Backup retention
I have Capture One set to run backups weekly (or at least to remind me to run backups weekly). Do I really need to keep all the historic backups that have been created or only the most recent one?
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I would say that there is certainly no need to keep all the historic backups. You'll only need them if by accident your catalog database gets deleted or if it somehow gets corrupted.
In the case of it getting corrupted, it could be that when you notice there is a problem, it has been there for a little while and the most recent backup or two might be of the corrupted version. So you want to be able to go back to the newest problem-free version of the database.
You are most unlikely to want to go back to a version from a long time back as you would lose the content in it from more recent work.
My solution is to retain a few (up to about 10) recent backups and from time to time delete the older ones. I also have system backups (using both Apple's Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner) so I could if necessary get back even a Capture One backup older than the last 10 or so that I have kept. (But I've never needed to.) In any case, you should be doing some kind of system backup because the Capture One catalog backup only backs up the database and does not back up the actual image files (even if they are stored "In Catalog").
So to sum up - I'd say keep a few, but periodically save space by removing older ones.
Ian
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Thanks! That’s about what I thought. I do backup everything locally with Time Machine and to the cloud with BackBlaze, so I think I’m covered.
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I usually keep two backups. I've never needed more than that, and only once ever needed the backup. Keep in mind that when new versions "Upgrade" the catalog they also make their own database backup inside the catalog folder.
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Thanks for the feedback. It might be an idea, then, for C1 to add an option to the catalog backup dialog for deleting historic backups created before a particular date or period in the backup folder...
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I think this suggestion has already been made on https://captureone.ideas.aha.io .. you can find it there and upvote it.
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@JF - That was my posted suggestion when I couldn’t find an existing one that covered it.
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Got my vote. I also added a comment. We should be able to specify a date-based retention OR a number of backups to retain.
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Dumb question but I will ask it anyway... on a Mac where does Capture One store the catalog database back-ups?
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You can choose where in settings.
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You can choose where in settings.
... and there is some sense in making that a location that won't be lost if the drive on which your catalog database is located should fail.
Ian
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