a photographer’s guide to backup and archiving using cru ... · e.g., if you change your exposure...

A Photographer’s Guide to Backup and Archiving Using CRU® RTX® RAID Storage DevicesThis 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 com-

bination of Adobe Lightroom 5 and Chronosync software (Chronosync is available

from www.econtechnologies.com) to protect against hard drive failure and create

an organized, easily accessible archive.

Protecting Your Digital AssetsTM

LIGHTROOM4-BAY RTX RAID

“WORKING”

CHRONOSYNC

DATA

ARCHIVE 1

2-BAY RTX RAID“ARCHIVE”

COMPACTFLASH

8 GB

A Photographer’s Guide to Backup and Archiving Using RAID Storage Devices2


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.

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 http://tinyurl.com/9ugfd3j.

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.

2

Figure 1. Catalog Settings

A Photographer’s Guide to Backup and Archiving Using RAID Storage Devices 3


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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>131030- 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 http://tinyurl.com/ld8vt7n.

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 “131030- 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 2. Build Smart Previews

Figure 3. Show Parent Folder



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3. Once you have finished ingesting images, quit Lightroom and open up Chronosync. Create a new

Synchronizer and designate “131030- 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



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Set “131030- 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.

Figure 5. Set right target

Figure 6. Basic w/Verification



4. Once you have set up the Synchronizer, save the file to

“131030- 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

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).

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 7. Basic w/Verification

Figure 8. Synchronization

Figure 9. Locate the file



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 con-

nect 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

Protecting Your Digital AssetsTMFor more information,

visit the CRU web site.

www.cru-inc.com/photovideo [email protected]

©2014 by CRU Acquisition Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved. CRU and RTX are registered trademarks of CRU Acquisition Group.

The information in this guide was provided by

Foto Care, 41-43 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010,

212.741.2990, [email protected]

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