Need to re-format computer: What to do with LR?

Question

I recently found out that I may have to re-format my hard drive, reinstall Windows, and transfer back my documents, etc.
That's fine. But a big concern is what happens to Lightroom?
I realize I have to reinstall it. But what about my library? All the changes I've made to photos in my library? All of the photos themselves will be backed up from the folder they originated in earlier (before import to LR).
I'm not exactly sure what it is I'm trying to do, but I do want to know how I can back up all of that work and changes made to those photos so I can just restore it after all my photos and programs are back onto my computer post-reformat.
Any help, suggestions, etc.? Would this just be exporting a Catalog? I'm not exactly sure.

Answer 1

If your images are on a secondary internal drive or an external hard drive, and your Lightroom catalog is also there, then you should be good to go.
It sounds like this is not the case, though.
If it's just the catalog file that's not there, it's pretty easy to save a backup copy to another drive. Check out Rob Sylvan's thoughts on backup here:
http://www.peachpit.com/guides/content.aspx?g=lightroom&seqNum=157
If you have time, I'd suggest doing a File > Export As Catalog to a secondary internal hard drive or to an external hard drive. (Make sure you DON'T have the Export Selected Photos Only checkbox checked in the Export As Catalog dialog that appears, or you'll only be saving the images that you have selected.)
This will save a copy of your images and the catalog (*.lrcat) file to the selected drive, so the time it takes to complete this is primarily dependent upon how many images you have, as well as other factors including the speed (RPMs) of the source and destination drives and the connection method used for the drive (i.e. internal drives are fastest, followed by eSATA, then Firewire, then USB).
A couple of things aren't stored in the catalog/images by default are the Presets and your preferences.
On the Presets tab of the Preferences window (Edit > Preferences on Windows, or Lightroom > Preferences on Mac OS) in LR, you can check the option to store presets with your catalog, which I'd recommend. This will not transfer presets that you've already made into the catalog (at least, it hasn't in my experience), so you'll want to click the Show Lightroom Presets button to find where the presets (if you created any) are currently stored. Then, copy this master folder (called "Lightroom" usually) to a backup drive. (I suggest, however, that you exclude the "Preferences" folder that's in the "Lightroom" folder when you make the backup.)
For the preferences that you have customized, there isn't really a great way to transfer these. I'd suggest taking screenshots of each tab (search Google if you're not familiar with taking screenshots), saving these screenshots to a backup drive, and then re-configuring Lightroom after the reformat.
Alternatively, although I don't personally recommend it, you can just make a backup copy of the file that stores these preferences, and then restore it after the reformat. You can find this file in the Preferences folder mentioned above, which you access by clicking Show Lightroom Presets on the Presets tab of the Preferences window.
HTH