Question about deleting files in Lightroom 2

[jonathan_self]

<p>I normally let lightroom backup my files as I import them, so I have them on an external harddrive and my primary computer harddrive. If I notice double imports of photos that lightroom may not have caught at the import stage I delete them from lightroom so they dont take up room on my primary drive and also my backup drive. When I select delete, it prompts me to "delete from disk" and thats normally what I selct. So my question is when I select "delete from disk" does it actually delete the file from the backup too and not just my primary HDD? I promise I tried very hard to look for a similar post like - my question, so please don't flame me for this. Thanks guys.</p>

[chris_werner]

<p>Lightroom creates individual backup files, so the next time the backup occurs the file should be gone from it, but it would remain in previous backups.</p>

[godfrey]

<p>Chris: Lightroom's backup and the "files written to a backup disk" are two entirely different things. Lightroom's backup is where it makes a copy of the catalog file for backup recovery purposes and has nothing to do with the files that it imports. </p>

<p>Regards Jonathan's file delete question, Lightroom only manages those files which are present in its catalog. Files written during import to a backup volume are NOT in the Lightroom catalog ... they are created as a backup *only*. Lightroom applies any renaming that you might want so that they match what it's importing, writes the backup files, and then forgets about their existence. When you delete a file from Lightroom and elect to "delete from disk", ONLY the working file referred to in the catalog is deleted (it's put into the Trash on Mac OS X, and whatever the analog of that is on Windows). </p>

<p>If you also want to remove those files from the backup disk, you'll have to open the Trash and obtain a list of the filenames, then go to the backup disk and delete them from there manually. </p>

<p>Godfrey</p>

[digitaldog]

<blockquote>

<p>So my question is when I select "delete from disk" does it actually delete the file from the backup too and not just my primary HDD?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>You can back up the original captures to another disk when you import. Is that the back up you're referring to? If so no, they are not deleted (and in fact, they are not even "in" the LR database"). When you use the backup option on import, all that happens is LR imports the files you ask it to, then it also makes a back up of those files to the location you specify. That's all. Those files are not handled by LR after that (unless for some odd reason, you'd import them into the catalog). They are not updated with any of the import settings (metadata, presets), they are only copied.</p>

[chris_werner]

<p>Godfrey,</p>

<p>Thanks for clarifying - to make sure I understand, does the backup during import work differently than the backup at startup (which is what I'm doing)? Is what I stated accurate for that type of backup, or am I just completely clueless here?</p>

[godfrey]

<p>Yes.</p>

<p>- If you've set Lightroom to do a backup when you open the catalog, it's writing a copy of the *catalog* file to whatever backup location you've told it to, or by default into a "Backups" subdirectory whereever the catalog is located. The backup at startup NEVER copies the original image files or the Previews subdirectory that Lightroom maintains.</p>

<p>- If you use the option to write a backup file when Importing files into the Lightroom catalog, it writes a copy of the *files* to whatever location you've told it to. Those files are not included in the catalog file, only the primary copies are included there. </p>

<p>Note: when I say "included in the catalog file", it's important to realize that the files themselves are never embedded in the catalog file. They live on your computer whereever you've told Lightroom to put them. What the catalog file contains is the REFERENCE information to those files: the location of the file, a pointer to the (separately generated) preview file that Lightroom maintains, plus all the file metadata and your adjustments.</p>

<p>So in the case where you import from a storage card with the backup option set, what you're doing is</p>

<p>a) copying the files to the working file repository,<br>

b) reading all the metadata from the files and adding that to the catalog with the location (which LR then produces previews for), and<br>

c) making a second copy of the original files in the backup location.</p>

<p>Godfrey</p>

[chris_werner]

<p>Godfrey,</p>

<p>Many thanks for taking the time and effort to spell that out for me. And apologies to Jonathan for my errant answer.</p>

[jonathan_self]

<p>No its fine Chris you are just trying to help me and I appreciate that. Thanks to Godfrey and others for answering all of my questions.</p>