Backing up individual events

Question

Please help me back up individual events.
When I shoot a wedding, I store all images for that wedding in a hierarchical set of folders. Something like this:
\pics\business\John and Mary\engagements
\pics\business\John and Mary\engagements\converted
\pics\business\John and Mary\engagements\converted\selected
\pics\business\John and Mary\bridals
\pics\business\John and Mary\bridals\converted
\pics\business\John and Mary\bridals\converted\selected
... and so on
Inside of the root of each "subset" of images (engagements, for instance) are the raw files. And, up until now, there was a \.RWSettings folder right next to the \Converted folder.
To back everything up... I simply pointed to \pics\business\John and Mary and copied the entire structure. This worked whether synchronizing to an external hard drive (something I do immediately after copying the raw files to the computer) or to DVD when I'm archiving the event.
That whole directory structure may be removed over time in order to make room for future events. But to restore the files and be back up and running, it's a simple matter of copying the files from the DVDs right back to where they were.
But now ... with Lightroom ... I don't know what to do.
Where are my image settings being stored? I assume in the library. How do I get them out? How do I back up all of the files (and ONLY those files) for that one wedding to DVD so that I can quickly restore them later and have an identical set of images AND settings as compared to what I archived?
I really miss the .RWSettings method (of RSP) for storing the image settings. It was simple. It made tons of sense. It stayed out of the way (being in a subfolder instead of being in the same folder as my images). It was easy to back up and just as easy to restore. It was easy to move files from my laptop to my computer. It was easy to start off with the files on one drive or location and later change my mind and move them to a new drive or location.
As to how to do this in LR ... I just don't get it. I've read a little bit from the thread about synching between two computers because it sounds like a similar idea. But man, it shouldn't be that hard to move files from one system to another or from one drive to another.
Quick and easy. That's the way backups should be. Make 'em hard and people won't do them.
I would really like to see LR storing its settings externally the way RSP did. Make it "optional" if you have to. For me, the library idea accomplishes nothing. I never use metadata to store "searchable information" like keywords and such. So it makes no sense to throw all of the image settings, etc, into one giant database. I'd much rather that the information stay close to the raw image so that it is easily backed up and restored together as a set.
Thanks,
David

Answer 1

Well I processed a wedding today and created a book (AsukaBook) through LR and PS CS2 and it worked great. Here was my process:
1. I imported all the RAW images into LR.
2. Then went through and rated the images I wanted to use in the book with a single star.
3. Then used the filter to view only the rated images.
4. Used a green label to label all the images. (so all the rated images are now also labeled green - explanation as to why I did this to follow).
5. I manually sorted the images into the sequence I wanted to build the book on.
6. As I created each spread, I selected the images I wanted to include and processed them in the develop module. As most spreads included similar images, adjusting the exposure, WB, etc. went fairly quickly. I also cropped the images appropriatey.
7. When I was done 'processing', I exported the images as hi-res tifs to a separate folder in under the wedding client. I used Export rather than Edit in PhotoShop so I could get the resolution where I wanted (Asukabook uses 271ppi) and these were NOT re-imported into LR. I also set the automatic action after export to open the images in CS2. This worked like a charm!
8. I built my spread and saved the layered document into a PageMasters folder. Done!
I can't believe how smoothly this operation worked. If I had an image that needed to be adjusted some more, I simply went back to LR, re-developed the image to where I needed it, and re-exported it. Since I was exporting to the same folder, everything was just one or two clicks to get it back into PS. I could've adjusted right in PS, but then the image would be different from my "master" image in LR and it didn't take much extra time. I have this Export saved now as a preset. When you re-export an image, it prompts you to overwrite the existing image (yes) and then automatically opens in PS. Great!
9. When I was done with the spread and saved it. I went back into LR. The images were still hi-lighted (for the export) and I took the green label off those images, resetting it back to 'none'. And by filtering on the green label, when I was done with the spread and set the label to none, those 'used' images disappeared leaving me only the images I still had to work on.
So when I was done the book, there were a couple of green labeled images that I didn't use in the layout. I un-labeled these, set the rating to '0' (cause I'm not using them in the book) and made sure that all my XMP was saved to the original files.
SO.. now I have the original RAW images selected for the book with a 1* rating and the rejects with 0*. All the selected images have been adjusted - and all in LR.
I have a folder of 'processed' tifs, ready for reorders.
I have a folder of 'Master Pages' ready to be sent to AsukaBook.
All of these are sub- folders under the client name.
I can now burn the lot to DVD, backup to external HD, or whatever I like. Once that's done, I can delete them from LR and I'm done.
I like jpmcs's idea of keeping one of the images in the Library as reference. I'll probably start doing that with this years jobs.
And Dave... you probably picked the lesser of two evils!! :)
Cheers