move any file), then back in LR, you just have to LR where to find the files again.
If you just move the files and delete the images (remove from catalog) within LR, then you will loose anything you did to them in LR. As long as you don't delete the files, you could still re-import them back into LR later.

Now, something that many people don't think about, is using multiple catalogs with Lightroom. It's common for people to just import all the photos they have, into one catalog. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, except that is creates a really big catalog which might slow down the performance of LR.
What I do, is to use multiple catalogs. For examples, I have all my portrait work in a catalog that is separate from my personal photos. I have the photos from my little P&S in their own catalog...and so on. I know many wedding photographers who use a separate catalog for each wedding.

The pros for this system are that you have smaller catalog files and it keeps everything nicely separated.
The cons are that is keeps everything separated and you may have to go between catalogs to find the photos you're looking for.

You can only have one catalog open at one time in LR. So if you know that you'll never need to group together your personal photos and your professional wedding photos, then you don't need to have them in the same catalog. But, if you want to be able to group all of your 'bride' shots from 2011, then you'll want all of your wedding photos in the same catalog.

Another thing...do you use 'collections'? They are a great way of creating a group of photos to work on. For example, when I sort through shots from a shoot, I flag all the 'keepers' and then put them into a catalog. That way, I can easily work on just that group of images, whether in the Library, Develop, Web, Print module etc. You could sort of do the same thing by flagging or rating the images and using the filter, but I think that collections are the better way to go. You can also create automatic collections that will grab images with specified criteria.

Yet another thing, do you keyword your images? Adding keywords to the images makes it much easier to find images later.

 

[Diddy2theJJ]

I run into the same problems with file management. I didn't know you could add more catalogs though that is a great idea.

What I do right now, is download all the images from a shoot onto my hard drive and to a backup hard drive. Then I'll sort through the photos and decide which ones to keep, and delete the rest of them from my computer's internal HD (still keeping them on my external backup drive).

Then I'll make my edits in lightroom and burn a disc of the final images that I gave to the client for a backup in case they need to re-order any photos or another disc from me.

After that I've been deleting them from my computer, but leaving the links in Lightroom. This keeps the preview files in LR so I can see them, and if I ever need them I can re-link them to the hard drive or go get the final off of my disc.

I'm torn whether or not I should keep the LR catalog with the changes, because chances are I'll never need to go in and edit all those photos again, and if I did need one and I didn't like something about my edit (since style and skills change over time) I could go back to the hard drive with the original and edit that one.

 

[Big Mike]

I forgot to mention backup, but that should certainly be a part of your plan. It's a good idea to build in some redundancy to your back-up plan as well. For example, have a copy of your data/images on at least two different drives. It's also a good idea to have some sort of off-site back-up, in case of fire/flood etc.

You mentioned on-line backup. Everyone I've heard from, who has tried that method...says that it's painfully slow...as in it takes days or weeks to back-up their data. No thank you.

 

[Big Mike]

One more thing I forgot to mention. An often recommended book...The DAM Book. The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers

Lastly Dee, I'm not sure when it will be available in Calgary, but CPLC does have a Lightroom class (two actually). The first one deals a lot with how to manage your files etc.

 

[MLeeK]

As for the cataloging once you get everything moved... KEYWORD EVERYTHING!!! It takes a bit of time investment if you haven't been doing it, but it is worth every second of time you spend doing it in the end.
Then if you want a wedding picture that is of say a cathedral... You search wedding and cathedral. LR brings them all up for you.


ETA: DPBestflow has a great bit of information on cataloging, file management, etc. They are/were a gov't funded study on the preservation of photography. Some incredible information on their site. Welcome | Digital Photography Best Practices and Workflow | dpBestflow

 

[JClishe]

You mentioned on-line backup. Everyone I've heard from, who has tried that method...says that it's painfully slow...as in it takes days or weeks to back-up their data. No thank you.

This is certainly true for the initial backup but not necessarily for the deltas.

My LR archive points at my Windows Home Server, which uses redundant drives internally. I have a nightly backup that runs at 1am every night and backs up any new photos to an external RAID array hanging off the server, and another backup that runs at 2am and backs up the new photos to Windows Azure cloud storage. Sometimes, if I've archived a few gig or more of photos in a single day, that nights backup may still be running when I get online the next morning, which is noticeable by significantly slow Internet speeds (the backup is consuming all my bandwidth). When that happens I just log onto my Home Server and kill the backup job, and it will simply pickup where it left off during the next nights backup job.

So all I have to do is drag and drop my photos to my Home Server folders from within LR, and then my photos automagically end up in the 3 different locations: On my servers internal RAID array, on another external RAID array, and in the cloud. It's a totally hands off, "set it and forget it" process, I don't swap disks, etc. And the backup job emails me when it finishes (both the local and cloud backup jobs) so I know it finished successfully, how many files got backed up, etc. Oh, and my Home Server backs up my main workstation every night as well, so photos that I haven't archived to my Home Server yet are still backed up nightly anyway.

 

[MLeeK]

You mentioned on-line backup. Everyone I've heard from, who has tried that method...says that it's painfully slow...as in it takes days or weeks to back-up their data. No thank you.

This is certainly true for the initial backup but not necessarily for the deltas.

My LR archive points at my Windows Home Server, which uses redundant drives internally. I have a nightly backup that runs at 1am every night and backs up any new photos to an external RAID array hanging off the server, and another backup that runs at 2am and backs up the new photos to Windows Azure cloud storage. Sometimes, if I've archived a few gig or more of photos in a single day, that nights backup may still be running when I get online the next morning, which is noticeable by significantly slow Internet speeds (the backup is consuming all my bandwidth). When that happens I just log onto my Home Server and kill the backup job, and it will simply pickup where it left off during the next nights backup job.

So all I have to do is drag and drop my photos to my Home Server folders from within LR, and then my photos automagically end up in the 3 different locations: On my servers internal RAID array, on another external RAID array, and in the cloud. It's a totally hands off, "set it and forget it" process, I don't swap disks, etc. And the backup job emails me when it finishes (both the local and cloud backup jobs) so I know it finished successfully, how many files got backed up, etc. Oh, and my Home Server backs up my main workstation every night as well, so photos that I haven't archived to my Home Server yet are still backed up nightly anyway.

I suspect that the BIG difference here is that you are using a Home Server...
I have tried to use several of the on line services and the sheer volume that I shoot was prohibitive of use. They all have an upload limit of 2G per day. The initial upload could take MONTHS if you have a lot to back up. I think the last time I tried to back up one computer it was something like 10 months for the initial backup.
I shoot in excess of 20G in a week. Obviously I am cutting that down some, but it's still more than 2G per day I need to backup. If you are shooting any volume? It's just not an option. With the size of a raw file on the new cameras 2G is nothing.

There are definitely better options. If you want to be able to access on line from anywhere a cloud is definitely beneficial. If you can keep your cloud off site even better as then you are protected if you have a fire, flood, etc at your main site/residence.

 

[mwcfarms]

Thanks guys for all the replies. I didnt know that I could move them from within lightroom. Yes I have been backing up online as well but am about to drop it because its not cost effective for the amount of storage I need. So I bought a 4tb tower and have 2 other 1.5 towers with duplicates of my current hard drive which is full. So I want to remove the entire year from the main to the 4 tb hard drive. Its painfully slow copying all these folders older but once its done then I can remove the files correct on the HD and just repoint LR to the external.

Thanks for the tip on the class Mike, thats one I definetly will be wanting to take.

 

[JClishe]

The DAM book that Mike recommended is a terrific book for the foundamentals of digital asset management, and I've found Martin Evening's Lightroom book is a really good discussion of the practical application of DAM principles in LR. The chapters on the Library Module are really good.