Robert's Ramblings

Before or after, up or down, there is a hint of Christmas but no one's around.

This Escher's puzzle is full of detail and minutia. You can wander the pixels for hours, inspect the goods and note the trimmings.

Before or after, there are no clues, it coud be either.


Photo: Robert Rath, 'Christmas Puzzle', 1/10s f/9 ISO1000 15mm

When using Lightroom's integrated catalog backup feature the catalog is compressed using the Zip algorithm.
The Zip algorithm will typically reduce the size of the saved backup to one tenth the size of the original catalog file.

For small catalog files, ie anything up to 500MB, the Zip algorithm is fine with backups being around 50MB each.
Still, if you backup daily that 50MB per day backup can grow very quickly into a very large archive collection.

For large catalog files, ie anything over 1GB (mine is up to 28GB), Z-Zip's higher compression ratio and performance is a better choice with compressed backups being one hundredth of the size.
Z-Zip's very high compression on Lightroom catalog files is a combination of its ability to handle very large files and the inherent structure of SqlLite database files (catalog).

Of course regardless of the archiving method used, the archived catalog backups need to be stored in three independent locations just as you would to backup and protect your images.
For simplicity I keep my Lightroom catalog backups with my photos so that the same process which backups up my photos looks after my catalog archives.
My working Lightroom catalog is located elsewhere and never included in the photo backups.

1. Download and Install 7-Zip

7-Zip can be downloaded from http://7-zip.org/ Ensure you download and install the correct version 32-bit or 64-bit for your operating system.
The latest version for me was 7z1512-x64.exe which has an MD5 sum of 822b366bb37a9628cafff5bfaf186998 (if you need to check validity).

Installing Z-Zip will provide a fully featured file compression utility which integrates nicely into the Windows file explorer.
The the Lightroom catalog can easily be backed up in Windows File Explorer however for the purpose of automated Lightroom backups we will be using the command line utility.

If you are interested in the nitty gritty of the 7-Zip command line see the article at http://www.dotnetperls.com/7-zip-examples

2. Automation

Lightroom provides some options to automatically backup the catalog on closing Lightroom either every time or the first time Lightroom is used for the day.
Furthermore, Lightroom backups are created using a directory name which contains the date and time the backup was created.

In order to mimic this behavior I have written a script which creates the same format directory structure for the Z-Zip archive created.
To used the script presented below you will need to manually modify the 'source' and 'destination' paths and files. All other setting should be fine.

I keep the backup script in the same folder as my catalog backups but it can live anywhere you like as full paths are specified.

To use the script you can simply launch if from Windows File Explorer, or a desktop shortcut you have created, immediately after you have closed Lightroom.

Better still, setup an automation rule in Windows Task Scheduler so that the Lightroom catalog is archived every night (preferably just before your main photo backups take place).

3. The Backup Script (copy and paste everything from this section into a new file called 'archive_lightroom.cmd')

REM ===========================================================
REM Lightroom Backup Script Version 1.1 (c)2015 R.M.Rath
REM ===========================================================

REM History
REM Version 1.1 - Changed archive tool to 7z.exe.
REM Version 1.0 - Original version using WinRAR.

REM This backup script will create a Lightroom archive as a '7z' file using
REM the '7-Zip' program (installed separately) instead of Lightroom's internal
REM 'Zip' archiver. The advantage of using '7z' files is that they will be
REM around 10 times smaller than 'Zip' files for large Lightroom catalogs.

REM When used a backup directory structure will be created similarly to
REM Lightroom's date and time labeling. Four 'set' variables are used to
REM configure the backup script for the correct files and destinations.

REM This script is ideally run daily using a scheduler such as Microsoft's
REM 'Task Scheduler' utility (installed in all Windows systems) at a time
REM most likely to not have Lightroom running. If Lightroom is running
REM when this script executes it will simply abort.

REM =========== Configure the source here ====================

set SourcePath=D:\Lightroom6\Lightroom Robert Rath Collection\
set SourceFile=Lightroom Robert Rath Collection-2.lrcat

REM =========== Configure the destination ====================

set ArchivePath=D:\photos\Lightroom\Backups\
set ArchiveFile=Lightroom Robert Rath Collection-2

REM =========== Make no changes below this line ===============

set BackupApp=C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe
set BackupTime=%time: =0%
set BackupDir=%ArchivePath%%date:~10,4%-%date:~7,2%-%-%%date:~4,2% %BackupTime:~0,2%%BackupTime:~3,2%\

md "%BackupDir%"
"%BackupApp%" a -spf -mx9 -mmt "%BackupDir%%ArchiveFile%" "%SourcePath%%SourceFile%"

REM =========== Old WinRAR Version ===============

REM set BackupApp=c:\Program Files (x86)\WinRAR\RAR.exe
REM set BackupTime=%time: =0%
REM set BackupDir=%ArchivePath%%date:~10,4%-%date:~7,2%-%-%%date:~4,2% %BackupTime:~0,2%%BackupTime:~3,2%\

REM md "%BackupDir%"
REM "%BackupApp%" a -t -ep "%BackupDir%%ArchiveFile%" "%SourcePath%%SourceFile%"