14. Back Up the Organizer Catalog See Also  15 Copy Items onto CD-ROM or DVD
After you've imported lots of images into the Organizer catalog and have used its features to organize your images, you won't want to risk losing your hard work. True, the catalog does not contain the images themselves (only a listing of their locations and names), so if something were to happen to the catalog, you wouldn't lose any photographs. What you would lose, however, are the properties of each image, such as the various tags and collections to which an image is associated, plus any audio captions or text notes you've appended to the images. You would also lose your creations and organizational information, such as an item's location, file size, file type, and thumbnail. If something happened to the catalog (but your media files were still okay), you could always reimport all your media files and then retag, annotate, and caption them, but that would be a lot of work. Therefore, periodically, you should back up both the Organizer catalog and your media files onto CD, DVD, or another drive in case something happens to your media files or the catalog. Lucky for you, the Organizer provides an easy method for you to do both in one simple process. KEY TERM  | Properties Information associated with each media file, such as its creation date, modification date, tags, collections, audio or text captions, or notes. |
1. | Choose File, Backup
In the Organizer, choose File, Backup from the menu bar. The first page of the Burn/Backup wizard appears.
 | 2. | Choose Backup the Catalog
In Step 1 of the Burn/Backup wizard, select the Backup the Catalog option and click Next to continue.
The Missing Files Check Before Backup dialog box might appear; if it does, use it to reconnect any moved files before continuing with the backup (see the Note for more information).
NOTE  | You should make sure that all your media files are properly linked to the catalog before you back it up. If needed, click Reconnect in the Missing Files Check Before Backup dialog box to relink lost files; see 13 Locate Moved Files for help. If you don't want to be reminded of this step, select the Don't Show Again option and click Continue. |
| 3. | Select Backup Type
In Step 2 of the Burn/Backup wizard, select the type of backup you want to perform: To back up the entire catalog and all your media files, select Full Backup. To make an incremental backup that contains a copy of the entire catalog plus any new media files added to the catalog since the last backup, select Incremental Backup. Click Next.
| 4. | Choose Backup Drive
In Step 3 of the Burn/Backup wizard, select the drive to which you want to copy the catalog and media files from the Select Destination Drive list. If you select a CD or DVD drive, you'll be prompted to insert the disc. Do so and click OK to return to the Burn/Backup wizard.
NOTE | If something occurs to the catalog later on (such as a power surge that damages the file), you'll be prompted to recover the filea process that fixes the damage. Simply choose File, Catalog from the menu to display the Catalog dialog box. Click the Recover button, and then click OK to proceed. If the catalog file is so badly damaged that it can't be repaired using this method, or if you want to return to an earlier version of the catalog at some later date, you can restore that version. First create an empty catalog by choosing File, Catalog and clicking New. Then choose File, Restore from the menu, locate the incremental backup file (if any, because it must be restored first), and click Restore. If you selected an incremental backup file, after it's restored, you'll be prompted to select the full backup file so its data can be restored as well. |
| 5. | Set Options
If you are backing up the data onto a CD or DVD, you can adjust the write speed by selecting a different speed from the Write Speed list. You might do this if you have been having trouble with your CD-R drive and want to compensate for that by having the computer write the data more slowly.
If you are backing up to another hard drive and not a CD-ROM or DVD, you must select a folder into which you want the data copied. If you are performing an incremental backup, the folder you select must be different from the one you originally selected when you did the full backup. Click the Browse button next to the Backup Path text box, select a folder, and click OK.
If you're performing an incremental backup, you must tell the Organizer where the original backup file is located. Click the Browse button next to the Previous Backup File text box, select the file that contains the original backup, and click OK. If you backed up previously onto a CD or DVD, you'll be prompted to insert that disc so that the Organizer can determine the backup set to which you want to add. You'll remove the disc later so that you can insert a new disc on which to copy the incremental backup.
| 6. | Click Done
Click Done to begin the backup process. If you are backing up the data onto a CD or DVD, you'll see a dialog box telling you how many discs you'll need to complete the backup. Click Yes to continue, and then follow the onscreen instructions.
NOTE | This process backs up the currently displayed catalog only. If you are using more than one catalog (for example, if each family member has his or her own catalog file), you must first open the catalog you want to back up (by choosing File, Catalog), and then repeat steps 1 through 6 to back up that catalog. |
If you are performing an incremental backup, the original backup disc is probably still in the drive (if you backed up to CD or DVD). If so, you'll be prompted at the proper time to remove the first disc and insert an additional disc on which to store the incremental backup.
When the backup is complete, be sure to label any removable discs with the date and time of the backup.
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