# How to back up your photos and your firelet.media library > The gallery isn't a backup. Back up your photo folders with any tool, and copy gallery.db from AppData to keep your stars, albums, keywords and search index. Source: https://firelet.media/help/back-up-photos-and-library Published: 2026-09-11 · Updated: 2026-09-11 Applies to: Windows, macOS, Linux firelet.media Gallery does not back up your photos. It has no backup feature and no cloud, and on its own it is not a backup. To back up your photo library, copy your photo folders to another drive with any backup tool, and copy the gallery's own database, `gallery.db`, which holds your stars, albums, keywords, edits and search index. Here is a simple routine. ## What needs backing up: your photo folders and gallery.db The gallery never moves your pictures into a store of its own. They stay in the folders you attached, and the gallery keeps what it knows about them in one database file. So there are two things to protect: | What | Where it is | What it holds | |---|---|---| | Your photos and videos | Your own folders, listed under **Library → Sources** | The originals. The gallery never alters them. | | The library database | `%LOCALAPPDATA%\PictureGallery\gallery.db` | Stars, flags, colour labels, albums, keywords, people and faces, edits, corrected dates and places, the AI index and recognised text | | XMP sidecars, if you write them | `.xmp` files beside each picture | Stars, labels, titles, captions, keywords, people, dates, GPS and rights | You don't need to back up the AI models (you can download them again), the `webview` folder or the logs. Your licence doesn't need backing up either: your key is in your account, and you can activate again at any time. ## Steps: back up your photo folders 1. Press [[Alt]]+[[1]] and look at the **Sources** list. Every folder listed there is one to back up. 2. Connect a backup drive, such as an external USB drive. 3. Copy each source folder to the backup drive with the tool you already trust: Windows File History, a backup program, or a plain copy in File Explorer. 4. Repeat after every import or batch of new photos, or let your backup tool run on a schedule. Your backup tool sees ordinary folders and files, so it needs no special settings. > [!TIP] > To copy just a selection to another drive, select the pictures, press [[Ctrl]]+[[E]] and set **Format** to **Original files, unchanged**. It copies the files exactly, without re-encoding. Export doesn't add the gallery's stars or keywords to the copies, which is why the next two sections matter. ## Steps: back up the library database 1. Close firelet.media Gallery. 2. Press [[Win]]+[[R]], type `%LOCALAPPDATA%\PictureGallery` and press [[Enter]]. 3. Copy `gallery.db` to your backup drive, ideally with the date in the name, such as `gallery-2026-10-01.db`. 4. Open the gallery again. > [!WARNING] > Always copy `gallery.db` while the gallery is closed, so the copy is complete and consistent. If you have removed folders or run a big rescan, **Library → Maintenance → Compact database** first makes the file smaller. ## Write ratings and keywords to XMP sidecars too XMP sidecars put your work beside the pictures themselves, so every folder backup carries it and other programs can read it. The gallery writes them only when you ask. 1. Press [[Alt]]+[[4]] to open **Albums & keywords**. 2. Expand **XMP sidecars**. 3. Click **Write changed pictures**, or select some pictures and click **Write the selection**. ![The Albums & keywords panel with an album, a Travel > Iceland keyword and the XMP sidecars section open](https://firelet.media/help/media/shot-albums-keywords-panel.webp "Write changed pictures saves your stars and keywords into .xmp files beside the photos") You can also right-click pictures and choose **Write metadata to XMP**. The sidecars hold stars, labels, rejects, titles, captions, keywords and people, and existing sidecars are merged, never replaced. Your pictures themselves are never changed. XMP doesn't carry everything: Pick flags, albums, edits and the AI index stay only in `gallery.db`. That is why you back up both. ## Restoring on a new computer 1. Copy your photo folders back, keeping the same drive letters and folder paths if you can. 2. Install firelet.media Gallery, open it once, then close it. 3. Copy your saved `gallery.db` into `%LOCALAPPDATA%\PictureGallery\`, replacing the new one. 4. Open the gallery and [activate your licence](https://firelet.media/help/activate-licence-key). If the folders have to live at different paths, it isn't guaranteed that a copied database finds them. In that case attach the folders at their new location and use **Albums & keywords → XMP sidecars → Import from XMP**, which reads stars, labels, keywords and captions for pictures that have none yet. Then run **Index library** in the AI panel again. [How to move your licence to a new computer](https://firelet.media/help/move-licence-to-new-computer) covers the licence side. ## A simple 3-2-1 plan A well-tried rule for photos you can't replace is **3-2-1**: three copies, on two different drives, with one kept somewhere else. - **Copy 1:** your photo folders on your PC, where the gallery reads them. - **Copy 2:** a backup drive at home, updated after each import, with a recent `gallery.db`. - **Copy 3:** a second drive kept at another address, or an off-site backup service you choose, updated every month or so. > [!NOTE] > Phone auto-sync, when the Android companion is available, copies phone pictures to your PC. That protects the phone's photos, but it is not a backup of the PC. Because the gallery never alters your originals, a restored folder is exactly the photo you took. For more on that, see [does firelet.media Gallery change my original photos?](https://firelet.media/help/are-original-files-changed), and for a longer plan, [build a family photo archive that lasts](https://firelet.media/blog/family-photo-archive-that-lasts). ## Questions ### Does firelet.media Gallery back up my photos for me? No. It has no cloud and no built-in backup job. Your photos stay in your own folders, so back them up with the tool you already use. ### Where is the library database? In %LOCALAPPDATA%\PictureGallery\gallery.db. It holds your stars, flags, labels, albums, keywords, people, edits and the AI index; copy it while the gallery is closed. ### Can other apps read my ratings and keywords? Yes, if you write them to XMP sidecars from Albums & keywords > XMP sidecars. The .xmp files sit beside the photos and get backed up with them.