Month: October 2023

Today’s Question: Is it possible to back up external hard drives with the Backblaze service you have recommended? If so, how?

Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can back up an external hard drive to online storage using Backblaze (https://timgrey.me/cloudbackup) by simply enabling the drive in Settings.

More Detail: You can use Backblaze to back up both internal and external hard drives, simply by selecting the drives you want to back up in the Preferences dialog for Backblaze.

To get started first make sure the external hard drives you want to back up are connected to the computer. You can then click the Backblaze icon on the taskbar on Windows or the menu bar on Macintosh and choose Backblaze Preferences from the popup menu. In the Preferences dialog click the Settings button, and then go to the Settings tab within the dialog that appears.

In the “Select Hard Drives to Backup” section toward the bottom of the Settings tab, turn on the checkbox for the hard drives you want to back up with Backblaze. Then click the OK button to apply the change. It may take considerable time for the initial backup to finish depending on your internet speed and how much data is on the drive, but the selected hard drives will then be included in your normal online backup with Backblaze.

Note that I strongly recommend upgrading to the one-year version history option, rather than the default option of thirty days. Without this upgrade, if you leave an external hard drive disconnected for more than thirty days Backblaze will assume you no longer have the hard drive and will delete the backup data associated with that drive.

You can learn more about backing up your photos and other important data to online storage with Backblaze here:

https://timgrey.me/cloudbackup

Today’s Question: Your answer about working on an image from a collection versus a folder [in Lightroom Classic] was very helpful, including the details about working on a virtual copy rather than the original source image. But how would I know if I am working on a virtual copy rather than the original?

Tim’s Quick Answer: You can identify a virtual copy in Lightroom Classic based on the Copy Name indication after the filename on the filmstrip, or by the turned page corner icon that appears on the thumbnail as long as you have the display of badges enabled.

More Detail: One of the more obvious indications that an image in Lightroom Classic is a virtual copy is the turned page corner icon that appears as a badge on the thumbnail of a virtual copy in the grid view or on the filmstrip. This icon appears at the bottom-left corner of the thumbnail as long as the feature is enabled.

To ensure the badge for a virtual copy is displayed on the filmstrip go to the Interface tab of the Preferences dialog and make sure the “Show badges” checkbox is turned on in the Filmstrip section. To enable the badges for the grid view choose View > View Options from the menu while in the Library module and go to the Grid View tab. Make sure the “Thumbnail Badges” checkbox is turned on in the Cell Icons section.

In addition to the thumbnail badge for virtual copies, these images will have a Copy Name associated with them. The default Copy Name for the first virtual copy for an image will be “Copy 1”, and the number will increment for additional virtual copies based on the same source image. This Copy Name value will be displayed after the filename for the selected virtual copy above the thumbnail filmstrip on the bottom panel, appearing after the source image filename and a slash.

Note that you can change the value for the Copy Name field, which in turn will update the text associated with the filename for virtual copies. This enables you to assign a more meaningful name to virtual copies, so that you can remind yourself of the purpose of the virtual copy, for example.

The Copy Name field can be found toward the top of the Metadata section of the left panel in the Library module, but only with some of the metadata field options you can select from the popup to the left of the Metadata heading. For example, if you choose “EXIF and IPTC” from that popup the Copy Name field will be displayed. Note that if you clear out all the text from the Copy Name field the word “Copy” will still display after the filename on the bottom panel, so you can still identify the image as a virtual copy.

Today’s Question: Let’s say I am about to export an image [from Lightroom Classic] that I have in one of my Collections. But then I notice something that needs a quick cleanup or removal and I make that correction, but am doing so in my Collections, not going back to the image in my Folder. I am assuming with some testing that I have done, there is no problem in making the correction in Collections but just want to be sure that something is not going to be amiss in not making the correction in my Folder.

Tim’s Quick Answer: Making changes to an image that has been selected from a collection rather than a folder will cause the changes to be reflected in the source image in the folder. Just keep in mind that the source image could be a virtual copy rather than the original capture.

More Detail: When you add a photo to a collection in Lightroom Classic you are not making a copy of the source image file. Rather, you are simply adding a reference to the image in the collection, so that you can group various photos together and make it easier to locate certain images quickly.

As a result, when you modify an image in a collection, you are in effect actually altering the source image in the folder. For example, whether you assign a star rating or a keyword by first selecting the image from a folder versus a collection, the result is exactly the same. When you later locate the image by selecting it in either a folder or collection, you’ll see the metadata updates. The same applies to adjustments made in the Develop module.

However, it is important to keep in mind that virtual copies can be added to collections, and virtual copies represent a separate version of the original image. For example, if you create a virtual copy and then add a keyword to the original image, the virtual copy will not contain that new keyword. This feature is primarily aimed at enabling you to create different versions of photos in the Develop module.

If you add a virtual copy to a collection you would then be adjusting the virtual copy if you selected it in the collection. In the source folder you would be able to locate both the source image and the virtual copy, but you might have only added the virtual copy to the collection.

So, any work you perform on an image in a collection will be reflected for the same image in the source folder. Just make sure you know when you’re working on a virtual copy rather than the source image file, so that you know which specific image you’re actually affecting when selecting an image from a collection.