David,
I had a fright this morning with a vanishing drive. All sorted now but I was wondering if my current backup strategy was enough.
I back up everything in the catalog folder -
catalog_undo.pmdb
catalog_undo.pmdb-shm
catalog_undo.pmdb-wal
catalog.pmdb
catalog.pmdb-shm
catalog.pmdb-wal
proxies
Is that enough? I don't back up my system or apps so nothing in Application Support or anywhere else there is safe. Does this matter and, if so, what should I add to my backups?
Don't backup those files if the -shm or -wal files are present. Generally this means that Photo Mechanic Plus is running and those databases are currently open and can potentially be modified. Please quit Photo Mechanic Plus first (the -shm and -wal files should disappear) and then backup the catalog files and the proxies folders. If you want to not have to reintegrate, you'll also have to backup the catalog state database. It is named "cat_state.sq3" and it is located in the following path on macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Camera Bits, Inc/Photo Mechanic/catalog/state/
You can get there quickly by using the Go to Folder command on the Go menu in the Finder and pasting the above path.
If you also want to backup your settings/preferences, backup the com.camerabits.PhotoMechanic folder in the following path:
~/Library/Preferences/
Only backup and restore when Photo Mechanic Plus is not running.
HTH,
-Kirk
